Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-03-14

tents on the Are. II proved 10 be oil In
stead OF water. Yes, some OF the tugboat
men are as bad az the firebugs used TO be
ON the East side TIL Fire Marshal Sheldon
got after them, but they are nothing at
all 20 some Of The Hebrews.
",1he bodest, the most plausible, the
cunningest ana most impudcnt and dis
honest fraudulent claimants we have are
Hebrews. We cut them down 60 one.
tcn,h OF what they claim, aud yet we End
that they have cheated us out of four
times their LOSE. The way In which th y
viii lie aud protest thcy are being robbed
IS fearful 90 witness, and you never know
when you have them. | settled a claim
VI 500 600 Tor fairs made by an old fellow
In 81. Louis a few months ago for $1,000,
and when my steamer left her dick had
the plea urc OF seeing him dancing Ia
triumph on ~, and swearing tlat he had
made $1,000 out OF tho cornpanyn
cone OF The most interesting cases
which came under my Official duty as fire
marshal for The city Of BrOoklyn,p said
Benjamln lewis, who has been connected
with Insurance companies Of New York
and Brooklyn for The past twenty-eipht
ycars, ana who Is now In business for
himselfas an, ndjueierin Montague street,
- UWNAN 10 W. ANF AAHN vi FtRAAln
picvcnski, a Polish emlgraut, He WAS u
jobbing tailor doing business IN Hudson
avenue, near Myrtle. He was an un-
washed, soyculy-lookmg fellow, with
round shoulders, swarthy complexion,
dark beard and hair and black eyes. His
age was about forty years and bis height
about dive feet four inches The pace
where he lived was the first story OF a
small brick dwelliDg-house, yet when a
fire occurred on these premises, he pre-
spnted claim for several thousand dol
lars 10 the insurance company from which
he had got policy. My suspicious were
aroused by the size Of his
claim, and commenced an
investigation and unearthod one
0f the prettiest little plots lever heard Of
When the 1re occurred he and his family
were away at a picnic in Myrtle Avenue
park, so IL was evident that he had not
set the place on fire. was puzzled for u
time, but soon the whole thing came out
clear AZ day. The fire department had
been pretty quick and some clews were
left TO worA from On the floor found
broken oil lamp and piece OF top-cord
burned through the center. Ond end OF
the top,c0rd was knotted and the other end
WAS tied TO the tail OF mouse, while In
the kitchen were the charred remains of
d cat. When PlevenHkl left the house
the cat wss sleeping quietly in the kitch-
en-, the knotted ina OF the top-cord was
attached TO the burning lamp, while the
other end, dangling down from the man
tel-piece, was tied TO live mouse. After
the cat awoke II came into the shop, saw
the mouse and sprang for IT,, pulling down
the lamp With It's victim Every part OF
the house was closed up, and the cat
could not escape the fire which IL caused.
When Plrvenski found out that we were
on his trail, he left the city in great
hurry, and don't know where he Ia now.
81 can very frequently tell by looking at
a mans store whether or not he is con-
tcmplating fire. One case OF that Kind
OF piemontion remember wen happened
TO me when was au agent for the S,ar
company. The store IN question was
located on Fulton street. BROOKLYN, and
the owners name was Ro-enwclg. |
passed The store one day, and after look
ing at II Tor few minutes, siid "rbat
mans going TO burn uut!n He was In.
sured In tins Star, aud / Immediately
transferred his policy 10 another company
without arousing his suspicion. Theouly
reason had for thinking he wAs going TO
burn up was the way In which he had The
front OF the store nllod up with fancy
goods, aud the door windows also COW
cred 80 that no one could sce In from the
street. The night after had transferred
the policy the Dire bell rang NJ for Ros-
enwrlg's district, and / said, there goes
Rosonwcig's placel' II proved TO be
true. He claimed $4,000 and actually
got $4,000, the company not being able TO
prove lncendi0rlsm
"a very pretty place Of cleycrly planned
lncondlarlsm was that OF Giovanni Bonell,
Cuban chemist dong business In New
York He had stock Of medicinal leaves
Insured for $1,000 These he transferred
to cellcr In Clinton street, BROOKLYN,
leaving only a few TO be scattered about
on the floor OF his rooms In New York.
over these leaves ON the floor he sprlnk.
led qulcklime and then turned on the
water faucet, knowing that when the
water flIed the trough and flowed on the
moor II would ignite the quicklime and
produce big lire. Previous TO doing
TINS he placed a large quantity OF coal In
tne furnace, and on top OF the coal pot
OF tar, which, when sufficiently heated,
nc knew would run of through spout in
blazing Hood, spreading over the floor
ana producing great heat and smoke. All
went wen except that the fire department
was too quick for him and put his fire out
Ia time 20 leave clews. Hc fed 20 Cuba
the next day,
"Sumetilnos people make oxorbltant
claims Tor damages through ignorance OF
the value OF their own possessions. A
case In point II that Of q lady residing on
West Twenty Second street, New York.
She claimed Sli00 damage to her inrn.
ture. Alter going over all The articles |
figured up only loss Of Sl25. The lady
was Indignant ut my figures aud told a
servant 20 show me the door. found the
door without any escort, however and
the lazy wrote down TO my ONCE telling
the company to please send a gentleman
To adjust the loss. | was Indignant aud
wrote asking her II she had any objection
% my replacing all the articles size had
lost, She said she had not. then Wis [.
ed her and requested her Co accompany
ne about TO thr different store, 10 M ,ke
her own selections, She went with me.
and after she had replaced all the articles
gave me certificate saying that every
thlng was replaced and thbt the new fur.
nltnre was better than she had previously
had Ihe loss was only SllG.5I.
"a very prominent merchant IN Fulton
street, Brooklyn, claimed 1923 600 for
smoke damage sud Yet Was highly GLAZED
when ho got s2ll, for as no afterwards
boosted he had cleared 500 profit. w.
have impudent claims like that nv the
score. Israel Cohen, Of 3 Clinton street.
New York WAS "A snqctmau nueta,, A. '