The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1891-11-26
LIFE-cAmBEtNo.


a Terrfbts Trnfsc which Has Raxnged the
North Of England Now opposed
Blackburn Is busy place. and to the
American travellers eye, a place where
the working class is terribly thirsty. 1
have never seen a more rapid ABSORB
ton Of spirits, .aiessap wines7eyery-
thing. in SHORTCUT water than IN ting
half hour / spent in the refreshment
room Of the railway station here. while
waiting to return to Liverpool
Tho operatives hereabouts are sick
~, worn-out looking class, with pale
faces and thin forms, which they drag
about on their thin shapks as II they
might tumble down at any minute and
give mp world which has had only
rough usage for them. The only place
where they display any merriment is
at the drinking bar; and even there it
is rather feeble and spasmodic. The
women; poor thingst must find it hard
to be merry, wretchedly dressed and
badly fedaszthey are.AaIld2 ways with
two or three children clinging to their
skirts
:. NY companion in my visit to this.
place is bright, active, young mer-
chant from Manchester. He knows
Blackburn and all the surrounding
country like book; and he told me
stories enough of the hard woes of the
operatives to fill book But the story
which he told me about the gambling
In lives" which has been going on here
for several years was stranger than
anything else. Let me give you an
idea of it.
While we were waiting at the inn for
our dinner we walked into the front
room and looked out of the windows. l
saw a Notwithstanding creature, worn
out with drink and hard work, hob
bling slowly by. This desolate human
being was such blot on the otherwise
pretty scene that | could not refrain
from calling my companions attention
to him.
"AhT' he said, surveying him critical
ly, he'll be good for a thousand
pounds, that chapr'
"a thousand pounds! Hedocsn'tlook
as if he possessed penny in the world"
My companion whistled and looked
at me with smile on his face. Not
worth that much to himself, that old
fellow" he said, but worth great deal
to somebody else"
l begged my friend to explain his
meaning.
"True" he said; Il forgot you are a
stranger here. But, man! did you never
hear of gambling in livcs2"
Il may have heard the term; but how
does it apply to this human scarecrow
who has just crossed our field of obser-
vation?"
"'Tis strange tale, and ! wouldn't
ha' believed it myself had it not been
for the case which came up at the as.
sizes in Manchester the other day. An
old 'ostler at public house, who had
been trembling on the brink of the
grave for two or three years, at last
died, and he was found to be insured
for seventeen hundred pounds. The
assurances were divided between twen-
.ty different companies, and most of
them paid up. But one Manchester
company disputed the claim, knowing
we'll enough why the old fellow had
been so heavily insured; and the result
was that gambling in lives got very
thorough exposure.
He then went on to tell me how this
hideous traffic. in human life-this
speculation on death-has in many
Lancashire towns, but notably in
Blackburn, long been highly paying
operation.
The insurance companies are hood
winked by veritable conspiracy of ex-
aminers and agents, an those persons
most likely to die, rath ,r than those in
least danger, areinsured. At tone time a
mania for this shameful traffic seemed
to have taken possession of the lower
classes in Black burn. ~
Husbands insured their wives, wives
their husbands. children their parents.
Any one within measurable distance,
of the grave was fair game for the
Spectator He scanned his neigh Dor
as a valuer scans houseful of furni-
ture. Let but the symptoms of con-
sumption or any other fatal disease APP
pear, and he made insinuating adj
vances on the doomed ones life.
OF conrse the victims are, as a rule,
oNtSStSo LYNN tiiC NCiy 0ICRo VI hulDdu-
ity-the drunken, diseased and fee BILE
who for the sake of prospective drinks
readily sign the "bit O. paper" thence
forward have their path to the grave
smoothed and ia cilitated by the Great
ures who fatten upon them.
A fine operation-to insure pauper
for thousand pounds and to help him
drink himself to deathI
The case exposed at Manchester was
a type ofhundreds which have occurred
lately in the north of England
This case is but type of hundreds of
others which have made life assurance
a term of evil import in the north of
England. In Blackburn a common
loiterer about the market place is in
sured in various companies for nearly
nine Thousand pounds He is aware of
the fact that death will materially in
crease his commercial value, and so
supplemented by fees for signing in
surance papers he does not care how
long the thing goes on
This poor wretch is respectabiy.con-
nected, and once held decent position
in society; but life of dissipation has
brought him into the web of the insur-
ance speculator whence he will never
escape save in a coffin.
In another case man who spends a
large portion of his time in the work.
house is insured for eighteen hundred
pounds, and in a third coal bag seller,
who, living, is hardly worth the clothes
upon his back. will when dead be
valued at nineteen hundred pounds
Many of the miserable beings thus
traded upon are totally unconscious of
the enormous sums which are involved
when they sign bit O. paper" for a
friend" and drink. %
In one instance poor siclly weaver,
insured in one Office alone for one
Thousand pounds, when asked whether
he knew the amount of his insurance
replied: Twenty or thirty, happen. /"
He admitted that he had uever maid tho