St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-10-31
PLOTTERS IN A MESH.
Claimants Galore Who Fig
ured in the Interupban
Electric Collision.
There Were 1875 Passengers,
Yet 253 File Claims for
Damages.
The American Casualty Com
pany Sets a Score of Slick
Detectives at Work.
and the Result Is Far From
Gratifying to Searehers
After ShekelS.

"When Johnny gets his $500 will go down
with you and we will buy all the things you
need 10 go TO housekeeping with"
Thus spoke the sister of one of the
ladies who claimed to be injured in the
accident on the interurban line Sept. 10
last. The remark was made on the re-
turn of the injured party with 500 in
her purse, the result of a settlement
with the American Casualty company.
When she reached home she said:
81 swore them out of SID"
AS is we'll known the street railway
company has contract with the Ameri-
can Casualty company, by the terms of
which the former is protected from ali
damages arising from accident. -Four
years ago the accident Oh the SelUy ave-
nue. line, commonly known as the Hill
accident" cost the street railway COM
pany $4,000, although there were but
few people injured. Claims kept COM
ing in for long time, and the officials
of the railway company, having no
means of knowing just who were on
the train that was wrecked, con-
sldered it far cheaper to settle tn an
to fight lawsuits, although it is said
there was no question that many unjust
claims were paid. Since that time Col.
Lowry has turned over this matter to
the insurance company named above,
and the damages caused by the accident
III September are being settled by them.
For time after the accident claims
were paid, but so many were filed that
the insurance company decided that
something was wrong, and about three
weeks ago between
Thirty and Forty Detectives
were sent to st. Paul and Minneapolis
and a careful investigation was COM
menced. In the wrecked train there
were two cars with capacity of thirty
two passengers each. The Minneapolis
exposition was going on when the acct
dent happened, and if is admitted that
a great many people were standing up
and holding on to the sides of the
cars. The conductors registers show
that there were less than 125
passengers OH the train, and yet 233
claims for damages have already been
filed, and more are coming in every day.
These facts caused o. II. Burbridge,
superintendent of the loss department
of the American Casualty company. to
change his headquarters from Chicago
to st. Paul for time, and. with the as
sistance of force of detectives, he has
been working up the different cases.
A number of bogus claims have
been run down, and he as
serts that a number of st. Paul
lawyers and physicians are placed in
very bad places by this Investigation.
Mr.. Burbridge was seen at the Windsor
last evening. and. after producing a half
bushel of affidavitS> and papers, said:
I'VE shall commence criminal proceedings
at once against great many of those who
claim damages from the Interurban accident
of last September. We shall set up the
a a hOl obi
under false pretences, and we have
number of cases worked up
We have no objection to paying all honest
claims, but we do object to paying 233 per-
sons for damages when only rs or less were
on the train in the accident. The trouble
here seems TO be that there are too many
shySter lawyers watching for accidents, and
these are the fellows we are after, and before
We get through with this mater we propose
10 show them up"
One of Many.
The case mentioned at the commence
ment of this article was described. 1t
appears that young lady and her best
young man attended the Minneapolis
exposition and started back on the
wrecked train. The young man was
little the worse for drink. and after the
smashup the young lady took charge of
him, and said she carried him home upon
her back. A little over week later
she appeared at the Office of the COM
pany in the street car building and
made the following affidavit:
Il have suffered injuries to my body and
person. My dress was badly torn, when
was new one and cost me S1S.25. and had
not been worn before. / have now lost twelve
days work TO date. ! earn 81 per week. This
Is all the damage Of any kind or nature
which have sustained by such accident
For these damages she wanted about
$50. Her case was brought to the atten-
ton of legal firm, and on the 10th Of
October she again appeared at the Office
of the company and swore as follows:
MY body and limbs were badly internally
and externally injured. My teeth were
knocked out, and have been an invalid ever
since and am probably permanently injured
All OF which damages am willing to settle
for 500. if paid to me in cash today
l he 500 was paid to her at once and
nothing more was thought of the matter
until it was found that she had made
two atfidavits and then an Investigation
was made. In the meantime her lover
had put in claim for 500, alleging that
he had been SO injured that one leg had
been made shorter than the other. This
looked all right and might have gone
through like the other
Had Quarrel
not occurred between the pair, and they
commenced to 'split' on each other. 1t
was then found that the lady was not in
Jured 10 speak of. and she offered to re-
pay the S1O0. This was refused. and a
criminal action will probably be COM
menced unless the names of her adviS-
erS are given.
Another case much worse was that of