The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-11-17
YEARS ABSENCE.
hat Term Of Years Constitutes Le-
gal Death in New York
StAte.
Companies Insist on tho
Full Term, circumstances
Being Suspicious.
rhoy Are the Chief Victims Of the "I1is-
appsarance' style or Fraud-Luck :
Of . Vixen.

IA man 10 dead II he disappears from
light for seven years" was the concise re-
mark Of Probate Clerk jackson TO a Now
Works News reporter.
The statement was brought out BY the
ruery: when a man disappears and his
body has never been found. how long mus.
his heirs wait before they can claim his
property" +
Legally continued Mr.. Jackson, 'the
man liz not dead until seyen years have
Elapsed, but II evidence establishing a
strong presumption of death is produced
before the surrogate letters of administra-
tion may issue ut any time. There are any
nmount OF cases whore people have myster-
iously disappeared and their estates have
been administered upon. Should there be
my protest made against tho issuing OF
letters of administration then the heirs
might have to wait the full seven years.
In the casa OF the man Austin,
who went in swimming at Man
haitian Beach last July and who ID pre-
sumed to have boon drowned, although his
body VIVA never found. letters of admins
tration were issued, as the presumption
was that he must be dead as he was seen to
90 into the water and never to come ont,
his clothes we're found in his dressing. room.
and his vnluables which he loft with the
clerk wore never called for. A part Of his
estate consists of two insurance policies
upon his life, which the companies inter-
ssted are disinclined to pay, contendine
that there is no proof that the man is
dead"
when ia a man dead for insurance pur-
poses whom he mysteriously disappears?"
was asked of the adjuster Of doubtful
claims for the Equitable Life-one of the
largest life insurance companies In the
United States.
swell, that depends altogether upon cir-
cumstances. In cases of disappearance, in
suranoe companies are entitled. in the alb
sence of proof of death, to wait the full
seven years before they pay a cent. This.
however, is very seldom done except by
small companies. When the circumstances
point to the death Of tho man the policy is
paid. For example, a passenger ship sails
from New York to Liverpool and is not
heard of for six months it is safe to assume
that she has gone to the bottom. In such a
case the underwriters pay insurance on
ship and cargo, and we pay the representa-
Va oANAS ~ ~ EnS~SA8SAS - AAUJ ~SSO
had policies in our company.
"This, however, is altogether different
from paying claims made when people 20 in
swimming and never come out. This 10 q
very old dodge for defrauding life insurance
companies. II ia only q few weeks ago that
kind. One of it's policy holders was re-
ported to have been drowned while bathing
at Consy island. He carried large insurance,
and the company whom the claim WAS made
took advantage of the law and placed the
matter in the hands of a private detective
dead man employed running a mower on a
ranch out in Oregon. We had a case a
short time ago where a man went fishing i'll
a boat near the Cholera banks. The boat
was picked up adrift, bottom up, and all
the Indications pointed to a watsry grave.
We declined to pay the claim. nevertheless,
and after some time we found out that he
was in Canada awaiting to realize. You
see, he just landed and sent his boat ndrift.
1t is not to avoid payment that companies
look with such suspicion on the alleged
deaths of people who mysteriously disap-
pear, but to protect honest polioy-holders
from q very easy kind of fraud.
"Ihe loss to the company might even be
accidental and caused by an honest belief
on the part of the claimant for the insur-
ance that the insured was dead. a good
illustration was furnished the other day by
the Park place tragedy. A man, a printer,
who worked in tho building which collapsed,
was not seen for weeks after the accident.
Among the bodies recovered days after one
was recognized as his by his widow and she
received her share of the relief fund and
WAS about to receive insurance on his life
when he turned up in Boston, where he had
gone on q spree. Neither the man nor the
woman in this instance attempted a fraud,
but suppose he had been on Park place when
the building collapsed and then disappeared,
= A. na.Jl H., ~ c;~ rat yu&o ~ - ~
companies for quite a tidy sum.
"Ihe companies, however. have a good
way of protecting themselves against
fraudulent disappearances OF policv-hold-
ers, which has come into within the
past few years. The plan adopted is = Door
to the honest claimant under q policy, while
it virtually renders fraud abortive. Com
panies under this plan pay the insurance
within the ordinary time where ths bene-
ticiary under the policy gives bonds to the
same amount, that should the person who
is claimed to have died be found living the
amount paid to the heirs will be returned
to the company"
Another we'll known insurance man, r.
M. johnson. who represents the Travellers.
said:
IF it were not for the seven years. clause
. companies could be easily viotimizod by the
hinder q man taking a suit Of clothes into
a dressing room wrapped up with his bath
ing suit and leaving his old clothes behind.
Then all he has to do is to watch his chance
to slip out when the bath ia crowded. The
finding Of his clothes and his leaving his
watch and money unclaimed for ut the
Office will create the presumption that he
has been drowned.
IA rather strange case of this kind oc-
Cured about twelve years ago that bad IN
amusing side for every one except the COM
panies concerned. A stock brokers' clerk,
who we may anll Holland. thouph That's not