The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-13
INSURANCE FRAUps.
Tricks Resorted to by INSCRIPTIONS
Sharpers.

The story that came from Boston recently
that New York life insurance company
had discovered that they had paid the
widow OF policy holder large sum that
did not belong to her, because her husband
was too near death TO pass an examination
and consequently was examined by proxy.
has created a great deal Of talk in insurance
circles.
II seems that the policy holder was dying
Of consumption when he made up his mind
to have his life insured and his friend In
full health TO pass the examination under
his name. 1t was not till long after the
S2,O00-the amount of the policy-wss paid
to the widow that one Of the agents dis
covered that the man who had been in
sured was not the man who had been ex-
amined.
Many insurance officials whom the Jour
nat man spoke to on the subject said sub
stantially: The man who is healthy when
he passes the examination and goes through
all the necessary ordeals TO secure his policy
for the benefit OF his family is the very first
one TO be up in arms if he finds that COM
pany becomes lenient to new applicants.
he doesn't want 20 pay premiums 10 benefit,
before he himself dies, some fellow who dies
without having been able to have his life in
sured, but who, all the same, held a policy
| obtained in the same way as this Boston
case is alleged to have been obtained.
That frauds, and many of them, have
| been attempted on life insurance companies
every newspaper reader knows. That the
companies, even the great companies in
this city, have been more than once
mulcted, no one knows but the managers,
| and no one else will ever know.
Some of the cases of attempted fraud are
| marvellous, some of them so cunningly de-
| vised that even when they are discovered
| the discoveries themselves were astonished
to find that the suspicious on which they
based their investigations were borne out
by solid facts.
One of the well known cases of "queern
insurance was that of Fly c. Hendryx, who
killed mis- wife at Angelica, this state. He
claimed that burglars had shot both Of them
| during the night; his wound was very
slight The wife had 200 insurance on
her life in the Mutual Life of this city, "for
the benefit of her legal representatives -"
and he had q small accident policy on him
self for her benefit. He said to his dying
wife: How do you want the insurance
paid-to Henryw She said: Eyes, because
his is drawn for me-" Hendryx was sent
to state prison for life after a trial for
murder.
Probably one of the great greatest cases
that was ever disputed in court was the
Colvoooresse. He was a retired captain of
the navy. He was found dead in a street
in bridgeport, Conn. He had his life in
sured in twenty different companies for
Sl95, 800 He had apparently, when found
in the street, been shot. Near the body was
an old-fashioned percussion-locket horse
pistol, the stock broken. His sword cane
was unsheated, bore no stain of any kind,
and on the side of the blade was a dent as
though, held at both ends, it had been
snapped over picket fence.
A pill box containing percussion caps, a
large bullet OF the same size as the one
found in the captains body. The box was
In a rag tied by knotting opposite corners.
A handkerchief containing toilet articles
was found tied In the same way in the cap
tain's pocket, A powder flask was found
near by under gutter plank, and
powder found in black sachel
of the captains 1000 feet away
from where the body was found cor-
responded with that in the flask. Indenta-
tions in the sachel correspondent with the
size and length Of the pistol. There was no
evidence anywhere of a struggle. The
sachel was found as if cut open with a dull
knife. In the captains pocket was found
knife with dull, ragged edge. Not fin
ger mark or a scratch as Of a rough assault
was found on the body.
It turned out IN an investigation that Col
vocoresses was worth only $4,000 when he
died. Yet his first premiums would have
| amounted to 81 900 II he took out In good
faith 100000 of insurance. No trace of
murderers was ever discovered. The COM
panies claimed that the captain had de-
stroyed himself TO defraud them. A COM
promise ended the case finally.
The case of a lawyer named William Coll
lender of York. Pa, is cited by insurance
men on account of the decision of the
supreme court regarding suicides. He died
one night after sudden sickness. 1t was
proved that after getting an insurance Of
IS, 900 in the keystone Mutual Life Of Har-
, risburg he purchased arsenic In a drug
store, went to an oyster saloon, sprinkled
the arsenic on the oysters before eating
them. The policy provided that it would
be void if 'the assured died by his own
hand.n The court decided thar IF no such
J condition had been inserted in the policy a
man who commits suicide is guilty of such
, a fraud upon the insurers of his life that his
representatives cannot recover for that
reason alone"
A few years ago Jacob c. Wallis of
johnson county, Missouri, was found dead,
shot through the lungs, on the roadside near
his home. A pistol forty-hve feet from the
body was found. None of the family had ever
to pay $50 to a creditor. No one could
prove he had that $50 when he started. He
did not have it when his body was found.
There had been trouble between Wallis and
, two men named Bones, who were desperate
characters. For time there was nc
doubt about Wallis murder II
was developed that he was heavily insured.
Investigation produced no clew to a track
of a murder. Men at work near the spot
, had heard shot but no cries, yet papers
were found scattered about as il there had
been a struggle. No tracks of horse but
Wallis were on the road. yet the body was
found twenty-five feet from the road in the
! bushes. All the facts apparently proved
when the mans business affairs were looked
into, that Wallis death was the result of g
settled and deliberate purpose of destroying
himself
Monroe Snyder had his life insured foI
$65 900. He was found dead In q shallow
stream Of Montgomery creek. Bethlehem
! Pa. There were three stab wounds In the
! abdomen. Had he been stabbed and then
. thrown Off the bridge! 1t was shown OIL
! investigation that he had left his watch
and pocket book at home. The bridge
: keeper testified that he saw Snyder lying or
{ the rocks as if drunk. Two strange letters
? were found near the bridge in which
Snyder told all about his affairs
They read like a last Will and tes-
lament. He looked forward to the sum in
( sured as the sole hope Of saving his estate
to his family. Although $1,000 reward wa;
offered, no trace of any assassin was ever
found. This case ended with compromises
? IF Snyder could have got to the place
/ where his body was found without soma
al H., -