The Helena independent., 1893-12-16
DETECTING The FRAUDS.
or Schemes for Swindling lnsur-
ancs Companies There Is
No End.
Submitting to Severe Physical In.
jury Is Very Common
Trick.
Fh!nk Nothing Of LosiuG = Hand-Thc
Loss Of . WoOdsn LeE--Other
Resorts

The popularity Of accident insurance
companies has increased tenfold the oppor-
tunities for presenting and pressing fraud
alent claims. To simulate death in order
to obtain payment under u policy of life in
surance requires much more scheming and
also the cooperation of more than one con-
federate but to a man who regards money
as Of greater worth than limb, an acci-
dent insurance policy offers golden oppor-
tunities for fraud. Perhaps the most as
founding instance of nerve on the part OF q
would be insurance defrauder was shown
by the man who crawled under a railroad
station platform and placed his hand under
the wheels Of q passing train. He had only
to put his hand on the rail while the train
was in motion, and the wheels naturally
did the rest.
The crippled individual was congratu-
lated by the bystanders on his narrow es-
cape from terrible death, and his expla-
nation that he had stumbled and fallen
half under the train was not questioned.
But before the company paid the claim it
naturally wanted an explanation as to why
it wss no one had seen the man stumble and
fall, and detective was sent to look into
the circumstances. The detective hunted
up a number of bystanders, and, finding
that none Of them could throw any light ON
the subject, he next inquired into the mans
character. The answers he received con-
frned his suspicious, and he commenced
doing littls investigation on his own ac-
count. His first efforts were not crowned
with very signal success, but when he
crawled under the platform he found the
mystery solved for him.
1t had been no ones business to clear
away the dust and rubbish which had col
lected for years under the old platform, and
1t was easy to see where the man had
crawled. as he had left regular trail be-
hind him in the dust. Following this trail,
the detective found it led, as he expected,
toward the track, and on one of the fore
most joists he found evidence of severe
bump by mans head, quite number Of
hairs having been torn out in the process.
Collecting these hairs, the detective next
compared them with those on the head Of
the complainant. They were exactly the
same color and texture, and the doctor who
had attended the injured man recollected "a
severe wound at the back of his head
which would naturally be caused by man
lying on the ground and suddenly raising
his head with jerk.
The claimant was taken to the platform
and the theory of the detective explained
to him. 1t was argued that he deliberately
crawled under the platform and placed his
hand on the rail in front of the last car.
The blow on the back of the head was evi-
IDENTIFY the resulted q terrible nervous shock
which he had undergone, which had caused
an involuntary motion of the spine and
neck. A smart man of a legal turn of mind
might have been able to bluff it out and to
defy the company to prove SO improbable a
story. But the claimant had more rerve
than sense He promptly weakened and
took the advice of the detective, which was
to get out of the way before he was arrest
ed. In this case the way of the transgress-
or was hard, for he lost his hand, premium
and all, paying dearly for a self imposed
lesson.
Another case in which man is supposed
to have preferred sum of money down to
the use of one of his hands occurred in New
York state, where a man, now deceased,
claimed compensation for a lost hand under
very peculiar circumstances. In company
with doctor he went out hunting. and
when he returned he had left behind him
his left hand. He had received careful
surgical attendance. and his wound was tied
up in regulation style. He made his claim
with perfect confidence, explaining that he
had shot his left hand off accidentally The
doctor confirmed the story, and considera-
BILE argument ensued 1t was freely sug-
gested that the doctor had been taken on
the trip for the express purpose of ampu-
tating the hand, and strong case was
made in this direction. There was, how
ever, nothing but inference on the COM
pany's side, and the claim was compro-
missed.
A Pennsylvania agency was caught by
somewhat similar trick. A man who had
tried his hand at various professions and
found them all failures, took out an insur-
ance policy for accident, first taking the
precaution to move a couple of hundred
miles and assume a fictitious name A
month later he got caught in thrashng
machine, and by aid of the men who helped
pull him out was able to put in an appar-
emily unansWerable claim for compensa-
tion for the loss of = leg He had no busi-
ness to take him to the machine, and that
was the only weak point in his case. Still
there was nothing to justify delay, and the
claim was paid. If the claimant had again
moved 200 miles and kept his own counsel
all would have been well fxom his point Of
view, for in an incredibly short space Of
time the thrashing machine victim was
able to walk with the aid of an artificial
limb.
But prosperity was too much for the
schemer, who ate, drank and was merry,
and as usual under those circumstances be-
gan to talk more freely than was quite
wise In saloon one evening he Dragged
loudly of how he had beaten the company,
explaining that he had lost his leg 10 years
before, and that all he had lost in the
threshing machine was the willow substi-
tute with just enough Of his own flesh and
bone to deceive the doctor. A good deal of
wonder had been expressed at tho easy
manner in which he took to an artificial
leg, and this lent considerable color to his
story. Investigation quickly proved that
he had for once at any rate told the truth.
He was made to disgorge all of the insurance
money he had not spent, and by this means
escaped prosecution. The case is chiefly
remarkable for the perfect success of the
trick and the case with which it was carried
Out.--New Orleans Times Democrat.