Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-07-10

business standing FOR ono OF his age had
been in the habit Of lodging In an old log
cabin in the lowlands west of the Wabash
during his excursions In the country. One
night the cabin was burned. Calcined
bones were found Evidence was presented
that these might be the bones OF the afore-
said young man, and so people said; Poor
Jonesl What pityr'
People said" so, but the life insurance
companies did not. for thoy saw ON their
books the evidence that ''poor Jones" was
insured for very large amount--al altogether
too large an amount for man with so few
dependent ON him They also had evidence
that poor Jones" had recently been asso-
chatting with some very suspicious charac-
tiers. The results need not be detailed-the
reading public Is quite familiar with them.
The confession OF "paln soon brought out
the fact that Jones" was living quietly In
Chicago and that the whole affair was an
ingeniously contrived scheme to swindle
the life insurance companies
or course the uninstructed mass looked
on this as AN entirely unprecedented affair."
and old men shook their heads and once
more got oil that old saying which has been
repeated ever since Adam used Il to
aggravate Seth, 1.-THE world Is getting so
corrupt in these late days" Equally OF
course, the old men were and are wrong
The tricks on life Insurance. companies are
as old as the business itself, anu little re.
Election will show how they were suggested
by still older tricks In divorce cnscs-espe
cially that trick which lawyers call 'perso-
nation" The once famous Kansls-Indiana
case OF Millerton versus Millcrton will serve
as an illustration, and the general reader
may find the outlines OF 1t In Richardson's
beyond the Mississippi"
Millerton left Indiana for Kansas In 1850,
nominally TO laid in freedoms cause
really to get rid of his wife. Some may
say Its all the same" but let that pass
When affairs in Kansas got settled, his wife
reioined him. Thereupon he planned
little scheme. Driving down to the river
one day with his wife aud family, he con
WINGED them that the water was too high
for safe fortling, therefore he would swim
across carrying his summer clothes In a
bunch on his head. get what was needed
in Lawrence and swim back. His wife sat
and watched him reach the middle OF the
law. Then he suddenly threw up his hands
and sank to rise no more'-that Is, he rose
no more 70 her view
As a matter OF fact he Owed and rose DO
tween two logs on the Lawrence side,
breathed awhile, diyed and rose again In o
drift some rods down stream ard thus by
well calculated stages disappeared" Tho
funeral was well attended, aud the be.
reaved widow was almost reconciled TO her
lot-women were scarce in Kansas In those
days and therefore in demand--when an old
neighbor arrived from Indiana with tho
news that Millerton was there In fine health
and disportlng himself MS gay widower
Mrs. Millerton h;lstened TO her old home at
once and captured him in the very presence
OF lady TO whom he was engaged. Imng-
inatlou must supply the details, for 'hell
hath no fury like woman scorned.
II this and the like OF this were all, we
could afford to laugh, but there is an hw-
fully dark side TO tho picture In view OF
the abundant evidence it IA impossible TO
doubt that scorcs-yea, hundreds-of most
atrocious murders have been committed TO
secure life insurance money Aud the
heart sickening feature Of 1t is that by the
very nature Of the case nearly all these
murders have been done by poison, and
TINT poison administered by the nearest
relatiycs-by the husband to the wife, tho
wife much oftener to the husband, and
most horrible OF all, by the mother to the
soni
1t is but few months since John Sham
Of Princeton, N. j., died under clrcum.
stances which compelled his physician TO
say and the coroner's jury TO believe that
he had been poisoned, aud when an inquest
was ordered the authorities were horriied
10 find that the corpse had been disepbow-