The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-11-05


cheek, pay this policy, and thus avoid additional
The defendant's attorney, J. n Adams, advises
the defendants Philadelphia manager, under date
Of November ~, 1893, as followf:
"ot course, VIII do whaieyfr you desire, bnt !
case Ss wasre s1Gf feei certain Of d.
And again, under date Of vembers7 iso' he
ii have already fully exp<e <essed to you my opinion
Of the law governing the 49, Council represent.
ing Mrs. -" tbensheisry,, ARE eqoany WEI, wen
promise for less than the fn nnount Is hopeless"
fet as shown, nearly Two months at'es ms .h,s,
upon this o sim. the com sany ~ its report OF the
oiain 20 the Insurance Depsrtment ADVISES - ,1a. M
tho claim in question can he comProniiseu ior
about one hat" 49,
Your examiners deem it necessary to 60 into
which reference has been made above, as nav
Ing been settled for less than nc face
the evidence contained in the various papeFs bear
ing upon these claims and on ME IN csnnee.lon
say that sS4 500 OF claims were settled for S2l7a,
or for about S92O0 iess than the amount OF claims
presented.
Rhode Islands Insurance Department.
The insurance department OF Rhode
Island is not vested with the authority
that is available to departments IN olher
States. The Columbia Mutual Life AS
sursnce Company. being I" home coz
poration, was enabled TO do business, IKE
| any other corporation, by authority oltne
Secretary of State which authority was
given on the sworn statement ot the con-
cern that its capital OF 100000 had Deen
all paid in.
In this connection the following stric-
lures passed by the editor OF The Chronicle,
| insurance journal, are evidently uhcsAieu
for and based on wrong premises:
Insurance Comm 'ssioner Landers of Rhode Is
land appears TO be one OF the du1lest ounces wno
aTIoe business. There seems e. be no.hlng very
| large sbbnt him except his ute wnieh l
sursncs oommissioner for the state OF Rhode
Island and Providence Plsniations." According
Own seportmeHt, depor the PeSasi Pcoa@sia utGai
cash capital nomnsly STOOD never aettHay tona,
Landers issued certificate to Dunham GO 70
the eject that the Coinmbia hutasls sock naa
been fully paid in. The kindest comment on Mf.
Landers' official conduct is to call IL oheial stu
| pidity.
The purchase ofthe Commercial Alliance
| by the Columbia was unknown TO the
! Rhode Island insurance department until
| Commissioner Landers heard OF IT from the
press and demanded an explanation which
| President Dunham gave IN cocKy COM
1 munication under date OF March o, 1891,
| President Dunham therein stated that III
we had intended TO treat this action as a
| transfer, other than individually with the
| policyholdors, we should have applied 10
| you (Mr. Landers) for Instructions and
| advice. But under the cir
cumstances, surely did not think it inn
portAnt enough to intrude upon your val
1 liable tims."
| Think of it! A deal that wrecked
| homo concern being mot important
enough to intrude upon your vaiusoie
time"
Commissioner Landers had already pur-
| sued tnquiries regarding the standing OF
the Commercial Alliance, 10 learn, II pos
sible, what sort of hands the r ode island
concern had fallen into. Super
intendent Pierce wrote him under
date OF February 22, 1891, that the
Commercial Alliance on January p had
| a surplus as regards policy holders OF S,1,-
451 80 and dencit as regards stockholders
OF 76,54S.20. Ia New YORK life insurance
| companies are not charged with llabillty
| on account of capital stock in sstlmating
I their conditions.
The Rhode Island commissioner also
| gave the New York superintendent his
frst inkling OF the Columbia absorption
and awakened MS suspicious, as the
| Columbia feature does moi appear on the
books of the Commercial Alliance-E. A.
Durham personally being credited with
| most OF the stock bought.
! Commissioner La nders also co-operated
closely with the Now York Department in
ferreting out the disclosures subsequently
| made and which, rs superintendent
! Pierce wrote, "involve a pretty serious
| ccnd itiot OF affairs"
| Then Governor Brown to whom the case
was presented requested that Comm y
sioaer Saunders make an exsminatiot Of
| Coiumba's affairs-the commissioner.
| under Rhode Island laws being required
! to have this aut hority before acting, This
examination was begun August 6, and
| fnished August II. The results are quo
| ted in the foregoing.
The commissioner, moreover, by public
| advertisement, warned policy holders OF
! the true condition of affairs, and against
| the representations of tho Commercial
| Alliance agents, who naintsined an au-
dacious bluff throughout.
On the 18th OF September the New York
| department reported me Commercial Alli-
| ance TO the Attorney General as Al insoi-
vent CORPORATION with a deficiency in the
sssets of 76,1i5.40.
| And as indicated by the statement OF
receiver willis his is only tae beginning
| OF the deficiency.
And thus IS the Rehoboth Gold Brick
| found to be only sawdust.
And ali this Interesting history, from
| the beginning OF business by the Columbia
| Mu.ua Life Assurance Company in Sop
| terlbsr, 1892, hRs been made in the brief
| period of TWO years.
A. Napoleon OF life Insurance., Presi-
n IN has ks.a. .rItf