Evening journal., 1894-11-12

The Ass OF a Wooden Leg.
The popularity of accident insurance
companies has increased tenfold the oppor-
tunlties for presenting and pressing fraud
uient Stains. To simulate death in order
to obtain payment under a policy of life in
surance requires much more scheminp and
also the cooperation Of more than one CON
federate; but to a man who regards money
as of greater worth than a limb. an acct
dent insurance policy offers golden oppor-
tunities for fraud. Perhaps the most as
founding instance of nerve on the part of a
would be insurance defrauder was shown
by the man who crawled under railroad
station platform and placed his hand under
the wheels of passing train. He had only
10 put his hand on the rail while the train
was in motion, and the wheels naturally
did the rest.
The crippled individual was conRratu-
lated by the bystanders on his narrow es-
cape from a 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 ii
naturally wanted I'm explanation as to why
It was no one had seen the man stumble and
fall, and a detective was sent to look into
the circumstances. The detective hunted
up q number of bystanders, and, finding
that none OF them could throw any light on
the subject, he next inquired into Che mans
character. Tho answers he received con
frmed his suspicious, and he commenced
doing a little 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
IL was easy to see where the man had
crawled. as he had left a 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 a 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 a 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 evil
IDENTIFY the result of a terrible nervous shock
which he had undergone, which had caused
an involuntary motion of the spine and
neck. A smart man Of legal turn Of mind
might have been able to bluff it out and to
defy the company to prove SO improbable
story. But the claimant had more nerve
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 a 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 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
III
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 a 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 a thrashing
machine, and by aid of the men who helped
pull him out was able to put in an appar-
emily unanswerable claim for compensa-
ton for the loss Of a leg. He had no BUSH
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 we'll from his point Of
view, for ia On 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 a saloon one evening be 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 the 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 ease with which IL WAS carried
out-New Orleans Times-Democrat.