The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-08-06
GRAVEYARD INSURANCE..
Big Frauds Unearthed at Beaufort--COn-
sumptives I~nsured--Poor and De-
crepit People Insured Without
Being Asked,

Being Asked.
MOREHEAD CITY. July % The in
surance swindle has been going on for
eight years, and some of the merchants
in the town have been engaged In 1T.
So remunerative had it become that the
negroes went into the business on their
own account, and eventually joined
forces with the white men. The gang
finally became holder, taking out larger
policies OF insurance, where heretofore
they had been satisfied with small but
quick profits, and their greed was the
ultimate cause of their exposure.
Policy holders of five New York and
New England Companies have been de-
frauded by them.
1t is alleged that about eight years
ago O. R. Hassell, a shrewd horse
trader, went to Beaufort and oon en-
gagged in the insurance business, and
that after a while he and a physician
and some merchants formed a ring to
defraud the several insurance COM
panies that employed Hassell as their
agent.
Old, decrepit, and dying whites and
negroes OF both sex es were insured, in
many instances without their knowl
edge. 1t YVES no uncommon occurrence,
it is said, to see men hawking around
Beaufort and it's suburbs policies of
life insurance, offering to place them
free of cost to the asauredif IN ill health,
and agreeing to provide the n~ecessaries
of life while alive and at death to have
them decently buried, besides Occa
sionally allowing a small sum to pro-
vide for their families requirements.
When they found a dying person they
would sometimes take out policies
without securing the consent of the in
sured.
1t is alleged further that Levi T. Noe,
Selden D Delamar and jacob @. Della
mar, under the firm name of Nee, Della
mar & Co., secured the assistance of
DR.. T. B. Delamar, @ relative of the
junior member of the firm, together
with the agency of several reputable
life insurance companies, and began
operations of a similar character.
The first company to start an lnves
tigation was the Mutual Reserve Fund
Life Association of New York, which
had a death loss of 81, 900 upon Ella G.
Rountree, a negress, insured as a white
woman, who died of consumption
shortly after she had been insured.
The aggregate insurance placed upon
her life in various companies within a
few months of her decease was $14, 900.
The Massachusetts Benz fit Life Asso-
citation of Boston, which had been rep
resented by Noe, Delamar & Co., less
than six months. stood for policies ag
gregating $50, 600 Upon notification
of two death losses, occurring within a
period of less than two months after
issuing the policies, the company de-
tailed it's inspector, W. @ Abrams, to
make an investigation. He found that
Fereda Willisms, one of the risks, who
had been insured for 50, 900, had been
lying at the point of death for several
weeks prior to the issuance of the
policies, and that Ella G. Rountree,
colored, who had been insured as a
white woman, had been in i'll health for
three years before, and had been %
fined to her bed several months when
the insurance was eft cted. The bene
ficiaries in the Rountree case figured in
the policy as the father and the brother
of the deceased. Toe father, Stephen
/ Turner, is a Baptist minister. Neither
of the parties was possessed of the
means to carry so heavy a line OF In
surance.
In the course of Inspector Abrams
investigation he discovered that men
and women IS to 80 years of age had
been insured on the basis of ages rang
ing from ten to fifteen years. He dis
covered also that one of the insured,
John Boyd, was a poor demented ne
gro; another, Mary A. Longest, was IS
years old, but was insured as 81, while
she had suffered from heart disease for
several years, and died of it a few
months after the cancelling of the
policy.
Fereda Williams had been in i'll
health for several years. Her husband,
Samuel Williams. who is nominated as
beneficiary, is a fisherman who is and
always has been in Strengthened Cir
cumstances.
His boon companion, Abe Wigfall,
secured So 900 from the Bay State Bene
fciary Association OF Westfeld, Mass,
upon the death of his brother, James
Wigfall, who was insured on his death
bed, eleven days before his decease.
The claim had been paid without inves-
tigation upon the part of the company,
as q clean set of proofs of loss had been
forwarded by the conspirators, giving
cause of death as malarial fever, a dis
ease common in this section. This
money, it is alleged, was divided be
tween Abe Wigfall, David Parker,
Frank Glbble and Silas Blount. It was
invested by them in real estate, and the
Bay State has instituted suit against
each Of them to recover the amount.
1t is stated the inspectors life has
been threatened since he began his in
vestigation.
Among the many cases CT alleged
fraud developed in policies secured
through the agency of Noe, Delamar &
Co with the aid of the company S ex-
amining physician, DR.. T. B. Belamar'
are the following:
Samuel Windsor, insured as a white
man, aged So, for So, 900. He is anegro,
Is years old, in ill health, and had no