Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1895-08-09
GRAVEYARD INSURANCE.
RIG FRAUDS UNEARTHED AT
T-CoSUMPTIVES
INSURED-POOR AND
DECREPIT PEOPLE
=. INSURED WITH
OUT BEING
ASKED.

Gently unearthed at Beaufort, N.
c., has been going on for eight
wears, and some of the merchants
in the town have been engaged
in it. So numerative had it be
come that the negroes went into
the business OH their own &C
count, and eventually joined
forces with the white men. The
gang finally became holder, tax
ing out larger policies of inst
rance, where heretofore they had
been satisfied with small but
quick profits, and their greed was
the ultimate cause of their ex>
posture. Policy holders of five
New York and New England
companies have been defrauded
by them.
1t is alleged that about eight
years ago c. R. Hassell, a shrewd
horse trader, went to Beaufort
and soon engaged in the insu-
rance business, and that after
while he and physician and
some merchants formed ring to
defraud the several insurance
companies that employed Has
sell as their agent.
Old, decrepit, and dying whites
and negroes of both sexes were
insured, in many instances with
out their knowledge. 1t was no
uncommon occurrence it is said,
to see men hawking around
Beaufort and its suburbs policies
of life insurance, Offering to
place them free of cost to the as
sured if in i'll health, and agree
ing to provide the necessaries of
life while. alive and at death to
have them decently buried, be>
sides occasionally allowing a
small sum to provide for their
families requirements. When
they found a dying person they
would sometimes take out poll
cies without securing the consent
of the insured.
1t is alleged further that Levi
II. Noe, Selden D. Delamar and
Jacob G. Delamar, under the firm
name of Noe, Dela1nar & Co.,
secured the assistance of DR.. L.
b. Delamar, a relative of the
iunion member of the firm, to-
gether with the agency of sever
al reputable life insurance COM
panies, and began operations of
similar character.
The first company to start an
investigation was the Mutual
Reserve Fund Life Association
of New York, which had a death
loss of 81 900 upon Ella G. Roun-
tree, negress, insured as white
woman, who died Of consump,
ton shortly after she had been
insured. The aggregate insu-
rance placed upon her life in
various companies within a few
months of her decease was $I4,,
600.
The Massachusetts, Benefit
Life Association Of Boston ,WhiCf
had been represented by Noe
Delamar & Co., less than si>
months, stood for policies aggre'
eating $4,000. Upon notifca'
ton of two death losses, occur
ring within a period ofless thar
two months after issuing the
policies, the company detailed
its inspector, w. c. Abrams, t.
make an investigation. He
found that Fereda Williams, one
of the risks who had been insured
for 81 900, had been lying at the
point of death for several week:
prior to the issuance of the poll
cies, and that Ella G.. Rountree
colored, who had been insured a:
a white woman, had been i'll il
health for three years before
and had been confined to her bee
several months when the insu
rance was affected. The bene
fciaries i'll the Rountree case
figured in the policy as thu
father and the brother of the de-
ceased. The father" Stephel
I. Turner, is Baptist minister
Neither of the parties was pos
sessed of the means to carry Sc
heavy line of insurance.
In the course of Inspecto,
Abrams investigation he discov
cred that men and women 65 t.
so years Of age had been insured
on the basis OF ages ranging
from ten to fifteen years. HI
discovered also that one Of tn,
insured, John Boyd, was a poo
delnented negro; another, Mary
4. Longest, was o5 years old, bu
was insured as s., while she hat
suffered from heart disease 70,
several years, and died of it ;
few months after the cancellins
of the policy.
Fereda Williams had been il
i'll health for several years. Hel
husband, Samuel Williams, whe
Is nominated as beneficiary, &c .