The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-08-01
HOW THEY WERE FOUND OUT.
List of the Cases of Alleged Fraud
Developed in Policies Secured.

HinG insurance SWlluIe mas DetL goIbS
on for eight years, and some of the mer-
chants in the town have been engaged in
it. 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 bolder, taking out larger
policies of insurance, where heretofore
they had been satisfied with small but
uuick profits, and their greed was the
ultimate cause of their exposure. Policy
holders of five New York and New Eng
land companies have been defrauded by
them.
1t is alleged that about eight years
ago @. r. Hassell, a shrewd horse trader,
went to Beaufort and soon engaged in
the insurance business, and that after
while he and physician and some mer-
chants formed ring to defPaud the
several insurance companies that en-
ployed Hassell as their agent.
Old, decrepit and dying whites and
negroes of both sexes were insured, IN
many instances without their knowl-
edge. 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 assured If in i'll health, and
agreeing to provide the necessaries of
life while alive and at death to have
them recently buried, besides occasion
ally allowing small sum to provide for
their families requirements. When they
found dying person they would some
times take out policies without securing
the consent of the insured.
1t is alleged further that Levi I. Noe,
selden D. Delamar and Jacob @. Della
mar, under the firm name of Noe, Della
mar & Co., secured the assistance of DR..
7. B. Delamar, a relative Of the junior
member OF the firm, together with the
agency of several reputable life insur-
ance companies, and began operations of
similar character.
The first company to start an investi-
CATION was the Mutual Reserve Fund
Life association of New York, which had
death loss of 81, COO upon Ella G. Roun-
tree, negress, insured as white wO
man, who died of consumption shortly
after she had been insured The aggre-
gate insurance placed upon her life in
various companies within few months
of her decease was $14, 900.
The Massachusetts Benefit Life Asso-
citation of Boston, which had been repre-
sented by Noe, Delamar IL Co., less than
six months, stood for policies aggregat-
ing $50, 900. Upon notification of two
death losses, occurring within a period
of less than two months after issuing the
policies, the company detailed its inspec-
tor, W. @. Abrams, to make an investiga
tion He found that Sereda Williams, one
of the risks, who had been insured for
81, 900, had been lying at the point of
death for several weeks prior to the is
suance Of the policies, and that Ella G..
Rountree, colored, who had been insured
as white woman, had been in i'll health
for three years before, and had been
confined to her bed several months when
the insurance was effected. The bene-
ficiaries in the Rountree case figured III
the policy as the father and the brother
of the deceased The father, Stephen
/. Turner, is Baptist minister. Neither
Of the parties was possessed of the
means to carry so heavy line of in
surance.
In the course of Inspector Abrams in
vestigation he discovered that men and
women 65 to 80 years of age had been
insured on the basis of ages ranging
from ten to fifteen yeaIs He discovered
also that one of the insured, John Boyd,
was a poor demented negro; another,
Mary A. Longest, was 65 years old, but
was insured as sd, while she had suf-
fered from heart disease for several
years, and died of it few months after
the cancelling of the policy.
.Sereda Williams had been in i'll health
for several years. Her husband, Sam
uel Williams, who is nominated as bene-
ficiary, is fisherman who is and always
has been in Strengthened circumstances.
His boon companion, Abe Wigfall, Sc
cured So, 900 from the Bay State Bene-
ficiary Association of Westfield Mass,
upon the death of his brother, James
Wigfall, who was insured on his death
bed, seven days before his decease. The
claim had been paid without investiga-
tion upon the part of the company, as
clean set Of proofs of loss had been for
warded by the c0nspirators, giving cause
of death as malarial fever, a disease
is alleged, was divided between Abe
Wigfall, David Parker, Frank Gibble
and Silas Blount. 1t was invested by
them in real estate, and the Bay State
has instituted suit against each Of them
10 recover the amount.
1t is stated the inspectors life has
been threatened since he began his in
vestigation.
Among the many cases of alleged
fraud developed in policies secured
through the agency of Noe, Delamar &
Co., with the aid of the company's ex-
amining physician, DR.. 7. B. Delamar,
are the following:
Samuel Windsor, insured as a white
man, aged So, for S3, 900 He is negro,
rs years ol il ill heai,.l, AID had no
knowledge that his life was insured.
Mary vii i4ms, negro as 50 years old,
has son hing GGee As.
Rosanna Washington, insured for $5,-
600, has never been examined and had