Semi=weekly graphic., 1896-12-12
THE CELEBRATED CASE OF THE STANLEYS vS. THE INsUR-
 AN0E COMPANIES.
After Being Out Ten Minutes the Jury Returned With a Verdict
 for the Defendant.

sobdHlcy fS. tic AcLnd 1HSuTtuCc CO ended this nioiIiing ii, tine Jefferson Circuit Court by verdict for the de- fendant, after the jury being out about ten minutes.
 This is q ease wherein Mrs. F. D. Stanley, the wife of Frank Stanley. q plumber of this city, brought suit against the Aetna Insurance Go. to recover the sum of $1 ITO, the amount for which she held a policy on her house, which was destroyed by fire on the morning of December 6, 1895.
 The defense refused to pay the pol icy and denied liability on the ground that plaintiff set on fire, orcaused the house to be burned, that she had perpetrated fraud upon the insur- ance company by including in claim of losses sustained by the fire per sonal property aggregaring q value of over 8 900, when in fact, large quantities of the property had been removed from the house prior to the fire. The defense also showed that Mrs. Stanley, before she came to Pine Bluff. and while living at Lex ingtnn, Ky, had suffered similar and while living in a house ownee by Mrs. Smart she had another ire. The third fire was the one in eontro- versy. Il each and every case loss was fully covered by insurance.
 Prior to loss that was in issue by this suit, and under the same policy, the barn and stable owned by Mrs. Stanley were burned. aud she col leeted from the insurance company the full amount of her loss.
 The defense showed that two un- successful efforts to burn the resi- dence were made prior tt he one which resulted in its total destruc- tion; that in each and every one of the fires sutained Mrs. Stanley had insurance and collected amount of losses.
 The defense proved by quite a number of creditahle witnesses that sa the first fire that some of the citi- zens who had gathered there, offered to put out the fire, but were told by Mir. Stanley that his buckets were a8l locked up and that the water pipes were frozen, showing, as de- fendaDf's attorneys urged, that he did not want tLe fire to be extin- guished.
 The fire in question occurred be- tween and , o'clock on the morn ing of December 6, 1895, and during that night Mrs. Stanley stayed all night with her friend, Mrs. Kirch- grabber. The defense. by witnesses, proved that during the evening Mir. Stanley called on Mrs. kirchgrabber and from her procured a box of matches; that about o'clock on the morning of the fire he returned to the kirchgrabber residence and an- in the following language: Dolly, sshe is gone this time to the very bricks.s
 This remark WAS construed by the attorneys for the defense as con elusive evidence that Mrs. Stanley knew Of tie burning of her house. No effort waa made by counsel for plaintiff to account for the where abouts of MT. Stanley between the hours of II o'clock D. Iii. and 4 o'clock q. m.
 fine proof 0f joss offered by Mrs. Stanley in support of her claim, was not in her favor. and received the special attention of the attorneys for the defendant, and the manner in which they handled it was scathing and convincing and afforded amuse- lnent tt the large number of specta- tors who had assembled there, and the close consideration of the jury.
 Among the numerous claims for loss sustained by Mrs. Stanley at this fire, as shown from proof of losses offered in evidence. were many articles. that in quantity and qnal- ty, wu;isd have done credit to one who was wealthy and moved in the highest walks Of life On one item it was shown the Stanleys had only one bed-room set. and that for this set they had fourteen pillow easea, This list also showed n loss of eleven night shirts, sixteen pairs of socks. fourteen chairs. twelve suits of nn- 1erwear, and so on, and the manner in which the defendants attorneys picked out each of these items, and, ilguratively, hurled them ut the jury with spch whitening scorn that the verdict was easily foretold.
 This case Is one of vast importance to the people of Pine BlHff. and now that Jury of twelve unbiased and honest men have said that the logs .occasioued by the fire was due to Mrs, Stanley's own negligence ol wtllful wrong. and refused to give her a verdict against the insurance companies 1t will have a tendency te z