Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-08-17

icuiarly insurance agents, who believed
hat the captain had Deliberately commit
;cd suicide, a majority of those who took
in interest in the case secuted the thought
They reasoned in this way: What incentive
could n man Of Captain Colvocoresses age
and character have for committing suicide
nnder such circumstances. His income
was sufficient for the support of himself
and wife. His future was assured. His
past was certain. He was a man of cour-
age and intelligence whose character up to
this time had been without reproach.
low, then. again, could it be possible for
such man To commit such deed? And
even conce,!ing that lie did in fit of
mental alteration take his own life. why
should he plan to have il believed that an
other had committed the deed, particularly
when by so doing it was possible to en-
danger the life of some innocent bystand-
er. This reasoning had great effect and
was generally believed.
The insurance companies, however, We're
not satisfied A rigid Investigation was
begun, and the following facts We're
brought out and could not be controverted:
At the time of the SUPPOSED murder
Captain ColyccoTesses was On his way to
the station u take the midnight train for
New York, where he was to pay the pre-
miums on some insurance policies the fol-
lowing day These policies amounted 10
500, 900, but when the body was discover
ed there were only Il few dollars in his
pocket, while a great mass of papers, in
Guiding memorandum books, We're in his
small satchel which had not been opened
in the struggle His wife, who was evil
IDENTIFY not in the conspiracy, if there was
one, declared that the amount found on
hnyh Inns lnn hnA ahon
him when he parted from her.
The captain was regarded as a poor
man outside Of his government pay, and
how he could meet the premiums on $780,
600 of policies with an income of a few
thousand dollars was u problem. This
problem, it seemed ut first, could be an
swercd by memorandum found in the cap
tain S satchel.
1t should be said that all this insurance
had been taken up within few months
and that the first payments We're made
with prize money which he had received
as his share of the operations IL Farra-
gut expedition on the Mississippi.
Now comes a part of the case not a little
less startling than the murder or suicide
OF the man itself In one of the memo
randum books there was n carefully tabu-
lated statement of the amount Of bonds he
:
note added, Particulars as to these bonds
will be found i'll my private box in my
vault in the First National bank of Litch-
field his box was opened in the expcc-
tation of finding there 500, 900 il the best
interest paying bonds in the country, but
instead there was simply copy of the rec
ord in the memorandum book, with a fur
Their record Of $500, 600 additional interest
paying bonds, all of which, the mcmOran-
dun stated, were in the safe deposit in
New York.
An examination of the safe deposit in
New York showed that the captain had
had Il private box there for few months
some time before, but nothing was known
of his bonds As the dates of purchase,
prices paid and the character of the bonds
We're all carefully recorded, the authorities
at once wrote to the different corporations,
| which were scattered all over the country
Some $50, 900. the data showed, were regis
| tered bonds of the United States treasury
IN u short time the answers began to
come back from railroads and water com
panics, manufacturing enterprises, banks
state treasures and other money associa-
ticns, all asserting most positively that
Captain Colvocoresses not only did not
| own ut the time of his death a dollars
worth OF stock i'll their corporations, as
| solutions or looms, but that he never had
| owned any stock or bonds, nor had he ever
| applied for the sumo.
1t was now believed that Captain Col
| vocoresses had thought that his taking
| such a large amount of insurance would
| excite suspicion and had deliberately pre-
| pared these false schedules and exhibited
| them to insurance agents as "A guarantee of
| his ability to pay his policies. A contest
| followed on the part of the insurance COM
panies, but they subsequently compromised
| with the widow by paying her very
| small part of the amount actually insured
! for.
There are many people who still believe
! that Captain ColvOcorcsses was assassinat-
| cd, but there are still more who are con-
| WINGED that he insured himself with the
! deliberate intention OF committing suicide
and leaving large estate to his wife and
dependents. The statements as to the
bonds would seem to warrant this opinion
! The imposition, taking into considcra-
| ton the character of the man, is one of the
| most remarkable in the history of fraud.
| But charity leads to the belief that the old
| sailors mind was affected and that his
| action was due to a rash mans resolution
and "A mailman cunning
| ALFRED X. CALHOUN.