St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-28


present, when any such examination
was made by the companies.
Merrill left the office, and the next
thing / heard was that with the aid
of prominent physician Of this city,
he had succeeded in obtaining from
DR.. MacNamara' Office. the assistant
coroner, possession of the viscera and
brain and had taken them away. Mer-
rill making DR.. MacNamara believe 1
had consented to this, although l had
not, and, from that day to this, we
have never been able TO get them. or
hear anything from the company in re-
1ation to them.
"Thirty-fve thousand dollars of this
insurance was made payable to Mrs.
Ada w. McCue, Of st. Louis, from
whom Col Hunt had borrowed mon
ey. About this time was opened
campaign Of abuse through the newspa-
pers, covering the personal character
of Col. Hunt with ignominy and shame
and charging that Mrs. McCue was the
mistress Of Col. Hunt, and that the
insurance was given to her as trib-
ute of the affection of Col. Hunt for
her, as his mistress
Charges were made by one Of the
leading insurance journals and by the
st. Louis newspapers, and they are too
vile to be repeated. They cover col
nmns in each of the papers, and were in
many issues. st. Louis is the home Of
Mrs. McCue, and it was here the Hunts
have many relatives and friends.
If this was done with the hope that
the widow and children of Col. Hunt
and Mrs. McCue would not go through
the exposures which were suggested,
1t will not accomplish the pur-
pose. We shall collect every dol
lar of this insurance. and we shall
then hold the guilty parties responsible
for the devilish charges contained in
their publications. AS far as my eli
ents are concerned it is a fight to the
death; we will make no compromise
whatever, but will collect every dol
lar of this insurance, or none of it.
This is briefly the situation, as we
view it. The details Of it l cannot give
you. [ can say, with the utmost con-
f1dence, that none Of the charges made
against Col. Hunt or Mrs. McCue can
be proved. 1t has been claimed that he
died by taking prussic acid, and I have
heard some intin1atfon that it is as
serted the acid was hypodermically ap-
piled. OF course, nothing OF the sort
can be proved. We will prove by the
doctors here, and prominently by DR..
MacNamara and DIR. REM, both of
whom made thorough examination of
all the facts, and who saw and ex-
amined the body as we'll as the chem
lists who made the examinations and
exhausted all the tests known to sci
ence, that no such thing happened.
The Bankers Life Association
of st. Paul, Mimi, as I have stated,
promptly, and at once, paid it's loss
without any question. This company was
the one that was upon the ground with
its headquarters in this city, when Col.
Hunt died. /, personally, told c.. II.
Blgelow, the president of the company
and it's other officers, the rumors 1 had
heard relating to this matter. The COM
pany, at the end of the sixty days sue
ceeding his DEATH which was the time
named in the policy when payment
would be made promptly gave the heirs
OF Col. Hunt it's check for Sc, 600, which
was the full amount of it's policies. It's
conduct, in this unhappy business, was
fair and above criticism.
1T may be interesting to state
that the Bankers Life Asso-
citation of Des Moines, To-,
within the last two or three weeks, stat
ed to Abijah Hunt, who was the bene-
fciary in its policy, when he made
demand that they should pay his policy,
that they could not do so without see
Ing the other companies, inasmuch as
1t had entered into an agreement with
the other companies not to pay until
all the companies had consented to a
settlement. When asked by Mr.. Hunt,
what was their reason for not paying,
they stated that they had en-
tered into this agreement with
the companies, not to pay When
threatened with a suit the president Of
that company asked Mr.. Hunt not to
sue, as their officers were not decided
whether they would stick to their agree
ment with the other companies, but
they would decide within a few days
and let him know. We promptly COM
menced suit against that company, and
we shall within a few days
FILE THE COMPLAINTS
against the other companies. At
the proper time, all things will be
explained. ard I have no doubt what
ever that the companies will pay this
Insurance. :.
Col. Hunt died Of heart disease" the
attorney went. on. He was very
large and heavy man, weighing over
20j pounds; he had been a man of great
wealth, and, when he died, owned some
three or four thousand acres of land. It
was heavily mortgaged, and in these
times OF depression he was embarrass-
ed for money. 1t may be interesting to
know that one of the companies, I don't
remember which one, refused to take
Col Hunt as risk, shortly before
they issued their policy to him. He
went again to their agent in ST. Louis,
and explained to him that he was fast
getting to be of such an age, that he
could not get Insurance, and he wanted
another and new examination made by
their physician, to see if he was an in
surable man. With this information.
and upon this request, the company
again had him submit to the examina-
ton Of their physician, and he was pro-
nounced to be all right, and the COM
pany, with full knowledge of these
facts, issued their policy to him. They
now come in and claim that he was a
diseased man at the time he took this
insurance, and took it for the purpose
OF cheating the company. OF course,
any person will realize that the policy
was not issued upon the statements he
made. They had him examined by their
own physician. and it was upon
this examination and investigation
that they issued the policy
The companies claim that thew will
be able to show that Mrs. McCue is an
adventures, and that Col Hunt owed
her no money, and that when he made
this $4,000 of insurance payable to her
he was providing for his mistress. I
personally have investigated these
facts clean to the bottom. This So, 900
OF insurance is payble to her as
creditor. If Col. Hunt did not owe her
this money, she was entitled to none of
this insurance. Representing the fam
lily of Col. Hunt, I went to distant
parts of this country, Investigating all
the facts relating to Mrs McCue's
claim, examining many records and
papers. and I found that she would be
able to maintain her claim, as a cred
itor, to that amount, against Col. Hunt.
and, as a matter Of common practice
and fair dealing, I advised the Hunt
family to relinquish any claims they
might have to that money Acting up
on my advice they did so. and I don't