The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-07
HARRIS INVALUABLE LEGS.


miu. when Ente and n Chicago street Car
Tssk or = Foet. aaa tho ssrGeoss
Did the Rest-unsurance Mea suspicieuss
TOPEKA, Kan, Nov. 5.-Thc story of John w.
Hillmon Of insurance fame is familiar to nearly
every man, woman, and child in the United
states. 1t has been printed in every news
paper In this country. The insurance COM.
panics believe. or pretend to believe. that Hill
mon is still alive, and that he is smart enough
to keep out OF their clutches. Even so. Hill
mon Is n novice compared with another citi-
zen OF Kansas.
This other citizen is David w Hart of Dodge
City. He Ia not a great man, but the insur.
anco~ companies think he has shown a turn of
mind at speculation which would entitle him to
membership In the Chicago Board Of Trade.
Few men arc gifted with the foresight Of q
seer or the prudence OF q FRANKLIN, bat Mr.. Hart
of Dodge City seems to have both.
For many years Hart was on the Atchison.
Topeka and Santa Fe between Dodge City
and La Junta, Cal. He was by turns a switch
man, freight brakeman. passenger and freight
conductor. and, for all any one knows. an en-
ginecr and fireman. However. he passed
twenty years on rolling stock. He was not a
clumsy man. He was q small. wiry, active
fellow. to whom year after year of railroad
work had given a certain agility and d~exterity
about cars. So adept, indeed. had he become,
that in all these years he had never met with
an accident-not one. He hoped off cars, he
hoped on cars. He switched. he climbed
over slippery decks of cars. He coupled up
trains, he perched on brakes, he swung from
car to car, he caught flying trains, he missed
approaching engines. and, in fact, stared death
in the face in q thousand ways. Still he es-
capped unscathcd.
Thus Hart struggled along through life until
he passed the forty.Hfth mile post. He was the
father OF half a dozen children. He was a
frugal and thrifty man, and saved enough
money to buy a house in Dodge City. He also
contrived to buy another one at La Junta. 1t
is not always best for a Western railroad man
to own too much property in one town. He
also saved money for a bank account.
Hart believed in insurance, especially in ac-
cident insurance. Unlike Hillmon, he did not
care to die to beat an insurance company, and
for tho protection of his family he liked to keep
well insured in railroad benevolent associations
against accidents to life and limb. AS Hart
worked on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa F6
road he was insured, with other employees, in
the Travellers Association for employees Of
that company, 30 as to receive 1866 for the loss
of a leg. He did not stop with that safeguard,
but threw out q few more anchors. or, in rail-
road parlance, safety signals, in the way OF ac-
cident policies. He was insured in the Engt-
neers' Association, in the Railway Officials
eAN @abhOy ~ 49,
Accident Association, the Railroad Conductors
Life Insurance Company of the United States
and Canada, the Switchmen's Union Bencvo-
lent Association. the Railroad Trainmen's AS
ISOLATION, and the Railroad Passenger and
Freight Conductors Association. He also be.
longed to the Masonic. and United Workmen
lodges, in which he had $4,000 in policies.
This list would strike most persons as being a
fair provision against all contingencies, but
Hart knew better tho value of his own limbs
than any one else. Not that he feared for n
moment that he might in his old age grow care
less and fall beneath the wheels OF his own
train. Oh. no, there was merely the dark pre-
sentiment ever in his mind, 80 he PAID his as
sessments.
In the autumn of 1898 came a pleasant break
in the monotonous life of this railroad man.
He was selected by an admirine constituency
ton at Boston. The'trip pleased Hart, for not
only could he represent the railroad men in an
to see the Worlds Fair. Being a frugal man
and not addicted to drink or bad habits. he
s snee as sc nHai s' WIS "a able e't To- s paslnf fo ~ Boston snsaa,
with a few hundred dollars in his pocket.
sentiment would come up before him: He had
taken a sleeping car out OF Kansas City. and as
he thought how recEiessiy he was exposing him,
self to the perils OF travel in the hands of a
STsw he he k baS r aosh on io about Tsars o aysry ha rsilrG I'd
vision again as he lay there in his berth. The
tales of careless railroading in fair times would
fancy conjured up grim pictures of horror. II
was in vain that he argued, with himself that he
was insured in case of accident, Nothing could
pay for the loss of any of his valuable members.
What Werc these tEiting policies to the loss of a
tional T TFsetn pay for it, ''s' '0u'a 'n' ma
Troubled and haFassed by these thoughts,
OF relief that Sat"H he ln't' the train m"s and Ml' made sss a
straight cut for accident insurance offices,
where he enrolled himself under the banner OF
their protection. Some conception o. the
magnitude OF his operations may be CLEANED
from a brief glance ut the list of companies he
l NV IN nlWvnra wit thn nut 10
the loss Of II leg, He took out policies in the
Pacific Mutual Lifc--S2 900.
Fidelity AID Casu"!ty-S5o per week for
TraicIlsrs' Insurancc-sso per week for
Interstate Casualty-S SO per week for twenty,
London Guarantee Accident Limited)-sso
per week for twenty-siX weeks.s-=
Etna Life-S30 per week for twenty-six
United States Mutual Accident Association
$500 for loss of a leg.
Guarantee and Accident uloyd's)-$25 per
week for twcnty-nine weeks.
Accident Insurance Company Of North Amcr,
lea and Canada-S3o per week for twenty.s!x
The STANDARD Accident Insurance $50 per
week for tifty.two weeks.
Manufacturers AccidLn mt Insurance COMPANY
OF C~anada-Ts.0 600 Tor loss OF leg.
ton mm n i3gi,ca,L kine 6n5 fo Association IoSs ~ 3nc Corpora
A singular Circumstance is that in the pre-
vious year Hart, while on a similar trip to Bos-
.oAt 1885, "a 80 " ooALS anu
in the same manner, but that year he was won.
derfully preserved and had no cause to make
a demand on the corporations. The policies
above enumerated were taken out on the thirty
day limit, plan. and in case Hart should be
killed his heirs would get something over $780,
600. In addition to this liberal protection to
his life. the dozen or so companies he was in
sured In at home would pay, in case OF death,
about 10000.
But Hart seemed most concerned about h $
legs, although there was no reason to sup.
pose there was anything extraordinary about
these members. He had such n fancy for their
insurance that between the sum insured at
legs. was worth-if not 10 Hart. to the rom.
panies- about $4,000, In two Of these com
panies which Issued him n policy before he
started for the East, one OF his legs was valued
at $1,000. In the aggregate both OF his legs
wentworth about 500, 900. Thus for the small
outlay OF about $S3 Hart could feel that any
ordinary accident to either of his legs would be
amply paid for.
There is no record OF Mr.. Harris conduct in
Boston, whittier he went after buying all the
insurance he could get in Chicago. beyond the
fuct that before returning to the West he went
on a pleasure trip to Toronto. where he once
more insured his valuable legs, taking a 81 900
nnliCV IN tho Mann ,pa-z nntAan In-