The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-12-23
USED ON FUNERALS
HOW INSURANCE MONEY Is USED
IN new YORK.

Use tho Money Collected by Hid
scenes Among the Mourners Of Poverty
In ths Great Monstrous City of the
East
New York, Dec. 22.-what to eat and
drink, how to be housed and Clothed, the
vancement, these are vital corsidera-
tons; but the poor, those who, in famii-
lar phrase, live from hand TO mouth, add
another query to the list, namely, tine
getting out Of life and being decentiy
buried
ITS hard raking and scraping to put
by this insurance money every week.
said tenement house mother, "but
sleep easier at night when 1 know that
there's something 10 fall back on in case
| Of trouble
| I'm always worried till the baby gets
to be a year DID," said west side mat
ron. The agents won't give no policy
on a child that's that young, ard just
the very minute the year is up makes
application
why do you worry?" she was asked,
as the visitor glanced at the chubby
faced children playing about.
why worry?" she repeated. Them
| what lives in this thick-settled part sees
things to remind 'em of worryin', when
people dies sudde, and there amt a dol
lar in the house to promise the under
| taker or 10 git a carriage or a flower.
Their, the very ground to put 'em away
in can't be touched without money. I'll
scrimp all fashions and save every penny
l can to keep my papers paid up prompt.
No such dread hangin' over my head.
Let me see? There's 20 cents for the old
man and 10 cents apiece for the five
children; that's good deal 10 pay out
each week, besides the rent to see to;
but thirk about Potter's Field staring
us in the face, and when the agent comes
to the door pays him cheerful
The life insurance agents are regular
visitors in the tenement houses. Any
day they may be seen, notebook in
hand, jot$ing down the dimes and quar-
ters, the premiums from a slimer ex-
chequer. Then, when the long-dreaded
trouble comes, and the company has
been notified. the ''clsim-inspector" ap-
pears with another notebook, to investi-
gate the circumstances of death, and
certify 10 the business of the claim.
when the sum received at a child's
death is large, is the money all spent on
the funeral?" was asked OF mission
worker
Invariably; but the average insur-
ance obtained on very young children is
only about $2S or $50. L once suggested
to the mother of a family that the $40
Insurance money that she had collected
was too much to squander on burial
charges. She did washing for living,
and her children stood in need Of proper
food and clothing.
"It does seem like lot of money,
she admitted, but 1 couldn't use a cent
of Jimmie's insurance money for ary-
thing but his funeral. 1t would be like
using "blood-money" to buy the others
things that rightfully belonged to him.
You see, the life insurance men have
some forceful texts to preach from" she
went on. should a poor person hesitate
about taking out policy. Here is ar in
stance: A little girl came to my sewing
class as usual one morning, and when
the teacher greeted her, said, in the most
stoicai way, My ma is dead in bed at
home The teacher went home with her,
and, sure enough, the woman was in
bed. just as she had been IL the night,
dead. She had not been touched, be-
cause. the death being sudden, they
waited for the coroner. She had been
drinking woman. When it was certified
that she died Of heart disease, the under
taker was summoned, and agreed 90
bury the body for s27.
''The coffin was brought and the dead.
decertly robed, was placed in il; but,
when the funeral hour came, the under
taker stipulated that SO of the s27 must
be paid down before the funeral process
sion could move. The husband went
out and tried 10 raise the money, but
failed, and what did the undertaken Go
but tumble the corpse out upon the floor,
like sack of -four. and walked off with
his coffin, 10 the horror and astorish-
ment Of everybody present. The city
buried the woman in Potter's Field. L
doubt if there is single person who was
present on that occasion, or who heard
OF the circumstance, who has not since
taken out a policy. That one urder-
takers act did a great deal for the life
insurance people. and l doubt IL, from
business standpoint, the undertaken was
to blame. Selling coffins was his means
of making a living, just as selling bricks
is another mans business, or selling
stoves anothers. He had probably
buried two or three people, and had
never received pay; indeed, woman
present remarked that il the undertaken
had let that coffin go. it would be a
sight of free buryin's he'd had had
hand in In contrast to such picture,
the absurdly fine funeral is to be pre-
feFred.
After all" continued this observer,
there is something touching in these
peoples devotion 20 their dead, and the
consolation they derive from spending
their all upon them. While snow
storm was raging last winter, little boy
boy died, in whom l was Interested. and
the other mission workers as well 1
really should like 10 send some flowers.
said my co-worker, 'out they are 50
Sc arce now, and 50 expensive, that /
think I could put the money - better
use. I went 20 thai poor. shabby lodg-
ing. where fire and food had sometimes
been scarce for days, and the room
where the child lay was full OF flowers.
procured by the family or sent in by
friends Life insurance money burief
the child The working classes are kind
TO each other in distress. and death
seems to touch them more than suffering