The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-10-27
EIArA
GRAVEYARD INSURANCE
Two Men Who Tried to
SWindle the Colonial in
Custody.
MRS. HAyEHS is ALSO WANTED
Policy Issued to Her Husband
Who Was Personated
by Smith.


The Jersey City police nave run to
earth a gang of swindlers who have been
operating against insurance companies in
New Jersey. How extensive the opera
lions have been is not yet known, but IT
is thought that they did not stop with
one case. The plan of the conspirators
was to insure dummies under the names
of consumptives who had one foot in the
grave. Two arrests have been made, and
others are to follow. The men who are
in the tolls of the police are:-Randolph
M. Smith, of No. 3Ss Sixth venue New
York City, and Joseph A. Fisher, an agent
for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Com
pany, living at No. 10 Jewett avenue, this
city.
The police are looking for Mrs. A. J..
Ravens, formerly of No. 81 Jewett ave-
nue., who, it is thought, is in hiding some-
where in Brooklyn. The trio are charged
with conspiracy to defraud the Colonial
Life Insurance Company of New Jersey.
Mrs. Ravens husband. A. j. Ravens, a
bookkeeper in the employ of the Lehigh
Valley Railroad Company, had been sur
fering from tuberculosis for two years.
Last July, Fisher, who was working as
agent for the Metropolitan Life Insurance
for a small policy. The man was ex-
amined by DR.. Ramsey, examining my
sician for the Metropolitan Life Insurance
Company, secured Ravens application
Company. He refused 10 pass him, as ne
found that he was suffering from some
serious throat trouble. He advised Hay
ems to consult a specialist telling him that
should he be cured of his trouble he
..--.f5 49, 100 ~ = oyl "a &c hin,
On failing to place Ravens with the
Metropolitan, Fisher took his case to SUI
.perintendent Kelly of the Prudential Life
Insurance Company. Kelly found that
Havens had consumption and refused to
nave anything to do with him. Then
Fisher perpetrated the swindle. He be-
came acquainted with James Allen, an
agent for the Colonial Life Insurance
Company, and recommended Ravens to
him. Allen went with him to Ravens
home one evening and met Mrs. Ravens.
Il am sorry she said. but Mr.. Hav-
ems is not at home
Just as Fisher and Allen were leaving
the house a man entered.
VIII here is Ravens now" said Fish
er, introducing the stranger to Allen.
The man he introduced was Randolph
Smith. Allen talked insurance to Smith,
believing him to Ravens, and succeeded
in placing a policy which, in the event of
his death within three months. would pay
his widow $175, and if he lived longer
would pay $3.50. Smith was examined by
DR.. Hetherington, of the Colonial Com
pany. was recommended as a good risk,
and a policy was issued to A. ]. Ravens.
~ e,--.a-.lo, On Iox-1Y tiaI frha
certificate showed that he died OF
tuberculosis. That excited the suspicion
of the officers of the Colonial Company,
as no sane doctor would pass a man in
the last stages of that disease Mrs.
Ravens put in a claim for the insurance,
but the Colonial people refused to q
it. They began an investigation which
resulted in the arrests yesterday. Chief
of Police Murphy put his best detectives
on the case, and they were not long in
discovering the nature of the fraud
which a been perpetrated. 1t took
them some time to locate Smith, but
finally Detective Doyle found him in New
York City.
He learned that he was employed BY
Stearns as an upholsterer and shade
hanger, and boarded at No. 1888 Sixth ave-
nue., New York. Having located Smith.
Doyle arranged it so that Mr.. Allen, the
agent who insured "Havens," and pr.
Hetherington, the doctor who made the
examination, were posted where they could
see Smith as he was on his way home
work. They both declared that he
was the man who had been introduced TO
them as Ravens.
Having established the identity of Smith
he was arrested Tuesday afternoon. by
Detective Daley of New York and Detec-
tive Doyle of this city. He was held in
the Police Court yesterday to await ex-
at his home, and was arralgned before
Police Justice Potts in the First riminal
Court this morning and held in $500 bail
for examination tomorrow morning. The
police have as yet been unable to loca-e
Mrs. Ravens.