The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-10-28
THEY SETTLE ALL CLAIMS
SYSTEM PURSUED BY THE BIG
RAILROADS IN DAMAGE
CASES
OBJECT TO BEING MULCTED
Minute Examinations to Guard
Against Fraud, but Honest
Claims Always Fairly
Met.

The claim department. of one of the
largest street railroad corporations IN the
country employees seventy men says the
Brooklyn Mail and Express. Last year
those seventy men investigated nearly
10000 claims and paid damages am Ount-
ing to $7C0OOO, naverage of $35 a claim.
So far this year 1850 cases have been dis
posed of. This number is being increased
by hundreds every day. The claims
come from all over the country. Recently
q woman In San Francisco wrote to a
street railroad company in the East say
ing that a year previous TO the date of
her letter she had sprained her ankle in
stepping from one of the companys cars.
She wanted to know what the company
was going to do about it. The company
did nothing about it and the woman did
not write again
The claim department has to contend
with every sort of fraud, and it is partly
TO stamp fraud as fraud that an inlica ce
system has been built up
Two cases Illustrating the desire of the
general public to do" a railroad corpora
ton came up recently not a thousand
miles from New York. A servant girl
who suffered so badly that she couldn't
announce a visitors name without getting
tagled asked street railroad company
for damages She said that a car started
suddenly and threw her to the pavement
When she recovered from the shock she
found that she had an impeachment in her
speech. 1t was proved to the satisfaction
of every one except the girl and her law
yer that she had suffered ever since she
began to talk
In another instance man who asserted
that he had been permanently injured
in collision sued the company for $25, 600
damages. Two days before the trial the
company's attorney invited him to COM
promise for $4,000. He declined. When
the case came to trial the judge dismissed
1t on the victims own testimony. These
instances may be exceptions If they are
exceptions they prove rule which points
to the necessity of a careful and system
attic investigation by the claim depart
ment of every claim presented.
WHEELS OF SETTLEMENT.
1t is interesting to trace the various
steps which lead up to a settlement. Sup
pose trolley car runs into a truck
driven by John Doe, of No. 100 East One
Hundredth street. A wheel is knocked
OFF the truck and John Doe hits the
pavement with his head. The conductor
and the motorman Immediately jump
from the car. Allowing John Doe to Shift
for himself, they get the names and ad-
dresses of as many witnesses of the ac-
cident as possible. When they finish their
run, they fill out blanks, which are kept
at each depot.
Certain questions on each blank must
be answered: fer example, the number
of the car; the number of passengers
aboard at the time of the accident:
whether night or day; whether an in
spector was present; the policeman pres
ent and his number, and so on at some
length. 1t is always difficult to induce
witnesses to give their names, and they
are likely to hide behind fictitious names
or the name of friends, a, practice which
sometimes leads to unpleasant compIica-
tions.
The reports made by the motorman and
conductor. with the names of the witness
es, are Immediately referred to The n
trail office, where the case is turned over
to the chief investigator. He sends his
subordinateS out to see the witnesses
In as many cases as possible, signed
statements of the circumstances of the
accident are obtained. The reports of the
investigators and the wagon builder are
handed over to a force of typewriters
who transcribe the writer statements
and cOllocate them as Case No. 1S010.'
OF whatever number it may happen to be-
The doctor who attended John Doe sends
to the company statement of the extent
of his patients injuries, ard the COM
panys physician CATS up the doctor Oh
the telephone to get his professional opin-