The Topeka state journal., 1900-04-17
HOW DID he DIE?
Paul Swetlick Insurance Case
Before Federal Court.
Amount Involved Over Thirty
five Thousand Dollars.
MURDER OR SUICIDE.
That is Question to Be Decided
by the Trial.
Bohemian Farmer MysteriOusly
Shot Eight Years Ago.
INSURED FOR $4,000.
Only One Company Refused to
Pay Policies.
May Turn Out to Be Another
HfIIrD10-n N0Co
Farmer MysteriOusly
Shot Eight Years Ago.
FOR $4,000.
Only One Company Refused to
Pay Policies.
May Turn Out to Be Another
HilImOn Case.

Was Paul B. Swetlick, of Jackson
county, murdered in the fall Of 1892, or
did he commit suicide?
This is the question which the jury
now sitting in the United States circuit
court has to answer. The trial which
the answer to this question will settle,
is a big insurance case involving poll
cies amounting to $685. 900, which with
the interest amount to over $35, 900, and
it may turn out to be another Hillmon
case. This suit differs from the Hill
mon suit, however in that there is no
doubt about the death of the man upon
whose life the policies were issued. The
entire question is, did Swetlick die by
his own hand, or by the hand of an
assassin?
Paul B. Swetlick was well-to-do Bo-
hemian farmer who lived near the
Shawnee county line in Jackson county.
He was apparently believer in life
insurance, for at the time of his death
he was carrying policies aggregaIing
$S7, 500. OF this amount $4,000 was car
ried in the Home Life Insurance COM
pany of New York. Swetlick applied
for this insurance on July l, 1892, and
sued, two for $4,000 each, and one for
| S., 600. Less than two months after
that date he was dead.
On Sunday afternoon, October 23 1892,
| oWeI1ck fOQe on nOrSeDack from ms
own home to that of his sister, Mrs.
Anna Stach, three miles away. He
spent the afternoon and evening with
the family, and some time after dark
left the house to start for home Swet-
lick was a. leader among the Bohe-
mians, and had been engaged by the
| Republican state central committee to
| go to Sumner county on the following
| day to campaign among the Bohemians
| there.
A few minutes after Swetlick left the
| house of his sister, the inmates of the
! house heard a shot fired. The four
! sons of Mrs. Stach rushed out with
/ their mother. and found Swetlick lying
| in the gateway leading into the road.
| He was conscious and said that some
/ one had slipped up behind him as he
| was mounting his horse and had shot
| him
The wounded man was carried into
| the house, and it was discovered that
| the bullet had struck him to the left
| of the lower spine and had ranged up
| ward into the left lung. The position of
| the wound seemed to indicate that the
! revolver must have been held behind
| the injured man, and the attorneys
| for the plaintiff in the suit now on
trial in the federal court claim that it
| could not have been made by anyone
but an assassin.
The Stach family claims, and their
! testimony is followed by the defense, but
is not entirely admitted by the plain
tiffs, that after they had laid Swetlick
on a bed in the house, the four boys got
a gun or two and a lantern, and started
out to find the assassin. They went
down to the gate they claim, but could
find no one. Then they went out towards
the barn and there found Swetlick' S
| horse The hitch strap was tied around
the saddle horn, and tied to the end of
the strap was a bull dog revolver. 1t
hung down level with the stirrup. The
boys took the weapon into the house and
gave it to their mother, telling her
where they had found it. She turned to
the wounded man who lay on the bed
and asked him if it was his, but he de-
MED it and remarked, He must have
tied it to the saddle after he shot me. >.
Swetlick was taken home after day
or two, and on November 2, nine days
after he was shot, he died An inquest
was held and the cOrOner'S jury decided
that Swetlick "came to his death by a
gun shot wound caused by revolver
in the hands of some person unknown
Members of the Stach family were
arrested on the charge of numbering
Swetlick, and upon the preliminary ex-
animation they were bound over to the
district court, but they were never
brought to trial for the reason that nc
hood at the time of the shooting, and
the prosecution deemed it impossible to
convict the Stachs upon purely circum-
| sstantial testimony.
SwetIick's life was insured in the
Home Life Insurance company for $685.
900: in the Northwestern Mutual of Mil
/; | Waukee Tor SZU,UUO; IN the MUTUAL Ben
eft of Newark, N. J., for $4,000; in the
New York Life for SIS 600; in the Michi-
gan Mutual for $4,000, and in fraternal
societies for $2,590, an aggregate of $751;
500.
All of this insurance was paid except
that in the Home Life, which contested
the claim against it for SIS, ,00O.l These
policies were made payable to the estate
of Swetlick, and the administrator o1
the estate, John @. Myers, brought suit
against the Home Life company. The
suit has been postponed and continued
from time to time. and this is the frs
time it has ever come to trial. although
it has been nearly eight years since
SWetlick was killed.
The plaintiff in the suit is represented
by Hayden Bros. of HoIton and BY
John H. Atwood, of Leavenwo1th The
defense is conducted by Rossington
Smith & Histed. About 100 witnesses
have been subpoenaed, and the case will
probably be as desperately fought or
both sides as the famous Hillmon case
} has been. Many of the witnesses are
Rohemians who can not speak English
and an interpreter will be necessary fol
their testimony to be understood
The theory of the defense, as stated
to the jury by Clifford Histed follow.
the story told by the Stachs. It is claim
ed by the insurance company that Swet.
/ lick was accustomed to carousing ane
: drinking a great deal. when he said il
his application for insurance that he die
! not drink to excess. 1t is claimed thai