The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-09-27
town where Mr.. Livingstone died ard
placed some flowers and wreath on
his grave. and az 4nnrnL 49,


wiped the tears from my eycs-haviae
almost learned to love the man. With
IN the year that followed | noticed i,
the papers that three good-sizcd DO.
ices had been paid in different SOC.
tons OF the county, the promnt nav.
ment OF which had helped to make the
Insurance business unusually good
One very hot day on lower Broadway
] was astonishcd to meet a man Sc
strikingly like Livingstone that 7 fall
tered for a moment, then passed ON
with the thought of how foolish 10
think of such a thing. Between that
inc and early fall l met this same
Iran several times, and finally | could
lot resist the temptation of stopping
him and saying: You are so much
like a friend of mine that the likeness
| h2unts me. Is your name Living
stona?' "Oh, nc" he replied and rc-
marked that people often resembled
each other. | said: IF you had sar-
dy hair and no mustache could swear
you were Livingstone" He replied:
But | have brown hair and a brown
mustache." We then passed on.
My feelings compelled me to relate
this circumstance to the manager of
the company, and he then showed me
a letter from the agent IN ST. Law
renee county, who wrote that he was
sure he had seen Livingstone in dis
guise in his town. The manager re-
qrested me to SO into St. Lawrence
county and investigate, which | did.
When | reached the county, the agent
pointed out to me my friend of lower
Broadway, who | thought had not
seen me. | kept my eye upon him for
the rest Of the day, and had the pleas
ure Of seeing him cross over into Can
ada, since which time he has not been
seen.
Going back to the home company
was requested to go with one of the
hest detectives that they could en-
ploy, to the town where Livingstone
Rad been burisd, and investigate the
matter. We found the grave of Liv-
lngstone in as perfect condition as
when | had placed the wreath on it
some two years before Not being sat-
isfed with this We went with letter
to the undertaker-which we claimed
to be an order from Mrs. LIVINGSTONE
to have him eXhume the body and move
1t elsewhere for burial. He went with
us to the grave and we saw it opened.
The coffin was seemingly intact as
When placed there. We then told the
undertaken the truth regarding the
matter, and he declined to proceed fur
tEer with the work. We finally in
quced him to remove the cover from
Inc upper part Of the coffin, with the
result that the body was not there
the coffin was empty.
If it had not been that both the un-
dertaker and myself were present at
the burial, nothing could have con-
vinced us but that an empty coffin had
been placed in the ground. The re-
suit prompted US to remove the coffin |
from the grave, and on SO doing we
found that the bottom of it was gone, |
and in digging downward we came to |
the top OF a brick sewer which passed |
beneath the grave. Evidently these |
parties lad calculated well, and were |
ready il tie sewer to commence Dig
siES upward as soon as ;he earth be-
gan to fall into the grave from above.
proved that this sewer
vas being constructed at The very TIM
y ben Livingstone was buried. His |
'omatose state must have been either
aided by the physician or was SO per-
Get as to deceive him, as it did the un-
We all remembered that at
It time OF his burial his wife positively
'efused to have the body embalmed
y put on ice, nor would she allow any
ne to go where the body was unless
he or Mr.. White was present, and
his fastened the burial.
Later investigation showed that
hese same parties Lad collected within
he past two years four policies, using
much the same methods-none of
sl,ich were Investigated, as the com
'auies considered it wiser to accept
heir losses and continue in 4 prcf1ta-
lie BUSINESS undisturbed than to stir
p trouble.
Since that time l have investigated
nd adjusted many claims for insur'
nee companies, and my experience
aimed in these cases has aided me in
reventing the collecting Of many un-
ust claims against the companies; but
ever in all MY So years of experience
n the insurance business have l met
our SO expert in fraudulent practices
S were the Livingstones and Whites.
t. f. McGrew.