The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-09-02
4 FAIR CASE

In Connecticut-Which Died First,
 Husband or Wife?-A. o. U. W. h.
 volved.
 The question of which was presumed to have survived the other, where hus- band and wife meet death together in a catastrophe, has never been decided by the Connecticut supreme court so far as an examination of Baldwin's Digest shows. and the question is raised in a case now pending in the superior court of Hartford county, many lawyers are deeply interested. Some states have statutes covering the question and in Louisiana, which adopted the common law of Rome, the presumption is that the husband, being the stronger of the two, survives his wife in shipwrecks or other form of catastrophe where both perish.
 The recent death of MT. and Mrs. Charles l.. Fair in France in an auto mobile accident caused a widespread discussion of the subject because of the prominence of the people and the mil lions of dollars involved. The belief is that if that case had been taken to the courts it would have been decided on all of the attending circumstances and testimony of eye-witnesses. Should the case now pending in Hartford county ever come to trial, the attending cir cumstances and the condition of the bodies when found will probably be the material clements in deciding whether the husband of wife was the last to die.
 The question comes up here in suit brought by the Grand Lodge of the An- cient Order of United Workmen against Manuel King of Hartford as adminis- trator of the estate of Filomena Chayes. Mrs. Chaves and her husband, Antonla c. Chaves, occupied tenement at No' 9S New Park avenue, Hartford, and on the morning of January 5, of this year they were found asphyxiated in their apartments from inhaling Illuminating gas. Their young son, Joseph, two and one-half years old, and Mary DeVida' eighteen years old, guest at the house for the night, were also found dead from the same cause. MT. Chaves was a member of the Ancient Order Of Uni- ted Workmen and he held beneficiary certificate for thousand dollars. The sole beneficiary named in the cerlt1- cate was his wife. Manuel King was appointed administrator of the estate or Mrs, Chaves and made claim for the money and Bernardine c. Chaves and Maria c. Chaves, father and mother of kf,. li1rn f11 Santa EGniri- to Gloria, St. Mary's Island, Azores also made claim for the fund on the ground that Mrs. Chaves and her son died before the father and husband, whose mother and father claim to be the only legal heirs.
 The beneficiary certificate issued to MT. Chaves contained no provision for | the payment of the benefit in case of 1 the death of the beneficiary. The laws of the Ancient Order of United Work men under which the certificate was is- sued provide that if the beneficiary or benef1ciaries shall be entitled to the benefit equally, unless otherwise provi- ded in the beneficiary certificate, and if all the beneficiaries shall die during the lifetime of the member, and he shall have made no other legal designation, the benefit shall be paid to his widow, if living at the time of his death; if he leaves no widow surviving him, then said benefit shall be paid, share and share alike, to his children, his grand children living at the time of his death to take the share to which their de- ceased parents would be entitled if liv- s,-n . I@a nI,; Inay rapH- children of the deceased member living at the time of his death the said bene- fit shall be paid to his mother, if living; and if she be dead, then to his father, if living.
 l Antonio C. Chaves left no children or grandchildren and his only heirs are his mother and father. The father and
 mother and MT. King as administrator claim the fund. It is alleged that each
 of them threatened to sue the Ancient
 Order of United Workmen and the &C.,
 tion was brought by that organization l to have the court determine to which of the claimants the money should be paid, that it might be relieved from further 1 liability. E. P Arvine is lawyer for the plaintiff and Andrew J. Broughel, Jr., appears for MT. King.
 1 MT. Chaves at the time of his death
 was twenty-nine years old and his wife
 was twenty-one years old. When the bodies were found Mrs Chaves and her
 young son were lying on the bed. Both
 bodies were warm and it was at first
 thought by those who entered the house
 that life had not entirely left them.
 MT. Chaves' body was found on the
 floor in the same bedroom and it was
 cold. It was the belief at the time that
 he discovered gas in the room and left
 the bed to raise a window, but that he
 became unconscious and fell to the floor
 before he could reach the windw. The
 body of Mary DeVida was found on a
 sofa in another rom and was warm. In view of the legal question involved
 layers are deeply interested in the ac- ton.
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