Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1900-1903, 1902-11-12
INSURANCE CASE
Witnesses Tell What They Knew
of the Deceased.
INSURED In OTHER COMPANIES
Had Been Rejected in One in Which
She Already Had Two Policies How

Had Been Rejected In One In Which
She Already Had Two Policies How
ever-The Defendant Company
Knew This But Nevertheless In
sured Her-Now Trying to Squeeze
Out of Paying OH Technicality.
The case Of Edward McGrath
against the Equitable Life Assurance
company was resumed i'll the Superior
court to-day before Judge Shumway
and a jury. The hearing stopped yes
terday afternoon with DR. Leonard Ba-
con OF New Haven on the stand. This
morning Henry y. Lane of the Lane
Novelty. company on North Elm street
was the first witness. He testified
that for 4 long time Miss McGrath
was employed by this concern, UP al
most to the time of her illness that
ended with her death. She was
very ambitious woman, he said. ana
an unusually steady worker, seldom
if ever taking a day off. A short time
beore she left the factory to take care
of her father at home. he said she
used to frequently complain Of her
difficulty in going up stairs. This
was the extent Of his direct examina-
tion.
Under cross examination bv Attor-
ney Cole Mr. Lane testified that dur-
ing the winter of 190O-O1 the OUTPUT Of
the factory was somewhat increased
ana consequently the work in the
shipping department, of which Miss
McGrath had full charge, was in
creased also. The new product of
the concern was heavy and entaiIed.
considerable lifting by Miss McGrath
1one oIten complained of this extra,
work ana the great weight Of it TO witz
ness. About this time he noticed she
aept prescription in the shop that
-, ne presumed it was hers. though be
lau never seen her use It. This dis-
posee, OF Mr Lane and then a deposi-s
NToy Nh ny Dr William Perry Watson 20
ark' ~. y, assistant medical ~
: geloT III ~ the New York Prudantia
insurance company, was road
a., nuiiiDer OF insurance agents tos+,.
~ aiia among them was patricl,
4Nasn sn " the Prudential Life Tnsuro,,a
eoipaliy. lie testified that bo No
o,iyssl an application from Misc Nra
i. 'iath 81 early III December. 1901 ~ NJ
.hs,'reu, ana the application was ~
yec.eu. AT that time however sba
nad Two policies in that common, ~
~ li llol notify her that the anplicotio,
was rejected nor was she informod ~
" IN any way. He did not know Ng,.
Geraghty, the agent Of the En,,itaII
at that time, but he did know hin, 4,
March or April. He told Geraght,r
Ihat Miss NIcGrath had been reiectad
Dy the Prudential or the Germania
put notwithstanding that he uroad
Geraghty to insure her in the Ennit-
able. 14quit-
Attorney Robinson objected to tb;s
testimony, but Attorney Cole cIaimaJ
IL to show that the Equitable comnanv
knew the woman had been rejected Nv
other companies at the time they IN
sured her. In support of his claim
Attorney Cole stated the defense was
careful to keep the officials Of the com
pany out Of the case. "Their general
swearer." said he. sis this DR. Cross
one of the medical directors. He saws
ne advised the company to reject the
application. but there is not a scran Of
evidence to show that this advice was
acted upon. They knew she had been
rejected at the time they accepted her.
Ii there is anything favorable in this
matter to the company they claim the
officers knew all about it, but wh<n
anything unfavorable turns ND they
say the officers knew nothing about Is
and that the agent alone was RESPONSE
ble They want to. take all the glory
but none Of the blame" AT this point
he quoted case from the books SUBJ
stantiating his claim 2nd the states
ment he had just made. He read to
the effect that woman who had not
been living with her husband for some
time had Serself insured as widow.
After she had been insured long time.
quite a number of years, she decided
to assign her policy to an old friend in
consideration of the latter taking care
of her in the last Of her days. The
woman made the usual application to
the secretary of the company to have
the policy assigned to her friend, but
the secretary told her to go to tile
clerk, and she did, and the policy was
assigned. But when the policy fell
due the company refused to pay on the
grounds that the clerk had no power
to make the transfer and that the wo-
man had herself insured under false
circumstances. But this claim did not
hold in coIrt.
The testimony was allowed and the
witness resumed to the effect that he
urged Geraghty to get policy on Miss
McGrath Witness at first refused to
admit this. He was asked how much
of the commission paid Geraghty he
received and he replied that he could
not tell. After few more questions.
of this nature witness went down.
Mr. Geraghty was the next witness
and he was asked about the rate OF
insurance in the Equitable. This was
objected to and Attorney Cole said
he would claim to show that while
the Equitable accepted Miss McGrath
at AZ years of age they charged her !.
at the rate of 81 years Of age.
Murder and Suicide In Kansas City.
KANSAS CITY, Nov. 12.--Dr. W.. Ell.