The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1902-07-16

think of such a thing. Between that
:me and early fall | met this same
man several times. and finally I could
not resist the temptation of stopping
him and saying: You are SO much
like n friend of mine that the likeness
haunts me. Is your name Living
stone?" "Oh, no." he replied. and re-
marked that people often resembled
each other. | said: "If you had san
dy hair and no mustache could swear
you were Livingstone" He replied:
But | have brown hair and 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-
quested me to go into st. Lawrence
county and investigate, which I 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 em-
ploy, to the town where Livingstone
had been buried, and investigate the
matter. We found the grave of iiv-
ingstone in as perfect condition as
when | had placed the wreath on IL
some two years before. Not being sat
isfied with this we went with a letter
to the undertaker-whlch 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.
ther with the work. We finally in
duced him to remove the cover from
the upper part of the coffin, with the
result that the body was not there
the coffin was empty.
If 1t had not been that both the un-
dertaker and myself were present at
the burial, nothing could have con-
vlnced 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 had calculated well, and were
ready in the sewer to commence dig
ging upward as soon rs The earth be-
gan to fall into the grave from above.
investigation proved that this sewer
was being constructed at The very tim-
when Livingstone was buried. His
comatose state must have been either
aided by the physician or was sd per-
feet as to deceive him, as II did the un-
Gertaker. We all remembered that at
at time of his burial his wife positively
refused to have the body embalued
Of put on ice, nor would she allow apv
one to go where the body was unless
she or Mr. White was present, and
this hastened the burial.
Later investigation showed that
these same parties Lad collected within
the past two years four policies. using
much the same methods-none of
which were investigated, as the com
panles considered 1t wiser to accept
their losses and continue in a prcIita-
BILE BUSINESS undisturbed than to stir
up trouble.
Since that time | have investigated
and adjusted many claims for insur-
ance companies, and my experience
gained in these cases has aided me in
preventing tie collecting of many sn-
just claims against the COMPANIES: but
never in all my 35 years of experience
in the insurance business have | met
four so expert in fraudulent practices
as were the Livingstones and Whites.
II. +. McGrew.