The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-01-21


reighborhood and did not look at all ike
the residence Of people who dressed in
silks. satins and sealskins
Jackson looked at the building and
smiled again more cynicaily than ever.
Then he pulled out the list of the prop
erty which Mr.. L-gwell claimed had been
destroyed in the fire in the clothes closet.
The list was as follows:
One seaiskin coat ....s2 $50
Cne sealskln Jacket . 200
CEe black silk dress Observation-Disclosures. 100
One jet trimmed velvet evening gown. $50
One dress SUIT %
one frock coat ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 30
Iotl .-..--.--...----.-----.- 500
Well he sneered to himself this is
evidently one of those extravagant fami-
lies which spend everything they can get
hold of on their clothes"
When he rang the bell in the dirty hall
on the third floor of the building woman
in a calico wrapper and tousled hair
opened the door.
Us Mrs. Gigwell here? he said.
I'm Mrs. Gigwell. she said. Are you
the gent that came TO see about the
fire?"
Yes he said. and she invited him in
al once. You set right down." she said.
land I'll send across the street for Mister
Gigwen. He said he didn't want nobody
fussing around about that fire without
him being here
Presently the front door opened and in
came Mr.. Gigwell and his daughter, who
had gone to fatch him. Gigwell got down
tc business at once He threw open the
door of TIE Inflated closet. Its walls were
blackened and the woodwork was badly
cbarred. There evidently had been fire
there.
Amt nobody touched it since / put the
fire out he said. Mrs. Gigwell and [
was walked up by the smoke. and when
l opened the closet door the flames
Jumped out half way across the room.
Then I run downstairs for a bucket of
water and threw 1t on the flames. Look
he went on. reaching down into the
pile of black and charred scraps that lay
III pile on the fioor-''there's all that's
left of my woman's sealslzin coat" He
handed a scrap of blackened sealskin to
the adjuster. And here'-making an
other dive into the scrap heap-"is piece
of Eva's seal jacket
You think they We're worth $3.50. do
you?" asked the inspector. Have you
got the receipts showing what you paid
for them?
mo. you see they were both presents
from my wife's uncle in Californian"
Then We can write out to him and
find just what he paid for them" said
the inspector.
mo, we can't do that, either. for the
cid man died last year. But he told me
he paid more than $500 apiece for them,
went on Gigwell, "and they weren't but
little more than two years old"
Your wife and you seem to have had
handsome wardrobes, said the adjuster.
who is your wife's dressmaker?"
Well" said Gigwell, we've only been
here in Chicago a year now. and ma
hasn't had anything much made since we
come. That there black jet evening gown
was made in New York. Let's see if we
can find any scrap of it left
Down again into the pile of scraps Gig
well plunged his hands and presently
came UP again with a scrap of black
velvet. burned about the edges and bear
ing the tag of a fashionable and hign-
priced New York dressmaker.
There it's he said, as he handed the
bit to Jackson. Nothing cheap about
that there dressmaker.'
So GigwelI went through the whole list.
digging up from the collection of ruins
something to identify every article on
his list of goods destroyed. Then Jackson
got affidavits from every member OF the
family, setting forth what they claimed
were the facts in regard 10 the fire and
the amount of property destroyed.
They are pretty foxy" he said to him
self. as he noticed that none of them
attempted to give any expiana ton of the
cause of the fire, contenting themselves
with the perfectly safe statement that it
vas unknown.
Its a plain case of steal" Jackson re-
ported to the office, but l can't prove ii.
We'd better settle.
The Gigwell family got a check for
SEQ in full settlement, consenting to
compromise at that sum after Jackson
had declared he'l let them sue rather than
pay the full amount claimed.
Two months later Jackson was called TO
adjust the loss on another closet fire in
g different part of the city. The list OF
property claimed as lost was almost ex-
actly Identical with that handed in by the
Gigwells. He went out 70 the house and
the man who was claiming the insur-
ance fshed out scraps Of sealskin. bits ot
velvet and silk, just as Gigwell had done.
These Evidences Of the work OF the fire
looked familiar to Jackson.
BY George" he said to himself. "it
looks to me as II these We're the same
properties that the Gigwell family used
When the people who had suffered from
the second fire were not looking Jackson
put some private marks on the scraps of
sealskin and on all the other fire relics.
The proof of loss from the second fire vas
full and complete and was backed up
by an array OF aHidavits that was hard
TO dispute. Against his convictions Jack
son settled the claim for % per cent Of
the first demand and then waited his rev.
eune.
A few weeks later he discovered Incl
dentally that Mr.. Gigweli and the second
claimant were brothers-iH-law That
deepened his conviction into absolute GER
tainty.
Only six weeks after the second closet
fire Jackson got notice Of third closet
fire of TIE same kind. with schedule OF
losses containing the familiar sealskia
coats and set and velvet gowns He went
out at once. accompanied by one Of the
Officers of the agency. The man Of The