The sun., 1903-11-20
JERSEY'SGRAYEYARDSA
VALUE OF SALOON $500; OF THE
INSURANCE ANNEX, $1,000.
4nese Said to BE tho Figures Of an Actual
transaction In Bayonne-Man Who
Bought Houses Out Of Young Mems
Iiyes-A Call for New Legislation.

IIyes-A Call for New Legislation.
rbe Grand Jury Of Hudson county, now
I, .es.ion, will take up the trafiiokng in
,,.urance policies on the lives OF young
man In Bayonne, which has been carried
an by some OF the Bayonne saloonkeepers,
snparsntly with such i'll effect on the lives
oithe insured. The Grand Jury, for which
prosecutor William H. Speer's detectives
are now making an investigation, wishes
PARTICULARLY to solve the question: How
can a mans life be insured without his
knowledge7 The solution OF that question
may lead to indictments.
Mr.. Speer-"the Jerome OF Hudson
colnty--who has closed up most OF the
gambling dens in Jersey City and who has
rot after official corruption in a manner
which has astonished that easygoing COM
munity, is supposed to be the best man in
the State of New Jersey to get at the bottom
Of a complicated criminal tangle. He said
yesterday:
I'VE shall probe this matter thoroughly.
lfthere is evidence OF individual criminality
the guilty will be brought to justice with
celebrity and despatch. II merely wide
spread laxity is dsclosed-and that at the
very mildest seems to be the case here-a
presentment will be returned with q view
to speedy remedy"
The county newspapers are already
calling for State law to prevent the pos
ability Of more insurance speculation.
The leading newspaper in the county said
editorially Yesterday:
1t should be contrary to law. as 1t certainly
Ia contrary to good policy. to allow saloon
keeper to carry ne insurance in o9 % customer e
companies are quick to realize the danger in
such a combination. but it should not be
e'' e prevent 20 e this Kind Of business The State
should make 1t iInpossib BILE for saloonkeeper
TO profit in the death of a man who frequents
the saloonkeepers place.
Not a day passes, now that the insurance
scandal has become public property, with
out fresh revelations about the graveyard
insurance" and its effects on the population
OF the little Jersey town. Yesterday the
family. of William Fitzpatrick. who died
took took place place Yesterday afternoon, entered
formal protest against the payment Of a
81 900 insurance policy on Fitzpatrick's
life, held by Michael Carroll, a saloon
keeper whose place the young man fire.
quented.
Fitzpatrick's folks say they learned only
when he was dying, and then only from
current gossip of the existence Of TIE policy.
They asked the sick man how there hap
pened to be such q policy held outside his
family, and he said he never heard Of such a
the insurance company has not yet succeeded
In answering, how mans life can be in
sured without his knowledge.
Another case which came to light yes
terday Is that Of Thomas Hayden, who died
BY alcoholism. 1t is the general talk in
Bayonne that both Carroll and Doyle. the
ealoonkeeper who holds the policy which
che murdered Dick Calvin repudiated
before his death. had Hayden insured. He
vas found unconscious in the street in
hours. He. like the rest, was a young man.
How profitable is this betting on young
mems deaths, apparently with the Ger
tainty Of winning somehow. is the aston
,shing feature Of the matter. Driscoll. the
aaloonkeeper who died about SIX months
ago, and whose existing policies were pre-
viot,sly cancelled by the insurance COM
pany after It had held a sort OF investiga-
ton and had,discharged several agents. was
men, uRnng Rs .sb little ,Iat ysas s
he realized the possibilities in graveyard
Insurance. and began to get Insurance
on the young men who frequented his
place.
When he died the returns had been so good
that he owned clear Of debt his saloon, four
substantial houses in good section Of
Bayonne and was building fifth. He said
frequently that it was the insurance he
carried on his patrons that kept him in the
liquor business.
The story is told that the license and
good will OF a saloon which changed hands
about a month ago sold for $500 The
insurance policies which were an annex Of
the business were valued at 5000, and the
two went together for 50 500:
Some OF the policies were shared in sort
Il. Il
boarding houses and the saloonkeepers
whose places the boarders frequented.
Whatever the method, the result was the
same As far as can be discovered, only a
small proportion of the deaths OF the hum
dreds Of young men, healthy when insured,
kindred diseases. all complicated with alco-
holism, were responsible for the rest.
The insurance traffic has been 80 general
that when one of saloon habitues died the
first question asked about him was: ! Won
der who has got him?'
Coroner Brackner, who held the Calvin
inquest on Wednesday night, is authority
for the statement that this insurance traffic
has been known to the authorities for some
time and fraud in obtaining the policies
has been suspected. but there has been no
specific case In which they could act. The
Calvin relatives are anxious to inspect the
application for insurance attributed to
the man who before his death repudiated
having made any. They think this may
provide clue.
The saloonkeepers' side Of the case is
that they took out the policies at the re-
quest of the men themselves because the
latter had horror Of a charity burial.
This does not hold however, in the Calvin
case, or in the cases Of scores of others.
who had relatives to bury them.
II turns out that there is simple method
OF taking away the profit of the saloon
speculator in cases where the insured
leaves relatives. As the speculator' 8
policy bears the name of no beneficiary the
proceeds are a part of his est ate, and can
be claimed by the relatives. These, being
poor people ignorant of the law, have not
known this.
Galvin's sister was advised vest erday by
one of the best legal authorities in the county
to put in a claim for the proceeds OF the
policy held by the saloonkeeper, Doyle.
She has put the matter in the hands OF Judge
Horace Robertson OF Bayonne and will
probably do so. In that case the saloon
keeper will receive only the premiums he
paid on the policy OF the murdered man.
McSweeney, in whose saloon Calvin me.
the gang who killed him. was .deserte 4
yesterday in his half dtsmantled saloon
when reporters saw him. He denied that
he held policies on anybody's life and
nothing has yet been brought. out to show
that ha did He alsO takea the view that