Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1904-07-13
An Insurance
Man s ~|fory


"Yes," said the special agent of the life
insurance company after handing ME q
check in favor OF a client of mine. the
beneficiary of policy, 1--WE have some
singular cases. one particularly re-
member was that OF Mr. aud Mrs.
Waterman. Mrs. Waterman held poll
ey on the life OF her husband FOR 5000
in the company for which | was then
adiusters Waterman died very sud
denly, and the physician who was call
cd in--he arrived after the patient had
died gave certificate of death from
heart disease. He told me that the
man had been under bis care for some
time for yalvular disease OF the heart.
sDd there could be no doubt as to the
cause Of death He had expressed a
wish to be buried In his native village
in the country. far from railroad.
sgd the body had been taken there be-
fore the claim was presented 10 our
ssspanS | didn't Ike 10 pay In such
q pse. but Charley pyse, our agrxlt
who issued the policy, said it would
hurt his business II / didn't, SO I
handed over s2.Oe0 and took the Gus
tomary receipt.
Some six months after the settle
ment Of this ease was In the Office OF
a physician who was an examiner for
another company. He was examining
an applicant for insurance. and when
be had finished and the man went out
the doctor said TO me:
~ shall decline that risk. The man
las wsiytnar disease ~ Gle heart
=" Better give me his name said
He may apply TO our company
Enderberry,' he said.
Il made note of the name and re-
r<ksa IL NJ tie os4ce. Hut the ssss
never applied TO us-that Ia. so far as
ever knew.
ut was year later. as near as
can remember. that Dyke came 10 me
and said he was troubled about the
W4rernslu case. A few days ksfsrs
be had met a man on the street In
ssEsnnt city who rsaembled Waterman
so strikingly that he tthe agent bad
gone up TO him aud addressed him as
such The man looked puzzled. then
declared that his Fame was not Wa
ferman. ON being asked who lie was
he said he was John Enderbcrry.
cor course l was interested. Never
theless I couldn't exactly make out
os<e between Waterman and Ender.
berry. In the first place. Dyke was not
certain OF the Identity between the man
he had met and Waterman in the sec
ond place, ] couldn't see how a man
who was suffering from yalvular dis
casa of the heart conld have secured a
policy in our company. There was
nothing for me to gain by investigating
the matter. so / let It drop. assuring
Dyke that be must have been mis-
taken.
'soon after this left the company
had been with for so long and took
position with another. One day was
10 go and adjust n loss Of 81
500 on man of the name of Brick.
ss~n. who was supposed 10 have e!ed
OF heart disease was told that the
widow had been SO shocked at seeing
her husband drop dead before her that
she was confined TO her room and sept
under the influence of sedatiyes. |
suppose II was an uncertainty / con.
staptly felt regarding the Waterman
-iaim that induced me 10 take a look
at the deceased When / did SO | was
astonished The glimpse l had got in
the DOCTORS office of the man called
Enderberry was sufficient TO cause me
10 remember him. II seemed TO me
that the ashea face before me was the
face OF this man.
AT any rate determined to probe
the matter. | told the doctor that
fancied the man was not dead, but he
declared that he was. | insisted ON an
autopsy, to which the widow consent
e. This staggered me. and l eonciud
I'd TO forego the examination. Instead
wired Dyke to come down. When he
came he declared tie dead man was
Waterman, alias Enderberry. alias
Brickman. told the doctor 10 go on
with the autopsy. which he did.
81 stood by during the operation and
expected at the first lncislon TO see the
man start up or at least blood TO flow.
Neither occurred. The doctor told me
that he had discovered very singular
nsAlformation OF the heart, such as he
fnd never seen before, but had read OF
in medical books. He described it to
NE. using medical nomenclature. but
could neither understand il nor remem-
Der the terms
'-There remained one more precRu-
ton That was for Dyke to see the
woman He had known Mrs. Water
rsan and could identify her in case she
wss getting life insurance through diff
fwent husbands. He went upstairs TO
her room unannouneed. opened the
assr. and there sat the Widow Water
fAan.
~The explanation It was this: Wa
terman-Trumball was his real name
had been getting life insurance policies