The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-08-02
From Tit Bits.

T A1ii IAl Dlkss
 INSURANCE. despite it's undoubted
 commercial value, has a shady side, In that 1t provides a lucrative field for the commission of crime, remarked the manager of a large insurance com pany to the writer It takes a clever thief precautions are put in force to prevent it. but. judging by the attempts which fail. there must be a considerable number of successful ones.
 Take the question of fire insurance. for example. It has been stated on expert au- thority that an alrming number of the fires which occur in the metropolis every year are caused intentionally, and when one considers how easily fraud may be ae- eemplished in this way. and how difficult crime arson is to prove. one can quite credit the statement To a small trades man, for instance who has got into df- faculties. or finds himself incumbered with too much unsalable stock. destructive fire means financial salvation, since it en- ables him to realize immediately at full value. Many such cases occur, and al though the presumptive evidence fre- quently points to a crime having been committed, no real proof is obtainabIe. and the insurance company has no option but to settle the claim.
 There are few more terrible crimes than arson. as it is nearly always impossible for the culprlt to limit the results of his misdeed and yet 1t is a sad fact that there are scoundrels who make living by it. These despicable rouges work in gangs and in America-where they are more pre- valent, though we are not free from them in this eountry--are known as Hire bugs" Their modus operandi is as follows One of the band opens shop stocked with cheap goods-generally supplied by one oe his confederates at exaggerated prices and the stock is insured according to the invoices, at perhaps double its real value h a little while the place is burned down, the insurance money drawn. and the same swindle perpetrated in another locality, different member of the gang posing as principal Such confederacy will always contain one manufacturer or wholesale dealer, whose part it is to SUD- ply the false invoices. bills of lading. and other documents necessary to prove the value of the goods destroyed.
 But these nefarious practices are not confined to trade, and the following case will show how wide awake insurance companies have to be nowadays. An in- suranee for a rather heavy amount was applied for upon a large quantity of ex- pensiye furniture, and, in accordance with our usual practice, our representative called at the house to view the property and satisfy himself that the owner was not asking protection above it's value. His report was favorable and the policy was granted, but some weeks later a cler- iea1 error necessitated a second visit. when, to his surprise, he found the house almost denuded of furniture Subsequent investigation proved that nearly the whole of the costly articles had been hired ap- parentiy for the express purpose of ef- feeting a heavy insurance, and no doubt after a sufficient time had elapsed the house would have been set alight and the swindler the richer for the amount of the insurance, for, supposing that the fire did its work thoroughly. the absence of the goods would not be suspected, and could not be proved if it were.
 It Is not often that successful rob bery is discovered. but I know of one such case. A heavy insurance was taken