Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-17
FAKE CRIPPLE IN
"ROGUES' GALLERY"
BUREAU OF IDENTIFICATION
BLOCKS DAMAGE SUITS
Chicago Joins in Movement-Score OF
Railway and Other Corporations
Interested in Detecting
Frauds

CHICAGO. Nov 16-The most novel
rogues' gallery in the world-one which
will deal only with professional in
valds'-is to be established in Chicago
within a few weeks. 1t will be the most
important feature of the clearing house
for records of plaintiffs in fake per-
sonal injury damage suits which twenty
corporations, including the city, have
agreed to establish at once.
Action which made this clearing house
possible was taken at q NEE ting of the
representatives of twenty corporations in
the office of the city attorney in the First
National bank building. Every corpora
tion represented had felt the effects of
the epidemic of fake" personal injury
suits, and they readily agreed to enter
the combination proposed by Assistant
City Attorney Clyde Morrison for often
sive and defensive purposes.
Explains Purpose of Meeting
Mr.. Morrison, as a member of the COM
mittee which had worked up the original
plans for the clearing house. acted as
chairman at the meeting ard explained
the purposes of the organization.
81 don't suppose that there is a man
, here but has felt the need of such a
clearing house when dealing with this
| class of cases." said Mr.. Morrison. "Often
when searching for proof of fraud in a
case which looks suspicious from every
point of view you will stumble upon the
records of another suit in which the same
injuries are used as basis for more
damages. This clearing house would give
you all of this information at all times
1t would be filed in such a manner as to
make it impossible for mistake to be
made. The professional takers could be
IL
another suit
Case in Point Right at Hand
BY a peculiar coincidence a city inves-
tigator had reported a case that was
branded as fraud only an hour before
the calling of the evenings meeting. The
records were on Mr.. Morrisons desk and
they were used as strong argument of
the necessity for the proposed rogues'
gallery.
The case in question is that of Louis
Courlan, a Frenchman, who has been in
Chicago a little more than two months.
He is claiming damages of the city be-
cause of alleged injuries sustained in a
fall through a hole in a sidewalk on the
northwest side.
when my investigator looked up this
case he discovered that the man just had
received about $500 from the street car
company because of the same injuries, "
said Mr.. Morrison. 1T looks like the
man had tumbled into the hole and
shouted loudly for assistance with the
result that he got several witnesses to
what wasn't an accident at all.
Had our clearing house been in opera
tion at that time it would have been pos
sible to have investigated the case at
once and found out just what the merits
of the mans claims were"
| After careful consideration of all the
details of the new plan it was estimated
that the cost of the bureau would be
about $3.50 month. While the city prob
ably will receive the benefits to greater
degree than any of the other corporations
interested. it will pay only a twentieth
of the expenses. The expenses will be
divided equally among the members OF
| the combination