Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1908-08-08
INSURED BY WEIGHT.
Men Who Have Had Their Lives In
sured for SO Much a Pound.

Men Who Have Had Their Lives In
sured for SO Much a Pound.
1t is not often that one is insured
according to weight, but there are
several Instances on record which Il
is interesting to recall. Readers will
perhaps recollect the case of a high.
caste Burmese midget named Smahn
Sing. Hpoo, who appeared in London
some years ago and then visited the
States, and who, before starting for
the Land Of the Free" was insured at
Lloyds at so much the pound. Smaun
was 81 inches high and weighed 20
pounds, and the policy was made out
for $4,000, being at the rate of $1,000
for every 16 ounces of his weight.
Smaun's manager, who was a cute
German with some journalistic gifts,
thought that by insuring the midget
for so much per pound he would catch
the fancy Of the American newspaper
men. And he succeeded. Smaun's
weight was reduced to grains and his
value to cents, and various statistical
flends went to work and evolved re-
markable and curious sums by the
simple methods of dividing his value
by his weight, and vice versa. Smaun
was a sensation in the States, but
1t is just question whether the novel
way of effecting his insurance was not
answerable for his notoriety.
John Locke Rowe, well known
Boston mail order magnate never
took the trouble to get insured until
he was we'll over so, and then he was
so corpulent that he frequently de-
clared no insurance company would
take the risk. But several agents
were after him for many years, and
one man in particular was extraordi-
narily persistent. He bearded Rowe in
his private Office one morning and be-
gan by stating that he did not intend
to leave until the big merchant had
agreed to take out policy Rowe
swore he wouldn't do anything Of the
sort, but admired the mans persist
ence too much to order him out Of the
office At last the agent said:
Look here. Mr.. Rowe, what's the
good of Mcking? You've got to take
out policy sooner or later, and 1t
might just as we'll be in our office.
I'll take you any way you like, Why
struck by a brilliant idea and regard
ing with some interest Rowe's mas
sive proportions-"Il tell you what
I'll do. I'll make you out a policy at SO
much a pound and every ounce Of
flesh you lose after the documents
signed you shall have back so much
In the form of bonus"
Rowe laughed so immoderately that
the insurance man get nervous lest
he should go off into a fit of apoplexy
before he could get his papers out,
but he recovered himself and agreed
to take out a policy at 500 the
pound, the terms to be according to
the plan suggested by the agent. Mr..
Rowe weighed 349 pounds, and was
promptly insured by the persistent
agent for $4,000. Unfortunately, how
ever, Mr.. Rowe did not lose weight,
but rather put it on, so that when
considerably over 400 pounds. He was
always known in Boston as the man
who was worth $100 a pound
Mertinet, an eccentric French writ
er, was insured for so francs per
French pound, and the agreement
with the company was that at his
death his relatives should receive a
sum of money equal to so francs for
every pound> that the corpse weighed.
Curiously enough, almost directly the
policy was made out Bertinet began
to lose weight and continued to grow
thin, until at the time Of his death
he scaled only two-thirds of what he
weighed when he signed his policy.
The relatives were going to law, but.
being shown that they had no case,
decided to take the amount to which
they were entitled and say no more
about it.-Tit-Bits.