The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-11
THIS TIP TO
 NIGHT RIDERS Insurance Department Would Take Hand. COMPANIES NEED PROTECTION Deputy Commissioner Sexton Hints
 of Investigation. Before Setting Fire to Barns Or Gins
 Night Riders Would Do Well to Heed Warm ing.

If 1t will do the threatening night riders in Alabama any service they should know that the Department or Insurance has it's ear to the ground these days. It is no respecter or per sons. If barn burns under suspicious circumstances its inquisitorial powers will be exercised.
 Major A. c. Sexton, Deputy Insur- ance Commissioner, said Saturday that the department could not ignore de- struction of property by fire if any sus- picion of incendiarism attaches to the blaze. Therefore. the full resources Of the department under the law would be brought to bear on ferreting out the guilty parties in the case of night rider raids.
 So far there has been no fire re- ported to the department on account of night riding operations in Alabama. They are too numerous to mention in Kentucky, where instead of making two blades of grass grow where only one grew before the farmers are busy protecting their homes from lawless- ness. But in Alabanst only desultory warnings, and these relating to cotton planting and ginning have been issued.
 The Department of Insurance, there fore, would not feel justified at this time in issuing warning to would-be night riders in this state because the citizens of all degrees, high and low. are supposed to be law-abiding until proof to the contrary is forthcoming. However, the officers of the depart ment do not deny that they would be just as swift to make investigation of night rider flames as they would of any other conflagration to which sus- picion reasonably attached.
 It should be understood that the de- partment owes duty to the insurance companies as well as to the policy holders. They are both parties to a contract for protection of property against loss. The state does not want to see the policyholders imposed upon nor, does it propose to let the com panies suffer loss by the lawlessness of the people themselves. This is the at- titude of the Alabama department as defined by the law.
 Deputy Commissioner Sexton has written Insurance Commissioner Charles Bell. of Kentucky. to ascertain what has been the final adjudication, if any, of the cases in which policy holders in that state have sued for settlement Of policies when fire was known to have been caused by night riders bands. The lower courts, it Is understood. have decided adversely to the companies. The question is much -mooted one In the Bluegrass
 
 state about now. It probably rests on the technicality of whether the night riders, moving deliberately and by mature plans. and setting fire to houses, constitute mob" within the meaning of clauses in most insurance contracts exempting companies from payment of losses when destruction Is by mob violence.
 The Alabama Department may not be so we'll equipped as the Kentucky de- partment for running down night riders. that state having an officer known as fire marshall. but it Is their intention to use all It's power to pro- tect the insurance companies by order ing an Investigation in every case. The companies pay into the state treasury thousands and thousands of dollars more than is necessary to maintain the Department Of Insurance and the of- ficers of these companies insist always on the unstinted protection of the de- partment.