Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-12-18
ARREST A man
REPORTED DEAD
M. W. A. Legal Department is Instru-
mental in Unearthing Facts Re-
garding Disappearance.
WAS SAID TO HAVE DROWNED
Later Henry E. Agar is Charged with
Having eeen Defaulted to Extent Of
$12s,ooo, This Being Motive.

Inc legaI department of the Mod
efn Woodmen, especially the Office of
General Attorney B. d. Smith, has been
particularly successful lately in hunting
= down insurance swindlers who had to
all appearances passed away from this
earth but who on the contrary were
"Ving TO enjoy Or to let someone else
enjoy the money which was due them
from insurance companies at their
oeath. The latest case to the credit
or the Woodmen in particular and the
> other insurance companies of the coun-
Ntry IN general was brought about by
the arrest of Henry E. Agar of Prince
ton, Ind, at point about 40 miles
from the Mexican border A little less
Z tnan year ago Agar disappeared. 1t
was supposed that he had been
drowned, this being the testimony of
witness who professed to have seen
MIN fall into the river. After the sup
posed death it was found that he was
"a forger and a defaulter to the extent
OF $l25OO0, and the Woodmen repre-
scented by it's legal department OBJ
.1ected to paying the insurance on his
life until further proof of his death
was produced.
Was Nicely Planned.
+ All the insurance companies who had
taken risks on Agar united in an en-
deavor to disprove the mans death and
the following story was worked out by
the detectives who were put to work
on the case. Agar spent the day be-
fore his disappearance with a river
man of his acquaintance and the two
OF them fitted up an old barge which
they had on the Wabash river at Lafay-
cite to suit their purpose of hauling
grain. One of the improvements they
made in the barge was to make matches
with handles on the inside for the
manholes in the deck of the barges.
tIhen when the barge was ready a
steamboat towed it up the river a few
miles and a load of corn in sacks was
taken on. The river was high and a
storm was brewing and it was late
hour, but nevertheless Agar ordered
the return trip commenced. Agar's |
accomplice, an old man named Har. |
ington, was steering the boat and all |
the deck hands were sent either to thaI
inside of the steamboat or some other
place where they were unable to see |
what was going on around them.
When every one was out of sight Har- |
rington raised the cry of man over |
board and it was found that Agar |
had disappeared. His hat was found !
on the surface of the river, and this |
tended to substantiate the statement |
made by Harrington that he had seen
him fall into the river The trip to |
Lafayette was completed and then |
Harrington stated that he would watch |
the barge load of corn during the |
night and that the rest of the men |
should start the hunt for Agar's body. |
The body vas never found, however
The theory advanced all along by the |
detectives and now proven was that |
Agar instead of falling into the river |
hid himself in the bottom of the barge |
under the newly made hatch covers
and when all the men had been dis |
posed of at Lafayette he made his get
away on a train which runs through |
there early in the morning. !
Collect on Insurance.
The Woodmen have kept at the case
ever since and have been trying to /
locate Agar in order to save some |
$28,0O0 insurance owed to the family |
by the different companies. All the |
companies have been sued by the fam
lily of the supposed dead man and one
has paid in full while the others either
placed the money in trust or kept the
case from coming to trial In all the |
eases which were tried the verdict was
that Agar was dead and that the COM
panies were liable for the amounts of |
their policies. The trial of the case
against the Woodmen was to have
come up next month and the outcome |
would doubtlessly have been the
same
With the arrest of Agar, who it is
said has confessed, the money which
has already been paid will probably be
refunded and those cases which have |
not yet come to trial will be dismissed.
There is no evidence that the family |
of Agar knew of his being alive and it
Is likely that the disappearance was
simply a scheme of the man to get
away with the result of his forgeries
and defaults with no thought of the
life insurance which would go to the
benefit of his family
Left Wife, Not Earth.
Another case which the Woodmen
have unearthed is that of l.. p Frasier.
formerly of Kansas City Frasier dis
appeared some nine years ago and
there were circumstances connected
With his disappearance which convinc-
ed the legal department that he was
still alive. Accordingly for the last
year and a half an effort to find him has
been made and last Saturday he was
located in Chicago. After he had been
unheard of for seven years his wifeJ
started a sUit against the society to
recover the face value of his policy in
the order which was for $4,000. With
CONTINUED ON Page Twelve.)