Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-29


they made for home James and Bill
were r~-ing and George was steering
Suddenly the two oarsmen heard a ter
rifiying cry and a heavy splash. They
looked around; George had disappeared
He was known to be a good swimmer. but
he must have sunk instantly, for although
his brother and his friend rowed about for
half an hour. they could not see his body
rising TO the surface.
They finally decided 10 call to their help
some OF the farmers along the shore. Bin
jumped on land gathered a party OF vol
unteers, and part OF the night was spent
sounding the bottom with poles and hooks.
The search was given up as hopeless. and
no one ever expressed any doubt as to
George Shepherd having met his death
through drowning.
lne company in which he was insured
contended that II George Shepherd had
really fallen into the river, his body was
bound to come up some time, and there
fore refused to settle until absolute proofs
OF his death were forthcoming.
The Shepherd brothers had been remiss
In that occurrence, for the only accident
takers who ever played the drowning trick
successfully had always provided them
selves with a suitable corpse, whose dis
figurement was attributed to insects,
fishes, shore birds, etc,
" nile the wrangle was going on over
the contested insurance policy, the Alex
andria police captured a suspicious person
who was observed prowling in the swamps
near the city. No definite charge was
made against him; neither could he be
held as a vagrant, Ior he had some money
in his possession, but the fact that he had
been spending days and nights n the
marshes cast doubts upon his sanity.
He was taken In charge, refused to an
swer questions, and the police, convinced
that the man was insane endeavored to
find his relatives HIS photograph, pub
lished in the newspapers, brought some
twenty-five letters from friends, overjoyed
at the prospect Of recovering the lost
George Shepherd When he saw that the
game was up he confessed.
While his brother James, who was in the
secret, and "Bill" White, who knew moth
ing about It, were securing the river in
the night George was clinglng to the rud-
der Of the boat, protected against curious
chances by the peculiar overhanging stern.
When the two men had made the land, he
had crept ashore and hidden himself in
the bushes. and while the sleepless farmers
were dragging the Potomac mud he had
fled to the cache in the swamps where he
and his brother had accumulated provi-
sions, cases Of food and other supplies.
Suspicious of Drawings.
Taught by experiences like the preceding,
the majority Of companies refuse to pay
death claims until the deceased mans body
Is produced. They are especially suspicious
OF drowning cases, for rivers, lakes and
seashore resorts lend themselves too com
placently to mysterious dissppearances Of
policy holders
| Some years ago a Boston business man,
who had embarrassed his affairs by q long
continued series Of forgeries, endeavored
| to solve the difficulty by making "mys-
tertOus disappearance" He took passage
on a Fall River boat. chatted and played
cards late into the night with friends who
happened to be on board, The next morn
ing he was not to be found anywhere or
the Doat the door OF his stateroom was
open, and there were his clothes, hat
shoes and his dress suit case, with other
belongings. He must have fallen OF
Jumped overheard during the night
Unfortunately. insurance detectives found
hair trimmings on the floor and the towels
looked as though they had been freshly
used to wipe off razor's blade. B. wore
full beard and mustache.
Following this clew. the detectives trailet
him to San Francisco. where under ar
assumed name and with clean shaven face
he was employed in a department store.
After retiring on the night OF the 'acci
dent" he had shaved off all his facia
growth, clipped his hair short. put on q
cloth cap, a cheap shoddy suit and a labor
er's black shirt, which he had brought II
his crop. Completely changed in appear
ance, he had left tho boat unrecognlzed by
any one.
One OF the large companies in this city
is puzzling out somewhat similar CASE
which occurred recently. A young bust
ness man disappeared and his clothes were
found in a bathhouse at one OF the beaches
Every one admitted the drowning theory
until It was noticed that the watch found
in his clothing was his wife's watch. A
matchmaker had returned to him his owl
gold watch the day before the accident
He wore a heavy solitaire ring on hit
finger when he left his office: the only
ring he had left in the bathhouse's wrap
per for vanables' was a cheap gold fillec
affair; he used to carry a large amount o.
cash about his person; he only checked
81 and few cents with the keeper.
Not q few drowned men are discovered
thousands Of miles away from thei
whom they deserted their wives, thus DO
ing away with the bother OF divorce pro
ceedings. A few dead men whose wive
were constantly watched by the companies
sleuths have been arrested when thei
widows went to live with them, or evel
married them again under a new nam
after a year or so had elapsed.
A quarrel over the spoils brought to Ugh
an interesting case, when a woman VIII
had gone through a fictitious marriag
ceremony with her own brother, receives
a death claim. Her brother-hu ha,
fallen through an airhole In the ice Il
the presence OF three witnesses Too man,
accomplices spoiled the otherwise success
full transaction. The clergyman who ha
performed the marriage ceremony recog
nized one of the three witnesses as tn
very bridegroom who was then testifyin
as to his own death.
But for the greed OF one Of the confed
crates another fraud would have been per
petrated, for every detail OF the case ha
been 30 inEeniously calculated that, Il
spite Of the fact that the body had nc
been recovered the testimony of the thre
witnesses had never been questioned.
In a great many cases when insuranc