The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-10-24
GOT. A WINDFALL.
Mrs. j. c. Hebbard Receives
$1,000 Most Unexpectedly.
Forgotten Insurance Policy on
Husbands Life.
BEEN DEAD II YEARS.
Long Before That He Quit Pay
ing Premiums.
Was a Well Known Kansas
Character.
BEEN DEAD II YEARS.

/
| An insurance policy taken out by her
husband on their wedding day 46 years
ago, which nine years later was allow
ed to lapse for nonpayment, has netted
| Mrs. j. C. II ard, of 1908 North Har-
rison street, $1216. ]. c. Hebbard has
been dead nearly II years and the pol
| icy had been forgotten many years ago.
| Recently al insurance company which
| has offices in Topeka found record
| of the policy in checking over their old
| books. They wrote the Topeka office
and after considerable work, definite
proof was furnished that Mrs. Hebbard
was the beneficiary under the policy
| and she was paid the principal and ac-
orueG earnings, less the principal and
| interest on a bunch of unpaid INSTALL
ments notes which had been given in
partial payment of premiums 40 years
d go. The settlement of the case is one
of the most peculiar with which the
| insurance people have had to deal in
recent years.
Hebbard was native of Lisbon, Conn.
After his marriage in July, 1864, he
bought a 81 900 old line policy 1t was
one of the earlier policies issued by the
! insurance companies and was nom
forfeitable. For several years the Heb
bards prospered. The payments We're
when money became scarce. Then Heb
| bard managed to pay a portion of the
premiums in cash and for the balance,
| the company accepted notes binding on
| the policy.
When the panic of '73 struck the
country Hebbard suffered the same
hardships that thousands of other men
felt. He devised means of economy.
His first thought was to drop the in
surance policy. Probably from that day
until his death the policy was dismiss
ed from his memory. In fact Mrs. Heb
bard lost nearly all of her husbands
papers in the flood of 1903; and even
the insurance company had not more
| than a record of the issuance of the
policy, and no copy of the original
Hebbard was well known by every
eStern politician of note and his
knack of remembering figures and sta
tistics placed his services in great de-
mand among many of the public men,
without bringing to Hebbard any con-
siderable competence. Hebbard could
tell on moments notice all the details
of the border warfare, was active in
the work of the freedmen's bureau, and
in every important issue before the
state Hebbard always found prominent
place in the discussion.
| Every country newspaper Office came
| to look upon Hebbard as an authority
| on the percentage of wheat and trou-
BILE produced in the Missouri valley and
no politician would consider preparing
| a hurrah speech without first consult
| ing Hebbard in regards the details.
| Almost any day Hebbard might be
| seen walking the streets of Topeka
| with bundle of papers or a stack Of
| books under his arm. He spent much
| of his time at the state house and here
| he came in touch with public men who
| found his services valuable. On statis-
teal questions, Hebbard was sort of
walking encyclopedia. He wrote e6i
| torial paragraphs for the newspapers
| and compiled several pamphlets on
| Kansas history.
| Jerry Simpsons Private Secretary.
When Jerry Simpson first went To
| congress from the big Seventh district,
| he engaged Hebbard as private secre-
| tary. In Washington Hebbard was of
grea. help to the sockleSS representa-
tive from Kansas. He prepared
| speeches for Simpson that were chock
| full of statistics on every subject from
| the price of pig iron to the acreage of
| alfalfa in the Congo country. 1t was
| Hebbard who injected the figures into
Jerry's speeches and made them worth
| printing in the papers back east.
| In Topeka where Hebbard was best
! known, he was recognized as an honest
man who possessed talent that did
not pay large dividends. All of the old
| timers liked Hebbard and when he died
| in 1894 the newspapers over the state
recalled many kind acts in the mans
!
| Hebbard heirs, and the lawyers and the
/ courts to squabb1e over; and Mrs. Heb
| bard and her daughter went to work to
keep the little home intact The moth
er sold books and found such work as
| she could do. The little of worldly
| goods that the father left did not last
long. His work had found a place IN
| Kansas history, to be sure, but that did
not help to buy the clothes and provide
means of living during the long dreary
days after the father had gone.
| Then, one day letter came to the
| local insurance offices to look up the
| Hebbard case. Mrs. Hebbard was
found in her little home across the
| river. She was practically destitute.
! When c. J. Wilson, the local cashier of
! the company. told her of the insurance,
! tears of joy filled her eyes-tfle reward
! had come at last. A few weeks later
! the final proofs were submitted
1.-THE proofs were so conclusive" said
! Mr.. Wilson. in talking of the case,
that the company did not hesitate to
| settle al once: and no one in Topeka
was more glad to see this woman re
ceiye the little fortune of which she
never knew. than I was when 1 finally
! placed the draft in her own hand"
! Mrs. Hebbard is nearly 80 years old.
! She is a cheerful, kind and hopeful
woman who sees only the bright side
| of a sometimes rough and ragged
world; and the 81, 200 of unknown in
| surance will bring many happy days in
her declining years.
Mrs. Hebbard lives with her daugh-
ter, Mrs George Schenck, at 11o3
North Harrison street.