New-York tribune., 1911-10-01

icine in New York City. the matter never
having reached the courts, disappeared from
his home, leaving a wife and a young son.
the child Of former wife. The second wife
was also a physician and the two had vis-
tied Europe together, and had studied at
one of the London hospitals. The wife put
the machinery Of the police department to
work to find her husband, and when moth
ing came Of it, went TO Europe on the
chance of finding him at some of their old
hauntS there.
One day she ran upon him, face to face
I'm the Strand he looked i'll and "seedy."
lie greeted his wife very fondly and went
to her hotel, spending several days with
her and his son. He told her he had gone
aboard a ship at New York, which was
soon to sail, to perform an operation and
that the next thing he knew was putting
his hand into his pocket 10 stop the i'm
portunity OF a beggar and bringing out an
English shilling. He recognized his sur
roundings and found that he was in Lon
don. He had suffered from aphasia, had
been 81. and had been studying, since the
recovery OF his memory. 'at the hospital
where both he'd formerly pursued their
/
to see his wife and son. but after three
days again disappeared, and Mrs. Brown
never saw him afterward She returned 70
New York, then went TO Boston, and de-
voted herself TO educating her stepson,
preparing him for Harvard herself.
Before the seven years had expired, when
the physician could be declared legally dead,
the wife lied. Her mother continued the
payment Of the premium, and when the
seven years were up had DR.. Rrown de-
clared legally dead and made application
for his insurance.
The information department OF the COM
pany at once got busy, and i'm interview
ing all the members of the family-always
the first thing to be done in case Of this
lind-found that Dr. Browns father. who
lived in Washington, did not believe his
son was dead; he based his belief on the
fact that his son and his second wife never
got on very well. principally on account Of
a very officious mother-in-law. and also he
had heard from a missionary friend of his
i'm India, who was sure she had recognized
Dr. Brown in India.
The unraveling Of this case the nvesti-
gator found quite easy. BY turning to "a
States. he found a man Of the same name
and initials, a specialist in the same branch
of medicine, practising I'm small town
near the Canadian border, west Of the
Mississippi The college where this physi-
clan was graduated from was given i'm the
directory; it was a New York medical
school, and inquiry there developed the
fact that only one man of that name and
those initials had been graduated there.
The investigator tclegraphed the com
uanN's representative I'm the Northwest 10
secure an affidavit from Dr Brown that he
was alive, and also added the information
that his wife had died two years before.
That fact was the lever which the agent
worked to get the desired affidavit, which
was forthcoming as soon as Dr. Brown.
who had again married and had a family,
learned that his second wife was dead.
But ne first exacted a promise from the
companys agent that his whereabouts
would not be revealed to his mother-in-law.
The promise was given. and the company
kept faith though the woman begged,
prayed and even threatened. in order 10
get the information. She had TO be salts
fed with the affidavit that her son-in-law
was alive. given under his own hand and
with the cash surrender value of the
policy
a year or two later. with the true New
Workers. ycarning for the city. and know
ins that he would not be prosecuted for
bigamy. now that his wife was dead. he
returned to New York City, and is still
practising medicine here.
An agent for the New York, New Haven
~ NT.t..g .1lr
setts town, disappeared q few years ago in
debt to the railway company. a few years
later his wife became insane, and when
seven years had passed without word from
the man her brother put in a claim for the
life insurance. The man had been seen by
a travelling salesman working on some
railway construction work near Syracuse,
and the investigator found him, under an
other name by means Of a photograph
which one of the wOrkmen recognized. He
traced the man TO a factory in Little Falls.
y. Y. and secured his affidavit that he was
alive, before a notary public in a neighbor-
ing city. who was "a friend of the inyesu-
gator. only after he had received the as
surance of the company that the place
where he had been found would not be
revealed. Faith was kept with him. nor
was his brother-in-law, who was trying TO
get the insurance, informed that the man
had married a-an. lie had to be contented
with The afdc..i, that the man was alive
and with the eJsa surrender value of the
policy
Very few Of these cases which are in
vestigated by the Insurance companies ever
get into the courts, though the evidence TO
convict the insured person of conspiracy TO
defraud is absolute The companies, as "a
rule. are satisfied with saving the amount
of the policy, paying only the surrender
value II the proper officials wish to prose-
cute the company will turn its information
over to them but it has found that It IS
very costly TO prosecute such cases, and
that it only makes enemies for the COM
pany.
Every insurance company is 'oath to pay
policy unless there has been absolute
proof Of death-uuless the boly Of the in
sured person has been seen and identified.
For THAT reason the investigators regard