Gilpin observer., 1912-02-01
NoRAH HOLcK WANTS
TO COLLECT INSURANCE

TO COLLECT INSURANCE.
In order that she may collect a
$4,000 life insurance policy, of which
she and her daughter have been made
the beneficiaries, Mrs. Norah D..
Holck, the wife of James Holck, for
merly a Central City Colo, business
man, is attempting to establish her
husbands death before Judge Geo.
w. Allen and jury in the district
court.
The man mysteriously vanished
practically 10 years ago, and yester-
day upon the witness stand Mrs.
Holck testified that only once in
the interim had she heard from him.
The insurance company of which she
seeks to recoverable New York Life
is preparing, however, not only to
prove the man alive, but to Introduce
him into the court room.
Holck left his wife,, it appears, JUS
eight years to the day after their
marriage at Central City, Feb. %,
1894. The man left without word,
the woman testified yesterday, and
did not again return, although he
lived in Central City and in Denver
for about three months following his
leave-taking.
Mrs. Holck asserted that she made
tod of fnvp, NtC t0 rv,,.r .rv,ip IN,
with her husband during this inter-
val, but without success.
Then en- April 15, 1902, it appears,
Holck disappeared completely from
sight. The following Christmas the
wife and her then 6-year.od daugh-
ter Alma, received an anonymous
Christmas box, containing a few trim
kets for the child. This was Holck's
last communication, Mrs. Holck de-
clared, If the box In fact came from
her husband.
Cross-examination drew from the
woman a lengthy list OF places where
she said she had made inquiry for
her husband. She said that at none
of these points had he been heard
Of. Mrs. Holck testified that for some
time after her husbands departure
she expected his return. But a few
months ago she came to give up hope
she said, and the entry of the suit
to collect Holck's insurance was the
result.
The New York Life's policy, ac-
cording to Mrs. Holck's complaint,
is of the 20-year endowment variety.
The face value of it, she says. is
$4,000. But a provision is made, 1t
appears, by which the annual prem
iums paid are returned to the as
sured's beneficiary in the event of
the assured's death before the pol
icy's expiration.
Mrs. Holck alleges that her hus-
band paid, or caused to be paid, his
premiums during the time that they
lived together. Since then Mrs.
Holck alleged she has attended to
this matter. In all she says $1.3S0.6
in back payments is now due her be-
sides $4,000, the policy's face value.
The plaintiff claims Holck's insur.
ance money under the statute which
provided that a man may be ,decreed
to be legally dead eight years after
he has ceased to be heard Of There
is provision in this law which re
quires that inquiry for the man shall
be made. Mrs. Holck claims that She
has fulfilled this condition.
Holck's daughter, now 16 years
old, was one OF the principal wit
Iesses for her mother yesterday. The
girl said that she remembered her
fathers leavetaking and she showed
the jury ring which she said had
been her fathers last present. This
she testified. had been in the Christ
man box OF Dec. 20, 1902.
"My daddy always loved me more
than he did mama,' the girl testified
Tuesdays Republican.