Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-09-26
BIC INSURANCE
SW|NDLE LEADS
TO CONVICTION
-. G. Moon Aids Prosecution
Of Woman Member of Band
in United States Court
FAMILY HAS BAD
CRIMINAL RECORD

n OxElVlx4\ AL ASAOOASA
e. G.. Moon, deputy U. S. attorney
for the southern district of Iowa. has
returned from Creston where he as
\ sisted In the successful prosecution OF
woman who, with three others. has
been operating one of the cleverest
I known swindles in southern Iowa for
4 the past eight or nine years.
Illegal collection of premiums from
& are insurance companies on the deaths
Of horses supposed to have been caus-
b ed by lightning was the method used
4 and it netted the operators about
i $1,000 or $4,000 before they were
i caught. All -four were indicted but
only the woman, Mrs. Lille Lewis, IS
\ In custody. Using the United States
mails to defraud was the charge
against them in the federal court.
Horses Were Killed.
II In June, 1916, Mrs. Lewis, living at
A Sewal in Wayne county. filed claim
l with the Farmers Insurance Co., at
Cedar Rapids for the death of four
7 horses which she claimed had been
caused by lightning. She asked $500
for, the four on the basis of $3.50 each.
The year before she had filed claim
for the death of three horses and the
conditions were strikingly similar: 80
much so that the state fire marshaIs
\ ONCE began an investigation. An ex-
animation of the field where the
horses lay dead gave rise to the belief
that the trees bark had been pounded
4 off instead of burned as was claimed.
I When the investigation began to as
sumo dangerous outlook for them the
woman's husband, who gave the name
Of j. 3. Lewis, offered to withdraw
the claim if the marshal would let the
matter drop. This made the latter
more suspicious than ever and the
matter was gone into more deeply.
Facts disclosed then showed that J.
ID. Lewis was no other than Grant
Sherman Napier, member of one OF
the most VIGOROUSLY criminal families
that ever lived in southern Iowa. The
woman, Lille Lewis, was his wife.
Another known as Ann Morgan, who
!, lived with thenl~ was Lewis or Nap
ier'ssdaughter and young man there
using the name of O. K. Wilson was
AIMS brother ..
After the investigation got too warm
Tor them Lewis and Ann Morgan skip
ned and o. X. Wilson followed soon.
They were all indicted but Mrs. Lewis
was the only one who was caught. She
pleaded guilty and was given the maxi
mum sentence. two years in thu fed
seral prison at Leavenworth. Kan.
Family OF Criminals.
According to the state fire marshal
the family history Of the Napiers al
most equals that of the notorious Jukes
Of New York. s....:
There have been thirteen or four
teen Of them sent to the state and fed
eral prisons and their crimes include
murder, manslaughter, incest, fraud.
extortion of money, burglary and rob-
berry.
Il Greedy Napier was often in the
police court of Ottumwa few years
ago. His pet crime was stealing
chickens. He left here and went to
n mining camp near Abba where he
vas murdered by his brother-in-law,
who went to prison for life for 1t. His
widow now lives in Ward.
& o. K. Wilson, who is Lewis or Ma
piers son Is nineteen years old and
when he was nine he went to the state
reformatory for killing playmate.
The history of the women in the
family will rival that of the men. Ann
Morgan tried to work an insurance
game, similar to this one, few years
axo at Knoxville. She went to the
state house at Des Moines to see the
insurance commissioner and when ne
refused to pay the claim she demanded
! settlement He stepped to the phone
Us cafl the state fire marshal to get his
report and when he turned she was
rome. She never came back on that
claim, nor was it ever collected.
Scheme For Appraisement. H.
Ia order to get an appraisement on
the horses for the insurance company
the Lewis family worked another clev-
,r scheme.
ps,,hey would invite several Of their
y "a, bors to spend Sunday afternoon
of eSsaing They would all sit on the
porch andNin few minutes in would
walk o. K Wilson, who would be In
troduced as young farmer from Min
3nesota whom Mr.. Lewis had met few
days before.
Wilson would offer to buy some OF
Lewis horses and would lay special
Kstress on the purchase of four he had
seen in the pasture few days before
They would dicker on the price for
while and then, in the presence OF
the three or four neighbors, would Of
fer him $3.50 each or $500 for the lot.
Lewis would tell Wilson that it
might be we'll for him to look the ant
mails over again as he wanted him to
be satisfied with the deal. The party,
ipcluding the neighbors, would then
60 to the pasture where the horses
would be found lying dead under a tree
which had portions of it's bark re.
moved.
When it came time to file claim
with the insurance company Lewis
would ask the neighbors who had been
with him the day the horses were
found to help him make an aprpaise.
ment. They had all heard Wilson of.
fer him 5000 for the animals and will.
ingly set that amount for the claim.
Has Many Names.
The duplicity of names for Lewis is
not surprising to the officers. They
know that bs has used thu names Of
J. D. Lewis;kerant Shermsh Napier,
which Ii his In / nameyI D SizemOre