Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-06-03
RACHl|N INSURANCE
CLAIMS MAGN|F|EO
% says cssnsr Harrison. Fire
loss Adlustsr. Tsstifying in
the Superior Court.

Monday morning Daniel q. Hastings.
,t counsel tor the plaintiff In the suite
az the Rachlln Clothes shop. Inc,
AGAINST nv. INSURANCE. companies Tor
n,- insurance agsrcsating as,<oo. an
uonncei tina, he would devote all Of
Monday 20 rosS-examination OF Gc~-
ner Harrison, an adjuster OF fire
iorsca. The Dover store OF the kachlin
Clothes shop. Inc. IN the Burman
nundlng, was almost destroyed by
nre on Augus, "a, 1891.
Nr. Harrison, on direct examination,
yesterday afternoon, testified that In
10 years experience he had Inspected
more than .0Ol fire damaged stocke
of soois. Referring 60 the Eachlin
stock he declared the value OF the
burned goods had bocn masrihed
three times la the plaintiffs claims.
From what he saw after the IRE ne
Judged the merchandise was worth be
tween 8 eco and 81 .0o0 before the nre
1ie aaid IL was impossible 60 put In the
store goods 90 thenmount claimed. W.
UOu worth Commentinn ON the STOCK
ne testified The goods We're OF very
pnor gfade. Most ~ the shoes, which
we're ~ small sigos and narrow widths
and had hlrh heels. Nere worth as
much as could he sut FOR them, hut
not more than 81 q pair. The largest
sTe shoe was No, .. and some "f the
Shoes were ~ the bulldog style. which
10 obsolete. shirts listed In the claims
~ sgaa each were priced on card
found among them at - cents each.
The oVcrailA were " small size ana
un9slahlr, and the price listed I'm the
.laims. ,ls a doEen, was biz selling
value"
on cruSs-oxaminaNou MIR Harrison
stated tho policy ~ nre insurance
companies u Co give tho insured the
benefit of tho doubt After remarking
that he could not tell the exact prices
OF parti, ular lots. he replied 20 Mr..
fiaatlnss' questions as follows: The
Palm neach suite. Listed IN the claims
o. 81 each, were not worth more than
81 each, Tho oVercoats were not made
Of ub.tn.date stun although listed az
$3.50 each, they were not worth moro
than s. each. have seen such over
voats at nro sales and | think these
,nme from n nre salc. pr. Burman
told mo the khaki Knee pants, listed
a. slOb0 per dozen. we're sold TOT
- cents each" Asked where he got
his lnfhitnNtlNn AhNNA NNlh'NH " A''''
flson replied from experience.
william charles Rover Who was the
frat witness called Yesterday after
noon. testified that he is president ~
the Robbins Hose CO, ot Dover, ana
had 30 years experience ~ fireman
when ne reached the scene ot the
nre. at o o'clock IN the morning. heavy,
black smoke was issuing from the
iuildlng.
Attorney Hastings asked what was
the purpose ~ such testimony. charles
y Curlev. of counsel FOR the defend
ants, ryplicd that he wanted 10 hring
tn the iurNs attention the surround
inss ~ the m whether it was OF In
eendiary or accidental origin. He
thought - Gre Vas 81 incendiary
origin an'. s.Inoush he could not sub
siantiatc hie hslcf hy direct evidence.
he hoped Go sutStartiate 70 10y circum
etantAl evidence. MIR, Hastings re-
aucstcd Mr.. Curley 10 promise test.-
mnny connecung officers OF the Rach-
iln clothes shop. Inc, With The hre
Mr.. Curlcy eaid he would not give a
promise or an assurance hut ht
Thought the testimony would connect
tho defendant corporation with an IN
sendhry Gre. Mr. Hastings reserved
thc right 90 have the testimony s,r!ck-
.n out
After tho interruption MIR. Boyer
testified that he smolled oil and. as
rrcmar. he connected the nSity
heaNinras and hlackucss of the smoke
With the presence of oil among th'
Euuda burned. On cross examination
le could not say the floor was OILED
when Dr. Burnlan owned the store
Explaining the 40 per cent clause al
fre insurance policies. he stated goods
must carry 80 per cent of the value
of insurance IN order go collect. III
placed sea 600 insurance. although h'
dld not know the value 90 the stock
Had he known there was additi0na
insurance amounting 20 $4,000 h'
would not have written the t24.4Oo
he would have inspected the stock ant
made an investigation regarding th'
people. when he placed the s244
insurance he knew the store did no
contain goods OF that amount. lie VA.
told more goods would bc shippe,
the-s A day or two before the fr'
he issued an insurance policy ON tn
handlnr 90 Dr Burman.
francl. ! KERN testified that ID
roa chod the sccne ave minutes afte
the nro started. The towns FIRE bel
snd.sir.n were sounded which made
MS noise in Dover. a wall % tn
huildlnr bulsed. large column q
black smoke wac in the air. and ther
was an explosion. after which h
smelled OH. Water on this Gre did no
seem 60 have the effect that waite
sentralv has. lie had remarked jok
iuEly 90 Mr. Golds,ein. the manager q
che store. "thRts good coal oil yo
have" On crnss-eNa mlnatlOn the wit
ness said he had been in the army an
had seen such smoke in warfare
Edwin Moore testified that the fr
bell aud siren could be heard all ONe
fhe town ana every person who coul
Act there went 90 the rre. Attorne
Hastings remarked "all Who heard IN
bell" aud the audience laughed. Nj
Moore stated nrc was bursting thIOug
-ho roof and water had no effect o
the flames. ON Cro>s examination IN
Nitns~a Said the rro started In th
tear 81 the store next 90 Dr. Bur
nlana Kitchen. and the explosion wa
in hls apartment on the second Zoo
Freeman Dyer testified that h
vent to the fire and broke in IN
door before the alarm sounded. Tn
IRE boil and siren made q loud nos'
iio thought someone ran up the stah
way. bat he ala not nnd anyone. Tn
Xmoso was heavy. and he smolled OIL
Dolphin ID. Wharton. State dete,
tive for Kent county also reached IN
sCsn. ~ the nrC before the alarm SOUND
A.