STARTLING INSURANCE PRAUDE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 359, 9 April 1910, Page 9

STARTLING INSURANCE PRAUDE

j" I Ail DEAD; I'LEAsE I'AY!" Insurance frauds haw a recognised place in the history oi crime. ami the ■whole world was recently sniriJed by the account of the man Guilevitch who, after insuring his life ami nominating the amount of the policy to his secretary. actually murdered The latter, ami. assuming his identity, claimed the insurance money which would have been due hail lie died himself.

I lie a buses of insurance were never more terribly illustrated than by tinease of Herman W. Mudgelt„ which, a few years ago, caused a blaze of indignation throughout the I'niled Stales and Canada. Mudgett and a man named Pitzenl went into partnership with the deliberate intention of swindling insurance companies.

Guilevitch's method was to select a 1 who was to act as his. double, an<l murder him by means of poison! Mudgett and t'ituzel were not murderers from the first. They simply procured 1 dead bodies from morturies and elsewhere, purchasing them under the pretence that they were medical students, and required them for dissection. The dead body would be arrayed in Pitezel's clothes, and Jluilgett would get the certificate, and draw the insurance for Pitezel's death. TVm the two scoundrels shared the spoils of their crime. Thus they swindled various companies out of some Cl 7'/.)!). Eventually Mudgett got into debt: and found that he must have all thj money,, not merely half. Then Pite/.ei lr?! iii Earnest. He- was found don : i.,j ti.'ath with chloroform in his offi-i in Phili-i delphia. Pitezel's children came to Mud- j gett, asking about their father. Mj:l- - in terror of discovery. uelib-?r«uel." j murdered them, one by one, and hid I their bodies in cellars in various plac"s. J In each case he drew insurance. j Mudgett, when in prison, confessed to twenty-tivo separate murders for th.- ! 'sake of insurance money. This is pro- j •bably a record; but there are many cases of a number "f di'l'trent individuals falling victims to the giecd of : one man. \ The arch-criminal Meyer, for instance, J most, certainly poisoned serjn different j persons. Yet a New York «nry - were ■ idiots enough to let him off with his life. Mrs. Van do Linden, of Vydc.*,. when convicted of the murder of an unfortunate girl—one of her relatives—for the sake of £BOO insurance, .coolly confessed to having poisoned or oth n ; , >vise ended the lives of fifteen other people: and the "Liverpool Sisters," of evil memory, were put on trial for killing four persons. In spite of the. laws which prohibit the insurance of a life of a third party, unless "insurable interest" can be proved. industrial offices are frequently imposed upon. At Blackburn, a ca-e came to light not long ago of a woman—a lodging-house keeper—who held no few- <■ er than forty insurance policies on the i lives of men. most of whom she had never ! even seen. The amount she paid in pre- j miums was twenty-five shillings a week, i In Jujy last a very clever insurance swindler was run to earth in Paris. The j method of his arrest was curious. One ; wet day. a smart-looking man tried to i force his way into an omnibus, which , was already full. When the conductor . told him to get off. he hit tht f man in . the- face. He was at once taken to the police station. | No fewer than thirty accident insur- j anec policies were found about him. and , presently it was discovered that he ' head of an organisation which existed solely for the purpose of swindling in- ; su ranee companies. I He and his confederates owned a num- j ber of motors, so constructed that accidents occurred constantly. The drivers i —his accomplices—would arrange for ' heavy indemnities,, and then put their : cars in order again. Other members ; were accustomed to fall beneath pass- | ing vehicles, always so cleverly as to j escape serious injury, yet so as to be able to »et medical certificates wl\erebv ; they could claim damages. The extent of the fraud is ltroved by the fact that . Count de Thuin. as (he bend swindler j ' called himself, had been making, as his : own share, GfiOOO a year.

A fiOOT) TDEA. The Manager: I've got a, new idea for a melodrama that ought to make a hitThe writer: What is it? The Manager: The idea is to introduce a cyclone that will kill all the actors. TOO MUCH SAIL. ■ "Look here." remarked the thrifty man to his extravagant wife, "you're carrying too much sail, my lady.'' 1 "Indeed!" she retorted. "1 don't see why you should bother about that." "Well, I think T should, since I have to raise the wind." A SENSIBLE ACTION. A cynical old bachelor, who firmly believes tlial all women have something to -•ay on all subjects, recently aslced a female friend: ' "Well, madam, what do you hold on this question of female suffrage?" To which the lady responded, calmly: . "Sir. I lmhl mv t.nngnc." 1 HRHA'KTXG THE "MONOTONY. Theatrical Manager: Hi. there! What are you doing with that pistol? Discouraged Lover: Going to kill my- : self. ! Theatrical Ma nager: Hold on a mini ute. Tf you're bound to do it. won't i you be good enough to leave a note I savin? von did it for love of Miss Stnrr. our leading lady? Tt's a dull season, and every little helps.

NOT THE TTTEmrmiETET!. A friend mot a cheerful Irish citizen who had plainly suffered some hard knocks. "Well. Pal. how are you getting along now?" lie enquired. "Oh. Oi'm hard up vet; but Oi have a foiue job in TTonnolulee. and faro paid. Oi sail to-morrv." "Sure, mnil. you'll never be able to work there. The temperature is a hundred in tho shade." Pat bid endured too much cheerfully to bo discouraged. "Well," he replied, hopefully. "Oi'll not be worrukin' in tlr shade all ill' toime." A certain Colonel White, who kopt two black servants, was verv often absent from church. The two black won, however, attended with exemplary rosnlarity. One day the vicar, who was a bit of a wnsr. met the colonel, and said: "T say, colonel, T miss vou verv often from Tour pew in church." "Oli. vos." said the colonel, airily: "but- voull find that my two niters av* 1 alwavs there." "Yes," said the vicar; "but vou know two blacks do not make a White.''