THE BANKER’S MISTRESS.--THE ELDER NAPOLEON.--THE DECEIVED
DIRECTOR.--THE MURDERED MERCHANT.--THE CORN-LAW LEAGUE AND THE
CUTLER.--THE UNBURIED BURIED.--THE DISAPPOINTED SUICIDE.--A NIGHT
ADVENTURE.
The stories which are contained in the following pages may in most
cases be relied on as essentially true. But they have been placed
together in one Chapter, because some are merely traditionary, because
the authority was not absolutely reliable in all particulars, or
because they might have been irrelevant in the body of the work.
* * * * *
A lady possessed of great personal attractions, and calling herself by
the convenient name of Smith, applied to an office to insure the life
of a woman residing at the west end of the town. When asked the reason,
she replied, that she had advanced various sums to place this person
in business as a milliner, and that to effect an insurance on her life
was the only way of securing the money in case her _protégée_ should
die. The life was a good one, the references were satisfactory, and the
policy was made out. In a few months a fine carriage, with coachman
and footman in splendid livery, drove up to the door of the insurance
office, and Mrs. Smith made her appearance to announce the death of the
person insured. Whether the lady overacted her part, or whether the
carriage excited suspicion, when it was meant to inspire confidence, is
uncertain; but the officers of the society deemed it wise to inquire
into the circumstances of the death. The house where the milliner had
resided was mean; the immediate neighbourhood was poor; there was no
indication of business to justify the assurance of her life for a
large sum. The actuary who made these investigations went farther.
He instituted an inquiry at the other existing offices. At the very
first he went to, the same lady had effected an insurance on another
person’s life. At the next, and the next, and the next, she was known;
at each she had procured policies on various lives for large sums, and
wherever this woman had effected an insurance, within three months the
person insured had died. There was scarcely an office in town where she
had not appeared, and scarcely an institution which had not paid her
various sums of money on lives which had suddenly fallen. Her father,
her mother, her sister, had been insured and had died, like all the
rest, of cholera, and this too at a time when the cholera was not in
active existence. Farther inquiries elicited the information that she
was the mistress of a banker, whose carriage she employed to create an
effect, and whose life it is very fortunate she did not insure.
After mature deliberation, it was resolved to dispute the payment; but
as it was not thought advisable to give the real reasons, a technical
plea was adopted. All the circumstances were, however, stated in the
brief; and as Sir James Scarlett read them, when he saw how one life
after another had fallen directly it was assured, that acute and
able man at once exclaimed, “Good God! she must have murdered them
all.” But whether he were correct or not in this, it was determined
to adopt another reason, and the trial came on. Although Sir James
had instructions not to exceed his brief, he could not resist the
temptation, and he hinted pretty broadly that foul play must have
been used under such extraordinary circumstances. The advocate on the
other side enlisted the sympathies of the jury in his “beautiful,
delicate, and susceptible client;” he wondered at the baseness of the
thought which charged such a crime on such a creature, and invoked the
vengeance of heaven on those who could entertain so unworthy an idea.
One surgeon had been referred to in all the cases, and one surgeon had
testified to the death of all. The effect upon the court was appalling,
as document after document was handed him; and as with each certificate
the question was put, “Did you examine this life?” and the answer came
“I did;” and “Did you certify to this death?” and still the same reply
was given: it seemed as if this series of sudden and insidious deaths
would never end. Both advocates did their duty in this difficult case
according to the most approved rules of art; but that of the lady was
triumphant, and gained the verdict. Still the office was determined
not to pay, for the directors felt certain they were right. The more
inquiries they made, the more extraordinary the circumstances which
were elicited, and they resolved to show cause for a new trial. To do
this effectually, they found it advisable to abandon all technical
objections, to state broadly and boldly the moral grounds on which
they acted, and to insert all the causes which made them thus declare
war to the “knife.” Never was a more serious list of charges brought
against one person; and no sooner did the lady find that so grave an
investigation was in progress, than she left this kingdom for that of
France, in the capital of which she commenced a boarding-school, and
obtained the attendance of some respectable girls, but to what account
she turned them, and of the scenes which were enacted, the less that is
now said the better.
* * * * *
Many years had passed since the above facts occurred, when the
secretary of an insurance office at the west end of the town, asked
the actuary who had elicited the above facts, whether his office
was disposed to take a fourth part of 10,000_l._ on the life of a
gentleman just proposed by a lady in connection with some marriage
settlements. An affirmative answer was given, an appointment was made,
and on the following day the lady and her lover met the officials at
the office. The former was a person of great personal attraction,
elegantly dressed, and elaborately ornamented; the latter had nothing
against him as a life, excepting perhaps that he appeared a most
inordinate fool. But the face of the lady, though changed by the lapse
of time, was strangely like that of her who years before had quitted
England so abruptly; and the resemblance, at first deemed ideal, grew
so positive that suspicion ripened almost into certainty. Nothing
occurred, however, on the part of the actuary to indicate it, and when
the cause of the insurance was demanded, a marriage settlement was
mentioned by the lady, who, with a smile and a simper, pointed to the
gentleman by her side as the happy man. To the health of the applicant
there was no objection; and as he was by no means overburdened with
brains, a private interview was sought with him, that he might, to
use an expressive phrase, be well pumped. This was easily done. When
he was asked whether he had any property of his own, he said No; and
it soon appeared that he had acted as agent or traveller for some
wholesale house in the City, and that his knowledge of the lady had
arisen from the introduction of a military gentleman, who thought it
would be a good match for him; and that on this they had proceeded to
some Zadkiel of the day, who had predicted their union. All this gave
no clue to an insurable interest, and when he was asked what reason
there was to believe in her great possessions, he pointed to her gay
dress, and expatiated on her rich jewellery. Such a fool was scarcely
worth a thought, so the place where the lady lodged was applied to;
but no information could be procured, excepting that she was supposed
to be “very respectable,” as she had an abigail and footman. It is
strange that, notwithstanding the difficulties of the case, the woman
succeeded in obtaining the insurance. Before the policies were duly
made out, she wedded the gentleman who wished to better his condition,
and “all went merry as a marriage bell!” One fine morning, however,
the woman where they and their servants lodged, came down in a hurry
to the office to say that on the previous night they had all got tipsy
together; that there had been a violent quarrel among them; and that
the servant had been overheard to accuse her mistress of prompting her
to marry a man to whom she was engaged, to induce him then to insure
his life, and afterwards to go to France, where they could easily make
away with him, and receive the insurance money. In the blindness of
passion, occasioned by the quarrel, they went before a magistrate and
made statements of each other so startling and so fearful, that the
magistrate dismissed the case, believing them all unworthy of credit;
and it may be presumed they did not tempt Providence in a police office
again.
When this news reached the offices, they grew alarmed, and taking
advantage of the false position in which she had placed herself,
insisted on returning the money she had paid them, demanding at the
same time the receipts she had taken. At first she indignantly
refused; but the offices not being very delicate in the threats they
held, this adventuress, as extraordinary a person as ever figured
in romance, yielded the point, and released the companies from the
liabilities they had incurred.
Her future life is quite uncertain, as she went abroad with her
husband, who after some time returned with a constitution as shattered
as if some subtle and poisonous drug had been instilled into his
system. The lady went her way, was seen no more in England, or at least
speculated no more in insurances on lives.
* * * * *
A. B. was the proprietor of an entailed estate, and much involved in
his affairs. His life was insured for the benefit of his creditors for
14,000_l._ In 1819 he intimated by letters his intention of putting an
end to his existence in order to free himself from his embarrassments,
and soon after his clothes were found on the banks of a deep river,
from which it was inferred that he had carried his intention into
effect.
Circumstances, however, created a suspicion that he was still alive,
and the creditors kept the insurances in force by continuing to pay
the premium for some years; but his existence, though believed, could
not be proved, and was not known for certain until his death actually
occurred in America upwards of five years afterwards, previous to which
the payments had all ceased.
* * * * *
The reader need hardly be told that the life of the elder Napoleon
was trafficked with by underwriters during the whole of his wonderful
career. The various combinations in the funds, dependent on his life,
entered into by jobbers, made it very desirable to insure it; and
this was legitimate enough, as the jobber had a tangible interest. In
this way very large speculations were hedged; and as every campaign
and every battle altered the aspect of affairs, the premiums varied.
Sometimes private persons acted as insurers. Thus, in 1809, as Sir Mark
Sykes entertained a dinner party, the conversation turned--as almost
all thoughts then turned--to Buonaparte, and from him to the danger
to which his life was daily exposed. The Baronet, excited partly by
wine and partly by loyalty, offered, on the receipt of 100 guineas, to
pay any one a guinea a day so long as the French Emperor should live.
One of the guests, a clergyman, closed with the offer; but finding
the company object, said that if Sir Mark would ask it as a favour,
he would allow him to be off his bargain. To a high-spirited man this
was by no means pleasant, and the Baronet refused. The clergyman sent
the 100 guineas next day; and for three years Sir Mark Sykes paid 365
guineas; when thinking he had suffered sufficiently for an idle joke,
he refused to pay any longer. The recipient, not disposed to lose his
annuity, brought an action, which was eventually carried to the highest
legal authorities, and there finally decided in favour of Sir Mark
Sykes; the law lords not being disposed to give the plaintiff a life
interest in Buonaparte to the extent of 365 guineas a year.
* * * * *
A history of life assurance in Ireland is to be found in its agencies;
but there are many anecdotes extant, of which the following are a
specimen. The statements from the sister country are always looked at
with suspicion, for they are too often at variance with truth.
Twenty years ago an insurance was effected on the life of a gentleman,
and in two months he died, when a claim was made by a physician who
had opened the policy. The circumstances were investigated, and it
was ascertained that the party insured was at the time the insurance
was effected, and for months previously, under the medical treatment
of the physician for a very serious illness: on a _post-mortem_
examination it was found that both heart and lungs were diseased. The
case was more disgraceful, because the physician who had claimed the
money was medical adviser to the company with which the insurance had
been effected, and had availed himself of his position to pass the
invalid.
* * * * *
The managing director of one of our best offices was offered, while
travelling in Ireland, an insurance of 2000_l._ on the life of a
gentleman; and an appointment was made to meet next morning at
breakfast. The applicant looked strong, and seemed healthy; he was
gay, lively, and ready-witted; nothing appeared amiss with him then;
and when the necessary certificates of health and sobriety were given,
his life was willingly accepted. In a year or two he died. In the
meantime information was received that his habits were intemperate,
that he was rarely sober, and therefore that a deception had been
passed on the company. It was discovered that he had been made up for
the occasion, that he had dressed himself smartly, assuming a lively
air and aspect, and that he had thus misled the gentleman by whom he
had been somewhat incautiously accepted. Such a case it was determined
to resist on every ground of public propriety and private right. All
necessary legal steps were taken; “the lawyers prepared--a terrible
show;” and as it was of somewhat doubtful issue, it was deemed wise
to take the most eminent advice which could be procured. That advice
changed the determination of the company; for it was said, that though
in England the deceased would have been pronounced a most intolerable
drunkard, yet no jury in all Ireland would be found to pronounce a man
intemperate who only took a dozen glasses of whisky toddy nightly;
that intemperance in England was temperance in Ireland; and that they
had better pay their money than risk a verdict. This they did; and
doubtless were very cautious in all Irish cases for the future.
* * * * *
Great power must always lie with friends in recommending assurance
to those whose circumstances demand it. An instance of this may be
found in the case of a well-known City merchant. The estate of this
gentleman was entailed on the male line; but notwithstanding this, it
was his chief fancy to improve the property, to the detriment of the
female branches, the only mode of obviating this being to insure his
life to the extent of the sum spent in improvements. Those to whom
he was near and dear felt the delicacy of the case, and hesitated
to broach the subject. His land agent was appealed to, a shrewd and
sensible Scotchman, and he took the first opportunity of talking to
Mr. ---- on the subject, who immediately acknowledged its importance,
promising to take the necessary steps on his first visit to town. This
he did; proposals were made to the extent of 15,000_l._; but some
technicalities interfering which prevented so large an amount being
effected in one day, only 10,000_l._ was insured; and the remainder
postponed “until a more convenient season.” That season never arrived.
In less than nine months the beautiful village where he resided, rung
with the news that he and his wife were murdered; and though money
could not soften or subdue the grief of such a tragedy, it tended at
least to alleviate it.
* * * * *
When the Corn Law league established its bazaar at Covent Garden, among
others who contributed to the exhibition was a cutler from Sheffield,
who visited London to see this great political feature of the day.
Before he left the city, he applied to an office to insure his life.
He was examined by the medical adviser; and though he seemed somewhat
excited, this was attributed to a prize which had been awarded him,
and he was accepted, subject to the ordinary conditions of payment,
with certificates of sobriety and good habits. The same afternoon he
left town, arrived at Sheffield very late, and probably very hungry, as
he ate heartily of a somewhat indigestible supper. By the morning he
was dead. He had fulfilled no conditions, he had paid no premium, he
had sent no certificate,--but he had been accepted; and as his surgeon
declared him to be in sound health up to his visit to London, and as
his friends vouched for his sobriety, the money was unhesitatingly paid
to his widow, whose chief support it was for herself and five children.
* * * * *
C. D., in possession of a good entailed estate, but largely in debt,
had his life insured for the benefit of his creditors for sums
amounting to 10,000_l._
In the autumn of 1834 his death was represented as having occurred
under peculiar circumstances at an English watering-place, and after
a very full investigation, with the depositions of ten witnesses,
who swore to their belief of his having been drowned, and of four
additional, who proved his identity, the insurance offices agreed to
pay the sum in the policies, under the stipulation that the money was
to be repaid if it should be discovered that he was alive.
Two years after his death was alleged to have happened, it was rumoured
that he had been seen, and it soon became a matter of notoriety that
he had visited his native place and had made himself known to one
or two of his personal friends. The facts were not denied, and the
various sums were repaid to the offices under the obligations granted
by the parties who had received the money; but the offices allowed the
surrender values of the policies as at the time of their being brought
to an end.
* * * * *
At Berlin, on 24th November, 1848, the funeral ceremonial of the
Catholic Church, amid a numerous circle of weeping friends and
relatives, was performed over the remains of one Franz Thomatscheck,
who, however, had taken care to insure his life, both in London and
in Copenhagen; and who, strange as it may seem, was, in disguise, and
impelled by a strange curiosity, watching the progress of his own
funeral. On 29th September following, the public prosecutor, the police
authorities, and the priest of the Catholic congregation, might be seen
standing over the grave to superintend the disinterment of the coffin,
the contents of which, when opened, proved to be heavy stones, rotten
straw, and an old board.
A surgeon had been bribed to attest the death; his brother had aided
him in effecting his escape; his disconsolate widow had followed the
departed; but the Austrian police, assisted by the telegraph, had
thwarted all these movements by consigning the perpetrators of the
fraud to the tender mercies of the justice they had violated.
* * * * *
In the eighteenth century a company was established, the chief feature
in which was the omission of the clause which renders the policy void
in the event of suicide. A man went and insured his life, securing the
privilege of a free-dying Englishman, and then took the insurers to
dine at a tavern to meet several other persons. After dinner he said to
the underwriters, “Gentlemen, it is fit you should be acquainted with
the company. These honest men are tradesmen, to whom I was in debt,
without any means of paying but by your assistance, and now I am your
humble servant.” He pulled out a pistol and shot himself.
* * * * *
That the clause which makes the policies of suicides void is not
unnecessary, the following is an additional testimony:--
Among the passengers who filled one of our river steamers on a fine
summer’s evening, the movements of one in particular were calculated
to draw attention. There was something so haggard in his face, there
was so continual an air of restlessness in his person, that it was
evident his mind was ill at ease. He had chosen a position where
scarcely any barricade existed between him and the stream, and casting
his eyes rapidly round to see if he were observed, he, almost at the
same time that he placed a small phial to his mouth, plunged into the
water. An alarm was instantly given, the vessel was stopped, and the
passengers saw him, true to the instincts of humanity, struggling and
buffetting with the water for life. Assistance being soon rendered,
the man was saved; and it was afterwards discovered that, having lost
all his property, and not knowing how to maintain an insurance into
which he had entered in more prosperous days, he had determined on
sacrificing himself for the welfare of those who were dear to him.
Believing that his death would be attributed to accident, he had taken
some prussic acid at the moment he jumped in, unconscious that the
effect of this poison is neutralised by the sudden immersion of the
body in water.[32] It is well to be a chemist when one wishes to be a
fraudulent suicide.
* * * * *
As the evening of an autumnal day began to close, four men might
have been seen hiring a boat at one of the numerous stairs below
Blackfriars bridge. Their appearance was that of the middle order, but
the reckless daring which characterised their air and manner, marked
them of the class which lives by others’ losses. By the time they had
rowed some distance up the river, the only light that guided them was
the reflection of the lamps which fringed it; and no sooner were they
shrouded by the darkness of night, than, without any apparent cause,
the boat was upset, and the four were precipitated into the Thames.
They were close to land, and while they buffetted the tide and made
their way, they hallooed lustily for help, which, as the shore was
now ringing with the noise of boats and boatmen putting off to their
assistance, was soon rendered. Of the four who had started, only three
landed together, and great was their outcry for their lost companion.
The alarm was immediately given; all that skill could do to recover
their friend was tried, but the night was too dark to render human aid
of much avail. It was pitiable to the bystanders to witness the grief
of those who were saved, who, finding nothing more could be done, were
obliged to content themselves with offering a reward for the body,
coupled with a promise to return early in the morning. They then went
away, and the scene resumed its ordinary quiet. A few hours after this,
at the dead of night, a second boat, with the same men, pursued its
silent and almost solitary course up the river towards the scene of the
previous misfortune. With them was a large suspicious-looking bundle,
which, when they had arrived at a spot suitable to their purpose, they
lifted in their arms, placing their horrible burden,--for it was the
body of a dead man,--where from their judgment and their knowledge
of the tide, the corpse of their friend would be sought. Favoured by
darkness and by night, they accomplished their object, again rowing
rapidly down the stream to an obscure abode in the neighbourhood of
Greenwich. When morning began to break, they returned once more to the
place which had witnessed their mysterious midnight visit, where, with
much apparent anxiety, they asked for tidings of their companion. The
reply was what they expected. A body had been found,--it was that which
they had placed on the strand,--and this they at once identified as
that of the friend who had been with them in the boat, and for whom
they had offered a reward. A coroner’s jury sate upon the remains,
a verdict of accidental death was recorded, and the object of the
conspirators fairly achieved. That object was to defraud an assurance
office to a very large amount: for the missing man had not been
drowned; the grief expressed was only simulated: and the body which had
been placed on the banks of the Thames had been procured to consummate
the deception.
Against a fraud planned with so much art and carried out with such
skill, no official regulation could guard; and when the papers
containing the report of the inquest and the identity of the body,
were forwarded to the office as the groundwork of a claim for the
representative of the deceased, not a doubt could be entertained of
its justice. It was true that the claimant under his will was his
mistress; that his executors were the persons who perpetrated the
fraud, and were with him at the time of the accident; but there were
the broad and indisputable facts to be disposed of, that the insured
man had met with a sudden and accidental death, and this was attested
by the verdict of a jury. The money was paid, and with that portion of
it which came to the deceased, he went to Paris. In that gay capital,
with a mistress as expensive in her habits as himself, the cash was
soon spent; and so successful had been the first attempt in this line,
that it seemed a pity for gentlemen thus accomplished to abandon a
mine so rich. Very shortly, therefore, after the previous fraud, an
application was made from Liverpool to an office in London, to insure
the life of a gentleman for 2000_l._ The applicant was represented
as a commercial traveller, and permission was sought to extend the
privilege of travelling to America. This insurance was effected, and
when only a few months had elapsed, information was received by the
company that the insured gentleman, while bathing in one of the large
American lakes, had been drowned; that his clothes had been left on the
banks of the water where his body had been found; and in verification
of this, all the necessary documents were lodged in due time. As the
death and identity of the traveller seemed clearly established, the
office intimated its readiness to pay the policy at the end of the
accustomed three months. But three months seemed a very long period
to those who felt the uncertain tenure by which their claim was held,
so, to induce the office to pay ready money, they offered a large and
unbusinesslike discount. This, together, perhaps, with some suspicions
created by the manner of the applicant, placed the office on its
guard. Inquiries were soon instituted, and discoveries made which
induced them to proceed still farther; but no sooner was it found that
a close inquisition was being entered on, than the claim was abandoned,
and the claimant seen no more at the office.