The healthy but nervous man, whose
pulse, when examined, beat like a steam
engine, was very often refused, and
stories of rejected applicants, which
speak volumes, are prevalent. One gen-
tleman was declined because he was
deaf, as he ran more risk of being run
over. Another was refused because he
634
COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.
had been three times 'bankrupt, and his
system might have suffered. A third
was too full of health, and might die
of apoplexy. A fourth was deficient,
and might die of decline. No life was
taken that presented any exceptionable
point. The consequence was, that men
in rude, robust health, if blind in one
eye, or deaf in one ear, were often re-
jected ; and there are numerous in-
stances of the refused party living to a
good old age while cases are not
wanting, in which, after outliving doc-
tor, actuary, and half the board of di-
rectors, the very man who thirty years
before was refused at any price, was
gladly taken by the same company at
the ordinary premium. "
One of the Companies.
SOME years ago, the English country
papers were filled with advertisements
drawing attention to the peculiar
claims of a new Life and Fire Insurance
Company. Its capital was stated to be
five millions ; it was declared to be a
legal corporation, and acts of parlia-
ment to prove this were boldly quoted.
Cautiously, however, did the promo-
ters proceed in the metropolis, where
they did not at first advertise, content-
ing themselves with establishing agen-
cies in various parts of the country,
and publishing advertisements in coun-
try papers. An imposing array of
names as directors, declared to be of
the first character and responsibility,
was promulgated; and when such
names as Drummond and Perkins ap-
peared in the list, the uninitiated be-
lieved the one to be the great banker,
and the other the rich brewer, bearing
the same names. To add to the de-
lusion, the Bank of England was ad-
vertised as their bankers; and when
they opened handsome premises in
London, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Glas-
gow, the minds of the many were thor-
oughly deluded.
They not only insured lives at smaller
premiums than other offices, but gave
larger annuities for smaller sums. Ac-
cording to their tables, a man of thir-
ty? by P a yi n g five hundred dollars,
could obtain forty dollars yearly, and
could insure his life at nine dollars
per cent., thus making a clear interest
of thirty-one dollars per annum.
The deed of the company for,
strange to say, it had a deed was
signed by any one who chose. Any one
who asked for a situation was made a
governor. A schoolmaster who re-
quested a clerkship was made a direc-
tor. An errand-man was employed as
manager. A boy of sixteen was ap-
pointed to a seat in the board. One
director had been tapman to a London
tavern ; another had been dismissed
from his employ as a journeyman bell-
hanger ; a third had been a valet-de-
chanibre. All had orders to dress well,
to place rings on their fingers, and adorn
their persons with jewelry fines being
instituted if they omitted to wear the
ornaments provided. By all these
means, together with extraordinary
puffing, premiums to a large amount
were procured by them, and they pros-
pered.
It was known, however, by many, that
a great crash must one day come. This
was brought about by the sharp and
persevering exposures made in a Scotch
newspaper, the editor of which stood
his ground against every combination
and menace directed by those whom he
opposed. The company placed a large
amount in the hands of their law agent
to destroy their accuser, declaring him
to be a false and malicious calumniator
and themselves injured men. One of
the agents, who had been in London,
had the audacity to state, on his return,
that the deputy governor of the Bank
of England had personally assured him
of the respectability of the association ;
but this statement was followed up,
and was met with a complete denial
from the official in question.
Finally, the practices of the company
CHRONICLES OF INSURANCE.
635
could not hold out against the expo-
sures made ; and one fine morning, the
entire gang absconded, taking with
them from the premises every article
of furniture, after having realized by
their operation a booty largely rising
a million dollars.
Insurance for Husbands.
SOME of the principal capitalists of
London are engaged in the formation
of a new company for insurance from
damage by fire. In consequence of the
constantly occurring accidents in that
metropolis, by which ladies, owing to
the immensity of their dresses, are
either burnt to death, or have a large
portion of the valuable and extensive
stock of drapery which they carry
about them destroyed, the eminent
financial gentlemen alluded to have de-
termined to establish a Wife Insurance
Company.
Romance and Reality of Insurance.
IN the days when crusades were so
common, and men undertook pilgrim-
ages from impulse as much as from re-
ligion, it was desirable that the pilgrim
should perform his vow with safety, if
not with comfort. The chief danger of
his journey was captivity. The ballads
of the fifteenth century are full of
stories which tell of pilgrims taken
prisoners, and of emirs' daughters re-
leasing them; but as the release by
Saracen ladies was more in romance of
song than in reality, and could not be
calculated on with precision, a personal
insurance was entered into, by which,
in consideration of a certain payment,
the assurer agreed to ransom the trav-
eller, and thus the devotee performed
his pilgrimage as secure from a long
or dangerous captivity as money could
make him. Another mode of assurance
was commonly practised, by which any
traveller departing on a long or danger-
ous voyage deposited a specific amount
in the hands of a money broker, on
condition that if he returned he should
receive double or treble the amount he
had paid ; but in the event of his not
returning, the money broker was to
keep his deposit, which was in truth
an insurance premium under another
name.
The United Glass and Crockery In-
surance Company.
THIS office unites the benefit of a
mutual association with the security of
a proprietary company, and offers to
the insured the following advantages :
To all domestics, from coachman to
maid-of-all-work, an insurance against
the accidents so frequent and so
alarming in families of broken glass,
china, crockery, and delf of every kind,
from carelessness, ill-temper, or the
mischievous habits of dog or cat.
A very trifling percentage on the
rate of wages received will enable the
servant thus insuring, to break more
than an average amount of glass or
crockery ; whilst the feeling of inde-
pendence assured to the breaker will
considerably tend to elevate him or her
in the social position.
When it is remembered that the do-
mestic is peculiarly liable to those ac-
cidents of broken glass and earthen-
ware that, for a time, tend to ruin the
peace of families and endanger the
situation of the unfortunate servant-
such a company as the present must be
productive of the greatest good, as
creating a cordial understanding be-
tween the employer and the employed.
When, however, it is borne in mind
that servants, covenanting to pay for
" all they break," are more than likely
to be overcharged by the cupidity of
their master or, what is more fre-
quently the case, their mistress this
society will step in, and throwing its
shield about the defenceless, will fairly
arbitrate the cost of the broken pieces.
To servants of eccentric or violent
636
COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.
temper, who love to express their in-
dependence of master or mistress by
smashing a finger-basin, or letting drop
a dozen of plates, this office will be
found to offer the most consoling ad-
vantages, as the terms are at once
equitable and without preference the
directors making only a slight advance
in the case of applicants having un-
usually red hair.
Messrs. Crocker and Ewer have, for
many years, been incessantly occupied,
calculating the average duration and
existence of cups, saucers, dishes, plates,
decanters, tumblers, cruets, ewers, and
crockery in general, in every walk of
life ; and are enabled, after the most
earnest and minute research into their
various longevity, to draw up such a
set of " tables " as will allow the most
independent footman and the most
careless housemaid to break to their
hearts' content, at a rate of insurance
inconceivably contemptible. The quar-
rels, the bickerings, the ill-blood here-
tofore occasioned by broken glass or
china, may henceforth be avoided ; and
squalls in the pantry and tears in the
kitchen be forever abolished.
Heads of families, also, will at once
see the evident value of this company,
and that it is in every way worthy of
their countenance; as, upon engaging
a servant, they cannot but feel doubly
secure of their property, if the domes-
tic to be hired is duly insured in the
" United Glass and Crockery."
To render the rates of insurance as
easy as possible, servants may insure
separately for breakfast, dinner, or tea
service; or for lamp glasses only.
Office, No. 1, Pitcher
Road.
Court, China
Jacob Barker's Insurance Case Kedi-
vivus.
THIS story is so like Jacob, that it
might safely have been imagined of
him, even if it had never been narrated
of him as having taken place. It has
been often told in days past, but will
bear to be told again.
Mr. Barker was a large shipowner.
He had many ships at sea, and as was
the custom in those clays as well as at
present some of them would be lost.
One of Mr. B.'s ships had been a long
time out of port. Fears were enter-
tained for her safety. Sharing the
general anxiety, Mr. B. called at a
marine insurance office, and expressed
his desire to effect a fresh insurance on.
the vessel. The office demanded a high
rate of premium. Mr. B. offered a
lower figure. Without coming to any
understanding, Mr. B. left the office.
That night a swift messenger from
New England brought him news of the
total loss of the vessel.
He said simply, " Very well." Next
morning, as he drove down to his
counting house, he stopped at the in-
surance office. He did not get out of
his carriage, but calling the secretary
from his seat, observed to him, quietly :
" Friend, thee need not make out that
policy ; Tve heard of the ship."
" Oh, sir ! but, sir Mr. Barker,"
stammered the cunning secretary, dash-
ing back into the office, and reappear-
ing again in a moment, " we've made
out the policy, and you can't back out
of it I "
"How so, friend?" asked the old
Quaker, very demurely.
" When you left last evening we
agreed to your proposal, and the policy
was made out at once. The office be-
came liable, and you must take it.
See, here it is ! " and a clerk at that
moment brought out the policy, with
the signatures hardly dry.
Well, friend," said old Jacob plainly,
" if thee will have it, I suppose I must
take it." And he put the policy into
his pocket and drove to his office. Be-
fore that evening, the insurance com-
pany and all the world had heard of
the loss of the ship, and of the round
sum with which the company stood
self-mulcted.
CHRONICLES OF INSURANCE.
637
Life-and-Death Brokers, and their
"Humble Servant."
WALPOLE relates the following odd
story : If a man insures his life, killing
himself vacates the bargain. This has
produced an office for insuring in spite
of self-murder ; but not beyond three
hundred pounds. It is presumable
that voluntary deaths were not then
the Ion ton of people in higher life. A
man went and insured his life, securing
this privilege of a free-dying English-
man. He carried along with him the
insurers, to dine at a tavern, where
they met several other persons. After
dinner, he said to the life-and-death
brokers : " Gentlemen, it is fit that you
should be acquainted with the com-
pany ; these honest men are tradesmen,
to whom I was indebted, without any
means of paying but your assistance,
and now I am your humble servant."
He pulled out a pistol and shot him-
self.
Pitt, the Insolvent Premier, Insured
by his Coachmakers.
THE greatest British minister of the
last century died insolvent, and from
this arose a most interesting insurance
action. In 1803, William Pitt was in-
debted to Godsall & Co., his coach-
makers, for something rising five thou-
sand dollars. To secure some part of
this, in the event of his death, they in-
sured his life for seven years, with the
Pelican Company, for twenty-five hun-
dred dollars, at the rate of about six-
teen dollars per cent. In 1806, three
years after this, the premier died, with-
out sufficient assets to meet his liabili-
ties. The greatness of his services to
the country the fact that he had died
in debt being a proof of his self-abnega-
tion demanded an acknowledgement,
and the state very properly determined
to pay his creditors. This was not
sufficient for the coachmakers ; and
immediate claim was made by them for
payment of the twenty-five hundred
dollars insured. As Godsall & Co.,
however, had received the entire
amount of their bill when Mr. Pitt's
other debts were discharged, the Peli-
can refused to pay, on the ground that
their insurable interest in the life of
the deceased had been terminated by
the payment of his debts, and that, as
the insurance was to meet a special
debt, since discharged, they could not
recover. On a trial of the case, the
court decided against the coachmakers'
claim.
Underwriters Jobbing- with Napo-
leon's Life.
DURING the whole of the first Napo-
leon's wonderful career, his life was
trafficked with in every sort of way by
the underwriters of that period. The
various combinations in the funds, de-
pendent on his life, entered into by job-
bers, made it very desirable to insure
it; 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, the banker,
entertained a dinner party, the conver-
sation turned as almost all thoughts
then turned to Bonaparte, and from
him to the danger to which his life
was daily exposed. The baronet, ex-
cited partly by wine and partly by loy-
altv, offered, on the receipt of one hun-
dred guineas, to pay any one a guinea
a day so long as the French emperor
should live. One of the guests, and
he a clergyman, closed with the offer ;
but finding the company object, said
that if Sir Mark would ask it as a fa-
vor, he would let him off from his bar-
gain. To a high spirited man this was
by no means pleasant, and the baronet
refused. The clergyman sent the one
hundred guineas next day, and for
three years the banker paid three hun-
dred and sixty-five guineas when,
thinking he had suffered sufficiently
for an idle joke, he refused to pay any
638
COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.
longer. The recipient, not disposed to
lose his annuity, brought an action,
which was eventually carried up to the
highest legal authorities, and there
finally decided in favor of Sir Mark,
the law lords not being disposed to
give the plaintiff a life interest in Bona-
parte to the extent of nearly two thou-
sand dollars a year.
Apt Illustration of a Principle.
AN agent of one of the metropolitan
life insurance companies, while travel-
ling in the north of Scotland, met with
an intelligent man who farmed some
thousand acres. This estate he delight-
ed to cultivate ; and though the period
was long before that when science was
employed by the agriculturist, he in-
vested all his profits in the estate he
rented. With great satisfaction he
took the life insurance agent over his
land, pointed to his improvements, and
boasted his gains.
When they returned to the farm
house, the agent, who saw that if his
host died, all that he had done would
be for his landlord's benefit, only said
to him," You must have spent a large
sum on this estate."
" Many thousands," was the brief
reply,
"And if you die," was the ready
rejoinder, " your landlord will receive
the benefit, and your wife and daugh-
ter be left penniless. Why not insure
your life ? "
The man rose, strode across the room,
and drawing himself up as if to exhibit
his huge strength, said, almost in the
words of one of Sir Bulwer Lytton's
heroes : " Do I look like a man to die
of consumption ? "
The agent, true to his vocation, was
not daunted he persevered, explained
his meaning, enlisted the kindly feel-
ings of his host, persisted in asking
him how much he would leave his
family, and at last induced him to lis-
ten. They examined his accounts, and
found that he could spare about six
hundred dollars a year. The village
apothecary was almost immediately
sent for, the life was accepted, and
policies were granted for fifteen thou-
sand dollars.
In less than nine months, this man,
so full of vigorous health, took cold,
neglected the symptoms, and died,
leaving only the amount for which he
had insured his life to keep Ms family
from want.
Oddities of a Former Period.
IN the early period of English in-
surance, as soon as it was known that
any great man was seriously ill, in-
surances on his life, at rates in propor-
tion to his chance of recovery, were
freely made. These bargains were re-
ported in the public journals ; and the
effect on an invalid who knew his
health to be precarious, may be ima-
gined, when he saw in the Whitehall
Evening Post, that
" Lord might be considered in
great danger, as his life could only be
insured in the Alley at ninety per
cent."
Of a less questionable, though still
novel character, was the habit of in-
suring property in any besieged city ;
or the yet more common mode of pay-
ing a premium to receive a certain sum
should the city be taken by the clay
named in the contract. The Spanish
ambassador was accused of insuring
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
on Minorca, during the seven years'
war, when the despatches announcing
its capture were in his pocket.
Terrible Mode of Rendering- an In-
surance Policy Void.
THERE resided, at the close of the
last century, in one of the districts of
Yorkshire, England, one of those coun-
try squires of whom we read in the
pages of the elder novelists. He could
CHRONICLES OF INSURANCE.
639
write sufficiently to sign his name ; he
could ride so as always to be in at the
death ; he could eat, when his day's
amusement was over, sufficient to star-
tle a whole caravan of epicures and
drink enough to float himself to bed
tipsy, as regularly as the night came.
He was young, having come to his es-
tate early, through the death of a father
who had broken his neck when his
morning draught had been too much
for his seat, and he seemed at first ex-
ceedingly likely to follow his father's
footsteps.
In due time, however, being com-
pelled to visit London on some busi-
ness, he found that there were other
pleasures than those of hunting foxes,
drinking claret, following the hounds,
and swearing at the grooms ; and that,
although on his own estate, and in the
neighborhood of his own hall, he might
be a great person, all his greatness van-
ished in the metropolis. With the
avidity of a young man entirely un-
curbed, enjoying also huge animal pow-
ers, he rushed into the dissipation of
London, where, as he possessed a con-
siderable share of mental capacity, he
contrived to polish his behavior and
to appear in the character of a buck
about town with some success.
His estate and means now became fa-
miliar to those who had none of their
own ; and as he was free enough in
spending his money, and was not very
particular in his company, he was
quickly surrounded by all the younger
sons, roysterers, and men who lived by
their wits, of the circle in which he
visited. With such as these his career
was rapidly determined. The gaming
of the period was carried to such an
extent that it might almost be termed
a national vice, and into this terrible
vortex he threw himself with unstinted
recklessness. Mortgage after mortgage
was given on his estate ; but as this
was entailed, it was necessary that he
should also insure his life, which was
done at Lloyds', on the Royal Ex-
change, and with those usurers who
added this to their other branches of
business.
In the midst of his career there seem-
ed a chance for his escape. It may
well be supposed that many intriguing
women fixed their eyes on " so desira-
ble a match," and that many young
ladies were willing to share the for-
tunes, for better or for worse, of the
possessor of a fine estate. At last the
hour and the woman came the York-
shire squire fell in love with a young
lady of singular beauty. To fall in
love was to propose to propose was in
this case to be accepted and the mar-
riage took place. Immediately after-
ward they left the metropolis for the
Yorkshire home, with many dainty
dreams of bliss in the future. A son,
heir to the entail, was born to them,
and soon after he again went to Lon-
don, where, tempted beyond his resolu-
tion, he plunged again into his former
pursuits, pleasures and vices. He gam-
bled, he betted, he hazarded his all,
until one fine morning, after a deep de-
bauch, he arose a ruined man. He had
lost more than his whole life would re-
deem, the only security now left to the
winners being his annuity bonds on
the estate, and Ms various life insurances
should he die.
Thus situated, he was aroused to a
sense of the wrongs he had suffered ;
he saw that he had been the dupe of
gentlemen sufficiently practised in the
art of play to be called sharpers, and
saw also, what was doubtless the fact,
that he had been cheated to their
hearts' content. Almost mad, burning
with consuming fire, he determined to
be revenged. Another night he was
resolved to try his luck, and, by play-
ing more desperately than ever, win
back, if possible, the money he had
lost, and then forswear the dangerous
vice. With a desperate resolve to out-
wit them, in life or in death, he once
more met the gamesters. He had hither-
to honorably arranged all the losses he
C40
COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.
had sustained, and his opponents were
prepared to humor him. The doors
were finally closed, the shutters were
down to exclude light, refreshments
were placed in an antechamber, and for
thirty-six hours the last game was
played.
The result may be guessed. The
squire had no chance with the men
banded against him, and high as his
stakes were, and wildly as he played,
they fooled him to the top of his bent.
Exhausted nature completed the scene,
and the loser retired to his hotel. He
was ruined, wretched, reckless. He
knew that if he lived it would be a
miserable existence for himself and his
wife, and he knew also that if Tie died
~by his own hand, not only would his
family be placed in a better position
than if he lived, but that the men who
had wronged him would be outwitted,
as the policies on his life would le for-
feited, and his bonds become waste
paper.
His mind soon became resolved. He
evinced to the people of the hotel no
symptoms of derangement ; but saying
he should visit the theatre that night,
and go to bed early, as he had been
rather dissipated lately, he paid the
bill he had incurred, giving at the same
time gratuities to the waiters. He then
wrote a letter to one of the persons
with whom his life had been insured,
stating that as his existence was now
of no value to him, he meant to destroy
himself; that he was perfectly calm
and sane; that he did it for the ex-
press purpose of punishing the men
who had contrived to ruin him ; and,
as the policy would be void by this
act, he charged him to let his suicide
be known to all with whom his life
had been insured. In the evening he
walked to the Thames, where he took
a wherry with a waterman to row him,
and when they were in the middle of
the current, plunged suddenly into the
stream, and was seen no more.
The underwriter who had received
the letter, communicated it to the other
insurers ; and when a claim was made by
the gamblers, they saw that they in turn
had been duped by the squire, although
at the fearful price of self-murder.
Origin of Fire Insurance Companies.
IT is amusing, indeed, to trace the
incidents which attended the introduc-
tion of fire insurance companies. The
basis of a plan of this sort appears to
have been suggested as early as two