Adjustments
There are millions of stories with regard to the adjustment and
settlement of claims during this period. All kinds of pressure, all
kinds of seduction and all kinds of bribes were offered the adjusters.
There appeared to be in the minds of many a conviction that this was the
time to make a claim against the insurance companies; that everything
was burned and that with the upset conditions any old claim could get
by. Stevedores, laborers and others not generally credited with an
excess amount of worldly wealth gayly and festively swore to proofs
showing the loss of family plate, ancestral pictures, silk underwear,
ball gowns, evening clothes and jewels. There was no possibility of
disciplining these perjurors and it was up to the expertness of the
adjusters to defend their companies from being looted.
There were all kinds of attempts to defraud on the part of other
policyholders. One instance in which the California was interested was a
proof for a $16,000 loss on a policy covering on stock of dry and fancy
goods located in a building on Market street. I received a visit from
the policyholder who made a request for prompt payment. I explained that
our funds were being raised by assessments which were levied once a
month and that, if agreeable, we would pay him sixty per cent of his
claim and the balance in sixty days.
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