SWINDLER'S MANY "DEATHS."

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15350, 13 January 1912, Page 4

SWINDLER'S MANY "DEATHS."

DltEU' lIKAVV IXSI'KAXCE MO.NKY iiv iNiiKNior.s ruAi:u. "I.IVIN'U COUPSK" lliipe sums of money have boon obtained from insurance companies by a man who time after tiiiirt tool: upon himself tho uliiitiiy of people who had just died, ami, us n frii-'iui of the (load, received the lifu ti!.-!ii:iiH'o from tho cotniKiniiv This living but often '" Jowl" man is a Ku?nart tinned I'oplav.-ky. tin' eon of an officer in tiio army, mid In; has just been arrested in St. lVtim-lwrg. where, as loiiji ago as 28d3. he liecan liL- fruesoii.o hut lucr.it.bv exploits. I-'iis: of all ho obtained postw-ioii of a chilli's ivtpti.sinal cortificato. am! then n jift-v]«-.rt, at:J after altering tli<*« he sot out to rob the in-unineo comiMnies. In tho hon/o whom he stayed at St. I'otcrslmr:; thero died a two-year-old boy named I'Vdiunin. the child of a, military officer, l'oplavfkv not posttv-ion of tl.u child's l«ptis-iia! co:tiiicate. altoiod the asro "two" to "32," and, undine the cwtilir.ito !•• th-> place of issue, obtained a new passport, for his o'.vu pttr|>os»'i, in the namo of the child I'edumilt Mo in»ured hi- life in tJw nam? of Pop l.ivt.!;v lor £15?} in the L'rlati Atsut.-uieo l\-:ti|'xuty, and for £3500 in the New York Life Awuranco Company. His mxt step was to kivp hi.< cyif open for people, about the aso of 32. who were very ill, or even i : .\itijr. Ili.s firrt opportunity ramc a year Liter when he wen: to -Pskoff (171 miles .•.way) with ,-jn (Id .schoolTellow who was i!i. and wheat ho inscribed in tho lc«a] roasters as Popiayr-ky, Ho himself mas.[•..orsded as Fcdiuuin.

now iik was OAurnir In a few day* "L'ojilnvaky" died, and " Kcdimiiii," mined with (Ik; titutli witiliwitn and other diK'Hincnls, obtain. .I £1501) from tlie L'rban CV,iii]kiii}-. Hut he had still to obtain the £3500 from l.!a> New York Life Afeiirutico t'ompauy. This he sni'ci'i'.li'd in doir.« bv Kelting 1*1(1 o: the ih'ath eertilifato of the bov l'ediunin and milking a few " idterations in it. He was naiv dead in two and 'iki-.I to liml a fr<sh identity. So In' wen: to Narva. (100 niilai I rum St. Petewburg) and posed as M i). Kunilzsky, a timber inerchuul bi.sinrts on a vast teale. Under ihLs nair.c ho insured his life lor £3500. lie picked up at St. Pilwimig th(! acquaintance of u man who was dun gorously ill, and whom, under j>ri'lext of charity, hu to.it with him to Starya Jluyria. lie i<<gi!iloreil I lie patient as Kunitisky, and n»ed tlie sick nran'b ]vw*iX)rl for liim.df. W'licji Kunitwky died l't-iilawl;;. - in dun course received £3500. When tumls were exhausted ho marriril a pwL-nnt wumau and insured her life for £1500, iuul going' to u hospital, t<xik out a female lutlivnt whom lie <le(.■orilx'd as his wile. Tim woman diwl vnry soon, and he received the insurance money, KmbohleiK'd by his mioocs-s, he planneil another vulture of the kind lie visited llehingfors, Finland, and insured his life lor £1000. subsequently returning to .St. Petersburg, and tuaJiing ini|in'ries [or an invalid. Ily liliis time, however, the motive; of his ,'ill'ecled iJu'lanlluiipy had excited tlio siispinloii of the (Kiliee. his career was investigated, and he was arretted. ]k m-a:li) no attempt to deny hir. guill. and answered Uki ipuations artdressed to him in the jauntiest manner. Wlicn Ihe chief of tho delrtlivo <lqxirtinent afk«l him what had lr.il him into crime, he replied lliat no other career was open nowadays to any decent man.