INSURANCE FRAUDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2317, 28 July 1898, Page 17

INSURANCE FRAUDS.

London, July 22.

Monson and others have bsen committed for trial on a charge of alleged fraud o& an insurance eompai.y.

Few criminal ca3es tried in Great Britain during recent years have aroused move general interest than the Ardlanioot shooting case, in connection with which Alfred John Monson was put on his trial for the murder of Lieutenant Windsor Dudley Cecil Haoibrough, at Ardla* monfc House, Argyllshire, llsmbrougb, who was found ebot. dead in a wood at Ardlamont, on the l(Kh August, 1893, was the tenant-in-tail to the Ardlamonfc estates, valued at £117,000, subject to the life interest of his father, and he had also a contingent interest iv another property valued at £1500 per annum. He was at the time of his death 20 years of age. His father, Major Hatnbrough, had squandered his fortune in the most reckieas manner, and, after mortgaging hiß life estate, had fallen into such financial s'.raits that he had become a mere borrowtr of loose gold from acquaintances who were in leas straitened circumstances. Those whom be could most readily rely on for advances were enterprising financiers who were not accustomed to lend £1 without a good hope of getting £5 in return, and the scheme of these men was to buy back the major's life estate, on which the mortgagee had foreclosed, and when his sou came of age induce the latter to join in breaking the entail. Among these obliging friends of Major Hambrough was one Hanson, who was introduced ), > him in 1890 by a money-lender narnvii Toth-Miham, as un army tutor who would p?e|,<n the major's sou for Uis army examinations. Cecil Hairbrough then weiifc to live with Mouson, and continued to do so until hia death. Two years later the major quarrelled with Monson, and from that time forward the two men were rivals for the purchase of the life estate. Monson and young Hambrough went to reside at Ardlamonfc, the former, who was bankrupt the year befsro, now becoming tenant of the estate, being financed by the adveulurous Tottenham ; but his attempt to purchase the estate resulted in failure, and he learnt that a proposal by Major Hambrongh had been accepted by tha mortgagee, and that a draft contract was to bs sent to the major for signature early in August, 1893. Monson, whese efforts to accomplish the purchase of Ardlamont had not been characterised by the most scrupulous regard for honesty and fair dealing, now found himself in a somewhat desperate position, and being a man of resource, he at once proceeded to strike out in a new direction by making several attempts to insure Cecil Hambrough's life for large sums. Eventually the Mutual Life Insurauce Company of New York on Bth August provisionally completed two insurances of £10,000 each. These policies were assigned by Cecil Hambrough to Mr Monson, and, according to the Crown, formed the motive for his murder ; but, according to the defence, Monson's reason for effecting these large insurances was to have a means of raising money on which the young man might live. It was on the Bth August that Monson returned to Ardlamout with tbe policies. On the 9th an attempt was (apparently) made on the life of Ilambrough, and on the morning of the lOtb ho was found dead from a gunshot wound, under circumsfcacces that «3id not immediately excite suspicion. In fa^t, five weeks elapsed betore Any thorough RsatuioaUon was made of the scene of the occarrcaoe. fiSoneon was tried for the murder, and ttejajy «i;arn?d a verdict of " Nob proven."

With apologies to Wilson Bavvetfc: — "Something is out of order with thee, Marcus I la it the heart or a heavy cold? If the former send for the woman; if the latter send for Woods' Great Peppermint Cure ! One of the greatest discoveries of the age — not the woman, but the cure. It never fails ; a woman may." This is a pearl of fact cast before sensible people. Head, mark, learn, and inwardly profit thereby. Sold everywhere.