The Grave-Robbing Insurance Battle
A Seattle pioneer's body is exhumed to settle a high-stakes dispute over a fish-bone accident claim.
The body of Capt. F. J. Burns, a Seattle pioneer who died a month ago, was exhumed from its grave in Lake View Cemetery and taken to the Bonney-Watson morgue. An autopsy was performed by Dr. Burns of Tacoma, representing the Fidelity Casualty Company of New York, alongside Dr. Will Shannon and Dr. Raymond. The purpose was to determine the cause of death and ascertain whether the Fidelity Casualty Company was liable for a $5,000 accident policy. Three weeks after the captain’s death, his widow, represented by Judge Burke, claimed the insurance on the grounds that a fish bone had lodged in his throat, causing an ulcer, blood poisoning, and eventually death. The company refused payment, citing the death certificate which listed tonsillitis and endocarditis. The company further alleged that Capt. Burns suffered from pre-existing heart disease and pneumonia, and that they had been denied the opportunity to have their own physician examine him during his final illness. After the autopsy, which failed to yield a public result, the body was reinterred in Lake View Cemetery.
“The purpose was to determine the cause of death and ascertain whether or not the Fidelity Casualty company is liable for a $5,000 accident policy.”
This dispute over medical history and insurance payouts echoes the modern battles between families and insurance providers over 'pre-existing conditions' and the fine print of policies. The gruesome legal tactic of exhumation was a brutal necessity in an era before digital medical records and modern forensic standards.
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