The Sinking of the May Parker: A Maritime Fraud Trial
Accusations of insurance fraud and a conspiracy to sink a schooner in the Straits of Fuca lead to a complex trial featuring claims of insanity and corruption.
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The trial of Capt. Frank L. Bangs and James Heay in the United States court on the charge of conspiracy to defraud the Firemen's Fund Insurance Company of $2,500 by sinking the schooner May Parker in the Straits of Fuca occupied the court. Heay, who admitted to living on the Neah Bay reservation and being married to an Indian woman, testified that he was coerced into the scheme by a man named McCarthy. Heay described the vessel as 'old and rotten.' The defense attempted to establish that Capt. Bangs was insane, with family members testifying to his erratic behavior, while prosecutors dismissed these claims as fabrications.
“He had agreed to go into the scheme with McCarthy to defraud the insurance company... but that was not the sole inducement, for McCarthy scared him into it, and his life had more to do with it than the money.”
The maritime fraud trial captures a specific era of Puget Sound history when small schooners were the backbone of trade and often the target of desperate financial schemes. The intersection of insurance litigation, alleged insanity pleas, and the specific geography of the Straits of Fuca offers a window into the high-stakes legal battles of the 1890s.
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