66 N.Y.S. 804 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1900
The plaintiffs have recovered upon a policy of insurance issued by the defendant on June 6, 1892, upon the life of Edward B. Holden. The policy was made subject to certain conditions attached thereto, and made a part of 'the contract. Among these there was a statement of the risks not assumed, in each of which cases it was provided the policy should become void. One of these cases was death “by self-destruction, except upon satisfactory proof that the insured was so far insane as to destroy his responsibility therefor.” Holden died on September 19, 1897. The defendant, in its answer, alleged that the death was by self-destruction, and that presented the main issue at the trial. There was no claim of insanity. The verdict was, in effect, that the death was not by self-destruction. The appellant claims that this verdict was contrary to the evidence. Holden lived in the city of Elmira. On the morning of September 19th, between 4 and 5 o’clock, he was found hanging by the neck from a-limb of a tree on the side of the highway three or four miles westerly from the city. He was suspended by a halter the head stall of which was attached to the limb, and at the end of the strap there was a slipnoose that was around his neck. He was dead, but the body was warm, so that he had not been hanging long. There were six cuts upon the wrist of Ms right arm, and there were also two cuts upon this arm between the elbow and the shoulder. At the trial it was claimed that the latter cuts-severed the cephalic vein. The physician employed by the coroner to examine the body as to the cause of death was the only witness who had, by a personal examination, the means of knowing whether tMs vein was severed, and he testified that it was not, and I see no good reason for disregarding his evidence. There was some fresh blood on the ground below the arm, which indicated that the man was alive when he was hung. There were no other wounds on
Judgment and order reversed upon the facts, and new trial granted; costs to abide the event. All concur, except SMITH, J., not sitting.