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Nonexistent in the 18th century, life insurance became a formidable industry in the 19th century, growing from fifteen chartered companies in 1840 to 129 in 1870. During this same period, the amount of life insurance in force grew from $4.7 million to $2 billion. Benefits were crucial lifelines for widows and children left without breadwinning husbands and fathers. But insurance also invited abuse, and life insurance fraud was rampant in the post-Civil War era. Shown here are two pamphlets detailing the complicated Goss-Udderzook case, in which brothers-in-law Winfield Scott Goss and William Udderzook colluded to fake Goss’s death and collect the insurance money. They staged a fire in which Goss’s body (in reality a medical school cadaver) was burned beyond recognition. When investigators became suspicious and launched an investigation, Udderzook killed Goss for good, lest their scheme be discovered. He did not get away with it. Found guilty, Udderzook was hanged in 1874. The case captured the public imagination, as evidenced in these two sensational pamphlets. |
![The Goss-Udderzook Tragedy. [Baltimore]: Baltimore Gazette, 1873.](images/section7/6-24 am1873goss-53844-o-6-c.jpg)
