Kidder Insurance Suit, December 1872

 The Kidder Insurance Suit

Chenango Union, Norwich, NY, December 5, 1872

The trial of this interesting suit resulted in a verdict of $6,491.31 for the plaintiffs.  The following history of the case was furnished the Utica Herald by its Norwich correspondent.  It will be read with interest by all.

"A case of considerable importance has just been tried before the Chenango Circuit and Special Term of the Supreme Court, now in session in this village [Norwich, Chenango Co. NY], Judge Balcom presiding, involving the validity of an accidental insurance policy, issued by the Traveler's Insurance Company, of Hartford, in favor of Stella A. Yale and Anna B. Kidder, daughters of Elliot J. Kidder, deceased, late of the town of Bainbridge [Chenango Co. NY].  Kidder, as many of the readers of the Herald will remember, was killed in an affray with Robert Corbin, of Afton, and others, on the 10th of February 1868.

"For the better understanding of the case, it may be well to remark, that, in the town of Afton [Chenango Co. NY], some five or six miles from Bainbridge, there is, or was, a piece of land in dispute between Kidder and Corbin, familiarly known as the "Log House lot," adjoining, or near another known as the "White House lot," on which Kidder had claims, or was in possession at the time he lost his life.  On the day of the affray, Kidder with several persons in his employ, was at work on the premises in dispute.  Between four and five o'clock of that day, two teams with a double and single sleigh, containing some nine or ten persons, drove upon the hill, ostensibly, if any purpose was avowed, to bring away a pair of oxen belonging to Robert Corbin, sent onto the lot for a load of wood, and which Kidder, it was stated, had restrained.  While driving up the hill, and upon reaching or nearing the lot in question, Kidder, who had been notified of their approach, came down the hill with ax in hand hollowing "whoa! stop!," forbidding the party to proceed farther as the premises were his. The team was stopped, and Corbin and company jumped out of the sleigh, when a melee occurred in which Kidder was shot by Corbin through the head. Corbin was placed on trial for the murder of Kidder, at a Special Term of the Supreme Court held in February 1869, Justice Balcom presiding, and after hearing the evidence and the argument of counsel which occupied several days, was convicted of manslaughter in the third degree, and sentenced to Auburn prison for two years and two months.  Hon. Lyman Tremain and Hon. Amasa J. Parker were engaged in the trial.  The former on the part of the people, the latter for the defense. At the end of about nine months, Corbin was pardoned by the Governor, and reappears in the scene an important witness in the new role, or "roil", an attentive listener to the rehearsal of the tragedy in which he certainly, of all others save one, acted a conspicuous part. 

"The defense was based mainly on the ground or allegation that no premium had been paid upon the policy, issued but a short time previous to Kidder's death, and consequently it was not in force, and upon the further allegation, that the deceased came to his end, while engaged in an unlawful act, and in violation of the terms and conditions prescribed in the policy itself.  Occupying two full days in the trial, the cause went to the jury on Wednesday evening, who, this morning, brought in their sealed verdict for plaintiff, in the sum of $6,494.31, the amount of the policy being $5,000, the balance interest. The case was managed with great ability on either side, Henry R. Mygatt for plaintiffs, and William J. Hadley of Albany, for respondents. The cause has once been non-suited, and now exceptions have been taken for further hearing and we opine it will be a long time before the orphan Kidder girls will reap of the benefits provided by their thoughtful parent, who, whatever faults he may have had, loved his family with a husband's and father's love, should they not be deprived of this intended legacy altogether.  

There is so much law and so little justice--I say it will all due respect for the law makers and the legal profession, and without considering the merits of the case in hand, that one might as well lie down and die in the "last ditch," however meritorious his claims, as to struggle on with any hope of reaching the end, unless he be sure he is another Methuselah, or has a lease of life far outstretching the allotted years of man."