Salt Lake Telegram | 1924-01-19 | Page 2 | Life Insurance in Woods' Case Raises Issue

LIFE UfE INSURANCE IN RAISES Question Held Not Para Para- l lei lal l to That of K Kels KeIs ls Because Be Be- cause Executed Man Here Murdered Insured Insure Tee Lee Woods whose father Omer R. R Woods was e executed FrIday Friday Friday Fri FrI- day for the murder January 0 9 1922 of her r ther will not benefit from the insurance c carried carried- on on oh Mrs Woods Wood's life in favor of Woods in inthe inthe the opinion of lO attorneys ar canvassed canvassed can can- on the question today Woods carried two policies on th time the life Ufe of his hi's wife one for another for with dOuble In Indemnity indemnity indemnity in- in in case of death in a burning burning burn bUrn- ing in bu building dIng making a totaled 16 he would have collected had the murd murder r plot not been unraveled b by local attorneys In both of these policies the beneficiary bene bone is Omer R Woods but at attorney attorneys attorneys at- at torney declare he lIe could not collect col collect collect lect on them because of ot his having murdered the insured From this the tile attorneys reason Tee Lee Lea as the th heir of her f father ther cannot claim an insurance in indemnity not allowable to him as direct beneficiary Iary of th the tilO Insured KELS CASE CITED Much 1 speculation has hall been heard heart as to the daughters daughter's rights in these policies and lInd the case has been compared compared com corn pared to that of Alex Kels Lodi cal cat butcher executed recently for murd murder r in a life insurance plot and anit t. t the tile fact that Kels' Kels widow will wUl colbet collect col cot coli f i lect bet life insurance Th The cases attorneys point out ar are not nat i I analogous Jn In In the he Kels' Kels case th fi insured was wa the murderer while in iii the Woods' Woods case the beneficiary I murdered the tile insured Had Tee Lee Woods' Woods been nam named named- das d- d as beneficiary in the policies or ha had Y ds' ds carried Insurance on S own life le payable either to his wife or daughter the murder and exe execution execution exe exe cution would not have have disturbed th tilt the J daughters daughter's rights to indemnity it itis is said but the opinion is that his Ills it 7 murder of Mrs Woods destroyed his claim as b beneficiary and wiped out put any claim Tee Lee Le might have had as her fathers father's heiress MOTHER TO BE SPARED Plans to prevent the aged mother of or Omer Orner It R. R Woods from learing learning of ot her he s sons son's ns n's e execution for murder here have been agreed upon b by other members of or the tile according to Thomas Thomas' Ramage at attorney attorney attorney at- at torney for Woods The Tile mather is 72 years old and said 10 tobe be failIng fail fail- failing fai- fai ing fast Since the murder In the Pauline apartments more than two yer years ago tho the mother has been kept kept c.- c. v from reading newspapers earring 1 dispatches on on her son and is norance of the crime with which I he was charged and convicted it itis itis is said sald At the final parting o of the condemned n man an with wih his Ills brother broth broth- er E. E G. G Woods Thursday it I was wa agreed to continue the deception and shield their mother from the tile shock telling her when sho she in- in qu ques es why Omer does not write that he is Js sick sic in a Utah prison t. t Later they may tell tel her he ho h has died J FuneraL services were held for forthe forthe t the th executed man at ills his in in Mt l Olivet Olvet cemetery Fiday Friday af- af Rev Re Stanley A. A Curtis Curtis- a officiated Tile The The pallbearers included A Dr J. J P. P Marstella John Jolla H. H V. BlevIns Bievins Seymou Wells Wels and J. J P. P Green Green 1 former associates of Woods in the 1 local Internal revenue office and i Walter H. H Cubbison and F. F A. A Pyke P ke Attorney Ramage Woods' Woods P brother were tho the others in attendance attend- attend w ance J