Argosy All-Story Weekly

Double Indemnity by C. C. Waddell

This four-part serial opens with protagonist Ed Bell, a recently engaged man, nearly struck by a falling construction beam on Broadway while rushing to meet his new fiancée, Helen Lincoln, at the Hotel Poinsett. Bell is preoccupied with his engagement and the diamond ring he carries. At lunch, an insurance broker named Binoff intrudes with news that two ten-thousand-dollar life insurance policies have been approved, but the insurance company is hesitating over a fifty-thousand-dollar policy. Bell evasively dismisses discussion of the large policy before Helen. The episode suggests mysterious circumstances surrounding Bell's insurance arrangements. The issue also contains three additional continued stories: Kenneth Perkins's three-part Night Hawk's Gold (Part Two), Elizabeth York Miller's six-part Harlequinade (Part Three), and John Holden's four-part Faster Than Broadway (Part Four), along with five shorter pieces and poetry.