Schmidt v. Supreme Tent of Knights of Maccabees of the World

• Decision Date: 16 November 1897
• Citation: 73 N.W. 22,97 Wis. 528
• Parties: SCHMIDT v. SUPREME TENT OF KNIGHTS OF MACCABEES OF THE WORLD.
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

97 Wis. 528

73 N.W. 22

SCHMIDT

v.SUPREME TENT OF KNIGHTS OF MACCABEES OF THE WORLD.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Nov. 16, 1897.

Appeal from circuit court, Winnebago county; George W. Burnell, Judge.

Action by Emma E. Schmidt against Supreme Tent of Knights of the Maccabees of the World on a certificate of insurance. The complaint was dismissed, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

The defendant is a foreign corporation licensed to do business as a mutual benefit insurance society in this state. On the 26th of April, 1893, Henry L. Schmidt, deceased, then the husband of the plaintiff, became a member of a local lodge of the defendant company at Oshkosh, called the “Northern Light Tent, No. 35,” and received a certificate to the effect that upon his death $1,000 would be paid to his wife, Emma E. Schmidt, the plaintiff, upon the furnishing of proofs of death and the surrender of the certificate, “provided he shall have in every particular complied with the laws of the order now in force, or that may hereafter be adopted, and has not obtained his membership by fraud or misrepresentation as to his age, physical condition, or occupation, when admitted to membership.” At that time Schmidt was a baker and confectioner in the city of Oshkosh, and remained such until the time of his death. On June 14, 1894, however, he opened a saloon, and stocked it, in the basement of the building used by him for a bakery, and obtained a retail liquor dealer's license. Schmidt himself continued his business of baker, and employed a bartender, who operated the saloon the most of the time; Schmidt, however, occasionally making a sale in the absence of the bartender. On the 19th of September, 1894, Schmidt died, being still a member of the said subordinate tent, and having paid two or three assessments levied after he engaged in the business of saloon keeping, and after such fact was known to the officers of the subordinate tent. The supreme tent of the order, however, had no notice that the deceased was the proprietor of a saloon until after his death. When Schmidt joined the order, its by-laws provided that no person engaged as principal, agent, or servant in the sale of liquors was eligible to membership. At a regular meeting held in May, 1893, the defendant's by-laws were amended so as to provide as follows: “Sec. 142. No person shall be admitted as a beneficial member of this order who is engaged in any of the following occupations: Blasting, coal mining,...