The defendant in error, Ada Ward, formerly Ada Davey, was the wife of William A. Davey, of Jersey City, N. J, and the beneficiary named in a policy of life insurance issued by the plaintiff in error on the life of Mr. Davey for the sum of $10,000, dated July 16, 1879. Mr. Davey died on the 6th of August, 1881, at Alexandria Bay, N. Y., and within 90 days thereafter, to-wit, August 1, 1 881, his widow gave to the company due notice and proofs of his death, as required by the terms of the policy, and demanded payment of the amount named therein, which was refused, and thereupon this action was brought. So far as the present status of the case is concerned, the defense to the action is that there was a breach of that condition in the policy on the part of Mr. Davey, which provided that if he 'shall become so far intemperate as to impair his health or induce delirium tremens,' then the policy should become null and void. On the trial of the case, before Judge GREEN and a jury, the plaintiff, to maintain the issue on her part, introduced evidence showing the death of Mr. Davey, and also certain papers constituting proofs of loss, including the certificate of death of the deceased by Dr. Rae, the family physician. In this certificate the following questions and answers occur: '(3) Was his last illness occasioned, or had his general health been impaired, by any pernicious habits? Answer. He was in the habit of using stimulants and a great deal of tobacco. Probably they impaired his health.' '(5) Was his health impaired by intemperance? A. See answer to 3. 6. Was his death caused, directly or indirectly, from intemperance? See answer to 3.' The plaintiff thereupon rested her case. The defendant introduced the evidence of a large number of witnesses to prove the breach of the above-mentioned condition in the policy. All of them were associated with him while he was at Alexandria Bay,-most of them boatmen engaged in rowing on the St. Lawrence river, clerks and keepers of hotels, a bell-boy, the physician who attended him in his last illness, and two medical experts. The evidence of these witnesses was to the following effect: In the evening of the 24th of July, 1881, Mr. Davey arrived at Alexandria Bay, on the St. Lawrence river, on his annual fishing excursion to that place, and put up at the Crossman House. He seemed at that time to be in delicate health; and one of the witnesses at least testified that he shuffled in his walk while going up to the hotel. From that date up until Monday, August the 1st, William White, the boatman, testifies that the deceased was on the river every day with him, from 8 or 9 A. M. until the middle of the afternoon or in the evening, and that while on the river the deceased drank about a quart of brandy daily. In addition thereto, according to the testimony of the bell-boy at the hotel, the saloon-keeper and several boatmen, he drank at the bar of the Crossman House every evening, quite freely, and sometimes in the norning before breakfast; and frequently went across the river to Lockport, and to another place known as the 'Island View House,' kept by one Theodore Lear, and drank heavily of brandy at both places, as testified to by the respective keepers and bar-tenders of those hotels. The bell-boy at the Crossman House testifies that very often during the period mentioned he had several drinks sent to his room in the evening, and sometimes in the morning; and that on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 2d, at the request of Mr. Davey, he carried two quart bottles of liquor to his room,-one of brandy or whisky and the other of gin. On going to his room on the morning of Wednesday, the 3d of August, the bell-boy says those two bottles were empty, and Mr. Davey was sitting in bed in a very weak and nervous condition, his clothing and the bed clothing spattered with blood, and there was considerable blood in the slop-jar beside the bed. The bell-boy notified the proprietor of the hotel of the affair, and he, together with Frank Bruce, a clerk at the hotel, (who was then studying medicine, and has since graduated in that science, and is now a practicing physician,) went to Davey's room. They at once sent for Dr. L. C. Watson, a practicing physician at that place. Dr. Watson testified that Davey said to him that he had been cautioned by his family physician that if he persisted in 'having these times' he would have hemorrhage of the stomach, which would probably kill him.