Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland v. Spokane Interstate Fair Ass'n

For several

years last past the Spokane Interstate Fair Association has conducted a fair and exposition in the early days of September of each year at its fair grounds in the city of Spokane. Except during the fair and the brief period of preparation and dismantling, the fair grounds and buildings axe unused and unoccupied. A safe is installed in a vault in the office of the association, in which the money taken in during the fair is kept until deposited in bank. About two years prior to the events that gave rise to the present .controversy, the officers of the association lost the combination to this safe, and a locksmith was employed to open it. The loeksmith drilled a small hole through the dial rim and safe door, through which he was able to learn the numbers and work the combination by means of a wire. This done, he drove a steel pin or plug into the hole and replaced the old dial plate with a new one, leaving no outward trace of the hole or plug. On August 31, 1924, just before the opening of the fair for that year, the Fidelity & Deposit Company of Maryland entered into ,a contract of insurance with the fair association, wherein the insurer agreed:

“To indemnify the…