The New York Herald Newspaper, November 12, 1872, Page 3

Map Showing the Boundaries 1-—Custom House. 4—Park Street Church. &S-Tremont House. 6-Tremont Temple. \JHART£ORD INSURANCE COMPANIES heir Combined Loss About Three Mil- p Stone—The National Loses $150,000; the ” Hartford, $422,000; the Orient, $170,000; the Kitna, $145,000; the Connecticut, , $100,000; the Phenix, $500,000; the . People’s Insurance of Worcester Bound ‘ te Fail’; Loas, $700,000. Harrrorp, Conn., Nov. 11, 1872, ‘The solid men of Hartford came on the business ts this morning with faces considerably more tural than they were yesterday. After the first telligence of Boston’s great conflagration reached jehem, when church bells were calling them to the Sanctuary, and ministers were ready to give them jot the sacred food, as is their wont on the Sabbath, Whey were surrounding the bulletin boards of the gpewspapers and lamenting in loud tones this \oity’s misfortune, The air was laden with lamen- gations, and the feeling intense over their ill ck, Not more than a year had passed since was wrung from the various insur- offices here nearly eight millions of dollars suffering Chicago, and now another of millions was @ little too much for them to with propriety. They rushed from one place another and finally brought up at the points ere their money was invested, and then she NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1872.—-TRIPLE SHEET, BOSTONS BURNED DISTRICT. officers of the different insurance companies, who ‘were endeavoring, but fruitiessly, to figure their individual losses, were seriously disturbed by Many questions, Stockholders complained that Dow, just rallying from the great losses of a year ago, it was too bad that this last calamity should befal them, In this spirit of vexation they went to their homes and retired—and that very early—to get rid of annoying thoughts, but to awake this morning in a better mind and to ascertain that Hartford, after all, is not so badly off, The loss this little inland city has sus- tained is quite bad enough. The closest calcula- tions put the combined loss by the Boston fire at near!; v THREE MILLION DOLLARS. To ascertain the precise state of their feelings in the matter, and also to obtain correct figures in the premises, I called on the officers of the several insurance companies this evening. All were in their respective chairs and busy with pencils por- ing over huge maps of the burned district, The special train that left New York at one o'clock yes- terday was welcome news to these gentlemen, and all sent their representatives to the flame-stricken city, that they might know the worst, They returned this evening laden with papers containing accounts of estimated losses and hoped-for savings, and until midnight the Work of consultation and computation went of the Conflagration, Other Landmarks. RE 7—-Quincy Market. $-Faneuil Hall. 9-Old South Church. 10-State House. FERENCE §. Public Buildings, ll—New Post Office. 14—King’s Chapel. 15—City Hall. 16—Parlker House. Churches and on. Under the laws of the State of Connecticut but six insurance companies in this city have been allowed to do business in Massachusetts since the 1st of last January, and this prohibition was owing to the great losses of the Chicago disaster. These companies are:—The National, Orient, Phoenix, Connecticut, Hartford and Atna, With renewed business since that misfortune they hoped the coming year to pay large dividends, and thus de- light the heart of their friends, but, alas! the stock- holders must wait another twelvemonth for checks. that will be the assurance of returning prosperity. I called first on the officers of the National Fire Insurance Company, and found Mr. James Nichols, the Secretary, busy as a bee. His assistant had just returned from Boston, and without a mo- ment’s delay I was put in possession of these facts, which I have since learned to be essentially cor- Tect, The National started anew after their failure over the Chicago fire with a capital of $600,000. On the ist of this month their net assets were $619,000, and their risks in Boston proper and suburban towns amounted to about four hundred and fifty thousand dollars, This sum was all on merchandise, as the great desire of the Boston insurance companies to swallow up the risks on real estate in that section precluded them and all Hartford companies from writing but few of such character, Of thig amount ip the burned district they wili LOSE IN ALL ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS, and to attest their ability to pay all claims and pro- ceed to business again they have issued the an- nexed circular, which is similar to those already sent ont:— al had a risk In the burned district at Boston nd dollars, and we believe ¢ hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars. Our general agent is at Boston, and we shall adjust and pay all losses promptly. Please push business for us vigorously, taking desirable risks only at largely advanced rates, and assure your people that the National affords them complete and full protection against the “fre storm” which seems to be sweeping the country. The Hartford was next visited, and Mr, Chase, the President, assured me that he felt well pleased over the reports just received from the burned dis- trict, Their secretary and adjusters were on the ground diligently at work, and to-morrow they would begin to pay their losses, The capital of the company is $1,000,000, and their assets last January were $2,900,000, They had brt little over $600,000 in the district now desolated, and by repeated cal- culations put their loss at $422,000, They paid nearly three times this sum in settling their Chi- cago claims, Mr. Chase says:—"'We bave been In business sixty years, and are not frightened at trifes. In the New York fire of 1835 we paid $35,000 on a capital of $15,000, and we have progressed ever since,” Th Orient came next, The officers of this com- pany also felt well. They said their capital was $500,000, their net assets $650,000 at this time, and they had risked in the section of Boston destroyed less than $200,000, Of this there may be a salvage of $30,000, which leaves their loss $170,000. This 1s near the correct figure. Then came the Atna, Most of the directors were in the office discussing their liabilities in the direction which all insurance men are now looking, This company writes be- tween four and a half and five millions of dollars at their Boston agency during a year. At the time of the fire they had about seven hundred and eighty thousand dollars in the burned district on merchandise and real estate; but the larger proportion on the former, Of this there was saved by removal about two hundred thousand dollars, and despatches at ten o’cleck this morning from their Secretary put down the loss that they will incur, after salvage and over-in- surance have been deducted, at $1,450,000, This can be considered to approximate the right sum, what- ever may be said to the contrary; but, with net agsets over all outstanding policies of $5,000,000, they CAN STAND THE STORM, even if it is alittle unpleasant. The Connecticut was next visited, and the assistant secretary was found as smiling and happy a8 mortal could wish, ‘The cash capital of the company is $500,000 and, et assets $650.00, In the burned district they had Tisks of $100,000, all of vhich will be @ total loss, “We are very fortunate,” said the smiling officer, “and we shall pay at once.” The Phoenix, last on the list, had nearly $600,000 involved, of which $500,000 will be a total loss, This they can stand, althougtt the load is somewhat bending, as their assets are over $1,500,000, Adding all these losses, and giving the companies the benefit of their estl- mates of amounts to be deducted, they foot up the sum of $2,867,000, which must come from the pockets of old Hartford's solid men, Yet to-night they seem satisfied, and the insurance companies are opening a new campaign with redoubled vigor, Yet, beside all this, the laws of Connecticut re- quire each company to have such @ surplus on hand that, should disaster overtake them, they can reinsure their risks; and now, very late to-night, some obstinate fellows are asking the question, “Do all the Hartford companies possess such amounts?” The People’s Insurance Company, of Worcester, itis reported here, must fail, their losses amounting to over seven hundred thousand dollars. The Boston “Pilot's” Block. One ofthe most imposing edifices on the street Was the double Mansard roof block, erected within | the last four years by Mr, Patrick Donahoe (of thd Boston Pilot), which was one of the last to yleld t the fame, | SEE SEVENTH PAGE FOR DETAILS,