The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-11
SETTLING UP STORM LOSSES.
INSURANCE AGENTS AND ADJUST
ERS HARD AT WORK NOW.

The Losses of the Companies In
Chatham County Estimated at
Nearly 100000 Neither the
Agents Nor the Companies Care to
Sell Amy More Storm Insurance In
Savannah - The Companies Are
Heavy Losers on This Class of
Business and the Agents Find the
Settling Up Very Troublesome.
Both insurance companies and insurance
agents are very sore on the storm insur-
'ance business in Savannah. The compa-
MES have found it about the most unproft-
able line Of business they ever undertook
to carry here and the agents have found
1t the most troublesome.
Exactly how much storm insurance was
carried in Savannah is not known, but
it must have been somewhere between
100000 and sl,OOO,OOO The policies were
mostly for amounts ranging from 1000
to $1,000 with few policies as high as
$4,000 and $4,000. The amount of storm
losses which the insurance companies will
be called upon to pay as the result of the
100000
Mr.. c. F. Prendergast said yesterday
that the amount of loss on policies issued
form his office alone will probably reach
10000. Other agents stated, however,
that the losses of all other agencies by
the storm would hardly equal that of Mr.
Prendergast, as he had very large line
OF this class of insurance and was spec
tally hard hit by the storm. bearing &
Hull estimated the loss on policies issued
by them at $1,000. Many of these losses
are on policies issued during the last sew
eral years for terms of three and five years.
many of these policies having been issued
by companies which have since discon-
tinued this line of business. AS new claims
turn up every day the agents are unable
10 get at the exact amount of the loss
Many of the claims are for small amounts.
from So up, and as each claim must be per-
sonally investigated the work is of a Vex-
auous and unsatisfactory character.
Mr.. Prendergast VOWS that he will never
be troubled with this sort of business
again, and other agents say the same
thing. AS the premiums on the storm poll
cles are very low, damage by storm being
regarded as a remote contingency, there
is very little profit in the business for the
agents and the companies are heavy los
ers. Most of the companies have notified
their agents here not to issue any more
storm policies The Royal of London is one
of the few companies which is still issuing
storm policies here.
The largest storm insurance loss is by
the Home Insurance Company of New
York, which had policy for $4,000 on the
Southern Fertilizer Companys works west
of the city. 1t will be remembered that the
acid chamber of the fertilizer company
was totally destroyed and a great deal Of
| damage done to the rest Of the plant The
following adjusters are at work adjusting
the losses for their companies here: Henry
W. Young of the St. Paul Fire and Marine
Walter Alley of the Caledonia, John W.
Price and r. r. Paschal of the Home In
surance Company of New York w. N
Hawkins of the Continental and D. B.
Halves of the Insurance Company of
North America. Other companies which are
losers by the storm here are the CONNER
cial Union of London, the Connecticut and
the Niagara.
Agents are canceling policies as fast as
losses are settled with an eye to reduc-
ing the possibility of further losses of
the same kind. If the storm, which was
so anxiously awaited yesterday had ar
rived as expected the losses of the in
surance companies here would have been
doubled, as they still have a great many
policies out. Then as many houses I'M
rooted by the recent storm are still un-
covered the loss to the companies IN such
cases would have been greatly increased
where the first losses have not been SET
tied for and the policies Cancelled. 1t is
estimated that the companies will nav
out about eight times as much money
here for storm losses as they received in
premiums on the policies