“We have two $100,000 risks in Galveston, and we are hoping that they are not among the lost. Our reports from Texas are not in, but I should think that our company will be fortunate if it gets off with less than a loss of $100,000. I believe that the assessment and fraternal insurance concerns will have the most losses because of the fact that in such a disaster the loss of life is greater among the poorer classes.”
The accident insurance companies had heavy losses to meet.
CHAPTER X.
Magnitude of the Relief Necessary—Twenty Thousand Persons to be Clothed and Fed—System of Relief Organization—How the Storm Affected Trade.
The situation at Galveston on Saturday night, just a week after the calamity, was thus described by a competent authority who arrived in the city the day after the flood:
“It must be possible by this time to give some idea of the magnitude which relief must assume. There were 38,000 persons in the city when the census was taken a few weeks ago. After the storm 32,000 remained. This latter statement is made after careful inquiry from the best sources of information. About 3,000 have left the island, most of them women and children, to go to friends temporarily.
“Of the 29,000 remaining how many must be helped and how long?
“The question is a hard one. The men who knew most of the situation, who have labored day and night since Sunday, hesitate to answer.