RHODE ISLAND INSURANCE COMPANY of Providence, R. I. Organized 1907; capital, $400,000. George L. Shepley, president; Emil G. Pieper, vice-president and secretary; Tunis Johnson, Jr., assistant secretary. Assets, December 31, 1913, $1,359,102.79; liabilities, $586,622.69. RHODE ISLAND MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Providence, R. I. Organized 1848. John R. Freeman, president and treasurer; Theodore P. Bogert, secretary; vice-presidents, Benj. G. Buttolph and Edwin D. Pingree. Admitted assets, December 31, 1913, $1,419,177.95; liabilities, $590,512.05. RICE, JOHN F., was born at Milwaukee, Wis., February 9, 1864. He was educated at the Milwaukee Academy, and entered the fire insurance business at an early age. He was three years in the Chicago local agency of E. M. Teall & Co., and afterward special agent of the Fire Insurance Association of London. For two years he was assistant manager for the Union of California; in 1891 he was appointed assistant United States manager of the Prussian National, and in 1897 was placed in charge of the eastern department of the company, with headquarters at New York. In 1903 he resigned that position and became associated with John M. Whiton & Co., having charge of the general business of the Eastern of New Jersey throughout the United States, and the New England department of the Concordia of Wisconsin. On May 1, 1908, he was appointed manager of the Maryland department of the General Adjustment Bureau covering the states of Maryland, Virginia, and District of Columbia with headquarters at Baltimore. RICHARDS, ELLIS GRAY, was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, December 16, 1848, of Puritan and Pilgrim ancestry. Young Richards' early life was spent much in the same manner as numberless other youths; once after graduating from the schools of his native city, he commenced a business life at the age of seventeen as clerk in a large iron manufacturing establishment, becoming at the age of twenty-one its head bookkeeper, and about that time the establishment (a New York corporation) was removed to Passaic, New Jersey. The panic of 1873, which brought distress to the business interests of the entire country, affected severely the future prospects of the company, and urged by friends to enter the insurance business even as early as 1871 (in the service of a Massachusetts company), such a change was for a long time seriously considered by him, but it was not until February, 1874, that he decided to leave his then position, which had become one of large responsibility, to commence again at the bottom of the ladder of business experience by entering the employ of the Commercial Union Assurance Company as clerk in the Boston office. Promotion soon followed, and again in November of the same year further advancement was obtained by the offer and acceptance of the position of secretary and surveyor of the Worcester County Board of Under writers under direction of the National Board. This position brought valuable experience in the surveying and rating of fire hazards and led to further promotion by his employment as special agent of the Royal and Pennsylvania under Foster & Scull, managers, in May, 1877. In May, 1881, he accepted the position offered him by the Queen Insurance Company, as special agent for the same field. Under the guidance of the manager of the company, Mr. James A. McDonald, one of the ablest underwriters of the country, Mr. Richards passed six years in earnest work in building up the New England business of the Queen. In the organization of the New England Insurance Exchange, which occurred January 1, 1883. Mr. Richards took an active part, and during the remaining years of his work in the field he was a studious and enthusiastic participant in the labors of that body, which has done so much for the elevation and improvement of the fire underwriting business. He was offered and accepted the position of secretary of the National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford in April, 1887. He was elected a member of the board of directors of the National in 1895, and in December, 1896, was elected to the vice-presidency, in addition to the secretaryship. In November, 1899, he accepted the position of manager for the United States of the North British & Mercantile Insurance Company of London and Edinburgh, with headquarters in New York, beginning his duties in that position on January 1, 1900, following Henry E. Bowers, resigned. Mr. Richards is also president of the Commonwealth Insurance Company and of The North British & Mercantile Insurance Company of New York, both of which companies are controlled by the London and Edinburgh Company. RICHMOND INSURANCE COMPANY of New York. Organized in 1836 as the Richmond County Mutual; reorganized as a stock company in 1907. Capital, $200,000. J. F. Smith, president; D. G. Wakeman, secretary. Admitted assets, December 31, 1913, $512,021.80; liabilities, $159,987.88. ROBERTSON, JOHN WALTER, former manager of the western department of the Fire Association of Philadelphia at Chicago, is a native of Virginia, and was born at Alexandria, September 9, 1856. He was educated in private schools and at the University of Virginia, was admitted to the bar, and practiced law as an early vocation. He was special agent of the National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford in Illinois and Wisconsin from 1882 to 1888, and in the latter year was appointed special agent for the London and Lancashire in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. In 1902, he became Wisconsin state agent for the Fire Association, was promoted to be assistant manager in 1908, and was appointed manager in July, 1909. He resigned in December, 1910, and was appointed western general agent of the New Jersey Fire Insurance Company in 1911. ROSSIA INSURANCE COMPANY, THE, St. Petersburg, Russia. Carl F. Sturhahn, United States_manager, Hartford, Conn. (Reinsurance business.) Admitted assets, December 31, 1913, $5,486,031.81; liabilities, $4,838,672.43. ROYAL EXCHANGE ASSURANCE of London. Richard D. Harvey, United States manager, 92 William Street, New York. Admitted assets, December 31, 1913, $2,369,183.23; liabilities, $1,652,936.01. ROYAL INSURANCE COMPANY, (Limited), of Liverpool. England. Edward F. Beddall, general attorney for the United States; J. H. Pearch, secretary; Cecil F. Shallcross, manager for the New York department; Frederick W. Day, assistant manager; Albert R. Hosford, assistant manager; Morton S. Lewis, second assistant manager; Charles R. Pitcher, local secretary. New York office, 84 William Street. Admitted assets, December 31, 1913, $12,280,417.26; liabilities, $9,248,232.61. RUBBER MANUFACTURERS' MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Boston, Mass. Organized 1885. Arthur H. Lowe, president; Benjamin Taft, secretary. Admitted assets, December 31, 1913, $505,156.43; liabilities, $266,040. RUSSIAN REINSURANCE COMPANY, St. Petersburg, Russia. Paul E. Rasor, United States manager, New York. Admitted assets, December 31, 1913, $1,500,087.60; liabilities, $953,806.43. S SAFETY FUND LAW OF NEW YORK. This law, which permits the accumulation by a fire insurance company of New York, from its profits, of a fund, one-half of which may be deposited with the insurance department to be held for the protection of the unearned premiums of the company and to serve as a second capital in said case its capital and assets are swept away by a great conflagration, the other half to be retained by the company for the payment of losses, was enacted by the state legislature in its session of 1874 (passed April 16th) on the suggestion of Insurance Superintendent Chapman. It is now embodied in Sections 130, 131, and 132 of Chapter 690 of the laws of 1892 (the revision). The following companies have funds accumulated under the provisions of this law: Surplus fund laws are in force in five other states, the provisions thereof being similar to those of the law of New York, which was the first to enact legislation of this character. The states and their laws are: Minnesota, Chapter 18, laws of 1876, re-enacted by Section 98 of the general law of 1895, and Chapter 437, laws of 1900 and Chapter 263, laws of 1911. Rhode Island, Sections 26 to 32, inclusive, of Chapter 156 of the Public Laws. utes. Wisconsin, Sections 1909 to 1913, inclusive, of the Revised Stat New Jersey in 1908 enacted a somewhat similar law. SALAMANDRA INSURANCE COMPANY of St. Petersburg, Russia. Organized 1846. Meinel & Wemple, Inc., United States managers, New York City. Admitted assets, December 31, 1913, $2,451,804.48; liabilities (except capital), $1,873,719.41. SALVAGE CORPS. [See Fire Patrols and Salvage Corps in the United States.] SAMSON, FREDERICK, secretary of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, was born in Glastonbury, Conn., in 1847, and received a common school education. He has been in the service of the Hartford Fire for over forty years, entering its service as clerk in 1866. In 1880 he was appointed special agent in Connecticut and Rhode Island, and eight years later was appointed adjuster with headquarters at the home office. He was appointed assistant secretary in 1908, and appointed to his present position in 1910. SAN FRANCISCO, MANAGERS OF PACIFIC COAST DEPARTMENTS AT. The Pacific coast department managers of companies at San Francisco at the time this volume was ready for the press were: Commonw'th Ins. Co., Anderson & Edwards. A. G. Nason & Co. Dixie Fire, Dubuque F. & M., & Bertheau. J. F. Magee. Eastern Und. Agency, Chas. H. Ward. Companies. Louis Weinman, Sec. Fire Assoc'n, Phila., Managers. Frank M. Avery. Globe Und'rs Agency, Edw. Brown & Sons. Germania Fire, Hartford Fire, A. C. Thornton. & Bertheau. Ins. Co. of N. Am., James C. Johnston. |