The California Insurance Company having played one of the leading parts
in the reconstruction of San Francisco following the disaster of 1906
and there being no record of its activities, I have, after insistent and
repeated requests from directors, stockholders and others, finally
yielded to their importunities to preserve for reference my impressions
and memories of that most important crisis ever known to fire insurance.
From the time when Nero played the violin accompaniment to the burning
of Rome, down, through the ages, to 5:15 a. m., April 18, 1906, and up
to the present date, the San Francisco disaster is the most prominent
recorded in history. It was the greatest spectacular drama ever staged
and produced the biggest heap of the "damn'dest, finest ruins" the world
has ever seen.
In transferring the records from the tablets of my memory to the printed
page, I am dealing with accurate historical facts of the California
Insurance Company together with my own impressions. The facts and
figures regarding the Company are incontrovertible. My own impressions
are but those which were felt by thousands of other San Franciscans in a
greater or lesser or more varying degree. These may be taken as merely
the local color, the object being to set forth for enduring vision, the
splendid performances of honorably disposed fire insurance companies
amongst which none discharged to policyholders the liabilities under
their contracts with any greater sense of equity, honor and liberality
than did the California Insurance Company.