| 230 MARYLAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE
States to be chartered on a joint-stock basis, was incorporated
on May 21, 178'7.2°° Those desiring incorporation declared that
its " Establishment . . . would greatly alleviate the distress of,
& afford immediate relief to, sufferers thereby." Its capital was
to be not less than L10,000 current money ($26,666.67) in
shares of £100 and the company was empowered to insure any
dwelling or other building within the state or elsewhere, but
it was not answerable for losses exceeding £5 of every £100
value of a building insured by them. And the company was
not liable for losses exceeding its capital.=°1
Arrangements regarding capital were unusual. Actually there
was no paid-up capital. When £10,000 had been pledged, the
subscribers were to give promissory notes in amounts of x'40,
30, 20, 10 on each share, payable on demand and with appro-
priate security. When a fire loss was sustained by the company,
the president was to call upon the stockholders, in proportion
to the amount of stock they owned, for the amount necessary
to cover the loss. If shareholders refused to comply within a
certain specified time, their property could be attached. The
company could also lend out money received as premiums=°=
In order to build a fund to pay losses, the company was to
declare a dividend only once in five years.
On September I of the same year the company opened its
office in Baltimore. " A Citizen " in the Baltimore Maryland
Gazette congratulated his " fellow-citizens on the establishment
of a Fire Insurance Company " because it would prove " highly
beneficial." Furthermore he thought that the company was
well-guarded against " fraudulent intentions of designing peo-
ple." He also praised recent acts of the legislature which pro-
vided for the sinking of pumps in certain sections of Baltimore
that had no water and another act which stipulated that every
householder in the city must provide himself with two leather
fire-buckets.2°3
Depite this auspicious beginning, four years later the stock-
"'Davis, If, 238.
'©1 Md. Sess., 1787 Apr. c. 20. The stock of the company was not liable for
attachment for private debts of members and was transferable.
'°E Ibid.
203 g. Md. Gaz., Aug. 24, 1787.
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