Wheeling's insurance companies have a deserved name for probity, financial soundness, efficient management and prompt payment of losses wherever insurance business is done. She has ten fire and one life company, and all are in a flourishing and prosperous condition. Over $1,000,000 is represented in the capital of these companies. Besides these all the first class companies elsewhere are represented by local agents, and there are a number of extensive State and general agencies located here. Nowhere is the risk smaller than in Wheeling. This is forcibly shown by the fact that in the past three years there have been but sixteen fires where the loss was more than nominal, and of these the average loss was less than $1,000. Following is a list of the local companies, with their officers:
Insurance has been an important business here for a score of years, and in that time no Wheeling insurance company has become bankrupt, or failed to pay any legitimate loss.
"Where's the Fork."
ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS
Most of us know the story of the American who, visiting some provincial museum on the continent, was shown a rusty blade which, he was asssured, was the identical knife used by the brave Charlotte when she finished the blood-thirsty Jean Paul. "Where's the fork?" asked the American. He must have been twin-brother to, if not the selfsame American globe trotter of whom I heard lately at Candy, Ceylon. He was visiting a Buddhist temple, and the priests showed him a lamp in which burned a sacred fire which, they said, had not been extinguished for 2,000 years. "Is that so?" asked the American. "It is," replied the priests. Then the American stooped down, pursed his lips together, and with one victorious puff extinguished the sacred fire. "I guess it's out now," he remarked quietly as he walked away.
Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, September 14, 1886
Service provided by the staff of the Ohio County Public Library in partnership with and partially funded by the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation.