36 INFORMATION RELATING TO INSURANCE AND THRIFT 



valued at $ 334,040 and S 227,468 was paid in indemnities. The contents 

 of these buildings were estimated as worth S 437,792 and were insured for 

 $306,488 : the loss under this head was $222,006 while indemnities amount- 

 ed to $ 151,962. The causes of fires in barns and stables, including twenty- 

 seven such fires in Boston, were distributed as follows: candle, lamp or 

 stove igniting merchandize or other material, 6 ; careless smoking, 66 ; 

 careless use of matches, 66 ; children with matches, 23 ; defective chimneys, 

 3 ; defective heating apparatus, 2 ; electrical causes, 5 ; fire-crackers, 3 ; 

 friction, i ; ignition of gasoline or other volatile oils, 4 ; hot ashes in wooden 

 receptacles, 5 ; incendiarism, 19 ; upsetting lantern, 7 ; lightning, 36 ; ma- 

 licious mischief, 3 ; boiler in milk-room, i ; overheated heating apparatus, 

 I ; rats and matches, 2 ; sparks from bonfires, heath or forest fires, 7 ; 

 sparks from chimneys, 6 ; sparks from locomotives, 5 ; sparks from matches 

 or snap matches, 2 ; sparks from stoves, 2 ; spontaneous combustion, 34; 

 thawing water-pipes, 5 ; tramps, 10 ; unknown, 64. 



