The Sudden Vanishing of the Union’s Trusted Bookkeeper
A local labor official disappears, leaving behind a mysterious accounting gap and an unanswered question of financial impropriety.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Members of the union order of Coal Workers here are anxiously asking each other about the present whereabouts of J. M. Pickens, the financial recorder of the local branch. Mr. Pickens disappeared from his station in the Coleman building Thursday afternoon and has not been seen or heard of since. It is alleged that upon an examination of his books, there was found a shortage of about $1,000. James T. Keefe has been appointed to the union to demand an amount secured by Pickens. The American Bonding and Trust Company of Baltimore, which is Mr. Pickens' surety in the bond, has been notified of his disappearance. Mr. Pickens handled from $100 to $500 annually. A peculiar feature of the disappearance is that Mr. Pickens drew checks and drafts payable to himself from his stock. The missing man has lived in the state for 15 years. This afternoon, A. U. Campbell, agent for the American Bonding & Trust Company, sent out a complaint against Pickens for the alleged embezzlement of the trust funds.
“A peculiar feature of the disappearance is that Mr. Pickens drew checks and drafts payable to himself from his stock.”
Financial accountability within local organizations remains a sensitive issue, though the $1,000 disappearance of 1899—a significant sum for a bookkeeper—highlights how precarious financial systems were in early Seattle’s labor history before modern auditing standards were standardized.
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