A Widow Paid Her Dues. The Society Had $30 Left.
A Seattle-based benefit order collapsed after a member died in North Yakima, leaving his widow to chase $1,000 through a vanished organizer and an empty treasury.
The Royal Endeavor Society is the name of a beneficiary organization which proved a delusion and a snare to Mrs. Fanny Seaman, of North Yakima. This society was organized a little over a year ago and is now dead. Toliver T. Newman was the organizer of the society, and its headquarters were in Seattle. The secretary gives his address as 2104 Second street, but there is no house at that number and no one seems to know anything about him.
Not long ago the headquarters were moved to North Yakima, and the presumption is that Newman was moved with it. Recently David Seaman, a member of the order, who had regularly paid his dues, died at North Yakima, and his widow is instituting proceedings to recover $1,000 which, under the rules of the society, she thought was due her. When Mr. Seaman died the head camp and its banker, Dr. Graves, were notified, and then it was discovered that there was only $30 in the treasury. This offer was refused by Mrs. Seaman and she will try to make each individual member of each subordinate lodge pay his pro rata assessment to make up the deficiency.
Dr. Graves told the North Yakima Republic that the society had virtually disbanded before Mr. Seaman died. He thinks T. T. Newman is largely responsible for the collapse of the society.
Where the smooth Newman is now is not known. When last heard from he was working his way toward the East, instituting new camps and leaving a wake of dissatisfaction behind him.
“When Mr. Seaman died the head camp and its banker, Dr. Graves, were notified, and then it was discovered that there was only $30 in the treasury.”
Fraternal benefit societies were a precarious safety net in the 1890s, promising death benefits to members who paid dues; when the treasury failed, a widow was left to chase lodge members one by one. The story rhymes with modern anxieties about collapsing benefit funds, dubious insurance schemes, and the difficulty of pursuing an operator who has already moved on.
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