The Union Treasurer Who Caught a Ship
Thomas Pentory left a letter admitting he was short in the books, then sailed for Britain. Tacoma wired Port Townsend to take him off the vessel.
TACOMA, Feb. 21.—Special.—When the British ship was towed out of this port yesterday to begin her long voyage to Great Britain she carried with her Thomas Pentory, treasurer of the Tacoma Stevedores' and Riggers' Union. Unfortunately for Pentory, he left a letter explaining that he was short in his accounts with the union, but would pay back the shortage as soon as possible. The letter fell into the hands of Nat Glenfield, president of the union, a few hours after the vessel left port. He was dumfounded, as no one had ever suspected Pentory of crookedness.
A hurried examination of the books develops the fact that there was a shortage of $186.63. A warrant for Pentory's arrest was sworn out immediately and the Port Townsend police notified by wire to take the man off the ship, which will be there tonight. Pentory, it is said, has been drinking heavily of late.
“Unfortunately for Pentory, he left a letter explaining that he was short in his accounts with the union.”
A working union's treasury in 1896 was a shoebox of dues held on trust, and the man with the books was usually the only audit. Embezzlement from labor organizations still surfaces in the Northwest, though the sums and the getaways have grown; the essential vulnerability — small, uninsured treasuries guarded by personal reputation — has not changed much.
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