The Washington times., 1921-12-21
Pc NF|ELD
ROW COSTS
A 7 7 0RNEy
POS I
Lawyer, on Way to Presidency,
Is Allowed to Resign by
Company Directors.

NEW YORK. Dec. 21.-One of
the biggest business sensations of
the year has come out of the ex-
elusive disclosure last week by the
New York American and the Wash
ington Times of the situation that
resulted In the divorce of the Wal
ter Scott Penfields and involved
conspicuously the name Of wealthy
corporation attorney.
Ong Quits His Job.
This lawyer, Eugene w. Ong, vice
president and general counsel Of the
500. 900 900 United Fruit Company. a
corporation of empire-building magni-
tude, has resigned his offices with the
famous concern of which It was ex-
pected he would become president
about January 1 next.
His resignation was presented yes
terday In Boston at an executive meet
ing Of the company's directors. The
New England bankers and business
men, comprising q majority Of the d.
rectorate, Immediately accepted the
resignations.
Incidentally. yesterdays meeting Of
the board was the first scheduled since
the revelations in two Hearst news
papers. II was the regular Tuesday
meeting.
The new development was not un.
foreseen. Indeed, 1t had been hinted
at by persons Intimately acquainted
with the directors and with the rigid
nature Of their New England code.
The story of Ong's resignation,
sweeping him in a moment from his
affluent position with his tremendous
organization, was denied by several
officers and directors Of the company.
Others would neither confirm nor deny
the story.
But it is possible to present exclu-
sively this sensational development.
To Succeed wife's Father.
Ong, 1t was recently reported. had
been selected to step into the presi-
dency on or about tho beginning OF
the new year, to succeed his father
in-law, Andrew w. Preston. The
latter. 1t was said, would take up the
craftsmanship Of the board Of direc-
ktors, to make way for. his aspiring
son-in-law.
Two questions are now being asked
by those who know the trend Of
events III tne COUNCILS OI tHt OHilSu
Fruit Company. They are:
will Preston, who stood by his
son-in-law after the disclosures were
made remain at the head of the COM
pany?"
"Will Ong obtain. as heir presum-
tive through his marriage, the large
stock holdings in the company held
by Preston?"
The significance of yesterdays de-
velopment may be appreciated from
the fact that in Boston and New York
steamship and financial circles within
the last few months it's was generally
asserted:
within another year or two Ong
will control the United Fruit Com
pany."
Leaned On Him.
In the last two or three years
Preston, builder Of an Industrial en-
pire, had come to lean more and more
on his forceful sonin-law.
The sensational events told last
| week eliminated on July 26 last in a
Reno divorce, in which Mrs. Penfield
charged desertion. But they actually
reached their dramatic climax in a
1870.
In that apartment on a certain day
were the Penfields and the Ongs--
Walter Scott Penfield, of Washington,
brilliant international lawyer, a man
Of middle age; the young and charm
ing Mrs. Penfield. once Alice Lucille
I,acon, Of Omaha: OnG. about forty
an ambitious lawyer lifted to affluence
by his fartherln-law. and Mrs. Bessie
Preston Ong, older and Of more ma
tronly mein than Mrs. Penfield.
They were . tense-faced group.
And II was tense drama Of marital
tragedy that was there enacted.
| Raid" by PenfleId.
II was a conference that Penfield
had insisted upon after a visit to the
Hotel Lafayette in Washington that
broke up the Penfield home. split
Washington society into factions and
interrupted the brilliant social career
In which Mrs. Penfield had scored the
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