The Shadowy Slot Machine King of Tacoma
A brutal divorce filing exposes the secret owner of Tacoma's pervasive slot machine operations.
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.
Frederick Henry Baldie has been made the defendant in divorce proceedings instituted by Wealthy Ann Baldie. Besides alleging cruelty almost inhuman, the complaint clears up a mystery by stating that the defendant is the owner of the slot machines which are now being operated in Tacoma. The complaint states that Baldie threatened his wife's life repeatedly, and describes an incident in 1901 when he struck her, beat her into unconsciousness, and kicked her in the face. On June 22, he allegedly approached her bed at midnight with a drawn revolver. The community property mentioned in the complaint includes 700 slot machines in saloons and drug stores of Tacoma, from which the defendant draws an income of at least $2,000 a month, along with numerous other assets.
“The complaint clears up a mystery by stating that the defendant is the owner of the slot machines which are now being operated in Tacoma.”
This story reveals that the 'slot machine king' of 1904 was a local figure operating in the shadows of the Fidelity Trust Company, much like today’s controversies over unregulated gambling terminals in local storefronts. It highlights how the city’s vice economy was once tied directly to the domestic terror of its proprietors.
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