The Gambler Who Fled the Law
After volunteering to test the legality of a new anti-gambling statute, a Spokane man skips town rather than face his penitentiary sentence.
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.
Fritz Dietrick, who offered himself as a voluntary sacrifice to test the validity of the new law making gambling a felony, has departed from Spokane. He left on the westbound Northern Pacific train at 2:30 o'clock this morning, and rumor is rife that he has jumped the $750 cash bail bond which was put up for his appearance. No brass band escorted Dietrick to the depot; he went sully and alone. He showed up at the depot a full half hour before train time, smoking a corn cob pipe and acting nervously. Prosecuting Attorney Horace Kimball expressed indifference, noting that if Dietrick has gone, the county is just $750 to the good. Dietrick had pleaded guilty to running a stud poker game and was sentenced to one year in the penitentiary, but his attorneys had fought the sentence on the grounds that the law was unconstitutional—a claim the supreme court rejected.
“I don't care whether he's gone or not. If he's gone, the county is just $750 to the good.”
This story highlights the perennial tension between gambling regulation and the 'sporting fraternity' of the early 1900s. While Spokane has long since legalized various forms of gaming, the use of 'test cases' and cash bail to challenge civic policy remains a familiar tactical element of modern legal and political disputes.
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