Gunfire at the Windsor Hotel
A high-stakes dice game at a local hotel turns violent after allegations of cheating.
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.
About 6 o'clock yesterday morning, the occupants of the Windsor hotel were startled by the report of a revolver in the gambling room. A quarrel had broken out between Jack Jolly and a man named Joseph Berroa. The two men were shaking dice for money when Jolly, suspecting he had been cheated, pulled a gun. Berroa tried to defend himself, but Jolly struck him on the head with the weapon. The gun discharged, and those present took cover. By the time Officer Baldug arrived, Jolly had escaped. Berroa was taken to police headquarters, but no charge was entered against him.
“His hair was singed by the powder, so close was the revolver to his head.”
This incident provides a window into the 'vice' economy of 1890s Seattle, where gambling rooms were often tucked away inside hotels. Such violent confrontations were a routine byproduct of the city's unregulated nightlife.
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