The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1909-02-06
TEN WIVES ARE
NOW CREDITED TO
GAMBLER KING
Three Known Widows Mourn
at Bier, but There Are
RumorS of Others.
ONE OF THEM IS DEAD.
First Woman to Whom He
Was Married Tells Of Three
Other Weddings.
ONE OF THEM IS DEAD,

Although William 6. King. a faro
dealer, who will be buried tomorrow from
=. Il. MCDonncll's undertaking rooms at
No. PA Seventh avenue, died pennIless,
he left a wealth of widows. Three OF
them with marriage certificates met in
frigid conclave at the dead mans bier
this morning then there appeared the
cousin Of another wife who did not
live to Join the widowed group. Then
there were three more reported rather
vaguely, that Is, none Of the three sur
viving widows believed that the three
vague wives were wives OF record.
AS the morning wore along and the
collection In Todd's saloon, Twenty
ninth street and Seventh avenue, taken
to pay the funeral expenses, grew lar
ger. there were cumulative rumors that
In the course OF his brief career, Will
lam S. King had taken unto himself
ten wives-some OF them by Irregular
processes OF solemnization.
The gambler was to have been buried
to-day had any Of his widows contrib
uted toward his funeral expenses. But
they all refused to give a dollar, though
they all expressed the desire Of being
present at the funeral services and In
terment His friends had to be APP
pealed to, and it is expected that n suf-
ficient fund will be made up 10 assure
the funeral for tomorrow,
Her Claims as First Wife.
Wife No. | described herself as Mrs,
Anna Ward King, She is a Eenteel
looking little woman with bright red
hair and snappy brown eyes. She had
not lived with King for many years.
she said. but she intended to assert her
priority as widow by riding in the first
carriage behind the hearse and let any
OF those other widows butt In ii they
dared"
Mr. Kings marrying habit wasn't
any news to me- said Mrs. King No.
to-day. nor did ii bother me at all
after | had quit living with him.
married him in Montreal in February,
1889. He was young fellow then about
twenty-five or twenty-three. and ! was
going to school He had soda water
business and appeared to have money
Then he had nice oily way with him,
so with the sOdas and ice creams and
9andtes and palayer | fell In love with
him.
I'VE were married about the time I
put my pigtals up on the back OF my
head. Shortly after he came to New
York, Then he sent for me- | knew
by that time that he was a gambler.
but cared for him enough TO live with
him about year. That's as long as I
could stand the people he went around
with, so as soon as l got a Job | left
him.
His Other Marriages.
Since then haven't bothered with
him. Now and then I'd meet him on
the street and chat with him, and ask
him about his marriages. OF course
didn't approve Of his marrying other
women, but didn't worry about 1t.
THE first real marriage Of his that
heard Of after | left him happened in
1897. He met q little shopgirl named
Jennie Dufiield and married her in the
City Hall. Three years later she died
when her baby was born, Then, In 1903.
he married a girl named Carrie Siegrift.
She worked In laundry and had yellow
hair. They were married in e German
Lutheran Church, When | heard about
1t I went and looked up the record
but they didn't live together very
long They didn't get along well. There
was no divorce. They just separated.
The next marriage / saw the record OF
occurred on March 81, 1908. This wife was
Lizzie Grogan and they were married
by the Rev. Father Lane in St.
Mlchaels Church on Thlrty-thrd street.
Heard of Other Wives.
Before this I'd heard OF other wives,
but couldn't get any records on them.
knew there were other women going
round saying they were Mrs. King. but
was sceptical about them. When
heard about this Lizzie Grogan, though,
I stopped King on the street one day
and asked him about 1t. He was
pretty sick man then-wasting away
with consumption The life he was lead
ing was killing him.
What do you keep on marrying like
~.
It's Illegal lie only laughed at that
and said that II the women wanted to