While one of his sisters, Marietta, was at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, King met and courted her roommate, Dorothy Ayer Gardner of Harvard, Illinois. They were married on September 7, 1912 at Christ Episcopal Church. Dorothy and King returned to Omaha where King was working. King was eight years older than his wife. When they returned to Omaha, Dorothy discovered that King was not as wealthy as he claimed; in fact, he was deep in debt. On their honeymoon to the West Coast and then in Omaha, King abused his wife, and eventually threw her out. Dorothy returned to her parents' home in Illinois, and a few weeks later Leslie came to their home and Dorothy agreed to return to Omaha with him