Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-10-10
Lucky Baldwin.
He TALKS ABOUT soNE OF HIS LUCKY HITS
AND HIS HARD WORK.

He TALKS ABOUT SOME OF HIS LUCKY HITS
AND HIS HARD WORK.
From the Louisville Courier-JournaL
Room No. $50 at the Gait house Is occupied
by a medium-sized white-haired man, who
is usually attired in q plain dark suit, with a
coat OF the double-breasted sack cut. There II
nothing flashy about him. The man is r. j.
Baldwin, Familiarity known Lucky Bald.
win," the noted California millionaire. Mr..
Baldwin has been here for several days attend
ing the fall races with his string Of runners.
Mr.. Baldwn's fortune did not come to him by
some sudden streak OF luck, as his nickname
would indicate, but was accumulated gradu.
ally. When he reached San Francisco he OBJ
tanned possession OF a small hotel but ran IL
for only two weeks. 4 friend whom he had
known in the east was Interested I'm govern
ment contract for making brick. Mr.. Baldwin
obtained share i'm the venture. although he
knew nothing in the world about max ng brick.
"But L was determined to learn" he said, for
a man can do anything. and bought "A book
and studied il, mastering the details" The
brickmaking venture prospered. and the emf
grant began TO make money, clearing about
81 800 a month on his contract. From that
kind of business he passed 10 some other, and
turned his hand TO almost everything, as he
himself has said. Finally he drifted 10 the
stock market and began 10 make money
rapidly. Mining stocks were the kind be traded
in, and keen eye for business caused him 10
That is the way made my money" he said,
"for never had any great stroke of luck like
some other men. The Chronicle gave me my
name OF Lucky for some successful venture
that had made in stocks. 1 worked hard aud
examined the mines that bought. 1 crawled
through tunnels, and went down shafts, and
1abored for years like n slave.
"l have made some big deals, said Mr.. Bald
win. I'm SO cleared four and a half millions
III one time out of the 0phir mine, at Virginia
City, New. L had all the dealers ON the coast
and the California bank against me. but 1 out
witted them and broke the bank, or rather that
was what led To the break. BY the way, the his
tory of that bank has been rather remarkable
1t broke in Is. q for Sl4ooo,ooO but il paid off
everything, and its stock Is now worth double
the par value. When had the bank and its
friends outwitted, 1 could have made
S1S.0o0,0o0. somebody might have shot me,
but still could have done it,
In his capacity as millionaire Mr.. Baldwin
has, of course, rubbed against the other million
aires OF the Pacific coast, and is intimately
quainted with them all. He says that the rail-
road men the richest Of the crowd. Maekay
made his fortune out Of mines. and lac and
Baldwin have crawled through many miles OF
tunnel together. MIR. Baldwin puts his wealth
at $40. 600. 900, and that OF Flood and - Brien
at S10o0o.UOo each. Fairs he estimates at
$4,000. 900. The railroad people GO above
says, is worth over S30.ooO,oO0, aud that OF
Croker about $4,000 600 Leland stanford
is also worth $4,000, 900. san Francisco, Mr..
Baldwin estimates. To be the richest city in the
world i'm proportion TO its population. There
are plenty of miliionaires there whom one has
never heard of.
"All that have told you," he said, "is only n
very vague outline of the real facts. A detailed
history OF these things would exceed the tale q
Aladdin's lamp, and people would not believe
what they read, Tor IL would Toe like dream"