Morning journal and courier., 1891-02-10
BIG POKER AT LAKE TAHOE.
Lucky Baldwin, Said to Have Won Jack Pot Worth Three Hundred and Six Thousand Dollars.

From the St. Louis Repubc.l
 One of the most memorable games of poker ever played in California came off at Lake Tahoe last summer between Charles Clayton, Horace Smith, Martin Davids and George Baldwin, four exceed ingly wealthy men. Clayton is cattle man whose possessions in Butte county are estimated to be worth upward of three million dollars; Smith owns mines in Pla- cer county that are putting thousands of dollars into his pocket daily: Davids owns ranches and lands in Monterey coun- ty to the worth of five million dollars; George Baldwin is the owner of fast horses. valuable lands and proprietor of the Baldwin Hotel, San Francisco. He has been heard of frequently through the public prints as Lucky" Baldwin.
 Lake Tahoe is a famous summer resort, and is frequented during the hot months by the wealthiest people in the upper half of the state. On Castle Rock, rugged island in the midst of Lake Tahoe, George Baldwin has built a summer residence where he entertains his friends royalty, and report has it that many thousands oi | dollars have been lost and won with cards within the walls of Castle House, as the Baldwin establishment is called. It was at this house that the great game above re- | ferred to took place. It was great not | through tho cleverness in force during the play, but in the enormity of the stakes, | which were over three hundred thousand | dollars The men had feasted, wined and dined and gamed for week. The even, ing before the party was to disperse Da, vids, who sat in the sumptuous dining room, tilted back against the wall, enjoy, ing an after-dinner cigar, rather careiessly suggested that they close the night and the season with great game of draw DO | ker The suggestion seemed to please the other members of the party, and Clayton the cattleman, asked how he would have it played.
 1T would have no money bet" said Da vids. ''The stakes should be real or per sonal property, and there should be nc limit to the stakes. I've been playing il pretty hard luck the past week; I've los all my ready cash, and feel like making an effort to get even or lose great dea more."
 ssThe idea suits me-" said Baldwin. 'r am in favor of giving Davids a chance t' get even if he wants it."
 Smith, the Placer county miner, though l the 1Q6d a uONel one, duu was duAlOuS p get into the game right away.
 "My idea" said Davids, ''is to play tn
 game until a jack pot is made, and tn
 winning of the pot shall end the game.
 To this the others agreed, and they de
 cided that the game should be begun a
 ten o'clock, and at that hour the fou
 men, with dozen spectators about them
 seated themselves at the table, and tn
 deal fell to Clayton.
 The game was an interesting one, an
 the stakes lost and won up to three o'cloc
 in the morning gsve,neither man a gres
 advantage. A few minutes past thre
 o'clock Smith dealt a set of weak hand ! and jack pot was made. It was mad up of slips of paper torn from notebook ' on which were written the amounts of til
 bet. Clayton had bet nine head of Jerse
 COWS; David's bet was four acres of till, 7 ble land two miles from Monterey; BalC 7 wins bet was lot in the town of San R
 fael. and Smith had bet two shares ( : stock in the Sulphur Gulch mine. Thei | bets represented cash value of about ii teen hundred dollars. Davids sat at the left of Smith, wh F passed the cards to bim. 'EI think" sai , he; ''that the squarest way to play this or will be to choose some one who has T 9 financial interest in the game to deal u I cards, and there can be no suspicion
 trickery."
 This suggestion pleased the other pla. l. CTS, and they selected George Hayward,
 San Francisco merchant, to act as deale ' The cards were thrown around, but n '- body caught "openers," and the pot w l. s'fattened" with more COWS, town lot