The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-03-22
LUCKY BALDWIN DYING.
Famous foreman and Capitalist Now
ut Deaths Door.

Dispatches from the Pacific coast
state that E. ]. Baldwin, popularity
kr7Gwn as Lucky" Baldwin, is serious
" i'll with pneumonia al his ranch at
Santa Anita, Cal, and his death may
be expected any day. His physician
gives no hope of his ultimate recovery.
His chances of recovery are greatly
lessened by the fact that he Ventured
into the vigorous climate of the klon-
dixie some time ago to look after. ms
mining interests a journey that proved
too severe for one of his advanced
years.
No man in the United States has had
more remarkable career than
Lucky" Baldwin He has been a
miner, working with pick and shovel,
a hotel keeper, presiding over one OF
the finest hostelries on the Pacific
coast. a horse breeder, and all-around
Spe CuIator in stocks, bonds and securi-
ties generally, and at all times plung-
er on the race tracks, backing his own
horses on all occasions upon which
they might by any possibility win. In
al, his enterprises he was almost in
variably fortunate; hence his sobriquet
of Lucky" Many men have won for
tunes by following his lead, and others
have lost heavily by doubling the cor
RICHNESS of his Judgment
Born in Ohio, Mr.. Baldwin made his
way to California soon after the dis
covery of gold there. Being familiar
with horses, he began life in San Fran
cisco as a livery-stable keeper. He in
vested much of his profits in mining
shares, scattering it around so that
the failure of any one enterprise would
not Bankrupt him completely. But he
was almost invariab bly, successful, and
it was not many years before he was
recEoned among the wellto-dO men of
the slope He invested heavily in San
Francisco real estate. He is the owner
OF some of the choicest property in
Market street. The site of the Baldwin
hotel and theatre belongs to him. The
building was historic, but was totally
destroyed by fire several years ago.
six lives being lost at the time. Because
certain people and papers of San Fran
cisco antagonized him. he has refused
to erect another building on the prop
erty and il is now surrounded by a
big advertising fence, which is an eye
sore to the most important business
section of the city.
This quality of combativeness has
marked Baldwin,s, entire career. In
the seventies, during time of great
financial stress, Flood. president of the
famous Bank of California, quarreled
with Baldwin, who withdrew a deposit
he had at the bank of 81, 100000. The
sight of truckl0ads of money being
carried away from the bank started
run. and the bank was forced to close
for a day. James G.. Fair, also at
swords points with Baldwin, finally
came to the rescue and the greatest
financial institution of the Pacific
coast, was saved from humiliation.
Mr.. Baldwin made his first big
strike in a most accidental way. He
was not miner and knew nothing
about mines said a man from San
who keeps track of the do
ings of men of millions. HE kept a
livery stable in San Francisco and
made considera BILE money. He. always
liked horses. They were his hobby then,
just as they have been since, When he
made himself well known through his
successes on the turf.
Some mining man owed Baldwin
several hundred dollars for horses on
a livery bill or something and couldn't
pay him. One day he offered Baldwin
a lot of stock in the Ophir mine,
which was near the mines in which
Flood, O'Brien, Fair, Mackay and 9TH
ers were interested. Ophir stock wasn't
worth anything-only a few cents
were the other mines near
it worth much then. Baldwin accepted
the stock. as payment of the debt and
threw it in his safe, thinking that he
might get something out of it some
day. He had about 1900 $50 shares.
"One morning he woke up and found
himself a millionaire. The ComstOck
mines had gone up and Ophir went up
with them-just because it was close
to them. The stock which had cost
Baldwin few cents a share was worth
hundreds of dollars a share. He had
sense enough to sell out at the proper
time &"