River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-04-01
az FRANCIsCO.-The death

L31E99 ~ revived many stories OF the
MWS man who easily ranked as
%C9Y the boldest Spectator and
- gambler of California. Not
that Baldwin was a plunger on the
turf in the way that finally ended
Riley Grannans career or specuIa-
tor in the sense of a man who DUCKS
the market on his general obserVa-
ton Of the trend of prices. BALDWIN
nearly always carried on his big deals
on the basis of secret information.
Occasionally he was misled by his
enthusiasm over a horse that he fan
cied, but nine times out of ten his
most spectacular plays were made on
sure thing What he did have was
an iron nerve and the horse sense to
know when to get out of a deal with
the maximum of profit.
How his lean form endured the ex-
citemcnt of his life for 80 years is
one of the marvels which no doctor can
explain. He lived hard and during Is
years that he kept the Baldwin hotel
he seemed never to get any sleep.
Any one who wandered around to
the barroom or the card room of the
hotel in the early morning hours
would be sure to see the old man cir
culating about or taking hand in a
game of poker. And if you visited the
hotel at seven a. m, when the place
seemed as dead as a mausoleum, the
chances are you would find him pacing
up and down the long vestibule, look
ing as fresh as though he had gone to
bed with the birds the night before.
Fortune from the Comstock.
The Comstock silver mines made
Baldwin millionaire. Like Flood and
O'Brien, he had no special education
in mining. He began life in San Fran
cisco as a hotel keeper in a humble
way, and it was from a chance guest
at his place that he secured his tip on
the great richness of the ore in the
Ophir and Sierra Nevada mines on the
Comstock
Baldwin never trusted to second
hand information. He dispatched a
practical miner whom he could trust
TO Virginia City and had this man Sc
cure work in both mines. The man
found that the ore was richer than
reported. Then Baldwin lost no time
in getting into action.
The first reports of rich ore had
sent Ophir stock up many points, but
insiders spread rumors that the ore
vein had pinched out. Then there was
a slump as every one tried to get out
Baldwin went in then and bought right
and left, and before the insiders knew
what he was about he had received
enough stock to make him several
times a millionaire. On a stock mar
ket that registered fluctuations of sew
eral hundred dollars a share in a
single day a speculatOr of BaldWin's
nerve had great chance, and he
never missed an opportunity to add
to his fortune.
Presided with a Six Shooter.
One of his most spectacular coups
was in Sierra Nevada Baldwin had
secured the majority Of the stock, but
the formal transfers of this stock had
not been made on the books, so the
old directors called a meeting and
planned to elect on old proxies a
board of directors for a year and thus
keep Baldwin out of the management.
Baldwin heard of the scheme and
promptly had his lawyer, Reuben H.
Lloyd prepare an injunction against
the old directors forbidding them to
go on with the election.
The meeting was set for Monday at
nine a. m At the last moment Lloyd
rushed into Baldwin's office with the
news that it was impossible to get his
injunction papers signed until ten
o'clock.
Well" said Baldwin after a mo-
ments pause, you go up to court and
as soon as you get the judges sigma
ture come down a-fying in a hack.
I'll keep the directors from holding
that meeting"
Baldwin sauntered jauntily over to
the meeting and endured calmly the
guying Of those who thought he had
been euchred. He was seated in the
room as stakeholder when the pres
ident Of the company arose and an
nounced the call for the annual cleo
ton Baldwin then got up and entered
formal protest, but the president
ruled him out Of order.
Old Lucky made only two or three
strides to the presidents side, and
before the astonished official knew
what had happened he was lying I'M
der the table and Baldwin was presid-
ing in his place, with a six shooter in
his right hand. He swore he would
shoot any man who interfered or who
tried to leave the ROOM and for half
an hour he bulldozed all hands until
Lloyd broke in with the injunction pa
pers and the day was saved
His Breach of Promise Cases.
Horses, women and music all inter
ested Baldwin. With horses he scored
y & e !: e 4: & e i: ). & as e e 4
FLASH OF MEMORY SAVED HIM.