The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-12-10
START LEGAL WAR
FOR VAST ESTATE
Lucky" Baldwin's Millions
Are Being Contested for
in Los Angeles, Cal.
american News ServiceJ


Los Angeles, Cal, Dec. 1O.-What
promises to be an almost endless liti-
cation for possession of the millions
left by Elias J. c'Lucky") Baldwin is
scheduled to begin in the superior
court here Monday when Judge Rives
will consider a petition for the dis
tribution of nearly the entire Baldwin
estate, amounting to about $12,O00,-
600
For many years prior to the death
of Lucky" Baldwin, which occurred
at his Santa Anita ranch on March 1,
1909, the public was more or less fam
iliar with his checkered career. but
even those persons who shared his
condolences most were scarcely pre-
pared for the many sensational chap
tiers which have been inserted in the
life story of the famous old bonanza
miner and turfman since he passed
from earth. II half that is rumored is
true. the court proceedings now about
to begin will reveal the persistence
with which the old millionaire ham,
mered the Seventh Commandment, be-
ginning before he left Racine, Wis,
way back in 1850 for the California
gold fields and continuing up to the
very end of his remarkable career
nearly sixty years later.
Many years ago friend of Bald
win was heard to remark that the mil
lionaire had knocked the Seventh
Commandment endwise in nearly ev-
cry county of the state. and that in
nearly every county of the state a d.
vorced wife or pensioned female sat
mourning. But later developments
would seem to indicate that the old
to the fifty-seven counties of Califor-
mia. but extended it to other states
as we'll.
Matrimonial Ventures.
Lucky" Baldwin's matrimonial VEN
lures were not less sensational than
the startling fluctuations of fortune
which made his life full of kaleido-
scopic change. 1t is known that he
was married when he startetd for Cal
ifornia. and three times after he got
hereafter the proper intervals sue
ceeding divorce. In addition, he de-
Tended four different suits for breach
of promise. and paid one judgment
of $4,000. His life was twice attempt
ed by women. one of these being An
tia Baldwin. later said to be his niece
who wounded him with a pistol shot
in the Baldwin hotel IN San Francisco
in 1883. Small wonder. then, that
the old millionaire when he saw death
approaching deemed it wise to add to
his will a specific statement denying
the existence of more than a single
widow in an effort to provide against
a possible contest in that direction.
Although possessed of all the devils
that usually drive men to destruction
with which devils he always was on
good terms) Lucky" Baldwin had the
and increase it. Many times in the
course of his sensational career it was
reported that he was broke, and on
several occasions these reports were
doubtless pretty near the truth. But
each time the astute old pYunger man.
aged to recoup his losses and he died
leaving many millions
Litigation promises to wipe out the
bulk of the Baldwin fortune, distrib-
uting it among many claimants and
scattering it over many states leaving
only the great Santa Anita ranch as
his only memorial in the state from
which he scooped millions in mines
and stocks. What he had hoped at
one time would stand as an everlast-
ing monument for the diffusion of his
name and fame proved scarcely more
everlasting than soap bubble. This
was the palatial Baldwin hotel and
theater that he erected on Market
street in San Francisco at cost of
$3.O0O.000. All the culture and pride
that he had were centered in that
hotel A few years after it was built
he saw it go up in smoke, and as he
watched the flames wrap themselves
around it he wept for the first time
to anyone's knowledge.