380 THE TROTTING-HORSE OF AMERICA. 



great ease by five lengths. Butler was second, and the 

 time was 2m. 22s. 



Dexter and Patchen now started on a tour to the West. 

 The people of that section, especially those of Buffalo, 

 Cleveland, and Chicago, had offered larger purses than had 

 ever hefore been given to trotters ; and the fact that Dexter 

 then -made his first appearance in those cities enabled the 

 associations to realize the money they gave. He was, be- 

 yond all question, the great source of attraction. A fair 

 number of people would have assembled to see Butler, Patch- 

 en, jun., and the other trotters, who moved upon what a 

 poetical friend of mine terms " The path of empire ; " but 

 the vast crowds who appeared in such multitudes as even to 

 surpass our greatest day on the Island came out to see 

 Dexter. It was a hippodrome arrangement, so far as he 

 was concerned, because none of the others had a ghost of 

 a chance to beat him as long as he remained well. 



But the people did not mind that. It rather added to 

 their enthusiasm when they found that he was not only the 

 best of the strangers, but so much the best that there was 

 110 comparison. I had long held to that opinion, as also did 

 Mr. Alley, Mr. Pettee, and Mr. Foster, and now nearly every- 

 body who stayed at home coincided in it. I did, however, 

 see one gentleman lay a bet with Mr. Crocheron, that Geo. 

 M. Patchen, jun., would beat Dexter a race before they came 

 home again ; but some time afterward, I heard the same gen- 

 tleman trying to convince Uncle Joe, that it was the latter 

 who had backed the California horse. So, while we were 

 fishing for horse-mackerel and sheeps-head in the waters of 

 our bays on the south side, the great trotters, with the ex- 

 ception of George Wilkes, Lady Thorn, and Lady Emma, 

 put out to reap the rich harvest of the West. The first 

 place they trotted at was Avon Springs, where a purse of 

 $1,000 was given. The track was a half-mile one, and un- 

 fortunately a trifle short. The first heat was close but slow. 

 Dexter won in 2m 31^s. In the second heat, Dexter went 



