288 The Trotting and the Pacing Horse 



was punished without regard to persons, and 

 trotting passed from the shade of outlawry and 

 became the dominant outdoor sport of the 

 United States. Discipline is absolutely neces- 

 sary to the perpetuation of an amusement upon 

 which large financial interests depend, and whole- 

 some discipline was the cardinal principle of the 

 National Trotting Association. Amasa Sprague 

 remained president until 1876, when he resigned; 

 and Charles W. Woolley of Cincinnati was his 

 successor. James Grant of Davenport, Iowa, 

 succeeded Colonel Woolley in 1880, and he was 

 succeeded in 1888 by P. P. Johnston of Lexing- 

 ton, Kentucky, who is still in office. The first 

 Board of Appeals was composed of Thomas J. 

 Vail, Hartford; George C. Hall, Brooklyn; H. S. 

 Russell, Boston; C. J. Hamlin, Buffalo; M. S. 

 Forbes, Cincinnati; K. C. Barker, Detroit; David 

 A. Gage, Chicago; and George Lauman, Read- 

 ing, Pennsylvania. The secretaries have been 

 George H. Smith, D. F. Longstreet, T. J. Vail, 

 M. M. Morse, and W. H. Gocher. The meet- 

 ings were annual until 1874, when they became 

 biennial. There are five districts in the territory 

 over which the association has jurisdiction, and 

 there are three members to a district, making the 



