LIFE WITH THE TIIOTTEKS. 168 



with more determination than I ever saw him dispkiy before 

 or isince, she canght him a hnndred yards from the wire, and, 

 after a desperate strnggle, beat him out a head, thus win- 

 ning the race. 



I now come to the trial at Chicago, in which she went 

 against Fritz, a pacer, for a special purse. iSlie beat him 

 the iirst and second heats handily, but before the third heat 

 I told Mr. Woodmansee that I thought I could give her a 

 very fast record if he wished to have me do so. He I'eplied: 

 "Cut her loose; that is just what the Commodore Avould 

 like." When she got the word in the third heat, she went 

 away straight and fast, reaching the quarter-pole in thirty- 

 three seconds; she went the back quarter in thirty-three 

 seconds, making the half in 1:07. I eased her a little in the 

 third quarter, l)ut she went it in thirty- four seconds. After 

 she got straightened into the stretch, I commenced to drive 

 her. When 1 got within 150 yai'ds of the wire, Mr. Wood- 

 mansee ran out and motioned to me to stop her, which I did. 

 She finished easy in 2:16J. Mr. Woodmansee explained to 

 me afterward that he thought it better to keep the mare in 

 the 2:17 class. T am sure that she would have gone a mile 

 in 2:16, or better, had he let me finish with her as I was 

 going. 



I have alluded already to some of Witherspoon's pecu- 

 liarities. She was a little inclined to shorten up her gait 

 behind. The last year I had her she improved very much 

 in her disposition, and also in her gait, and I believe that 

 had she been trained regularly afterwards, must have made 

 a very fast record, as, at the end of her trotting career, slie 

 was one of the soundest animals I ever saw. She was re- 

 th*ed from the turf Avithout s^Dot or blemish of any kind. 

 I wore on her in front about a ten-ounce shoe and a light 

 quarter-boot, with buckskin rolls above her ankles behind; 

 scalpers, light shin boots, passing boots, and a seven-ounce 

 shoe. After the breaking up by auction of Commodore 

 Kittson's breeding establishment, Fanny was bought by Mr. 

 E. C. Long, of St. Paul, who intends to use her strictly as 



