RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES 



posed of the tracks at Cleveland, Buffalo, Utica, and 

 Springfield. Mr. Hamlin named his breeding estab- 

 lishment at East Aurora Village Farm, and he en- 

 larged it by the purchase of such stallions as Hamlin's 

 Almont Jr., Mambrino King, Chimes, and Rex 

 Americus. The latter was by Onward out of Gleam 

 by Dictator, and in 1892, after trotting as a two- 

 year-old against the watch in 2.15^, Mr. Hamlin 

 authorized his trainer, Edward F. Geers, to pay 

 $15,000 for him if he liked him upon close examina- 

 tion. I was with Mr. Hamlin at the old Planters 7 

 Hotel in St. Louis when the check for Rex Americus 

 was drawn, and when he discovered that the colt 

 was not free from blemish he did not whimper 

 over the transaction, but, when an error of twenty-five 

 cents in his hotel bill was brought to light, he de- 

 manded instant correction, and the clerk discovered 

 that a millionaire could not be imposed upon. Rex 

 Americus transmitted speed, but was handicapped 

 with a head, the roughening influence of which Mam- 

 brino King and Almont Jr. could not always over- 

 come. I had many an earnest talk with Mr. Hamlin 

 over introducing a factor in his breeding establish- 

 ment, which would disturb the symmetry of the type 

 which he had been at such pains to create, and in the 

 end he agreed with me. He emphasized beauty of 

 heads, and yet for a while he used a stallion whose 

 head was decidedly faulty. In one of his talks with 

 me, Mr. Hamlin, who had severely criticised the 

 George Wilkes family, said : 



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