10 MEMOIR. 



ment of Ohio Volunteers. x\fter the close of the war he 

 removed to Cleveland, where he was employed by a com- 

 mercial house. When well under way in the matter of 

 making a living a trotter was purchased, the first one 

 selected being the outlaw Chestnut Dick. It is alleged 

 that before passing into Fasig's hands this horse had 

 masqueraded under such names as Pompey, John T., etc., 

 and had made a faster mark than the 2 138 that stands 

 after his name in Chester's Complete Trotting and Pacing 

 Record. Whether he did or not does not make much dif- 

 ference at this date, while at the time Fasig purchased 

 him his history was well known by the followers of the 

 races in Northern Ohio. In the seventies there were a 

 number of non-association tracks in Ohio, so that it was 

 possible for Chestnut Dick and other horses that had car- 

 ried an assortment of names to pay their way by racing 

 at the fairs which began in the middle of August and 

 continued until the snow flew. At the period referred to 

 there was always a cloud of uncertainty surrounding a 

 strange horse at a fair in the Western States, and Ohio 

 was considered in the West at that time. That era of 

 harness racing has fortunately gone forever, and no one 

 did more to stamp it out than William B. Fasig. He 

 had seen both sides of it, and had a very fair idea how a 

 man, who was racing a clever young horse on his merits, 

 felt after being defeated or driven to a fast record by a 

 "rinsrer." When it came to a case of "diamond cut dia- 

 mond," it did not make so much difference, as while the 

 rogues gave the public to all appearances, a horse race, 

 they usually before the last heat was contested, took a 

 practical view of the situation and made "a divide." But 

 that is another matter. 



W. B. Fasio; told me that he won a number of races 



