MEMOIR. 



When presenting the horse stories written by the late 

 William B. Fasig, it is not the intention of the writer to 

 give a review of his life other than that portion of it cov- 

 ering his connection with harness racing. It was his 

 hobby, and fortune willed that from that source he should 

 win a competence, only to be carried off after he had set- 

 tled down at Bennyscliffe to enjoy himself breeding and 

 developing a few colts from Keokee, Eloise, and other 

 mares which he had tried on the turf and found up to his 

 standard of excellence. These stories have been resur- 

 rected from the files of the turf papers and put in book 

 form, as they are worth preserving on account of their 

 literary merit, while to those who knew their author, they 

 should be doubly acceptable, as they will from time to 

 time remind the reader of a clever, whole-souled, enthu- 

 siastic horseman, whose idol was the American trotter, a 

 product, as he termed it, "That did not require any natur- 

 alization papers." 



William Benjamin Fasig was born September 2.7, 

 1845, at Ashland, Ohio. His father was a minister and 

 a good horseman, and there is nothing on record to show 

 that he was displeased when he learned that "Benny" had 

 a leaning in that direction. For that matter, all of the 

 Fasig family were tarred with the same stick, Benny's 

 uncles being famous for "that smooth, versatile, good- 

 will-on -earth way of talking about a horse that is never 

 the result of education or practice, but a trait born in the 



