92 MEMOIR. 



three in favor of T. J. Vail, the deciding ballot being cast 

 by Judge Grant, the President of the Association. This 

 election led to the organization of the American Trotting 

 Association on March 2, 1887, and while at the time many 

 considered the split a step towards disaster, it has been 

 the means of broadening the field of harness racing, and 

 at the same time added a pillar to the stability of turf gov- 

 ernment. After his defeat, Fasig was offered all 

 kinds of inducements to cast his lot with the new organ- 

 ization. He told me that the office of Secretary was of- 

 fered him, but he declined and remained to the end loyal 

 to the National. In one of his Spectator papers, Addison 

 says that "at times the buffets of fortune have a sting that 

 almost brings a tear, but nine times out of ten in the end 

 they are for the best," and so it proved in the case of Will- 

 iam B. Fasig. While he never forgave Thomas Ax- 

 worthy for voting against him, he had to admit that the 

 defeat shaped his course towards a career that he never 

 dreamed of at the time, and for which he had all of the 

 qualities desired, while I am convinced that his horror of 

 detail and constant application day after day from one 

 year's end to the other would have made him anything 

 but a success in the office he was seeking. 



Fasig's fourth sale was held at the Driving Park, May 

 17 to 20, 1887. Two hundred and fourteen horses were 

 catalogued, and of that number one hundred and forty- 

 nine were sold for $52,565, the Canadian mare, Big Fan- 

 nie, 2:2654, by John E. Rysdyk, being the highest priced 

 lot. She sold for $3,100, while John Huntington paid 

 $2,500 for Lottie K.,2 126^4, and the George Wilkes horse, 

 Waddell, went to George Forbes on a bid of $2,100. 

 Seven others sold for $1,000, while the prices of the bal- 

 ance were well up as was shown by the average of 



