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LEADER OF CALIFORNIA TURF IS DEAD. A uiati. who for many years was a dominant figure in California racing, answered the last call, when Thomas 11. Williams died at his home iu Oakland last Saturday. His health had lieen frail for a long time, and his passing was not uu-ex| octed. His father was a noted lawyer and at one time Attorney Oencral for the State of California. He left a large fortune, the bulk of which eventually fell to Thomas H. Williams through . the death of brothers and a sister. Even while , a -ollege student at BerkeUJ he was interested I in racing and became an owner in a moderate . I wav after his graduation. Near the close of the . year 1892 he succeeded Col. Harry I. Thornton I in the presdency of the California Jotkey Club , and continued in that iiosition until racing was ; brought to a close through anti-betting legislation ! a few years ago. A combative and imperious mau. who brooked 110 oppositou and viewed advice with scorn, he ruled San Francisco racing with an iron hand and aroused hostility that led j t ■ the construction of rival tracks at Iugleside and Tanforau in opposition to his own tracks at Bay District and Emeryville. The resultant turf war was ended in his ownership of all of the tracks and for years he was supreme in his control of racing iu the San Francisco-Oakland field. Racing flourished greatly under his control. He estahlislied many valuable stakes and provided I good purse*, so that each winter for years brought t of the times to California. itHiiv of the liest horses - Burns Handicap day was to San Francisco i a replica of Suburban Handicap day to New York. . The patronage that rescinded to such attractions * was wonderful and lucrative. 1-atterly the regu lar dividends on California Jockey Club stock I were twenty per cent annually and annually a i large additional sum was added to a b!g deposit t of undivided profits. From this and many other - things, envy and rancor grew that ultimately • wii-ed California from the racing map. From time to time he raced horses in his own name, tint not continuously. Horses of note which 1 raced as his pro|ierty were Bacine. Rinfax. Ger-aldinc Hon Fulane. Flirtation. Firestone and many others well known to horsemen and turf followers. He was at one time something of a plunger, but t in his later years ahand. lied betting entirely. lie was a string man IcmpcBauieulailv and I intellectually. To his friends be was all that t any one could wish. To his enemies, a hearty and I determined fighter. Such a man usually has a i host of real friends ami a host of real enemies. lie had them Isdh and deserved them lioth. In his days of good health he was a man of f manv other* enterprises, an cxiwrter of wheat t raised on his own broad acres on Inion Island and 1 1 inline Island in the Sacramento river: partner r in -i large engineering and contracting business. • which executed important constructions for the government and n frequent promoter or theatrical 1 ventures some of which turned out well and some otherwise He was fifty-three or fifty-four years old when he died and was a "Native Sou.-
