A RARE RACE.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 765, 30 December 1908, Page 4

A RARE RACE.

SURVIVAL U j* THE FlTIisiST. The death of Deacon Lucius Woo ster Fitch, of Westville, Connecticut, tho other day, writes the New York correspondent of the Lyttelton Times, ended a futurity race which lasted eighty-three years, aud left a prize of at least a quarter of a million dollars. In 1826 an association was tornied in New Maveu, Connecticut, three hundred persons subscribing to build an hotel! lOOdol. each, which was appropriately called Hotel Tontine. The hotel was finished five years latei*, and tne raoe began. According to the terms of the original agreement, every shareholder had a right to nominate any person living tar the futurity. The property "was .to be kept intact till only seven survived. The nominees were for the most part babies in cradles, care being taken to make nominations of persons who were >w' families with a record of longevity. As years passed on New Haven grew, and the hotel and its fine location decame immensely valuable. It was seen that the ultimate division betwen the surviving seven would be a valuable thing, and when th,e survivors narrowed to ten the race became extremely close. It sharpened at nine, and then there were eight, including Deacon Fitch. The contest for the ra-re prize sharpened stilfl. further, and for several weeks past it has been a battle between doctors and trained nurses, and j "<aie elderly people who were left in the race were practically kept in glass cases. But Deacon Fitch lost. Tho rare property was divided a few days iatfter his death into seven shares, which passed into the hands of the seven survivors. Truly, this was a case of "the survival of the fittest."