FARGO, WILLIAM GEORGE pioneer American expressman, was born in Pompey (N.Y.), on May 20, 1818. He became a freight agent for the Auburn and Syracuse Railway Co. in 1841, and express messenger between Albany and Buffalo a year later, and in 1843 a resident agent in Buffalo. In 1844 he organized, with Henry Wells (1305-78) and Daniel Dun ning, the first express company to engage in the carrying business west of Buffalo. The lines of this company were rapidly extended to Chicago, St. Louis, and other western points. In March 1850, when the American Express Co. was organized, Fargo became secretary, and in 1851 he organized the firm of Wells, Fargo and Co. to conduct an express business between New York and San Francisco by way of the Isthmus of Panama. In 1861 Wells, Fargo and Co. bought the Overland Mail Co., of which Fargo had been one of the original promoters. From he was mayor of Buffalo, and from 1868 to his death, in Buffalo, on Aug. 3, 1881, he was president of the American Express Co. He was a director of the New York Central and of the Northern Pacific railways.