, 1907-03-25
E. A. SLACK.

Wyoming has lost one OF its most
distinguished citizens. Edward Archi-
bald Slack passed to the great be-
yond at his home in the city of Chey.
enne Saturday afternoon at the hour
of 4:4O o'clock. His death was not I'm,
expected. He has been ailing for more
than two years from Bright's disease
n on February IL was compelled to
take to his bed. His tremendous vi.
tality sustained him for six weeks. His
last illness was not attended by suf-
fering. his mind being dethroned dur
ing almost the entire time.
Colonel Slack was born October 2
1912, at Owego, Tioga county, New
York. He was the son of Artemus,
Slack, a prominent civil engineer in
the construction Of the Illinois Central
railroad. To show how early impress.
sions cling to n through life, 1t may
be mentioned that to his dying day the
son had a feeling for the Illinois Cen
trail railroad almost akin to affection
He often spoke of the great line and al
ways In a co"mmendatory tanner. He
spent his early years in Illinois and
finished his education at the Univer
sity Of Chicago.
Love Of country was one of his car.
dinal virtues and his patriotic impulses
took him to the civil war at the age
OF IS. He served throughout the rebel
lion as a private in the union army. AT
the conclusion Of the rebellion he took
up journalism as a profession. In 1855
he settled at South Pass City, Wyo.,
and established a weekly newspaper,
which he conducted until 1871. He
was also clerk of the district court and
took an active interest in the develop
ment of the Sweetwater gold mining
district. In 1871, in company with Mr.
T. ]. Webster, he began the publication
of the Laramie Daily Independent. AT
ter the election of 1874 the interest OF
Mr.. Webster was purchased by Mr.. c
W.. Bramel and the name of the paper
was changed to the Sun, which "a
continued until March, 1876, when a
portion Of the plant was sold to Messrs.
Hayford and Gates and MI. Slack re-
moved to Cheyenne, where he estab-
lished the Cheyenne Daily Sun. There
after for almost thirty years he con
Quoted the leading republican newspa.
per of Wyoming.
AS a writer Colonel Slack was vigor
Gus, forcible n effective. He be-
lieved that a newspaper should lead
public opinion and at all times express
ed that which was uppermost in his
mind. Detail work he did not care to
bother with and preferred to leave to
others the smaller affairs of life. His
thoughts We're given to general control,
affairs Of state and nation. In the de-
velopment Of the state and of the west
he was one Of the great figures, but
it is too soon to pay tribute to his
memory in this respect. 1t can, how
ever, be tr%uthfully said that few men
welded a greater influence upon the
development and growth of Wyoming.
His paper vas ever a strong, vigor-
ous, progressive exponent Of Wyo-
ming's and opportunities.
Its news pages were kept sQuarely
abreast of the live editorial utterances
and he made of it a paper that was
recognized for its power in every Sec
ton of the west.
His philosophy of the relations of an
editor to the public is summed up in
his own words as follows:
"All beginnings are necessarily made
without a complete assurance of the
final result, but if each member Of So
ciety does his part, however small, the
successful issue of any undertaking Is
simply a matter of persistence. Those
who attempt only what they can see
close at hand will no doubt accomplish
all they undertake, but it will not meet
the new conditions that must arise. In
all public matters there must be fore
sight as well as insight; there must
be a reasonable degree of faith in what
is of necessity imperceivable. The
n~ear-sighted pessimist, the man who
deals in little things on a small scale.
has his uses in the community, and we
do not mean to belittle his field Of op
erations or the value of his work, but
somehow it always looks like a mis-.
fit to see him running a western news.
paper in a new state which has such
great and growing needs. 1t is still
worse when the influence of the paper
is thrown against every enterprise TO,
the public welfare"
Mr.. Slack always had abundant faith |
in Wyoming and its people. Only a
few ear ago he wrote:
In the years to come the people of
Wyoming will look back upon 1900 as
the commencement of a new era-the
dawn Of better days. The new cru will
be marked by the establishment of
mills and smelters in the state by
which our mountains of ore, our depos-