The Ordway new era., 1907-06-07
HAND OF DEATH
IT FALLS UPON PIONEER AND EN-.
PiRE BUILDER.
WALTER SCOTT cHEEsMAM
T'es'oene OF Denver Union Water
Company Passes Away After But
Ten Days Of illness.

At 3:35 O'Clock on the morning of |
May 3lst he succumbed 70 a compIica-
ton OF maladios caused by neyere
case OF Ia grippe, which he contracted
last December. Neuralgia. asthma and
other complications caused death.
Mr., Cheesman was president of the
Denver Union Water Company, vice
president of the First National bank. n
director OF the International Trust
Company and of the Mofiat road, pres.
ident OF the State Bank OF Aspen, was
connected with many other corpora
tions, and for fifteen years had been
president OF the Humane Society.
Although u comparatively poor man
when he came to Colorado iorty-seyen
years ago. he died possessed OF an es-
tate variously estimated to he worth
from Sl5,0OO,00O TO s25.000.OO Men
close TO him make the estimate OF his
wealth as being about $4,000. 900.
Mr.. Cheeseman's realty holdings in
Denver have an assessed valuation of
nearly S2,0O0,00O, and an actual value
OF nearly twice that much. His inter-
est In the Denver Union Water Com
pany Is valued Mt millions OF dollars,
he and David II. Moifat owning far
more than control. His mining prop.
critics In various parts of the state are
estimated TO be worth millions OF dol
lars.
or all the men who by their thrift,
Industry and faith In the future and
sterling courage In trying times.
builded the state OF Colorado from a
wilderness where the red men held
sway TO one Of the greatest common
wealths of the Union. the name of Wal
ter S. Checsman must stand forth pre-
eminently. With the glare OF the lime
light upon him he never.was known to
finch, and his life and hts connection
with the semi-publ!c enterprises was
us an open book.
Men of public affairs expect to be
criticised. They look for the scathing
darts OF public censurc, put, although
Mr.. Cheeseman's corporations were at.
tackled mercilessly Mt times, his own
character escaped. and even his enc
mics recognized in him a man OF lofty
purpose, n man above the little things
OF life. n man to whom success would
count as nothing II in its achievement
cne bit of his character had to be sac
rificed.
With all of the weighty affairs of
finance. state building ana corporation
government on his broad shoulders.
Walter Cheesmar found time TO listen
to the cries OF the oppressed, The
plaintive plea of the little uncGred-for
! child. or the mute appeal of the animal
never reached him in vain. For twenty
years Mr.. Cheesman had been identi.
fled with the humane movement in Col
orado. When the old Humane Society
IN, hp inter-
estcd in the work and was one of the
men who stood by 1t, in The strenuous
days when financial depression threat
cned the disruption of the society. Fif-
teen years ago he became president OF
the Humane Society, and when that de-
veloped into the State Bureau OF Child
and Animal Protection. he continued
at the helm, giving freely OF mis- own
bank account that the bureau might be-
come firmly established.
Mr.. Cheeseman's interest in the HUI
, name Society work was so great that
he bore the expense of n second held
agent in the Humane Society all dur
ing 1906. He had become convinced
that one agent could not cover the
Denver field and thereupon authorized
the appointment of an assistant ut a
personal expense of about $1,000. He
same as he did his many other philan-
thropic donations.
In the death of Walter Cheesman the
dumb animal and the mistreated child
have lost the best friend they ever had
in Colorado. The good he did along
these lines was by stealth, and he
"blushed to find it fame" Many who
knew him well never guessed that
good part of his life work was the re-
lief of the unfortunate. Last winter,
when the General Assembly consid-
cred the abolition of the bureau he
used his influence to save 1t, and to the
personal friendship which many OF the
legislators entertained for him Is due
the utter failure Of the campaign.
Like David H. Moffat, Mr.. Chees-
man came to Colorado when life here
was not all sunshine; when the men
who had blazed the trail from the East
thirsted for gold and hungered for
bread. He did not wait until the possi-
bilities of the new country were mani
fest.
Mr. Cheesman was born at Hamp-
stead Harbor. Long Island, New York,
June q, 1888.
Historians Of the state say that Den
yer's salvation from being mere vii
lage ia due to Walter Cheesman and
group of sanguine young men who pre-
pared the way for the city to become
the metropolis of the Rocky Mountain
region. His history is good part OF
the history of Denver. and his active
identification with gigantic enterprises,
such as the construction of the Den
yer Pacific, the Denver & Boulder Val
lev. the South Park, the Denver & New
Orleans, the Denver, Texas & Fort
Worth railways, is a matter of record