The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-10-27
WILLIAM NELSON.

| Acilun, An noucSls houpiaolcs up 'S"'
and able mau-william Nelson, editor
of The Tribune
In the office where he was revered
and esteemed for his noble qualities as
well rs in the home where he was the
kindly father and loving husband, there
is the sense OF irreparable loss. His
friends OF many years and OF few 20
about their tasks in hushed awe TO
think that this strong character, who
was such a force with the sword and
with the PENN the war Of the states
Is soldier and in the newspaper sane
tum as an cditor-has been called from
these earthly tasks that he performed
with such unfailiug devotion to duty.
To the last he was in harness. APP
parently in the best Of health he lett
bis office as was his wont, promptly
upon the stroke of midnight, after
having chatted pleasantly through. the
! evening with various. associates, and
went unconsciously 10 that sleep that
knows no waking. But death could not
find such a man unprepared and did
not Throughout his life he was noted
physical-as for his devotion to dnty
and to righteous causes as God gave
him TO see the right Had Death led
him forth from this world by some slow
and painful path, it would have found
him equally unafraid.
Courage. That was the word, per
hans, that expressed his character bet
ter than any other. But there were
two other words that were his guide
through life Law" and "Order. -
There was within him the kind of cour
age that made him fear no man, and the
courage that led him to meet every trial
and every crisis firmly. And in his
conduct Of life there was always in his
deeper consciousness the conviction that
the stability of society depended upon
the enforcement of law and the main
tcnauce of order. To aid his fellow
men to feel this conviction rs he felt
ii, he welded in this community a most
trenchant pen for many years.
II was characteristic Of him. when
he alluded TO the motives that made
him Union soldier in the war Of tho
states, TO say, as often he did, 81 be
came soldier because the life Of the
nation was threatened, not TO free the
slav cs -
He believed in tho freedom Of the
slaves. and was glad 10 be a soldier in
that cause, but 20 his mind the one
ovcrshadowiug issue was the prescrva-
ton Of the nation.
TO him the life Of tho nation and of
the statc-his nation aud his state
depended upon the supremacy OF the
law. Tt was this motive that guided
him in whatever battles he fought,
soldier of the common good. With
the vision OF the wise man and the seer,
he saw that the social order and the
body polite rested upon a foundation
of law, and that enforcement of
law and lawbreaking were the most
any community. In sense he devoted
his life 10 the maintenance of this
ideal. Whether he was right or wrong
and rs men all of us are fallible,
sometimes even in our most cherished
idcals-his words and his actions were
dictated by absolut; sincerity.
II goes without saying that such
man must Of necessity he strong
character and, therefore, leader in
mis- community, and William Nelson, by
the power of those characteristics to
which we have alluded, became a guide
for thousands who held fast TO his
ideals And even those who disagreed
with him acknowledged his profound
sincerity and his inexorable conscieu-
tiousness.
In his own life he was quite as truly
the devotce of law and order as in mis-
editorial utteranees TO him faith with.
out practice was impossible. lie was
one of the most thorough and orderly
OF men. He found real happiness in la
Dor, and it can be said without exaggera.
tion that no man was ever more faith
ful 20 his work. All his life he had
abided by the advice of the wise Polo
Mus: ITO thine own self be true aud