Edmund Alfred Cook

E. A. COOK PASSES AWAY SUDDENLY AT RANCH HOME

PIONEER RANCHER SUCCUMBS TO ATTACK OF PNEUMONIA WEDNESDAY MORNING

Funeral Services to Be Held From Community Church Saturday; Masons Have Charge.

The Grim Reaper called another of Wyoming's pioneers to his long rest when Edmund Alfred Cook succumbed to an attack of pneumonia at the ranch home near Hat Creek at 9:30 o'clock Wednesday morning, February 3, 1926, at the age of 57 years, 8 months and 29 days.

It was with profound sadness that word circulated around town on Tuesday of the seriousness of Mr. Cook's condition as he had been sick only a few days and there are many who mourn that he is among us no more.

Mr. Cook was a prominent figure in the progress of the development of eastern Wyoming. While owning the ranch, Mr. and Mrs. Cook also owned Lusk property and spent many of the winters in town, always being actively associated with various organizations. Mr. Cook served his community in a number of civil stations entrusted to him, among them as director of the school boards, and also as county commissioner.

He was one of the early members and Past Masters of Harmony Lodge No. 24, A. F. & A. M. of Lusk; a 32nd degree Consistory member and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine.

Mr. Cook was born at Ripon, Wisconsin, May 4, 1868, and came to Wyoming in the year of 1886. He entered the employment of the Cheyenne-Deadwood stage line and was located at the Rawhide Butte station as stage driver. He drove different runs on this line but principally the one from the Buttes to Lusk. In this capacity he was one of the drivers on the last stage that went through when the stage coach service was abandoned. After this event he went to Colorado where he carried mail in the mountain districts around Aspen and Rifle for a number of years, but soon returned to Wyoming and again entered the employment of Mr. Thorp for whom he had worked in the stage coach days.

In July 1898, soon after the was had been declared by the United States against Spain, he enlisted for duty in the Philippine Islands as a teamster and from this employment he rapidly advanced to the highly responsible position of wagon master, in general, immediate charge of all wheeled and pack transportation of General MacArthur's division of the 8th Army Corps, during his successful campaign from Manila to San Fernando.

Captain C. L. Sawtell, who was chief quartermaster of this division, in a letter to Mr. Cook, wrote: "It has been a matter of considerable pride to me as Chief Quartermaster that during the entire campaign from Manila to San Fernando, a period of nearly four months, no regiment missed over two meals nor was the firing line at any time or place unsupplied with ammunition, and to the accomplishment of this, your energy and work largely contributed."

Upon leaving the army, having had three years' service in the Philippine Islands, and after a short tour of China and Japan, he again returned to Wyoming where he was put in charge of the "Box X" ranch. He soon homesteaded and started the nucleus of the ranching business which has engaged him during the past twenty years.

On March 29, 1905, he married Miss Christina Mill at Lusk Wyo., and to this union were born two children, Helen and Edmund, who, with the wife are left to mourn.

There is so little to say and so little to be done to comfort the loved ones, but the host of friends who extend sympathy and mourn that their neighbor and friend has been called, is a great tribute of the love and esteem in which Mr. Cook was held while traveling life's pathway with us, and with these many friends the Herald-Standard wishes to extend its sincere sympathy.

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