grave import

Obituary

After a brief illness, Mr. W.E. Blake went to his reward at his home, No. 705 North Fifth Street, at 2:00 this morning. The cause of death was pneumonia. He seemed to be improving, but yesterday his chances began to wane and the end was not unexpected.
Mr. Blake was one of the leaders of the bar of Southeastern Iowa. He entered upon the practice of his profession here in 1870, the firm being Newman & Blake. Later it was Blake & Blake, and after the death of his brother, Melville E. Blake, the firm name was changed to Blake & Wilson. Of his work in his chosen profession, others will speak at length. He was alike successful in the office work and in the courtroom, where he proved a dangerous opponent even for the greatest of men of the law. He left the mace and broadsword and the battleax to others and his work in the courtroom recalled the Damascene Made. He was the Saladin of debate. Always a very busy man, he always took time to advise those who came to him for information, and the young men, who went to him for counsel, will ever hold him in loving remembrance for he was one of the kindliest of men and what he gave them was better than mere gold.
Always an ardent republican he had never been a seeker after political honors, but he found the time to give the people of Burlington a number of years of most valuable service as president of the school board and it was during his administration that the new high school was financed and built.
He was a faithful member of the First Presbyterian Church and through fair weather as well as when prospects were far from alluring, he was ever the steadfast friend of and an earnest and effective worker in the Young Men’s Christian association. There as elsewhere his interest in young men was made manifest to a marked degree.
W.E. Blake was born in Morning Sun, Preble County, Ohio, June 27, 1844, and came to Iowa with his parents in 1845, the family locating in Louisa county. He was graduated from Monmouth College in 1867. Mr. Blake was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Lucretia Hurd who died in September 1902. In November 1903, he wedded Mrs. Susan E. Jagger, of this city. He is survived by the widow and two daughters, Mrs. WB Swan, of Memphis, Tenn., and Mrs. Lucretia B. Wilson. A brother, WW Blake, a former Burlington newspaperman, has long been making his home in the city of Mexico.
Mr.Blake had a wide acquaintance throughout Iowa and neighboring states, and many of those who had come to know him became his warm friends. He was faithful to every trust that he assumed, a man of strong convictions and of untiring energy, a worker who seemed to know no greater pleasure than hard work. His home life was a very happy one, and when not busy at his tasks he was generally to be found at his comfortable home, enjoying the company of his family and friends and the rest that had been so fairly earned. While he had been in the harness almost a half-century, the idea of retiring probably never entered his head; he was still in his very prime, still growing in fact, and he never considered the idea of rusting out. He ought to have been good for many years of useful work, but it had been willed otherwise. But it will be no easy matter to replace this leader of the bar of the state which had been his home from early childhood.
The funeral of Mr. WE Blake will take place this Friday afternoon. The services at the First Presbyterian church will be conducted by the pastor, Dr. Archibald Cardle, and the remains will res in Aspen Grove. Friends are invited to the services.
The members of the bar will attend in a body. The honorary pallbearers are Judge James D. Smythe, AM Antrobus, JB Coulter, JL Waite, Thomas Hedge, and WE Parsons. The active pallbearers: Chas. E Perkins, Alex Moir, Frank Schramm, JJ Seerley, WH Debenham and CW Kellogg.