OBITUARIES. AMERICAN. (CLAASSEX COFFIN.) 



551 



graduated at Harvard University in 1846. He 

 ;'or a time tutor in mathematics at Harvard, 

 and subsequently tutor in rhetoric and history. 

 After some months of European travel and study 

 lie was made I'rol'es.-or of Rhetoric and Oratory at 

 Harvard in 1S51, and he became Professor of English 

 Literature there in 1S7U. He was. perhaps, the 

 most American scholar in the department of Anglo- 

 Saxon and early English literature, and his set 

 to literature in the editorship of " English and Scot- 

 tish Popular Ballads " (1883-'96) won instant and gen- 

 erous appreciation from all scholars. This was his 

 principal work as editor, his other publication sas 

 such including " Four Old Plays " (1848) ; " Poems 

 of Sorrow and Comfort'' (Boston, 1865); "English 

 and Scottish Ballads (Boston. !S57-'59, 8 vols. : 

 1878, 4 vols.). He superintended the American 

 issue of ' The British Poets." and was also the editor 

 of Spenser's works. He was well known to Harvard 

 students for many years through his courses on 

 Anglo-Saxon. Chaucer, and Shakespeare, and was 

 held in most sincere esteem by his pupils. He lived 

 a scholar's life in Cambridge, his chief recreation 

 being the culture of roses, regarding which he was 

 no mean authority, but he took a keen interest in 

 general political issues and local municipal affairs, 

 and never relapsed into the scholar's selfishness. 



Claassen. Peter J.. military officer, born in Arn- 

 heim, Holland, in 1831 ; died" in Brooklyn. X. V., 

 Dec. 29, 1896. He was graduated at the University 

 of Heidelberg, and removed to New York when "a 

 young man and engaged in banking. At the out- 

 break of the civil war he aided in organizing the 9th 

 Xew York Volunteers, with which he returned to 

 the field as colonel and served till the close of the 

 war, when he was brevetted brigadier general of 

 volunteers. On his return to Xew York he re-en- 

 gaged in banking. After the failure of the Sixth 

 National Bank, in 1890, Gen. Claassen was sentenced 

 to State Prison for six years on charges made against 

 him and several other "directors but in 1893 he was 

 pardoned by the President. 



C'laflin. Mary Bncklin. author, born in Hop- 

 kinton. Mass., in July. 1*25: died in Whitinsville, 

 Mass.. June 13. 1806. She was for more than fifty 

 years the wife of William Claflin, Governor of Mas- 

 sachusetts. She was a trustee of \Vellesley College 

 from its foundation and Boston University for 

 eighteen years, a director in the Xorth End Mis- 

 sion in Boston, and an active member of the Work- 

 ing Girls' Club. Her publications include " Bramp- 

 ton Sketches." depicting old Xew England country 

 life; " Recollections of Whittier"; and " Under the 

 Old Elms." 



Cockerill. John A., journalist, born in Dayton, 

 Ohio, in 1845; died in Cairo. Egypt. April 10,1896. 

 He learned the printer's trade in the office of "The 

 Scion of Temperance." in Dayton; became one of 

 the clerks of the Ohio Senate : joined Clement L. 

 Vallandigham in editing and publishing the ' Day- 

 ton Empire": and afterward removed to Hamilton, 

 Ohio, whence he was called by J. B. McCullagh to 

 the Cincinnati "Enquirer." In the last office he 

 rose from reporter to managing editor. During the 

 Russo-Turkish War he was the special correspond- 

 ent for the "Enquirer" with the Turkish army. 

 On his return from Europe he was associated with 

 Stilson Hutchins in establishing the Washington 

 " Post," from which he soon retired, and was then 

 successively editor of the Baltimore "Gazette." the 

 St. Louis " Post-Dispatch." the Xew York " World." 

 the Xew York " Morning Advertiser." and the Xew 

 York "Commercial Advertiser." In February, 

 1895, he was sent by the Xew York " Herald" as its 

 correspondent to China and Japan, and wrote many 

 letters concerning the war and the subsequent 

 troubles in Formosa and Korea. He left Japan in 



January, 1896, after the Emperor had personally 

 presented him with the decoration of the Third 

 Order of the Sacred Trea-ure. While resting at 

 Cairo ami studying the new Anglo-Egyptian cam- 

 paign he had a'fatal stroke of apoplexy. 



Coe. (ieorjre Simmons, banker, born in Xew- 

 port. K. I.. March 27. 1*17: died in Englewood, 

 X. J.. May :i. 1 *!<;. He acquired a common-school 

 education, became a grocery clerk when fourteen 

 years old and a bank messenger when eighteen, 

 1 six years in a Xew York banking house, and 

 was appointed cashier of the American Exchange 

 Bank in 1854. Within a few months he was elected 

 vice-president and in 1860 president, and he held 

 the last office till 1894, when failing health caused 

 his retirement. Soon after the first battle of Bull 

 Run Salmon P. Chase, then Secretary of the United 

 States Treasury, called a conference of bankers and 

 capitalists at the house of John J. Cisco, the A- 

 ant Treasurer of the United States, at Xew York. 

 The financial straits of the Government were fully 

 discussed, and Mr. Coe suggested a plan of relief 

 that was received with favor by all present. This, 

 in brief, involved the uniting of the banks of the 

 Xorth by some organization that would combine 

 them into an efficient and inseparable body for the 

 purpose of advancing the capital of the country 

 upon Government bonds in large amounts, anil 

 through their clearing-house facilities and other 

 well-known expedients to distribute them in smaller 

 sums among the people in a manner that would se- 

 cure active co-operation among the members in this 

 special work, while in all other respects each bank 

 could pursue its independent business. A commit- 

 tee was appointed to formulate the plan, which 

 was accepted and adopted by the banks of Xew 

 York. Boston, and Philadelphia, and within thirty 

 days was in working order. So vast a responsibil- 

 ity had never before been attempted in the United 

 States, and the assumption of it with such prompti- 

 tude was without precedent. The capital of the 

 banks thus associated aggregated $120,000,000, an 

 amount greater than that of the Bank of England 

 and the Bank of France combined, each of which 

 institutions had been found sufficient for the ex- 

 traordinary emergencies of their respective coun- 

 tries. Mr. Coe also conceived the idea of bringing 

 together the banks and the newly established clear- 

 ing house in such a way that they could report 

 every day the amount of their coin reserve and lia- 

 bilities. This scheme enabled banks having an ex- 

 cess of surplus to contribute a sufficient amount to 

 the other banks to make the general condition 

 equal. He also devised the system of clearing- 

 house certificates, by which many panics have been 

 averted or lessened in severity, suggesting the or- 

 ganization of a company of bank officers with au- 

 thority to assist weak banks and to issue certificates 

 of trust to them based upon the deposit of their 

 s. Mr. Coe was elected President of the Xa- 

 tional Banking Association in 1881. and was a 

 founder of the Children's Aid Society and its treas- 

 urer till within a few weeks of his death. 



Coffin. Charles Carleton. author, born in Bos- 

 cawen. X. H.. July 26, 1823; died in Brookline, 

 Ma-s.. March 2. 1896. He was brought up on his 

 father's farm: attended the district school and 

 studied in the Boscawen and Pembroke Academies: 

 learned land surveying and was employed on rail- 

 road work in l845-'48": and. after a brief period of 

 farming, became a telegrapher. In 1852, on the in- 

 troduction of the electric fire-alarm system in Bos- 

 ton, he sent out the first alarm after installing the 

 plant. He began contributing to newspapers be- 

 fore reaching his majority, and from 1855 till 1860 

 held various places on the Boston "Journal," "At- 

 las," and " Traveler." At the outbreak of the 



