

OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (CouLuocK Cox.) 



and here he met Charlotte Cushman, who offered 

 him the place of leading man with her on her re- 

 turn to the United States. He had also an offer to 

 play with Macready in London in the production of 

 a new piece named " Philip van Artevelde," but 

 upon Charles Kean's advice that the venture was 

 likely to fail he accepted Miss Cushman's proposal. 

 Mr. Couldock's first appearance in the United 

 States was at the Broadway Theater, Oct. 8, 1849, in 

 the part of the Stranger to Miss Cushman's Mrs. 

 Haller. During the Broadway engagement he 

 played Macbeth, St. Pierre in " The Wife of Man- 

 tua," Master Walter in " The Hunchback," Othello, 

 Wolsey, Duke Aranza in " The Honeymoon," Bene- 

 dick in " Much Ado about Nothing," and King 

 Lear. He was most cordially received by the 

 Americans, not only in New York, but in all the 

 principal cities of the country, and in the autumn 

 of 1850, when Miss Cushman returned to Europe, he 

 remained in the United States and accepted an 

 engagement at the Walnut Street Theater, Phila- 

 delphia, as leading man. He held this place for 

 four years. During the second year of his work in 

 this theater Madame Celeste came there as a star, 

 and among other plays produced one which had 

 been sold by Dion Boucicault to Benjamin Webster 

 in London in 1845 but never played. This was 

 called " The Willow Copse," and was in effect an 

 adaptation of a well-known French play called " La 

 Closerie des Genets." At the opening performance 

 at the Walnut Street Theater, May 24, 1852, so 

 masterly was Couldock's rendition of the character 

 of Luke Fielding that after the performance Ma- 

 dame Celeste gave him the play, saying as she did 

 so : " Mr. Couldock, this is not my play ; it is yours. 

 Accept it." At the close of his stock season he 

 played Luke Fielding to delighted audiences for 

 three weeks at the Chatham Street Theater, New 

 York, and subsequently starred in the same part in 

 Philadelphia. When his engagement at the Walnut 

 Street Theater ended in 1854 he became a popular 

 " star," varying his presentation of " The Willow 

 Copse," which was generally demanded every where, 

 with performances of Hamlet, Othello, Richelieu, 

 and Richard III. Hard times fell upon the drama 

 in 1857, and Mr. Couldock accepted a stock engage- 

 ment at Laura Keene's Theater, New York city. 

 His first appearance there was in the part of Luke 

 Fielding, Aug. 25, 1858, with Miss Keene as Rose 

 Fielding, Joseph Jefferson as Augustus, and E. A. 

 Sothern as Sir Richard Vaughart. He soon after- 

 ward, September 1858, played Louis XI for the 

 first time in the United States at the same theater, 

 and on Oct. 18 of the same year appeared as Abel 

 Murcot in the first performance of " Our American 

 Cousin." The season of 1859-'60 he spent in New 

 Orleans in a company managed by John E. Owens. 

 From 1861 to 1878 he played many starring engage- 

 ments, and in the latter year was a member of a 

 stock company at the Fifth Avenue Theater, New 

 York city, supporting Madame Modjeska on her 

 first appearance in New York. He also made in 

 the same year a strong impression in the part of 

 Risler Aine in an adaptation of Alphonse Daudet's 

 " Froment Jeune et Risler Aine," afterward played 

 at the Madison Square Theater under the name of 

 " Partners." In September, 1879, Mr. Couldock 

 was engaged by Steele Mackaye for the opening of 

 the Madison Square Theater, New York city. Mr. 

 Mackaye had adapted from an older drama a play 

 which he called " An Iron Will," in which the 

 1 principal character was fashioned upon the lines of 

 ; Luke Fielding. This play was produced at Provi- 

 i ilence, R. I., Oct. 27, 1879, Mr. Couldock playing 

 the leading character, and on the completion of the 

 Madison Square Theater was introduced to New 

 York audiences on that stage, Feb. 4, 1880. as 



Madis 



H v -'- 



"Hazel Kirke," with Mr. Couldock as Dunstan 

 Kirke. The play ran until May 31, 1881, and was 

 then performed for several years consecutively 

 throughout the United States and Canada. It is 

 said that Mr. Couldock played Dunstan Kirke more 

 than 1,500 times. In April, 1886, Edwin Booth and 

 Signer Salvini appeared at the Academy of Music, 

 New York, in " Othello." Mr. Couldock was a 

 member of the company supporting them and 

 played Brabantio, but his increasing age and the 

 fact that he had been so long confined to one part 

 caused him to give up activity in his calling. On 

 May 11, 1888, Edwin Booth and Joseph Jefferson 

 gave Mr. Couldock a testimonial benefit in honor of 

 the closing of his fiftieth year on the stage. The 

 performance, which took place at the Star Theater, 

 New York, in the afternoon, was attended by an 

 enormous audience and produced more than $5,000 

 for the beneficiary. It consisted of the third act of 

 " Hamlet," Edwin Booth as Hamlet, Charles Barren 

 as the Ghost John Malone as King Claudius, and 

 Mrs. Augusta Foster as Queen Gertrude ; the 

 screen scene from " The School for Scandal," Fanny 

 Davenport as Lady Teazle, John Gilbert as Sir 

 Peter Teazle, Robert Mantell as Charles Sur- 

 face, and John H. Barnes as Joseph Surface ; 

 recitation of Trowbridge's " Vagabonds," C. W. 

 Couldock ; the fourth act (quarrel scene) of " Julius 

 Caesar," Cassius, Lawrence Barrett ; Brutus, John 

 Malone; the third act of "The Rivals" Bob Acres, 

 Joseph Jefferson ; Sir Lucius O'Trigger, James 

 O'Neill ; Captain Absolute, Kyrle Bellew ; Mrs. 

 Malaprop, Mrs. John Drew ; Lydia Languish, Miss 

 Annie Robe. When " Alabama " was produced at 

 the Madison Square Theater, New York, in 1894, 

 Mr. Couldock was again before the public in a con- 

 genial character, that of Colonel Preston. On May 

 7, 1895, another testimonial benefit of $6,000 was 

 given to him at the Broadway Theater, New York. 

 On that occasion " The Rivals " was played, with 

 Joseph Jefferson as Bob Acres, William H. Crane as 

 Sir Anthony Absolute, Henry Miller as Captain 

 Absolute, N. C. Goodwin as Sir Lucius O'Trigger, 

 Thomas W. Keene as Falkland, De Wolfe Hopper 

 as David, Mrs. John Drew as Mrs. Malaprop, Miss 

 Viola Allen as Lydia, and Miss Nellie McHenry as 

 Lucy. Mr. Couldock's last appearance on the stage 

 was made at the Star Theater, New York, in the 

 character of Dunstan Kirke on Sept. 10, 1898. His 

 method was marked with great power of pathos and 

 feeling. In his youth and middle age intensity and 

 fire in the rendition of heroic and tragic roles were 

 quite as remarkable as the strong emotional quali- 

 ties, but these qualities were necessarily mellowed 

 and softened in the later years of his career by the 

 fact of his great age. 



Cox, James Farley, military officer, born in 

 Locust Valley, Long Island, N. Y., Feb. 1, 1830 ; 

 died in New Brighton, Staten Island, N. Y., June 

 24, 1898. He took a partial collegiate course, and, 

 after a brief service in a dry-goods house in New 

 York city, entered the office of the Mercantile Ma- 

 rine Insurance Company, and made a special study 

 of the adjustment of averages. In this line he soon 

 became so expert that when twenty-five years old 

 he was chosen vice-president of the Great Western 

 Marine Insurance Company. Subsequently he orig- 

 inated and carried to success the system of individ- 

 ual underwriting in this country, and with the late 

 Douglass Robinson, then his partner, created the 

 United States Lloyds. He was one of the organizers 

 of the 22d Regiment, N. G. S. N. Y., and served in it 

 in every rank from private to colonel. In 1862 he 

 served in the National army in Baltimore and at 

 Harper's Ferry, and in 1863 took part in the mem- 

 orable march to Harrisburg and Carlisle, following 

 Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's retreating army, and returned 



