588 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (CLENDENIN COGHLAN.) 



cago platform, and they retired to private life. 

 Judge Clement was noted for his remarkable 

 memory of precedents and for his affability to- 

 ward young members of the bar. 



Clendenin, Paul, army surgeon, born in Illi- 

 nois; died in Santiago, Cuba. July 4, 1899. He 

 entered the army from civil life as assistant sur- 

 geon, Nov. 5, 1886, and was promoted to cap- 

 tain, Nov. 5, 1891. On June 4, 1898, he was com- 

 missioned major and brigade surgeon in the vol- 

 unteer army, and in the Santiago campaign he 

 was one of the division surgeons in the 7th Army 

 Corps. After the disbandment of that corps he 

 was placed in charge of the general hospital es- 

 tablished at Santiago, and he there performed 

 invaluable service, especially in the brief epidemic 

 of yellow fever, till he w t as stricken with that 

 malady himself. 



Clinton. Henry Laurens, lawyer, born in 

 Woodbridge, Conn., Feb. 21, 1820; died in New 

 York city, June 7, 1899. On attaining his ma- 

 jority he removed to New York city, studied law, 

 and was admitted to the bar in 1846. For sev- 

 eral years he applied himself to criminal practice 

 \\ it h success. He was counsel for Mrs. Emma A. 

 Cunningham, charged with the murder of Dr. 

 Harvey Burdell, a dentist of New York, on Jan. 

 30, 1857. The trial was exceedingly sensational, 

 and Mr. Clinton secured the acquittal of his client 

 and her alleged accomplices. His next celebrated 

 case was in defense of Henri Carnal, a poor and 

 friendless man, also charged with murder. Mr. 

 Clinton, against his \vishes, was assigned by the 

 court to defend the accused, who, despite his 

 counsel's efforts, was convicted. Mr. Clinton then 

 appealed to Gov. Hunt for a reprieve, and fought 

 the case through the Court of Oyer and Terminer, 

 as well as the General Term, making new argu- 

 ments before the Governor for reprieves as ad- 

 verse decisions were encountered. Even the Legis- 

 lature took cognizance of the case and enacted 

 some special legislation to affect it. When the 

 late Oakey Hall became district attorney Mr. 

 Clinton advised his client as a last resort to plead 

 guilty of manslaughter, and on this he escaped 

 with a short term of imprisonment. In 1867 he 

 abandoned criminal for civil practice. He was 

 one of the counsel for the prosecution of William 

 M. Tweed, and with John Kelly and Augustus 

 Schell he aided in reorganizing Tammany Hall 

 after Tweed's conviction. Afterward he was con- 

 nected with several noteworthy causes, and for 

 his services in one received, as he said, " between 

 $300,000 and $500,000, the largest single fee that 

 I ever knew to be paid to a lawyer." About ten 

 years before his death he retired from practice 

 and began speculating in real estate. Mr. Clin- 

 ton was the author of two volumes of Extraordi- 

 nary Cases. 



Coffin, George W., naval officer, born in Massa- 

 chusetts; died in Yokohama, Japan, in June, 

 1899. He was appointed an acting midshipman 

 in the navy, Oct. 24, I860; was promoted mid- 

 shipman, July 16, 1862; ensign, Oct. 1, 1863; 

 master, May 10, 1866; lieutenant, July 25 follow- 

 ing; lieutenant commander, March 12, 1868; com- 

 mander, Nov. 30, 1878; and captain, Sept. 27, 

 1893; and was retired because of a disability in- 

 curred in the service, Sept. 15, 1897. On becom- 

 ing an ensign he was assigned to the steam sloop 

 Ticonderoga, of the North Atlantic blockading 

 squadron. He took part in both attacks on 

 Fort Fisher, and was wounded in a leg during 

 the land assault. After the war he served with 

 the Brazilian and European squadrons; was at 

 the Naval Academy in 1868-'69: chief of staff 

 of the North Atlantic fleet, 1870-71; commanded 



coast survey steamer Hassler, 1876-78, and 

 steamer Alert in the Greely Relief Expedition, 

 1884; lighthouse inspector, 1888-'89; and secre- 

 tary of the Lighthouse Board, 1889-'90. In 1898 

 he received a year's leave of absence, which he 

 was spending \vith his daughter, the wife of Sur- 

 geon Henderson, at the Yokohama Naval Hos- 

 pital, w r hen he died. 



Coghlan, Charles Francis, actor, born in 

 Paris, France, in 1841; died in Galveston, Texas, 

 Nov. 27, 1899. He was of an old Irish family. 

 His father was a journalist and a compiler of 

 guidebooks, whose works were very popular with 

 English travelers of the early days of the cen- 

 tury. Young Coghlan was educated in Paris and 

 in London, and was intended for the bar. His. 

 first appearance on the stage was made at the 

 Haymarket, London, then under the management 

 of Mr. Buckstone, in the small part of Monsieur 

 Mafoi in The Pilgrim of Love, April 9, 1860. He 

 played various small parts in the Haymarket 

 company until the end of November, 1861, and 

 in the summer of 1862 was engaged for a company 

 to occupy the new Theater Royal, Bath. Mr. 

 Coghlan played Demetrius in Midsummer Night's 

 Dream, taking the rank of juvenile leading man. 

 After three seasons of great popularity he played 

 for a short time at the Olympic Theater, London, 

 and was there again in 1867. Thence he went 

 to the St. James's Theater, Dec. 26, 1868. In 

 February, 1869, he appeared in support of Ade- 

 laide Neilson at the Lyceum in Life for Life. He 

 w r as then engaged as a member of the Bancroft 

 company at the Prince of Wales's Theater. For 

 six years he remained with this company, and 

 was applauded as the most brilliant of London's, 

 young actors. His notable successes in 1872-74 

 were Charles Surface in The School for Scandal, 

 Alfred Evelyn in Bulwer Lytton's Money, and 

 Geoffrey Delamayn in Man and Wife. He added 

 to his fame the credit of a dramatist by pro- 

 ducing at the Court Theater, March 12, 1875, 

 a very clever comedy, Lady Flora, in which John 

 Hare and Mr. and Mrs. Kendal played the prin- 

 cipal parts. It had instant success and a long 

 run. April 17, at the Prince of Wales's, he played 

 Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, with Miss. 

 Terry as Portia, and was the means of bringing 

 to attention that lady's great ability, though his 

 own playing was too quiet to please those who 

 were schooled to the traditions of the playhouse. 

 Augustin Daly engaged Mr. Coghlan for the Fifth 

 Avenue Theater, New York, in 1876, and he made 

 his appearance there, Sept. 12, as Alfred Evelyn 

 in Money to enthusiastic listeners. Almost at 

 once he became the most popular man on the 

 New York stage. During the season he played 

 Orlando, Miss Fanny Davenport being the Rosa- 

 lind, with great applause. The next season he 

 was the leading man of the Union Square Theater, 

 where he played Jean Renaud in the first won- 

 derful run of The Celebrated Case, and for the 

 season of 1878-79 he was engaged as leading 

 man of Wallack's Theater. In the summer of 

 1878 he played a short engagement in the Cali- 

 fornia Theater, San Francisco, as a star. In Wal- 

 lack's company he was associated with his sister 

 Rose, then the leading lady of that theater. To- 

 gether they played hero and heroine of the old 

 and modern plays. In May, 1879, he played a 

 short engagement at the Museum in Boston. On 

 the opening of the Princess Theater, London, 

 under control of Wilson Barrett, Mr. Coghlan 

 played the Marquis Des Arcis in Fernande, Sept. 

 20, 1879. In Bronson Howard's Banker's Daugh- 

 ter, played at the Court Theater under the title 

 The Old Love and the New, Dec. 18, 1879, he played 



