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CAPT. TOM COE. Lord Mortimer Coe, better known as Capt. Tom Coe, died at this home at No. 4719 Euclid avenue, Cleveland, Monday evening, Aug. 2, at the age of 80 years. he was striken with a trifling illness, he had been continuously active in Until five weeks ago, when THE MARINE KEVIEW He might 'be seen any day leaning forward in his 'buggy driving hs old mare. She was as familiar with the streets of Cleveland as the oldest inhabitant, and carried her master with unfailing fidelity from unchanging. the home to the forge and to the va- rious down town 'business interests Lorp MortiIMER Cor. business for over 60 years. In Cleve- land it is safe to say that no man was better known or more greatly 'be- loved. He employed a rough ex- terior to hide a tenderness 'that is rare among men. He did not de- ceive the discerning however and probably no man in Cleveland re- ceived more personal petitions for a'd and no man turned less of them away. There are: hundreds: that can ® testify to his helpfulness secretly adminis- tered. His chivalry was rough but it was of the purest kind. His personal characteristics were pronounced and with which he was (associated as investor or director. That his name was not Tom at all but Lord Mort mer, was a surprise to everyone. No one knew how he came to be called Tom but it is likely that he christened himself Tom, probably regarding Lord Mortimer as alto- gether too aristocratic for his plain and simple nature; for Tom Coe was a democrat among democrats. On Sundays he invariably drove out to the Euclid club and told his fa- mous story of the wreck of the Se- bastopol to a _ coterie who 'an always August, 1909 | loved to listen to it. It cannot be told in print very well, the framework of it being garnished elaborately w'th the captain's picturesque language, but nevertheless it was always a rare mor- sel to his o'd friends and grew more unctuous and mellow as it grew older, For 40 years Tom Coe's personal ap- pearance never valried so much as by the breadth of an eye lash--the stern uncomipromising face, the gruff voice, the stub of a cigar in the cor- ner of his mouth, the incessant strik- ing of matches in the vain effort to keep it I'ghted, 'the flow of copious: and extraordinary diction--these were the mannerisms familiar to all, which concealed rather than revealed his real nature. Capt. Coe was directly descended from Robert Coe, who came to this country from England in 1630 and was one of the founders of New Ha- ven, Conn. Capt. Coe's great grand- father, whose name was also Robert Coe, was the second United States senator from Connecticut. Capt. Coe's father was. Col. John Coe of the United States army. Capt. Coe was Hern at Penn Yan, N. Y., Nov. 14 1828, and was educated in the private schools of tat city. As a thoy he went to Buffalo and learned the trade of machin st. Later he was attracted to the lakes and served as engineer on a number of lake vessels. In 1854 Henry Chisholm, William Chisholm and Amasa Stone, who were engaged in contracting work in Cleve- Jand, decided to enter the lake trade and 'buit the steamer Sebastopol. On her maiden trip the Sebastopol car- ried 200 passengers, 100 horses and a miscellaneous cargo of freight at arate that euaranteed the return of the original investment before the sea- son was over. In a dense fog, how- ever, the Sebistopol went ashore off M lwaukee and pounded to pieces, be- coming a total wreck. William Chis- holm was clerk of the boat and Tom Coe chief engineer. The horses were driven overboard and swam _ ashore. Lines were thrown from the rigging to the shore and the passengers con- veyed to breeches buoy. This operation was superintended by Tom Coe with the vigorous assistance safety in a of his tongue. When William Chis- holm appeared from the ship's hold staggering under the weight of a great parcel Tom shouted: "William, what have you there?" "The ship's books," replied Wélliam. "To hell man the 'ship's 'books,' sad. Tom. "Save yourself, William'. But Witlliam clung tenaciously to the ship's books and would not part All with them.