ELIOT NESS: Nope, Eliot Ness did not die at Weis’ Restaurant but
at his home in Coudersport.

That’s the apparent verdict in our ongoing discussion of where
the famous FBI “crime buster” passed away.

A reader had thought it was at the Elk County location of
Weis.’

Bill Lenze Sr. of Johnsonburg writes, “I don’t know if Eliot
Ness died at Weis’ Restaurant or not, I never heard that one. But
he did die from a heart attack that he suffered May 16, 1957. The
location of the former Weis’ Restaurant on Route 219 between
Johnsonburg and Wilcox is now the site of Bauer’s Brides &
Belles dress shop.”

Bill Bogert called and confirmed that, yes, Ness did die of a
heart attack in his home in Coudersport which incidentally still
stands and is located behind the branch of Northwest Savings
Bank.

(Somebody in the historical society ought to put up a
plaque.)

Clayt Vecellio stopped by with a copy of the book, “Eliot Ness,
The Real Story,” written by Paul Heimel of Coudersport. Paul, who
was a longtime newspaper editor in Potter County, is now an
esteemed county commissioner.

His book verifies the assertion that he died of a heart attack
on Thursday, May 16, 1957, at his home in Coudersport.

Clayt tells us that the famous crime fighter was buried in
Cleveland, Ohio — and he was among the mourners. Although he did
not know Mr. Ness, he attended because he was interested in his
career.

THE BOOK: We became absorbed in Paul’s book about Eliot Ness,
particularly the account of his poor health and untimely death at
the age of 54. Were he alive today, heart surgeons could probably
have given him another 30 years.

Mr. Ness apparently was very well liked in the little town of
Coudersport where he lived with his wife and son, arriving there
when a company he represented moved its headquarters from Cleveland
to Coudersport.

Dr. George Mosch diagnosed in 1956 in Coudersport with a slight
heart murmur, and sent him to a specialist. But one spring day,
Ness walked into his house, collapsed and died.

The book notes that Ness was eulogized in the Coudersport
newspaper and the Cleveland Press but in Chicago, where he had
earned much of his reputation, his passing was not mentioned.