Rowdy spectators try to disrupt annual Poe graveyard tribute

On October 3, 1849 Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore, delirious and "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance," according to the man who found him. He was taken to the Washington College Hospital, where he died early on the morning of October 7. Poe was never coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition, and wearing clothes that were not his own. Some sources say Poe's final words were "It's all over now; write 'Eddy is no more'." referring to his tombstone. Others say his last words were "Lord, help my poor soul."

The precise cause of Poe's death is disputed. Dr. J. E. Snodgrass, an acquaintance of Poe who was among those who saw him in his last days, was convinced that Poe's death was a result of drunkenness, and did a great deal to popularize this interpretation of the events. He was, however, a supporter of the temperance movement who found Poe a useful example in his work; later scholars have shown that his account of Poe's death distorts facts to support his theory.

Dr. John Moran, the physician who attended Poe, stated in his own 1885 account that "Edgar Allan Poe did not die under the effect of any intoxicant, nor was the smell of liquor upon his breath or person." This was, however, only one of several sometimes contradictory accounts of Poe's last days he published over the years, so his testimony cannot be considered entirely reliable.

Numerous other theories have been proposed over the years, including several forms of rare brain disease, diabetes, various types of enzyme deficiency, syphilis, the idea that Poe was shanghaied, drugged, and used as a pawn in a ballot-box-stuffing scam during the election that was held on the day he was found, and more recently, rabies.[1]

In the absence of contemporary documentation (all surviving accounts are either incomplete or published years after the event; even Poe's death certificate, if one was ever made out, has been lost), it is likely that the cause of Poe's death will never be known. No other major American writer in the nineteenth century except Sidney Lanier and Stephen Crane lived a shorter life span.

Poe is buried on the grounds of Westminster Hall and Burying Ground[2], now part of the University of Maryland School of Law[3] in Baltimore.

Even after death, however, Poe has created controversy and mystery. Because of his fame, school children collected money for a new burial spot closer to the front gate. He was reburied on October 1, 1875. A celebration was held at the dedication of the new tomb on November 17. Likely unknown to the reburial crew, however, the headstones on all the graves, previously facing to the east, were turned to face the West Gate in 1864.[4] Therefore, as it was described in a seemingly fitting turn of events:

In digging on what they erroneously thought to be the right of the General Poe the committee naturally first struck old Mrs. Poe who had been buried thirty-six years before Edgar's mother-in-law; they tried again and presumably struck Mrs. Clemm who had been buried in 1876 only four years earlier. Henry's Poe's brother foot stone, it there, was respected for they obviously skipped over him and settled for the next body, which was on the Mosher lot. Because of the excellent condition of the teeth, he would certainly seem to have been the remains of Philip Mosher Jr, of the Maryland Militia, age 19.
Since Poe's death, his grave site has become a popular tourist attraction. Beginning in 1949, the grave has been visited every year by a mystery man, known endearingly as the Poe Toaster, in the early hours of Poe's birthday, January 19th. It has been reported that a man draped in black with a silver-tipped cane, kneels at the grave for a toast of Martel Cognac and leaves the half-full bottle and three red roses. The three red roses supposedly are in memory of Poe himself, his mother and his wife Virginia.

1996 Releases - University of Maryland Medical News
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Originally Released: September 24, 1996

Edgar Allan Poe Mystery
In an analysis almost 147 years after his death, doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center believe that writer Edgar Allan Poe may have died as a result of rabies, not from complications of alcoholism. Poe's medical case was reviewed by R. Michael Benitez, M.D., a cardiologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center. His review is published in the September 1996 issue of Maryland Medical Journal.

"No one can say conclusively that Poe died of rabies, since there was no autopsy after his death," says Dr. Benitez, who is also an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "But the historical accounts of Poe's condition in the hospital a few days before his death point to a strong possibility that he had rabies."

Poe was 39 years old when he died on October 7, 1849. He had traveled by train from Richmond, Virginia to Baltimore a few days earlier, on September 28. While in Richmond, he had proposed marriage to a woman who would have become his second wife. (His first wife had died). Poe intended to continue on to Philadelphia to finalize some business when he became ill.

Poe was discovered lying unconscious on September 28 on a wooden plank outside Ryan's saloon on Lombard St. in Baltimore. He was taken to Washington College Hospital (now Church Hospital).

Historical accounts of his hospitalization indicate that at first he was delirious with tremors and hallucinations, then he slipped into a coma. He emerged from the coma, was calm and lucid, but then lapsed again into a delirious state, became combative, and required restraint. He died on his fourth day in the hospital. According to an account published in the Maryland Historical Magazine in December 1978, the Baltimore Commissioner of Health, Dr. J.F.C. Handel certified that the cause of Poe's death was "congestion of the brain."

In his analysis, Dr. Benitez examined all of the possible causes for delirium, which include trauma, vascular disorders in the brain, neurological problems such as epilepsy, and infections. Alcohol withdrawal is also a potential cause of tremors and delirium, and Poe was known to have abused alcohol and opiate drugs. However, the medical records indicate that Poe had abstained from alcohol for six months before his death, and there was no evidence of alcohol use when he was admitted.

"In addition, it is unusual for patients suffering from alcohol withdrawal to become acutely ill, recover for a brief time, and then worsen and die," says Dr. Benitez, who adds that withdrawal from opiates does not produce the same scenario of symptoms as Poe's illness.

Dr. Benitez says in the final stages of rabies, it is common for people to have periods of confusion that come and go, along with wide swings in pulse rate and other body functions, such as respiration and temperature. All of that occurred for Poe, according to medical records kept by Dr. John J. Moran who cared for Poe in his final days. In addition, the median length of survival after the onset of serious symptoms is four days, which is exactly the number of days Poe was hospitalized before his death.

Poe's doctor also wrote that in the hospital, Poe refused alcohol he was offered and drank water only with great difficulty. Dr. Benitez says that seems to be a symptom of hydrophobia, a fear of water, which is a classic sign of rabies.

Dr. Benitez theorizes that Poe may have gotten rabies from being bitten by one of his pets. He was known to have cats and other pets. Although there is no account that Poe had been bitten by an animal, it is interesting that in all the cases of human rabies in the United States from 1977 to 1994, people remembered being bitten in only 27 percent of those cases. In addition, people can have the infection for up to a year without major symptoms.

The Poe case was presented originally to Dr. Benitez as part of a weekly meeting of medical center physicians, called the Clinical Pathologic Conference. It is an exercise in which a complex case is presented without a diagnosis, and physicians discuss how they would determine a patient's condition and course of treatment. Dr. Benitez did not know that the patient in question at this particular conference was Edgar Allan Poe.

The idea to analyze Poe's death came from Philip A. Mackowiak, M.D., professor of medicine and vice-chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

"Poe's death is one of the most mysterious deaths in literary history, and it provided us with an interesting case in which to discuss many principles of medicine," says Dr. Mackowiak, who runs the weekly Clinical Pathologic Conference at the medical center.

Dr. Mackowiak agrees with Dr. Benitez that rabies was the most likely cause of Poe's death, based on the available evidence. He adds, though, that after Poe's death, his doctor went on the lecture circuit and gave varying accounts of the writer's final days. "The account on which Dr. Benitez based his findings was more consistent with rabies than with anything else, but the definitive cause of Poe's death will likely remain a mystery," says Dr. Mackowiak.

Edgar Allan Poe is buried in a cemetery next to Westminister Hall at Fayette and Greene Streets, just one block from the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Last Update: Nov. 13, 1999 .Navigation:. Main Menu .. Poe Info. Menu
Poe's Death
No aspect of his life has so fascinated Poe's fans and detractors as his death. Unfortunately, there is also no greater example of how badly Poe's biography has been handled. Shrouded in opinion and contradiction, the essential details of Poe's final days leave us with more questions than answers. In the end we must accept that the few tantalizing facts we have lead to no certain conclusion. Poe's death must, probably, remain a mystery -- but the puzzle still teases and entices us. It is easy to find ourselves reviewing the stories again in hopes of finding something new, to settle the question once and for all.
Background
In 1849, Poe was still living with Mrs. Clemm in New York, in the same little cottage where Virginia had died in 1847. On June 29, 1849, Poe began a lecture tour to raise money and interest in his projected magazine The Stylus. He went first to Philadelphia, then to Richmond and Norfolk. While in Richmond, he reunited with his childhood sweetheart, Elmira Royster Shelton. Both Poe and Mrs. Shelton by then were widowed and after a brief courtship, renewed their long-ago engagement. Poe left for New York, to gather Maria Clemm and move their belongings back to Richmond. Before leaving, Poe stopped by the office of Dr. John F. Carter, at Seventh and Broad Streets, at about 9:30 at night. After talking for awhile, he went across the street to Saddler's Restaurant for supper, mistakenly taking Dr. Carter's malacca cane and leaving behind his own and a copy of Moore's Irish Rhapsodies. According to Dr. Carter, the cane contained a hidden sword, of which Poe may or may not have been aware (John Carter, "Edgar Poe's Last Night in Richmond," Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, p. 565 and repeated in Weiss, The Home Life of Poe, p. 203-204). Mrs. Susan A. T. Weiss noted, "at the restaurant he met with some acquaintances who detained him until late, and then accompanied him to the Baltimore boat. According to their account he was quite sober and cheerful to the last, remarking, as he took leave of them, that he would soon be in Richmond again" (Weiss, "The Last Days of Edgar A. Poe," p. 714).
Taking a boat from Richmond on September 27, Poe arrived in Baltimore on September 28, 1849. Over the next few days, details about Poe's actions and whereabouts are uncertain. Even his Baltimore cousin, Neilson Poe, wrote to Maria Clemm on October 11, 1849 "where he spent the time he was here, or under what circumstances, I have been unable to ascertain" (Quinn, Edgar Allan Poe, p. 642). Poe apparently called on Dr. Nathan Covington Brooks, who was, unfortunately, out of town. (The origin of the widely repeated information for this visit to Brooks' home is elusive. G. E. Woodberry's 1885 Life of Poe (Edgar Allan Poe, 1885, p. 342) seems to be the first mention, giving a slightly extended version, with Poe being partly intoxicated. (Woodberry repeats the information in his 1909 biography of Poe with what erroneously appears to be a note that J. A. Harrison's 1902 Life of Poe as the source. No such reference occurs there and it is a note only for the sentence marked.)

Bishop Fitzgerald noted that Poe left Richmond with as much as $1,500 gathered as subscription money for his magazine (Harrison, Complete Works, Vol. I, p. 322). In a letter to E.H. N. Patterson, written on November 9, 1849, John R. Thompson claimed, "The day before he went North from Richmond, I advanced him a small sum of money for a prospective article which he probably never wrote" (Harrison, Complete Works, XVII, p. 405). If either story is true, especially Fitzgerald's, the fact that no money was ever found strongly supports the idea that Poe may have been mugged.

Thomas H. Lane's recollection adds further confusion to the story. In four slightly different accounts, he recalled that Poe had gone to Philadelphia to see friends, where he was found ill. Lane thought that Poe intended to go on to New York, but mistakenly took the train back to Baltimore (Quinn, Edgar Allan Poe, p. 637). T. O. Mabbott felt that Lane was correct in the details of the event, but mistaken as to the year, relating instead what had occurred in 1848 (Mabbott, Poems, 1969, p. 568 n. 6). Moran also states that Poe went to Philadelphia, but that bad weather prevented completion of the trip (Moran, Defense of Poe, p 58). Poe may have gone to Philadelphia to comply with the request of Mrs. Leon Loud, to edit her collection of poems, for which Poe was to be paid $100. This clearly was his intent when he wrote to Maria Clemm on September 18, "On Tuesday I start for Phila[delphia] to attend to Mrs Loud's Poems -- & possibly on Thursday I may start for N. York. If I do I will go straight over to Mrs Lewis's & send for you. It will be better for me not to go to Fordham -- don't you think so? Write immediately in reply & direct to Phila. For fear I should not get the letter, sign no name & address it to E. S. T. Grey Esqr. . . . Don't forget to write immediately to Phila so that your letter will be there when I arrive" (Ostrom, Letters, p. 461). Why Poe felt that he would not get a letter correctly addressed and why it would be better for him not to go to Fordham is unclear.

The next certain information about Poe is October 3, 1849, when he was found on the street in Baltimore by Joseph Walker. Walker sent this note to Dr. J. E. Snodgrass: "Dear Sir, -- There is a gentleman, rather the worse for wear, at Ryan's 4th ward polls, who goes under the cognomen of Edgar A. Poe, and who appears in great distress, & he says he is acquainted with you, and I assure you, he is in need of immediate assistance, Yours, in haste, Jos. W. Walker." Walker, apparently, helped Poe into Gunner's Hall, a public house nearby, to wait for the arrival of his friend. Dr. Snodgrass and Henry Herring (Poe's uncle) came and found Poe in what they presumed was a drunken state. They agreed that he should be sent to the Washington College Hospital, and arranged for a carriage.

At the hospital, Poe was admitted and made as comfortable as the circumstances permitted. Over the next few days, Poe seems to have lapsed in and out of consciousness. Moran tried to question him as to the cause of his condition, but Poe's "answers were incoherent and unsatisfactory" (Moran to Maria Clemm, November 15, 1849). Neilson Poe tried to visit him, but was told that Edgar was too excitable for visitors. Depending on which account one accepts, Poe died at about 3:00 a.m. or 5:00 a.m. on October 7, 1849. Moran gives his last words as "Lord help my poor soul" (Moran to Maria Clemm, November 15, 1849) or, even more improbably, "He who arched the heavens and upholds the universe, has His decrees legibly written upon the frontlet of every human being and upon demaons incarnate" (Moran, A Defense of Poe, p. 72). Moran also claims that on the evening prior to his death, Poe repeatedly called out the name of "Reynolds." Substantial efforts have been made to identify who Reynolds may have been, with unimpressive results. At least one scholar felt that Poe may have instead been calling the name of "Herring" (Poe's uncle was Henry Herring) (W. T. Bandy, "Dr. Moran and the Poe-Reynolds Myth," Myths and Realities: The Mysterious Mr. Poe, Baltimore: E. A. Poe Society, 1987, pp. 26-36).

Poe's clothing had been changed. In place of his own suit of black wool was one of cheap gabardine, with a palm leaf hat. Moran describes his clothing as "a stained, faded, old bombazine coat, pantaloons of a similar character, a pair of worn-out shoes run down at the heels, and an old straw hat" (Moran, Defense of Poe, p. 59.) J. E. Snodgrass offers a more detailed description: "a rusty, almost brimless, tattered and ribbonless palmleaf hat. His clothing consisted of a sack-coat of thin and sleazy black alpaca, ripped more or less at several of its seams, and faded and soiled, and pants of a steel-mixed pattern of caseinate, half-worn and badly-fitting, if they could be said to fit at all. He wore neither vest nor neck-cloth, while the bosom of his shirt was both crumpled and badly soiled. On his feet were boots of coarse material, and giving no sign of having been blackened for a long time, if at all" (Snodgrass, "The Facts of Poe's Death and Burial," p. 284). Moran also quotes Capt. George W. Rollins, supposedly the conductor of the train, as noting two men who appeared to be following Poe (Moran, Defense of Poe, pp. 60-61.) Most modern biographies take care to note that in spite of the change of clothing, Poe still had Dr. Carter's cane. According to Susan A. Weiss, this cane was sent by Moran to Mrs. Clemm, who returned it to Dr. Carter (Weiss, Home Life of Poe, p. 205), but this seems to be a misinterpretation of Dr. Carter's own testimony. It has also been suggested that the key to his trunk was still in his pocket, although this statement seems based on little more than speculation. The key itself is on display in the Poe Museum in Richmond, as is Poe's trunk. It is equally reasonable that Mrs. Clemm may simply have had a second key.

The only contemporary public reference to a specific cause of death was from the Baltimore Clipper, a somewhat cryptic "congestion of the brain" (The Poe Log, p. 851). Death certificates were apparently not required at the time and none is known to have been filed for Poe. Dr. Moran's November 15, 1849 letter to Maria Clemm unhelpfully avoids the simple information we would have liked by saying "Presuming you are already aware of the malady of which Mr. Poe died . . ." In the late 1960s, Birgit Bramsback made an ardent search for a death certificate or any official hospital records, but found nothing (Bramsback, "The Final Illness and Death of E. A. Poe," p 40, n. 3).

The Alcohol Theory
This is the theory most people think of when they are asked about Poe's death. That Poe engaged in bouts of drinking, particularly during Virginia's long illness (1842-1847) is well established, but how exactly he may have died of alcoholism has never really been explained. Clearly, Poe did not have an accident and his drinking seems to have been neither so consistent nor so intense as to cause sclerosis of the liver. It has been suggested that poor nutrition and a weakened condition brought on by other illnesses could have allowed delirium tremens to occur with fewer and less intense episodes of drinking than would normally be required, but none of these offerings completely explain his condition and the change of clothing.
J. E. Snodgrass felt certain that alcohol was the cause of Poe's death and repeated the claim in his temperance lectures from the early 1850s. In 1856, his account was published in the Women's Temperance Paper. It was revised and published again in 1867 in Beadle's Monthly ("The Facts of Poe's Death and Burial"). The fervor of Snodgrass's commitment to the temperance movement clearly colored his statements and apparently led him to exaggerate the story. He was even willing to manipulate the evidence in a way that discredits him as a reliable source. These manipulations were established, after Snodgrass's death in 1880, by Edward Spencer in the New York Herald for March 27, 1881 (substantially reprinted in J. A. Harrison's biography of Poe, pp. 328-332).

In 1878, Mrs. Susan A. T. Weiss related what she recalled as a prophetic incident during Poe's last days in Richmond in 1849. If true, the story may be extremely significant: ". . . on the day following he made his appearance among us, but so pale, so tremulous and apparently subdued as to convince me that he had been seriously ill. On this occasion he had been at his rooms at the 'Old Swan [Tavern]' where he was carefully tended by Mrs. Mackenzie's family, but on a second and more serious relapse he was taken by Dr. Mackenzie and Dr. [William] Gibbon Carter to Duncan's Lodge, where during some days his life was in imminent danger. Assiduous attention saved him, but it was the opinion of the physicians that another such attack would prove fatal. This they told him, warning him seriously of the danger. His reply was that if people would not tempt him, he would not fall" (Weiss, "The Last Days of Edgar A. Poe", p. 712).

Perhaps the strongest evidence for an alcohol-related death is J. P. Kennedy's October 10, 1849 note in his diary: "On Tuesday last Edgar A. Poe died in town here at the hospital from the effects of a debauch. . . . He fell in with some companion here who seduced him to the bottle, which it was said he had renounced some time ago. The consequence was fever, delirium, and madness, and in a few days a termination of his sad career in the hospital. Poor Poe! . . . A bright but unsteady light has been awfully quenched." (Charles H. Bonner, John Pendleton Kennedy; Gentleman from Baltimore, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1961, p. 194. See also The Poe Log, p 852, which begins the quotation slightly differently as "On Sunday last" rather than "On Tuesday." Poe did die on Sunday.) Again, it should be noted that Kennedy was recording information second-hand, probably from his friend J. E. Snodgrass.

R. H. Stoddard's memoir of Poe states "It was believed at the time by his relatives in Baltimore that he drank with a friend while waiting between trains, in consequence of which he took a wrong train, and proceeded as far as Havre de Grace, whence he was brought back to Baltimore by the conductor of the Philadelphia train in a state bordering on delirium" (Stoddard, "Life of Poe," from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, New York: A. C. Armstrong & Sons, 1884, I, p. 195). Stoddard then gives the final cause of Poe's death related below as the "cooping" theory.

John Ruben Thompson wrote to E. H. N. Patterson on November 9, 1849 "no confidence could be placed in him [Poe] in any relation of life, least of all in antagonism to his fatal weakness. He died, indeed, in delirium from drunkenness; the shadow of infamy beclouded his last moments" (Harrison, XVII, p. 404). It must, of course, be remembered that Thompson's statement was made without any first-hand knowledge. At some point, Thompson changed his opinion. During the early 1870's, Thompson began to lecture about Poe's life and attributed his death to the "cooping" theory detailed below.

After Thompson's death in 1874, Dr. Moran presented his own series of lectures, eventually published as A Defense of Edgar Allan Poe (1885). In this book, Moran noted "I have stated to you the fact that Edgar Allan Poe did not die under the effect of any intoxicant, nor was the smell of liquor upon his breath or person" (Moran, Defense of Poe, p. 55) As has already been noted, Moran is notoriously unreliable on many points and cannot be trusted on matters for which he is the only authority. In addition to the contradictions apparent in his own writings, Moran apparently told different stories to his friends as well. In 1889, the Rev. W. T. D. Clemm wrote to Elmer R. Reynolds, "Allow me to say that this remarkable statement of Dr. Moran both confuses and surprises me because it positively contradicts the statement made to me personally by the Doctor; and surprises me because he did not years ago give to the public what he now avers to be the true cause of Mr. Poe's death."

Disease and Other Medical Problems
In March of 1847, Dr. Valentine Mott, a famous New York doctor in his day, agreed with the diagnosis of Mrs. Shew, a trained nurse who had helped to care for Virginia during her long illness, that Poe had some sort of lesions on the brain and suffered from brain fever (The Poe Log, p. 694). T. O. Mabbott noted, "A modern medical man who saw a photograph of Poe told my friend Robert Hunter Paterson that a twist in the poet's face suggested to him a brain lesion. . . " (Mabbott, Poems, 1969, p. 562, n. 12).
In May of 1848, another doctor, Dr. John W. Francis, diagnosed that Poe suffered from heart disease, a diagnosis which Poe denied (Miller, Building Poe Biography, p. 99).

That Poe was not completely well is obvious from his letters to Maria Clemm, July 7, 1849: "I have been so ill -- have had the cholera, or spasms quite as bad, and can now hardly hold the pen . . ." (Ostrom, Letters, p. 452) and July 14, "I am so ill while I write . . . " (Ostrom, Letters, p. 454). By July 19, he wrote under more favorable circumstances, "You will see at once, by the handwriting of this letter, that I am better -- much better in health and spirits" (Ostrom, Letters, p. 455).

It is possible that Poe had suffered some early incident which had later implications for his health. Mrs. Shew recalled a scar: "I have seen the scar of the wound in the left shoulder, when helping Mrs. Clemm change his dress or clothes while ill. She said only Virginia knew about it. She [Mrs. Clemm] did not. I asked him if he had been hurt --, in the region of the heart and he told me yes, and the rest as I wrote to you. His head was also hurt . . . " (Marie Louise Shew to John Ingram, May 16, 1875, quoted by John C. Miller, Building Poe Biography, p. 139)

Moran states that his colleague, Dr. John C. S. Monkur, "gave it as his opinion that Poe would die from excessive nervous prostration and loss of nerve power, resulting from exposure, affecting the encephalon, a sensitive and delicate membrane of the brain" (Moran, A Defense of Poe, p. 71).

Arno Karlen theorizes that Poe may have suffered from a rare enzyme disorder. He believes that a combination of alcohol dehydrogenase deficiency syndrome and brain disease explain Poe's problems with alcohol, his fits of "madness" and his sudden death.

Tuberculosis, epilepsy, diabetes and even rabies have also been suggested. There are interesting elements -- and difficulties -- in all of these theories. The idea that Poe died from rabies, for example, was presented in 1996. The article, by Dr. Michael Benitez, was ostensibly based on Moran's account of Poe's final days, but apparently filtered through a case-study, itself taken largely from an article by Charles Scarlett, Jr. ("A Tale of Ratiocination: The Death and Burial of Edgar Allan Poe," Maryland Historical Magazine, 1978). Scarlett's badly-documented and rather confused presentation includes a comment that Poe "was given a drink of water to determine if he could swallow freely, but he did this with difficulty" (Scarlett, p. 365). Benitez takes this as evidence of hydrophobia, a fear of water that is crucial to his argument of rabies. Although the meager footnotes to Scarlett's article would lead one to believe that the observation is from Moran's 1885 book, it is in fact from his 1875 article in the New York Herald. Had Benitez actually read Moran's later telling of the tale, he would no doubt have been disappointed to find that the sentence was changed to read, "I put a small lump of ice in his mouth, and gave him a sip of water, to ascertain what difficulty, if any, he had in swallowing. He drank half a glass without any trouble" (Moran, 1885, p. 71). Without evidence of hydrophobia, the possiblity of rabies evaporates.

The Cooping Theory
This is the theory given in the vast majority of Poe biographies, although it cannot be proven true. Coincidence or not, the day Poe was found on the street was election day in Baltimore and the place near where he was found, Ryan's Fourth Ward Polls, was both a bar and a place for voting. In those days, Baltimore elections were notorious for corruption and violence. Political gangs were willing to go to great extremes to ensure the success of their candidates. Election ballots were stolen, judges were bribed and potential voters for the opposition intimidated. Some gangs were known to kidnap innocent bystanders, holding them in a room, called the "coop." These poor souls were then forced to go in and out of poll after poll, voting over and over again. Their clothing might even be changed to allow for another round. To ensure compliance, their victims were plied with liquor and beaten. Poe's weak heart would never have withstood such abuse. This theory appears to have been first offered publicly by John R. Thompson in the early 1870s to explain Poe's condition and the fact that he was wearing someone else's clothing. A possible flaw in the theory is that Poe was reasonably well-known in Baltimore and likely to be recognized.
Although not in keeping with the political aspects of this theory, there is an earlier suggestion that Poe was physically abused in his final days: "At the instigation of a woman, who considered herself injured by him, he was cruelly beaten, blow upon blow, by a ruffian who knew of no better mode of avenging supposed injuries. It is well known that a brain fever followed. . . ." (Mrs. E. Oakes Smith, "Autobiographic Notes: Edgar Allan Poe," Beadle's Monthly, February 3, 1867, p. 154). It was in reply to Mr. Smith's article that Dr. Snodgrass wrote his "The Facts of Poe's Death and Burial" noted above.

The eminent Poe scholar Dr. Thomas Ollive Mabbott, quoting Robert D'Unger, dismissed the cooping theory as "twaddle," but neither offers any explanation. It does answer some of the stranger details and may yet be shown to have some merit. James A. Harrison seems to accept the cooping theory. Didier's book The Poe Cult reprints his article on "The True Cause of Poe's Death" in which he quotes a letter from a person who claims to have seen Poe "in the coop." This information was sent to Didier by Alexander Hynds on December 8, 1879. Hynds, a Baltimore attorney, identified the source only as "my friend, a prominent man of San Francisco." Since the ultimate source for the letter remained anonymous, it has generally been dismissed as journalistic sensationalism. In his own biography of Poe, John Joyce quotes the identical letter, also without identifying the source, and claiming it as if it had been related to him personally (John A. Joyce, Edgar Allan Poe, New York: F. T. Neely, 1901, pp. 195-197). Mrs. Weiss adds further to the confusion by repeating the same article, but attributing it, ironically, to Dr. Snodgrass (Weiss, Home Life of Poe, 207-211).

Didier had already published a slightly different account : "he met some of his old West-Point friends, who invited him to a champagne-supper that night. At first he refused to drink, but at last he was induced to take a glass of champagne. That set him off, and, in a few hours, he was madly drunk. In this state he wandered off from his friends, was robbed and beaten by ruffians, and left insensible in the street all night" (Didier, "The Grave of Poe," Appleton's Journal, VII, January 27, 1872, p. 104). One wonders if Didier's opinion was changed by convicing evidence or mere preference.

N. H. Morrison's letter to J. H. Ingram, November 27, 1874, includes these comments "The story of Poe's death has never been told. Nelson [Neilson] Poe has all the facts, but I am afraid may not be willing to tell them. I do not see why. The actual facts are less discreditable than the common reports published. Poe came to the city in the midst of an election, and that election was the cause of his death" (Miller, Building Poe Biography, p. 49). Neilson, Poe's cousin, spoke briefly at the dedication of Poe's memorial grave in 1875, but made no statement concerning the circumstances of Edgar's death. If Neilson Poe had specific information about Poe's final days, he apparently took it with him to the grave.

William Hand Browne's letter to J. H. Ingram, August 24, 1874, includes these comments "The general belief here is, that Poe was seized by one of these gangs, (his death happening just at election-time; an election for sheriff took place on Oct. 4th), 'cooped,' stupefied with liquor, dragged out and voted, and then turned adrift to die" (Miller, Building Poe Biography, p. 69).

According to Elizabeth Ellicott Poe and Vylla Poe Wilson, "The conclusion to be drawn, in view of all the factors and probabilities, is that he [Poe] was shanghaied shortly after his arrival in Baltimore, given liquor and opium to which he was peculiarly susceptible, and while in that irresponsible condition held until election day. A certain Passano, associated with that 'coop,' is said to have confessed to relatives in after years that this is what happened to the poet, but no formal record was made of his testimony to this effect" (E. E. Poe and V. P. Wilson, Edgar Allan Poe: A High Priest of the Beautiful, Washington: The Stylus Publishing Company, 1930, p. 79).

Bibliography:
Benitez, Dr. R. Michael, "Rabies," Maryland Medical Journal, XLV, September 1996, pp. 765-769. (Responding to substantial journalistic attention, a refutation "If Only Poe Had Succeeded When He Said Nevermore to Drink" appeared in the New York Times, Sept. 23, 1996, A14, by Burton R. Pollin and Robert Benedetto. See also, "Did Rabies Fell Edgar Allan Poe?" in Science News, CL, November 1996, p. 282. and "Mad Dogs and English Professors," in Lingua Franca, December 1996-January 1997.)
Bramsback, Birgit, "The Final Illness and Death of Edgar Allan Poe: An Attempt at Reassessment," Studia Neophilologica (University of Uppsala), XLII, 1970, pp. 40-59.
Carter, Dr. John F., "Edgar Poe's Last Night in Richmond", Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, LXX, no. 419, November 1902, pp. 562-566.(Dr. Carter seems to rely mostly on the earlier account by Mrs. Weiss from Scribner's Magazine, although he adds for the first time the detail that the cane contained a sword. The most reasonable reading of Carter's article suggests that Poe left the cane behind in Richmond, and that it never travelled with Poe to Baltimore.)
Clemm, Rev. William T. D., "[Letter to Dr. Elmer R. Reynolds]," February 20, 1889. (Ingram Collection of the University of Virginia, item 390.)
Harrison, James Albert, The Life and Letters of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. I, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Sons, 1903. (Previously published as volume I of The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Thomas Y. Crowell, 1902. Along with much generally repeated information, Harrison's biography includes the recollections of Bishop Fitzgerald, pp. 316-320; of W. J. Glenn, pp. 320-322; and of Dr. Moran's wife, Mary O. Moran, pp. 337-338.)
Hill, John S., "The Diabetic Mr. Poe?," I no. 2, October 1968, Poe Studies, p. 31. (A very brief notice.)
Karlen, Arno, "What Ailed Poor Poe: The Biohistorian as Skeptic," Napoleon's Glands and Other Adventures in Biohistory, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 60-95.
Mabbott, Dr. Thomas Ollive, "Annals," The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume I: Poems, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1969, pp. 566-569.
Moran, Dr. John J. "[Letter to Maria Clemm]," November 15, 1849 (Reprinted in Arthur Hobson Quinn and Hart, Richard H., eds, Edgar Allan Poe: Letters and Documents and in the Enoch Pratt Free Library, New York: Scholars' Facsimiles and Reprints, 1941, pp. 31-34.)
Moran, Dr. John J., "Official Memorandum of the Death of Edgar A. Poe," New York Herald, October 28, 1875.
Moran, Dr. John J., A Defense of Edgar Allan Poe, Washington, D.C.: W. F. Boogher, 1885.
Poe, Neilson, "[Letter to Maria Clemm]," October 11, 1849 (Reprinted in Quinn, Arthur Hobson and Hart, Richard H., eds, Edgar Allan Poe: Letters and Documents and in the Enoch Pratt Free Library, New York: Scholars' Facsimiles and Reprints, 1941, pp. 30-31.)
Quinn, Arthur Hobson, "Richmond -- The Last Appeal," Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography, New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1941, pp. 615-641.
Scarlett, Charles, Jr. "A Tale of Ratiocination: The Death and Burial of Edgar Allan Poe," Maryland Historical Magazine, LXXIII, no. 4, 1978, pp. 360-374. (It should be noted that Scarlett is mistaken in his claim that the wrong body was exhumed in 1875, when Poe's remains were moved to the fine memorial that now marks his final resting place.)
Snodgrass, Dr. Joseph Evan, "The Facts of Poe's Death and Burial," Beadle's Monthly, March 1867, pp. 283-288.
Stern, Philip Van Doren, "The Strange Death of Edgar Allan Poe," Saturday Review, XXXII, October 15, 1949, pp. 8-9, 28-30.
Thomas, Dwight and Jackson, David K., The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849, Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1987, pp. 843-854.
Walsh, John Evangelist, Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1998. (Although it claims to "definitively untangle more than a century of speculation" about Poe's death, this book is little more than a rehashing of the usual information. After rebuking others for speculation, Mr. Walsh proceeds to unleash a wild flurry of his own, boldly stating, in the near absence of any actual evidence, that Poe was attacked by two supposed brothers of Sarah Elmira Royster. Poe, as has been long accepted, had become engaged in Richmond to his childhood sweetheart, then a widow. It is also accepted that her family was not pleased with the proposed union. Mr. Walsh suggests that these brothers followed Poe to Baltimore and forced him to drink so that his pledge of temperance would appear to have been broken and the engagement called off. He further speculates that John R. Thompson invented the "clever" theory of cooping to protect these men. Overall, this book is an interesting and entertaining read, but rather dubious as scholarship.)
Weiss, Susan Archer Tally, "Edgar A. Poe," New York Herald, April 26, 1876, p. 4.
Weiss, Susan Archer Tally, "The Last Days of Edgar A. Poe," Scribner's Monthly, XV, March 1878, pp. 707-716.
Weiss, Susan Archer [Tally], "The Mystery of Fate," Home Life of Poe, New York: Broadway Publishing Company, 1907, pp. 203-211. (Although she knew Poe, Mrs. Weiss is not to be fully relied upon in the details she provides, many of which are documentably in error.)

[Text: Mrs. Susan A. T. Weiss, “The Last Days of Edgar A. Poe,” Scribner's Magazine, March 1878, pp. 707-716.]

[page 707:]
LAST DAYS OF EDGAR A. POE.

[column 1:]

WHEN I was about seven years of age, it was my habit to peruse eagerly every scrap of literature that fell in my way. In this manner I had read "The Children of the Abbey," "Pike's Expeditions," "Buck's Theology," "Castle of Otranto," and the "Spectator," with other prose works of equally dissimilar character, but as yet the world of poetry was an unknown world to me.

One day I came across an old number of the "Southern Literary Messenger," containing the well-known ballad beginning:
"Lo, the ring is on my hand,
And the wreath is on my brow."

Whatever may be my present opinion of this poem, no words can describe the charm which it exercised over my childish fancy. The music of it was a keen delight, the mystery of it, which I could in no wise fathom, was a subtle fascination, and its sadness a pain which "touched my soul with pity"; for that it was an authentic history, an actual experience of Edgar A. Poe, it never occurred to me to doubt.

Who was Edgar A. Poe? My idea of him was then, and for years after, as other [column 2:] productions of his pen met my eye, that of a mysterious being in human shape, yet gifted with a power more than human; a something of weird beauty and despairing sadness, touched with a vague suspicion of evil which inspired in me a sense of dread, mingled with compassion. To this feeling was added in time one akin to horror, upon my reading the sketch of the "Pest" family, every word of which I received as truth; and the picture of the awful Pests seated in their coffins around the festal board, and of their subsequent wild flight with their winding-sheets streaming behind them, long haunted me with an unspeakable horror.

Who was Edgar A. Poe? I at length inquired of my mother. With wondering interest I learned that he was a gentleman of Richmond, and that he had resided in the very house which I had visited the day before. Thenceforth this house with its massive portico, in which Edgar Poe had played when a child, and the trees on the lawn which he had climbed, were to me objects of solemn and mysterious interest.

This house was that of Mr. Allan, who [page 708:] had adopted Poe when a child. It is still to be seen at the corner of Main and Fifth streets, unchanged, with the exception of a modern addition. Opposite, in old times, stood the large frame mansion, surrounded by piazzas, of Mrs. Jane Mackenzie, who adopted Poe's sister, Rosalie. On the right of Mr. Allan's there yet stands a tall brick house (now occupied by the Rev. Moses Hoge) which was at the time of which I speak the residence of Major James Gibbon. These three families occupied a first social position, and were on terms of mutual intimacy, and from them and others I have heard many anecdotes of Edgar Poe's youth and childhood. Passing over these for the present, I will proceed to speak of the time when I myself became acquainted with him.

In 1849 I was residing at our suburban home near Richmond, Virginia, in the immediate neighborhood of Duncan's Lodge, then the residence of Mrs. Mackenzie. Being intimate with the family (of which Mr. Poe's sister was a member), we had been for years accustomed to hear him constantly and familiarly spoken of Mrs. Mackenzie had always been fond of him, and he, like his sister, was accustomed to call her "Ma," and to confide in her as in a mother.

I remember Miss Poe describing to us her visits to her brother at Fordham, then informing us of the death of his wife, and, afterward, mentioning a vague rumor of his engagement to Mrs. Whitman, and finally announcing with great delight that Edgar was coming on a visit to his friends in Richmond.

It was in July that he arrived. He first took a room at the American Hotel, but soon changed his quarters to the Old Swan Tavern — a long, low, antiquated building which had been in its day the fashionable hotel of Richmond. Poe remarked that he had a quadruple motive in choosing it — it was cheap, well kept in "the old Virginia style," associated with many pleasant memories of his youth, and, lastly and chiefly, nearest Duncan's Lodge, where most of his time was passed.

It was a day or two after his arrival that Poe, accompanied by his sister, called on us. He had, some time previous, in a critique on Griswold's "American Female Poets," taken flattering notice of my early poems, which had recently appeared in the "Southern Literary Messenger;" and now, on learning from Mrs. Mackenzie that I resided in the neighborhood, he had desired [column 2:] an introduction. The remembrance of that first meeting with the poet is still as vividly impressed upon my mind as though it had been but yesterday. A shy and dreamy girl, scarcely more than a child, I had all my life taken an interest in those strange stories and poems of Edgar Poe; and now, with my old childish impression of their author scarcely worn off, I regarded the meeting with an eager, yet shrinking anticipation. As I entered the parlor, Poe was seated near an open window, quietly conversing. His attitude was easy and graceful, with one arm lightly resting upon the back of his chair. His dark curling hair was thrown back from his broad forehead — a style in which he habitually wore it. At sight of him, the impression produced upon me was of a refined, high-bred, and chivalrous gentleman. I use this word "chivalrous" as exactly descriptive of something in his whole personnel, distinct from either polish or high-breeding, and which, though instantly apparent, was yet an effect too subtle to be described. He rose on my entrance, and, other visitors being present, stood with one hand resting on the back of his chair, awaiting my greeting. So dignified was his manner, so reserved his expression, that I experienced an involuntary recoil, until I turned to him and saw his eyes suddenly brighten as I offered my hand; a barrier seemed to melt between us, and I felt that we were no longer strangers.

I am thus minute in my account of my first meeting with Poe, because I would illustrate, if possible, the manner peculiar to him, and also the indescribable charm, I might almost say magnetism, which his eyes possessed above any others that I have ever seen. It was this mysterious influence, I am inclined to think, which often, so powerfully at first sight, attracted strangers to him (vide Mr. Kennedy's account); and this it was, undoubtedly, which Mrs. Osgood on her first interview with him experienced, but scarcely understood.

From this time I saw Poe constantly, especially during the last weeks of his stay in Richmond. From his sister also, and from intimate common friends, we knew all concerning him, so that about this portion of his life there is no reserve and no mystery.

It would be better, indeed, for his fair name, could a veil be drawn over certain dark spots which disfigure this otherwise unusually pure and happy phase of his life. On these, I prefer to touch as lightly as [page 709:] possible. I know that he strove against the evil; but his will was weak; and having once yielded, in however slight a degree, said his friends, he seemed to lose all control over himself; and twice during his visit to Richmond, his life was thus seriously endangered. Yet, though I heard something of these things, I did not then, nor until long after, fully understand them. It was his own request that I should not be informed of his weakness; and he was scrupulously careful never to appear in our presence, except when he was, as he expressed it, "entirely himself."

And as himself — that is, as he appeared to me in my own home and in society, — Poe was pre-eminently a gentleman. This was apparent in everything about him, even to the least detail. He dressed always in black, and with faultless taste and simplicity. An indescribable refinement pervaded all that he did and said. His general bearing in society, especially toward strangers, was quiet, dignified and somewhat reserved, even at times unconsciously approaching hauteur. He rarely smiled and never laughed. When pleased, nothing could exceed the charm of his manner, — to his own sex cordial, to ladies, marked by a sort of chivalrous, respectful courtesy.

I was surprised to find that the poet was not the melancholy person I had unconsciously pictured. On the contrary, he appeared, except on one occasion, invariably cheerful, and frequently playful in mood. He seemed quietly amused by the light-hearted chat of the young people about him, and often joined them in humorous repartee, sometimes tinged with a playful sarcasm. Yet he preferred to sit quietly, and listen and observe. Nothing escaped his keen observation. He was extremely fastidious in his idea of feminine requirements, and himself lamented that at slight things in women he was apt to be repelled and disgusted, even against his better judgment. Though in the social evenings with us or at Duncan's Lodge, Poe would join in the light conversation or amusement of the hour, I observed that it had not power to interest him for any length of time. He preferred a seat on the portico, or a stroll about the lawn or garden, in company with a friend.

In his conversations with me Poe expressed himself with a freedom and unreserve which gave me a clearer insight into his personal history and character than, I think, was possessed by many persons. [column 2:] Indeed, I may say that from the moment of our meeting he was never to me the "inexplicable" character that he was pronounced by others. Young as I was, I had yet by some intuitive instinct of perception, as it were, comprehended the finer and more elevated nature of the man, and it was probably to his own consciousness of this that I owed his confidence. I remember his saying, near the beginning of our acquaintance, and in reply to a remark of my own, "I cannot express the pleasure — the more than pleasure — of finding myself so entirely understood by you;" adding, "It is not often that I am so understood." Again, he said of Mrs. Osgood, "She is the only one of my friends who understands me." His own insight into personal character was quick and intuitive, but not deep; and it struck me even then, with all my youthful inexperience, that in knowledge of human nature he was, for a man of his genius, strangely deficient.

Among other things, Poe spoke to me freely of his future plans and prospects. He was at this time absorbed in his cherished scheme of establishing his projected journal, the "Stylus." Nearly all his old friends in Virginia had promised to aid him with the necessary funds, and he was sanguine of success. He intended to spare no pains, no effort, to establish this as the leading literary journal of the country. The plan of it, which he explained in detail, but of which I retain little recollection, was to be something entirely original; and the highest "genius, distinctive from talent," of the country was to be represented in its pages. To secure this result, he would offer a more liberal price for contributions than any other publisher. This would, of course, demand capital to begin with, which was all that he required; and of that he had the promise. To establish this journal had been, he said, the cherished dream of his life, and now at last he felt assured of success. And in thus speaking he held his head erect, and his eyes glowed with enthusiasm. "I must and will succeed!" he said.

Much curiosity has been expressed and many and various statements have been made in regard to the poet's relations at this time with Mrs. Sarah Shelton of Richmond. So far as I am certainly informed upon the subject, the story is simply this:

The two had been schoolmates, and, as such, a childish flirtation had existed between them. When, some years previous [page 710:] to this time, Poe made a brief visit to Richmond, Mrs. Shelton, then a wealthy widow, had invited him to her house and treated him with special attention. Shortly after the death of his wife, an intimate friend wrote to him that Mrs. Shelton often inquired after him, and suggested the plan which he somewhat later, when so much in need of money, came seriously to consider. Certain it is that a correspondence existed between the poet and Mrs. Shelton almost from the time of Mrs. Poe's death, and that for months before his appearance in Richmond it was understood by his friends that an engagement of marriage existed between them. His attentions to the lady immediately upon his arrival tended to confirm the report. Some friend of hers, however, represented to her that Poe's motives were of a mercenary nature; and of this she accused him, at the same time declaring her intention of so securing her property as to prevent his having any command of it. A rupture ensued, and thenceforth no further communication took place between them.

Poe never publicly admitted his engagement with Mrs. Shelton, and appeared anxious to keep the matter private. Mr. John M. Daniel, the well-known editor of the "Examiner," having in the columns of that paper made some allusion to the reported engagement, Poe resented it as an ‘unwarrantable liberty, and proceeded to the "Examiner" office to demand an "explanation." Mr. Daniel, whose fiery temper was well known to Poe, had been informed of the proposed visit, and on the latter's entrance advanced to meet him. The two, who had never before met, stood facing each other; but before a dozen words had been spoken, Mr. Daniel, as with a sudden impulse, extended his hand, and Poe, who was quick to respond to any token of good feeling, and doubtless recognized the nobility of the man before him, as readily accepted it, and thus was ratified a friendship which lasted while they lived.

It will be seen from the above account of the affair with Mrs. Shelton that Poe did not, as is stated by his biographers, leave Richmond for New York with the intention of preparing for his marriage with that lady. Yet that he had entered into an engagement of marriage with her even previous to his appearance in Richmond, I am assured. It was at a time when, as he himself declared, he stood more in need of money [column 2:] than at any previous period of his life. It was, to his own view, the turning-point of his fortunes, depending upon his cherished scheme of establishing the "Stylus," through which he was to secure fame and fortune. This could not be done without money. Money was the one thing needful, upon which all else depended; and money he must have, at whatever cost or sacrifice. Hence the affair with Mrs. Shelton. She was a lady of respectability, but of plain manners and practical disposition; older than Poe, and not gifted with those traits which might be supposed capable of attracting one of his peculiar taste and temperament.

While upon this subject, I venture, though with great hesitation, to say a word in relation to Poe's own marriage with his cousin, Virginia Clemm. I am aware that there exists with the public but one view of this union, and that so lovely and touching in itself, that to mar the picture with even a shadow inspires almost a feeling of remorse. Yet since in the biography of a distinguished man of genius truth is above all things desirable, and since in this instance the facts do not redound to the discredit of any party concerned, I may be allowed to state what I have been assured is truth.

Poets are proverbial for uncongenial marriages, and to this Poe can scarcely be classed as an exception. From the time when as a youth of nineteen he became a tutor to his sweet and gentle little cousin of six years old, he loved her with the tender and protective fondness of an elder brother. As years passed he became the subject of successive fancies or passions for various charming women; but she, gradually budding into early womanhood, experienced, but one attachment — an absorbing devotion to her handsome, talented, and fascinating cousin. So intense was this passion that her health and spirits became seriously affected, and her mother, aroused to painful solicitude, spoke to Edgar about it. This was just as he was preparing to leave her house, which had been for some years his home, and enter the world of business. The idea of this separation was insupportable to Virginia. The result was that Poe, at that time a young man of twenty-eight, married his little, penniless, and delicate child-cousin of fourteen or fifteen, and thus unselfishly secured her own and her mother's happiness. In his wife he had ever the most tender and devoted of companions; but it was his own declaration that he ever missed in her a certain intellectual and spiritual [page 711:] sympathy necessary to perfect happiness in such an union. It was this need which so often impelled him to "those many romantic little episodes" of which Mrs. Osgood speaks, and which were well known to Poe's acquaintance. He was never a deliberately unkind husband, and toward the close of Mrs. Poe's life he was assiduous in his tender care and attention. Yet his own declaration to an intimate friend of his youth was that his marriage "had not been a congenial one;" and I repeatedly heard the match ascribed to Mrs. Clemm, by those who were well acquainted with the family and the circumstances. In thus alluding to a subject so delicate, I have not lightly done so, or unadvisedly made a statement which seems refuted by the testimony of so many who have written of "the passionate idolatry" with which the poet regarded his wife. I have heard the subject often and freely discussed by Poe's most intimate friends, including his sisters, and upon this authority I speak. Lovely in person, sweet and gentle in disposition, his young wife deserved, doubtless, all the love that it was in his nature to bestow. Of his unvarying filial affection for Mrs. Clemm, and of her almost angelic devotion to himself and his interests, there can be no question.

Mr. Poe, among other plans for raising the funds so sorely needed, decided to give a series of lectures in Richmond. The first of these ("The Poetic Principle") brought him at once into prominent notice with the Richmond public. The press discussed him, and the elite of society feted him. With the attention and kindness thus shown him he was much gratified. Yet he did not appear to care for the formal parties, and declared that he found more enjoyment with his friends in the country.

I can vividly recall him as he appeared on his visits to us. He always carried a cane, and upon entering the shade of the avenue would remove his hat, throw back his hair, and walk lingeringly, as if enjoying the coolness, carrying his hat in his hand, generally behind him. Sometimes he would pause to examine some rare flower, or to pluck a grape from the laden trellises. He met us always with an expression of pleasure illuminating his countenance and lighting his fine eyes.

Poe's eyes, indeed, were his most striking feature, and it was to these that his face owed its peculiar at fraction. I have never seen other eyes at all resembling them. They were large, with long, jet-black lashes, — the [column 2:] iris dark steel-gray, possessing a crystalline clearness and transparency, through which the jet-black pupil was seen to expand and contract with every shade of thought or emotion. I observed that the lids never contracted, as is so usual in most persons, especially when talking; but his gaze was ever full, open, and unshrinking. His usual expression was dreamy and sad. He had a way of sometimes turning a slightly askance look upon some person who was not observing him, and, with a quiet, steady gaze, appear to be mentally taking the caliber of the unsuspecting subject. "What awful eyes Mr. Poe has!" said a lady to me. "It makes my blood run cold to see him slowly turn and fix them upon me when I am talking."

Apart from the wonderful beauty of his eyes, I would not have called Poe a very handsome man. He was, in my opinion, rather distinguished-looking than handsome. What he had been when younger I had heard, but at the period of my acquaintance with him he had a pallid and careworn look, — somewhat haggard, indeed, — very apparent except in his moments of animation. He wore a dark mustache, scrupulously kept, but not entirely concealing a slightly contracted expression of the mouth and an occasional twitching of the upper lip, resembling a sneer. This sneer, indeed, was easily excited — a motion of the lip, scarcely perceptible, and yet intensely expressive. There was in it nothing of ill-nature, but much of sarcasm, as when he remarked of a certain pretentious editor, "He can make bold plunges in shallow water;" and again, in reference to an editor presenting a costly book to a lady whose poems he had for years published while yet refusing to pay for them, Poe observed, "He could afford it," with that almost imperceptible curl of the lip, more expressive of contempt than words could have been. The shape of his head struck me, even on first sight, as peculiar. There was a massive projection of the broad brow and temples, with the organ of casualty very conspicuously developed, a marked flatness of the top of the head, and an unusual fullness at the back. I had at this time no knowledge of phrenology; but now, in recalling this peculiar shape, I cannot deny that in Poe what are called the intellectual and animal portions of the head were remarkably developed, while in the moral regions there was as marked a deficiency. Especially there was a slight depression instead of fullness [page 712:] of outline where the organs of veneration and firmness are located by phrenologists. This peculiarity detracted so much from the symmetrical proportions of the head that he sought to remedy the defect by wearing his hair tossed back, thus producing more apparent height of the cranium.

I am convinced that this time of which I speak must have been what Poe himself declared it — one of the brightest, happiest, and most promising of his maturer life. Had he but possessed a will sufficiently strong to preserve him from the temptation which was his greatest bane, how fair and happy might have been his future career!

As I have said, the knowledge of this weakness was by his own request concealed from me. All that I knew of the matter was when a friend informed me that "Mr. Poe was too unwell to see us that evening." A day or two after this he sent a message by his sister requesting some flowers, in return for which came a dainty note of thanks, written in a tremulous hand. He again wrote, inclosing a little anonymous poem which he had found in some newspaper and admired; and on the day following he made his appearance among us, but so pale, tremulous and apparently subdued as to convince me that he had been seriously ill. On this occasion he had been at his rooms at the "Old Swan" where he was carefully tended by Mrs. Mackenzie's family, but on a second and more serious relapse he was taken by Dr. Mackenzie and Dr. Gibbon Carter to Duncan's Lodge, where during some days his life was in imminent danger. Assiduous attention saved him, but it was the opinion of the physicians that another such attack would prove fatal. This they told him, warning him seriously of the danger. His reply was that if people would not tempt him, he would not fall. Dr. Carter relates how, on this occasion, he had a long conversation with him, in which Poe expressed the most earnest desire to break from the thralldom of his besetting sin, and told of his many unavailing struggles to do so. He was moved even to tears, and finally declared, in the most solemn manner, that this time he would restrain himself — would withstand any temptation. He kept his word as long as he remained in Richmond; but for those who thereafter placed the stumbling-block in the way of the unsteady feet, what shall be said? [column 2:]

Among the warmest of his personal friends at this time, and those whom he most frequently visited, were Dr. Robert G. Cabell, Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell, Mrs. Chevalie, and Mr. Robert Sully, and his venerable mother and accomplished sisters. These had all known him in his boyhood, and he expressed to me with earnestness the pleasure of the hours spent with them in their own homes. Especially did he enjoy his visits to the Sullys, "where" said he, "I always find pictures, flowers, delightful music and conversation, and a kindness more refreshing than all."

The only occasion on which I saw Poe really sad or depressed, was on a walk to the "Hermitage," the old deserted seat of the Mayo family, where he had, in his youth, been a frequent visitor. On reaching the place, our party separated, and Poe and myself strolled slowly about the grounds. I observed that he was unusually silent and preoccupied, and, attributing it to the influence of memories associated with the place, forbore to interrupt him. He passed slowly by the mossy bench called the "lovers' seat," beneath two aged trees, and remarked, as we turned toward the garden, "There used to be white violets here." Searching amid the tangled wilderness of shrubs, we found a few late blossoms, some of which he placed carefully between the leaves of a note-book. Entering the deserted house, he passed from room to room with a grave, abstracted look, and removed his hat, as if involuntarily, on entering the saloon, where in old times many a brilliant company had assembled. Seated in one of the deep windows, over which now grew masses of ivy, his memory must have borne him back to former scenes, for he repeated the familiar lines of Moore:
"I feel like one who treads alone,
Some banquet hail deserted" —

and paused, with the first expression of real sadness that I had ever seen on his face. The light of the setting sun shone through the drooping ivy-boughs into the ghostly room, and the tattered and mildewed paper-hangings, with their faded tracery of rose garlands, waved fitfully in the autumn breeze. An inexpressibly eerie feeling came over me, which I can even now recall, and, as I stood there, my old childish idea of the poet as a spirit of mingled light and darkness, recurred strongly to my imagination. I have never forgotten that scene, or the impression of the moment. [page 713:]

Once, in discussing "The Raven," Poe observed that he had never heard it correctly delivered by even the best readers — that is, not as he desired that it should be read. That evening, a number of visitors being present, he was requested to recite the poem, and complied. His impressive delivery held the company spell-bound, but in the midst of it, I, happening to glance toward the open window above the level roof of the green-house, beheld a group of sable faces the whites of whose eyes shone in strong relief against the surrounding darkness. These were a number of our family servants, who having heard much talk about "Mr. Poe, the poet," and having but an imperfect idea of what a poet was, had requested permission of my brother to witness the recital. As the speaker became more impassioned and excited, more conspicuous grew the circle of white eyes, until when at length he turned suddenly toward the window, and, extending his arm, cried, with awful vehemence:
"Get thee hack into the tempest, and the night's Plutonian shore!"

there was a sudden disappearance of the sable visages, a scuttling of feet, and the gallery audience was gone. Ludicrous as was the incident, the final touch was given when at that moment Miss Poe, who was an extraordinary character in her way, sleepily entered the room, and with a dull and drowsy deliberation seated herself on her brother's knee. He had subsided from his excitement into a gloomy despair, and now, fixing his eyes upon his sister, he concluded:
"And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting,
On the pallid bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door;
And its eyes have all the seeming of a demon that is dreaming —— "

The effect was irresistible; and as the final "nevermore" was solemnly uttered the half-suppressed titter of two very young persons in a corner was responded to by a general laugh. Poe remarked quietly that on his next delivery of a public lecture he would "take Rose along, to act the part of the raven, in which she seemed born to excel."

He was in the habit of teasing his sister, in a half-vexed, half-playful way, about her peculiarities of dress and manner. She was a very plain person, and he with his fastidious ideas could not tolerate her want of feminine tact and taste. "Rose, why do [column 2:] you wear your hair in that absurd style?" "Where did you get that extraordinary dress pattern?" "Why don't you try to behave like other people?" And once, when she presented herself in a particularly old-fashioned garb and coiffure, observing that she had been asleep, he replied: "Yes, and with Rip Van Winkle, evidently." She took all with an easy indifference. She was very proud of her brother, and nothing that Edgar did or said could possibly be amiss.

It is with feelings of deep sadness, even after the lapse of so many years, that I approach the close of these reminiscences.

Poe one day told me that it was necessary that he should go to New York. He must make certain preparations for establishing his magazine, the "Stylus," but he should in less than two weeks return to Richmond, where he proposed henceforth to reside. He looked forward to this arrangement with great pleasure. "I mean to turn over a new leaf; I shall begin to lead a new life," he said confidently. He had often spoken to me of his books, — "few, but recherché", — and he now proposed to send certain of these by express, for my perusal. "You must annotate them extensively," he said. "A book wherein the minds of the author and the reader are thus brought in contact is to me a hundred-fold increased in interest. It is like flint and steel." One of the books which he thus desired me to read was Mrs. Browning's poems, and another one of Hawthorne's works. I remember his saying of the latter that he was "indisputably the best prose writer in America;" that "Irving and the rest were mere commonplace beside him;" and that "there was more inspiration of true genius in Hawthorne's prose than in all Longfellow's poetry." This may serve to give an idea of his own opinion of what constitutes genius, though some of Longfellow's poems he pronounced "perfect of their kind."

The evening of the day previous to that appointed for his departure from Richmond, Poe spent at my mother's. He declined to enter the parlors, where a number of visitors were assembled, saying he preferred the more quiet sitting-room; and here I had a long and almost uninterrupted conversation with him. He spoke of his future, seeming to anticipate it with an eager delight, like that of youth. He declared that the last few weeks in the society of his old and new friends had been the happiest that he had known for [page 714:] many years, and that when he again left New York he should there leave behind all the trouble and vexation of his past life. On no occasion had I seen him so cheerful and hopeful as on this evening. "Do you know," he inquired, "how I spent most of this morning? In writing a critique of your poems to be accompanied by a biographical sketch. I intend it to be one of my best, and that it shall appear in the second number of the ‘Stylus,'" — so confident was he in regard to this magazine. In the course of the evening he showed me a letter just received from his "friend, Dr. Griswold," in reply to one but recently written by Poe, wherein the latter had requested Dr. Griswold in case of his sudden death to become his literary executor. In this reply, Dr. Griswold accepted the proposal, expressing himself as much flattered thereby, and writing in terms of friendly warmth and interest. It will be observed that this incident is a contradiction of his statement that previous to Poe's death he had had no intimation of the latter's intention of appointing him his literary executor.

In speaking of his own writings Poe expressed his conviction that he had written his best poems, but that in prose he might yet surpass what he had already accomplished. He admitted that much which he had said in praise of certain writers was not the genuine expression of his opinions. Before my acquaintance with him I had read his critique on Mrs. Osgood, in the "Southern Literary Messenger," and had in my turn criticised the article, writing my remarks freely on the margin of the magazine. I especially disagreed with him in his estimate of the lines on Fanny Elsler and "Fanny's Error," — ridiculing his suggested amendment of the latter. This copy of the magazine Mrs. Mackenzie afterward showed to Poe, and upon my expressing consternation thereat, she remarked laughingly, "Don't be frightened; Edgar was delighted." On this evening he alluded to the subject, saying, "I am delighted to find you so truly critical; your opinions are really the counterpart of my own." I was naturally surprised, when he added, "You must not judge of me by what you find me saying in the magazines. Such expressions of opinion are necessarily modified by a thousand circumstances, the wishes of editors, personal friendship, etc." When I expressed surprise at his high estimate of a certain lady writer, he said, "It is true, she is really commonplace, but her husband was kind [column 2:] to me;" and added, "I cannot point an arrow against any woman."

Poe expressed great regret in being compelled to leave Richmond, on even so brief an absence. He would certainly, he said, be back in two weeks. He thanked my mother with graceful courtesy and warmth for her kindness and hospitality; and begged that we would write to him in New York, saying it would do him good.

He was the last of the party to leave the house. We were standing on the portico, and after going a few steps he paused, turned, and again lifted his hat, in a last adieu. At the moment, a brilliant meteor appeared in the sky directly over his head, and vanished in the east. We commented laughingly upon the incident; but I remembered it sadly afterward.

That night he spent at Duncan's Lodge; and as his friend said, sat late at his window, meditatively smoking, and seemingly disinclined for conversation. On the following morning he went into the city, accompanied by his friends, Dr. Gibbon Carter and Dr. Mackenzie. The day was passed with them and others of his intimate friends. Late in the evening he entered the office of Dr. John Carter, and spent an hour in looking over the day's papers; then taking Dr. Carter's cane he went out, remarking that he would step across to Saddler's (a fashionable restaurant) and get supper. From the circumstance of his taking the cane, leaving his own in its place, it is probable that he had intended to return; but at the restaurant he met with some acquaintances who detained him until late, and then accompanied him to the Baltimore boat. According to their account he was quite sober and cheerful to the last, remarking, as he took leave of them, that he would soon be in Richmond again.

On this evening I had been summoned to see a friend who was dangerously ill. On the way I was met by Miss Poe, who delivered a note left for me by her brother, containing a MS. copy of "Annie," — a poem then almost unknown, and which I had expressed a wish to see. These strange prophetic lines I read at midnight, while the lifeless body of my friend lay in an adjoining chamber, and the awful shadow of death weighed almost forebodingly upon my spirit. Three days after, a friend came to me with the day's issue of the "Richmond Dispatch." Without a word she pointed to a particular paragraph, where I read, — "Death of Edgar A. Poe, in Baltimore." [page 715:]

Poe had made himself popular in Richmond. People had become interested in him, and his death cast a universal gloom over the city. His old friends, and even those more recently formed, and whom he had strangely attached to himself, deeply regretted him. Mr. Sully came to consult with me about a picture of "The Raven" which he intended to make; and in the course of conversation expressed himself in regard to his lost friend with a warmth of feeling and appreciation not usual to him. The two had been schoolmates; and the artist said, "Poe was one of the most warm-hearted and generous of men. In his youth and prosperity, when admired and looked up to by all his companions, he invariably stood by me and took my part. I was a dull boy at learning, and Edgar never grudged time or pains in assisting me." In further speaking he said, with a decision and earnestness which impressed me, "It was Mr. Allan's cruelty in casting him upon the world, a beggar, which ruined Poe. Some who had envied him took advantage of his change of fortune to slight and insult him. He was sensitive and proud, and felt the change keenly. It was this which embittered him. By nature no person was less inclined to reserve or bitterness, and as a boy he was frank and generous to a fault." In speaking of his poems, Mr. Sully remarked: "He has an eye for dramatic, but not for scenic or artistic effect. Except in the ‘Raven' I can nowhere in his poems find a subject for a picture."

On some future occasion I may speak further of Poe, and give some details which will clear up certain obscurities of his life. At present, there is one point connected with his history which I feel that I cannot in justice pass over, because upon it has hung the darkest and most undeserved calumny which has overshadowed his name. I allude to the cause of the estrangement and separation between himself and Mr. Allan.

For obvious reasons, I prefer, at present, not to speak in detail upon this subject. It will be sufficient to state that the affair was simply a "family quarrel," which was not in the first instance the fault of Poe; that he received extreme provocation and insult, and that of all the parties concerned, it appears that he was the least culpable and the most wronged. Mr. Allan, though a kind-hearted and benevolent man, was quick-tempered and irascible, and in the heat of sudden anger treated Poe with a [column 2:] severity which he afterward regretted. In any event, his conduct in utterly casting off one whom he had brought up as a son, and had by education and mode of life made dependent on him, must ever, in the opinion of just-minded persons, detract from if not wholly outweigh the merit of former kindness. But the saddest part of the story is, that long after this, Poe, who never cherished resentments, being informed that his former guardian was ill and had spoken kindly of and had expressed a wish to see him, went to Mr. Allan's house and there vainly sought an interview with him, — and that of this the latter was never informed, but died without seeing him; and as Dr. Griswold with unwitting significance observes, "without leaving Poe a mill of his money.

This is the simple truth of the story to which Dr. Griswold has attached a "blackness of horror" before the unrevealed mystery of which the mind shrinks aghast. As to my authority in making this statement, I will only say that I have heard the facts asserted by venerable ladies of Richmond, who were fully acquainted with the circumstances at the time of their occurrence. In closing these reminiscences, I may be allowed to make a few remarks founded upon my actual personal knowledge of Poe, in at least the phase of character in which he appeared to me. What he may have been to his ordinary associates, or to the world at large, I do not know; and in the picture presented us by Dr. Griswold, — half maniac, half demon, — I confess, I cannot recognize a trait of the gentle, grateful, warm-hearted man whom I saw amid his friends, — his care-worn face all aglow with generous feeling in the kindness and appreciation to which he was so little accustomed. His faults were sufficiently apparent; but for these a more than ordinary allowance should be made, in consideration of the unfavorable influences surrounding him from his very birth. He was ever the sport of an adverse fortune. Born in penury, reared in affluence, treated at one time with pernicious indulgence and then literally turned into the streets, a beggar and an outcast, deserted by those who had formerly courted him, maliciously calumniated, smarting always under a sense of wrong and injustice, — what wonder that his bright, warm, and naturally generous and genial nature should have become embittered? What wonder that his keenly sensitive and susceptible poetic temperament should have [page 716:] become jarred, out of tune, and into harsh discord with himself and mankind? Let the just and the generous pause before they [column 2:] judge; and upon their lips the breath of condemnation will soften into a sigh of sympathy and regret.

[As for most recollections of Poe, Mrs. Weiss's comments are of interest, but not to be taken as gospel.]

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