The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1854-09-27
Dersonal Skettbes.
THE GRAVE on POE.


A correspondent of the st. Louis Re
publican thus relates a narrative which
he received from a friend, an enthusiast
tic admirer of Poe:
I had read and heard that Poe had
many times been in the hospital, on ac-
count of Hines brought on by dissipation,
and I resolved to go there first, and
learn exactly where his grave was. /
found the experimenting ~phsiciansamost
cordial and pleasant man, and / immedi-
;ately asked him if he remembered Ed
gan u. Poe. go, yes,n said he, and
his eye frightened, though his face grew
sad and then he told methesa a story.
After the death of Poe's lovely wife, the
" Lost Lenore," his character was chang
ed for the worse. He became melancholy,
almost moon struck, and then, goad-
ed on by poverty and sensitfyeness, and
false pride, he had recourse to stimulents
for relief. He became a drunkard.-
" Often,n said the doctor shave 1 fol-
lowed him late at night, when the streets
were desolate, and heard him talking to
the moon and the stars, and the "Lost
Lenore," in such a strain of high pathos
as made me weep. At other times,
when the demond of evil had entrapped
him, the good doctor would pick him all
ragged, from the gutter, and carry him
to the hospital to be cured. There q
saw the very bed where Poe lay, his
great eyes sunken and lack ~lustre, his
noble brow pale with woe and pain, his
raven hair all matted. There he would
toss about for long days, till Nature
again triumphed, and he could rise up,
and, being clothed in his right mind,
could take his pen in hand to write for
bread. The doctor showed me some-o of
his writing, as neat and smooth as the
prettiest Italian haad, each letter for
med exactly, each . dotted and cross
ed.
After I had seen all the relics of the
poet, 1 asked where he was buried, and
I was told his grave was in the Gene
terry. So 1 went there and asked the
keeper where I could find the grave of
Edgar A. Poe. He said he did not rec
ollect the name (such is fame) but he
would examine the books. I was sure
we looked over the list of interments of
1S48, 1849, and 1850, but Poe's name
was not among them. He was not bu-
ried there. 1 then recolected that Poe
had once been insane, and confined for a
time in the Asylum so the next step of
my sad pilgrimage was to that establish
ment. The Superintendent received
me most politely, and showed me
through the great building L was told
hat Poe was one of the most terribly
uncomfortable patients they had ever had
in the Insane Asylum, and well he might
have been. When a mind like his fell,
it was like the fall of a Lucifer-
1 told the superintendent that I was
searching for the grave of Poe, but
could not find it. He said that I had
been misinformed. "Come here, " said
he Leading me to the window, j." Poe was
buried in the corner of that Porter,s
Field !" I could not believe it, and
hurried away in painful doubt. But in
the afternoon l met an old resident of
Baltimore, who assured me that my IN
formant was correct. at is sad to
think of it." said he, ~aDd a ~reproach
to my native city, but 1t is nevertheless
true that u poet is buried in ar obscure
part of the Potter's Field
The coffin containing his remains was
brought out of the Aims House, and
placed in the public hearce, and = soil
tary carriage completed the funeral ar
raw. In silence and sadness the little
party performed the sad Office, and
then the tenement of clay which once
enshrined a noble soul was left to moul-
der without mark to point out its rest
ing place"
The writer adds:
have read Poe's life I knew he was
unfortunate and dissipated, but 1 little
thought that his being buried in the city
of Baltimore, ment-that he was thrust
under the earth in a Potter's Field. 1t
seems as if, in the Monumental City,
a little slab at least, might be raised,
inscribed with the poets name. 1t
would speak to many hearts.