The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-11-01
EDGAR ALLAN POE.

You say that Edgar Altar Poe did not die
from the effects of deliberate dissipation ="
asked q Chronick reporter. That il lust
what | mean; and / say further that he
died from the effects of deliberate murder -
This was a strange assertion-strange in
being u nat contradiction Of a fact, or other
wise a theory, recorded in detail In the his
.ory OF American literature. The author of
he assertion was a well member of
Ie city's advanced and inveterate Bohemi-
an, q gentleman who las long since retired
from the active pursuits Of his profession
.ld spends his days in dreamy meditation,
srequenting one Of the popular resorts Of the
raft, but mingling little in the idle babble
Of the throng. When drawn into converse
ton 1t is generally to correct some error
from his tnexhaustible mine of reminiscence.
and on such occasions his words are Few and
precise.
Then you know something Of the poet
and his history, doctorf
With a few others l was n Of his init.
aiate associates for years. Much that has
Teen written OF him and regarding his death
. false. Poe was not what Is called q
periodical drunkard, holding himself 10
spells OF total sobriety and then giving way
20 violent bouts of intemperance; but he
vas q steady drinker, and when his means
permitted he would drink to excess. His
habitual resort in Baltimore was the widow
deaghers place. This was an oyster-stand
md liquor bar on the city front, Correspond
ing tn'some respects with the coffee-shops
IN san Francisco. 1t was frequented much
by the printers and men engaged In the
shipping offices, and ranked asa respectable
place, where parties could read the papers.
enjoy a game of cards or engage In social
conversation Poe was q great favorite with
the old woman. You would always see him
sitting just behind the oyster stand. md
about as quiet and sociable as an oyster
himself. He went by the name of the Bard.
and when parties came into the shop it was
Bard, come up and a a nip or Bard,
take n hand in this game, He was a sort
Of pensioner on his acqu~aintances. as far as
drinks were concerned. Whenever the old
woman met with any incident or idea that
tickled her fancy she would ask Bard to
versify 1T. Poe always complied. writing
many a witty couplet, and at times poems
OF considerable length. Much of his poet
icai work, quite as meritorious as some by
which his name was immortalized, was thus
frittered into obscurity. 1t was in this little
shop that Poe's attention was called to an
advertisement in n Philadelphia paper of n
prize for a meritorious story, and it was
here that he composed his famous Gold
Bug, which took the prize. l heard him
read 1t before he sent it on to PHILADELPHIA,
and when it was announced that his story
was successful the widow Meagher gave him
the money to go on and obtain the prize"
But how about his death "
Poe had been shifting between Bal
timore, Philadelphia, and New York for
several years. He had been AWAY from
Baltimore about three months and turned
up one evening at the widows. / was
there when he came in. Bard had been
making a little roise North, and it was
drinks all around, with repeat, until the
crowd were down jolly. 1t was the night
before an election, and the party started mn
town. There were our of us, and we had
not gone half q dozen squares before we
were nabbed by policemen, who were look
ing up voters to coop It was the prac-
tice in those days to seize people, whether
or sober, lock them up until the polls
were open, n then march them to every
precinct in control of the party having the
coop This coop was In the rear Of an
.ngine- house on Calvert street. It was part
Of the game to stupefy the prisoners with
drugged liquor. The next day we were
voted at thirty different places and over and
over, it being as much as a mans life was
worth to rebel. Poe was so badly drugged
that he was carried on two or three rounds,
and then the gang said that it was no use
trying to vote q dead man any longer, SO
they showed him into q cab and sent him to
the hospital to get him out of the way"
We'll, he died from dissipation"
Nothing of the kind. He died from
laudanum or some other poison TINT was
forced on him in the coop. He was in q
dying condition while he was being voted
twenty or thirty times in Baltimore. The
story told by Griswold of his having been on
q weeks spree and being picked up on the
street is all a lie. | saw him showed into
the cab myself"
well what about the general character
given to Poe by Griswold and others?
II have nothing to say. only hat Poe was
a great poet, and he owed me nothing when
he died"