Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1882-02-11
EDGAR ALLEN POE.

DR.. j. j. Moran, of Falls Church,
Va, delivered a lecture on Wednes'
day evening in the Congregational
Church, Washington, ID c., on the
life, character, dying declarations
and death of Edgar Allen Poe. DR..
Moran said that his theme covered
the earlier and ripper years of the
poet, but was especially devoted TO
his dying hours when he sat by his
bed .side and wiped the moisture
from his face and sought to soothe
his last moments. After giving a
brief sketch of the boyhood and
youth of the poet, and tracing his
brilliant literary career without any
studied effort at effect, drawing a
most feeling sketch of the vicissi
tudes through which he passed and
the deep anguish and gloom that
settled upon him after the death OF
his wife at Fordham. BY an over
whelming weight of testimony the
lecturer controverted the SANDER
that Poe had composed the Raven
while laboring under a fit of deliri-
um tremens, and quoted from the
letter of DIR. Snodgrass, recently
published in the Baltimore American
to show the true nature of the man,
who had suffered so uDjustly at the
hands of his biographer. Coming
down to the closing days of Poe's
life, DIR. Moran gave the true YER
sion of his last visit to Baltimore.
He says Poe arrived in that city and
went to a hotel, where he complet-
ed arrangements for a visit to Phil
adelpkia. Starting on his journey
he reached the Susquehanna river,
which it was then necessary to cross
by boat. The weather was extremely
tempestuous and the water so rough
that he decided not to venture on
the boat and returned to Baltimore,
where he went to a hotel and left
his trunk. Later he started for a
walk about the city, and those who
last saw him, noticed that he was
followed by two or three suspicious
characters, who closely dogged his
| steps. AS the shades of evening de-
scended upon the city, Poe had ram
bled on until he had re tched a dan
| gerous portion of the city, where it
was unsafe for a man to venture
alone. Here the men who had been
following came up with him, and he
was forced into a low den, where he
was drugged, robbed, stripped of his
apparel, and then clothed in the fill
| thy rags of one of the brutes who had
assaulted him. From this place be
was thrust into the street, and as he
| staggered along, his brain benumbed
by the deadly drug, he fell over an
obstacle in his pathway and lay in
sensible for hours exposed to the
cutting October air. A gentleman
passing recognized the face of Poe,
as he lay prone upon the street, and
| calling a hack, he directed that he
be conveyed to the Washington Hos
| pital, sending his card to DR.. Mo-
ran, with the single word "Poe"
written in the corne Poe was car
ed for, and received energetic medi-
cal treatment to counterfeit the eff
feet of his depressed condition. Dur
ing this time DR.. Moran said to him:
"How do you feel, Mr.. Poe ?"
miserable"
"Do you suffer any pain ?"
"No."
"How long have you been sick ?"
Il cannot say"
"Where have you been stopping ?"
At a hotel on Pratt street, oppo
site the depot"
Have you a trunk or any thing
you would like sent for ?"
my trunk contains nothing but
my papers and manuscripts"
In the course of their converse
ton, DR.. Moran says, he critically
examined the condition of his pa
| lent. and could discover nothing
whatever to indicate that it was the
result of liquor or any intoxicating
drink. The speaker said the SANDER
had been reiterated that Poe died
while under the influence of liquor,
and nothing could be further from
the fact. Upon his arrival at the
hospital. the doctor questioned the