The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-05-16
WAS NOT DRUNK.


 have been very much ineayested iu reading the statement cf Dr, JoAa ], Mo Tan who attended the poet, Edgar Allan Poe. in his last sickness and supeFintended the arrangements for Aia funeral. Dr Moran deserves the wAFtMess thanks oI all Poe's friends, not only for his kind at. tention in the last uNoments of the poet but for the vindication of tAe character of this remarkable man, whose genius demands universal recognition.
 The sollowing is an extract from let ier received from ny father, Rev, Samuel Kramer, of Washington. D, c.
 My pEAR GEORGE; have seat you to day . book wti,.en by ms friend aud iormer Sun more. h is defense of the poet, Edgar Allan Poe. The doctor was his physician. He died while in hs care q, the Baltimore Washington College. He proves Poe tsaJ ses | drsRAs,S
 The doctor furnishes evidence tha, drinkiog ~ss not the habi, ot his life, and gives his official statement tha, he did not dle in an intoxicated state, As to the poet having been made drunk and " "cooped to be voted all over the city, it is not only denied but demonstrated that Poe was in Richmond on the S,h ot October, and the election in Baltimore was the 3d, and Poe reached Baltimore on the sh. He was brought to Wash. ington College University Hospital oc- tober 6. and died between "a and | o'clock on October ,. What pA,hos does this give to the words;
 The skies they were ashon and sobes,
 The leaves they were crisped and sere,
 tt was night in the Lonesome October,
 oi my mes, immemoriai year.
 He leh Richmond by boat and reached Baltimore on the morning of October 5, Df, Moran says: "lt landed at its dock on the corner of Pratt and Light streets, Poe started for the hotel on Pratt street, now the Mallby House. He ieft for Philadelphia ahou, noon, and went as far as the Susquehanna river, across which passenger had to be uans. ferred by boat, there being 90 bridge a, that time. The river being very rough, owing to storm then blowing, Poe re- fused to venture across. He remained in the cars and returned to Baltimore. Arriving there at 8 p m. porter carried bis trunk to the hotel. Aiighting from the cars he turned down Pratt street, on the south side, and walked toward the dock where his boat was. He was fol. lowed by two suspicious characters, as the testimony of tie conductor will show, and when he reached the southwest cor ner of Pratt and Light street, he was seized by the two youshs, dragged into one of the many sinks of iuiquity or gambling hells which lined the whari He was druggcd, robbed, stripped ol every ves,ige of the clothing he had on when he leK Richmond, and reclo,hed with stained, faded, old bombazine cea. and pantaloons, a pair ofworn. out shoes, and an old straw hat. Later, In the cold October night, he vas driven or thrown out of the den In q semi conscious state, and feeling hts way iu the darkness, he stumbled upon skid, or long, wide card, lying cross some barrels on the wes, side of the wharf He had fallen among thieves, who stripped him oi his raiment and departed, leaving him hali dead.' He stretched himself upon the plank and lay there till after day break on the morning of the 9th. A gentleman passing hy noticed the man, and on see. ing his face recognized the poet. He called a hack, and giving the driver a plain card with my address and on the tower right hand corner the name of Poe, the poet, was carried to the hospital, ar irving there al 9 o'clock. now know thz, he was perfectly sober when he returned to the city. discovered the hack still standing be- fore the entrance door Iaskcd, Where did you find this mani On Light street wharf, sir, and the hackman says Poe was not drunk, and when the doctor questioned him laid Poe did not smell oi whisky. Whea the doctor said to Poe that little toddy nigh, help him in his weak state saying this to test whether he had been drir king, Poe said he would not take 1t though iis potency would transport him to the Elysisn bowers, and the doctor then suggested an opiate, and Poe said: Twin sister spectre to the doomed and crazed mortals of earth and perditioa.'" The doctor states, "The ordinary response is, give me little to strengthen my nerves.' l found the.e was no uemor and no. the slightest odor of liquor upon his breath or person" Df. Morkus, who was also al the hos pital, said that Poe would die from ex. cessive nervous prostration and loss of nerve power. resulting from exposure affecting the enecphalon, q sensisive and delicate membrane of the brain."
 As 10 |" The Raven having been com posed in f: of deliriun tFcmens, the doctor says 10 refutation Of the iaIsity Of this charge 1 have the tessimony of . lady oi intelligence and literary culture, the wife Of a distinguished general, form. eny of New York, who assures me that Poe composed Ths Raven while st her fathers house in that city. She de- ciaSes he vas never kaosn to taste any. thing intoxicating while he was ai her fathers house. She lived as home sad saw Poe every day"
 These facts should be duiy emph asIxsd at the unveiiing of Poe's statue ia New York.
 ln reference to William Cullen Bsysat,