Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-02-28
EDGAR POE'S DEATH.

The Real story of the Poets Tragic End Mar
rated by One Who saw Him Dragged.
former Baltimor8an, now living in
San Francisco, gives what ne claims to
be true account of Poe's last days and
death. This ia his story: ~ was init.
mately acquainted with Edgar Allen Poe
for years. Much that has been said and
written in regard to his death is false.
His habitual resort in Baltimore was the
Widow Meagher's place This was an
oyster stand and liquor bar on the city
front, corresponding in some respects
with the coffee houses of San Francisco.
1t was frequented much by printers and
ranked As respectable place, where
parties could enjoy game of cards or
engage in a SOCIAL conversation. Poe
was a great favorits %i:n the old woman
The favorite seat of the poet was right
behind the stand, and he was about as
quiet and sociable as an oyster himself
He went by the name of Bard, and when
parties came into toe shop it was Bard
come up and take a nip, or Bard, come
and take hand in the game When
ever Widow Meagher met with any Incl
dent on idea that tiokled her fancy, she
would ask Bari TO versify il. Poe always
complied, writing many witty cOuplet,
and at times poems of some length
These verses, quite as meritorious as
some by which his name immortslzed,
were thus frlttered into obscurIty. 1t
was ia this little shop that Poe attention
was called to an advertisement in Philss
delphia paper for prize for the best
story, and it was there that he wrote his
famous Gold Bug which carried off the
800 prize.
Poe had been shifting for many years
between Baltimore, Philadelphia and
New York. He had been away from Bal.
timore for three or four months, when he
turned up one evening at the Widow
Meagher's. | was there when he came in.
He privately told me that he had been to
Richmond, and was on his way north, to
get ready fo' his wedding. 1t was drink
all around and repeat until the crowd
vas pretty full. 1t was the night before
election, and four of US, including Poe,
ftarted up. We had not gone half a doz-
en- squares when we were nabbed by
gang of men who were on the lookout for
voters to coop 1t was the practice in
those DAYS TO seize PEG pie whether drunk
or sober, lock them mp until the polls
around to every precinct, where they
were made TO vote the ticket o. the party
that controlled the coop Oar coop WIS
in the rear of an engine hOUse on Calvert
street. 1t was part of the game to stupe-
fly the prisoners with drugged liquor.
Well, the next day we we're voted at
thirty-one different places, aud over and
over, it being "a much as mans life was
worth to rebel. Poe was so badly drug
ged that, after he was carried on two or
three different rounds, the gang said il
was no use to vcte a dead man any
longer, so they showed him into cab
and sent him to a hospital to get him cut
of the way.
The commonly accepted story that
Poe died from the effects of dissipation
is all bosh. 1t was nothing of the kind.
He died from lRuduuum or some other
poison that was forced upon him in the
coop. He was in R dying condition when
be was being voted around the city. The
story told by Griswold of Poe's having
been on a weeks s.ree, and being picked
up Oh the street, is false. | saw him
showed into the cab myself, and hs told
me that he had just arrived in the city"
The above narrative will form al in
teresting chapter in the life and death
of the poet, whose life was a romance and
whose death was a tragedy. The account
OF Poe's last days agrees in several re-
spscts with the account which the late
Chief Judge Nelson Poe, of Baltimore,
gave to the undersigned. 1t is painful
to Thick that man of Poe's wonderful
gel;1s would, after a lite of intolerable
misery, die in the wretched manner above
described. But IL must be admit "a that
the author of "The Raven" WAS cooped
and drugged to death by political .oughs,
gho used the haplsss poet as q repeater
at a local election, Others have vaguely
stateS this before, and the detailed &C
count row given by ons who was With Poe
at the time confirms the horrible story.