Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-01-20
THE RICHMOND DIsPATCH-!SUNDAY. JANUARY 60 1889

prove il. said Butler. Il will give s5
for poem IL you viii write it here and
at once Poe readily accepted the of
fer, and, selling pen and paper, dashed
off an exquisite eightline verse, and re-
ceived in return a s. bill. But the
point is that We learned soon after that
this poem had been hboriously COM
posed some time before. Poo simply
carried it in his head. l discredited his
claims TO spontsneity of expression be-
cause knew with what exceeding care
and difficulty he polished and pruned
his verse.
THE PoEr's CURSE.
"Poe." continued Mr.. Sartsin, twas
rendered irresponsible by drink. His
memory, unfortunately, viii always be
furnished because of the many reprehen-
sible things he was led TO do by his be-
setting sin. Ii wss bis habit 20 sell tho
same manuscript 10 several Publishers
| remember 10 brought The Bells to
me when it was written In the rough and
1 returned it to him. Afterwards no
unfinished it into its present brilliant
shape and / accepted it. lie came TO
me once in a very diserdered frame OF
mind. His enemies, he said, were
plotting to Kill him. They had followed
him over from New York hsd confined
him in a prison, and looking out be-
tween the iron bars Of his window
he had seen them that night on
the top Of parapet, plunging the body
OF his mother into a barrel Of vitroil.
lie wanted me to give him laudanum,
but would not. lie then grew suspl-
cious Of me and feared lest / would turn
him over to his enemies. The only
foundation for his weird story lay in the
fact, as / learned later on, OF his having
been put in the lookup overnight for
drunkenness. He insisted upon my
walking out with him in the evening.
We went 10 the old tower that used 10
stand on the bank Of the Schuykill, at
Fairmount There in the moonlight he
gave loose rein to the fantastic yGgares
Of his disordered imagination. lie talked
IS / have never heard . man talk before
or since. Several times | was afraid lest
he might dash himself down into the
river.
AoUEEs sTOsy.
Nr. Sartsins "reminiscences are not
only endless, but wholly delightful lie
told mo q queer story whether Of HIM
self or friend J cannot recall at any
rate, OF one of them having many years
ago been on very foggy day Ia a Ger
tain dingy street IN London. lie was
suddenly surprised by the spectacle OF a
naked man looming out Of tue fog be
fore him and then swiftly vanishing.
enveloped in its misty folds ears
after BIZ found himself surveying 3
famous canvas in house IN tins
identical street he remembrance OF
the curious spectacle he had seen
dashci back upon hun, and he narrated
Il TO bis companion. an artist The lat
Ter started as it snot inquired the date
OF the adventure. and then grsvely sail
thar he was the naked man himself. On
that day, he eyplsined. q company OF
Jolly fellows were assembled 81 lis rooms
when one of them wagered him That he
would not run naked scrOss the street
lie accepted the WAGER and won IT,
Mr.. oartan tolls this story with as
much detail sud clse As though It
were a memory OF but loriy-eigh.
hours Instead OF 40 many years.
II is true, as I said in the beginning,
that ho hss outlyei his srt but by
no means his usefulness. Tie tells me
that some day be intends 20 write m
autobiography. Rest assured that II he
lives to DO so the book viii he worth
reading. wish he could reveal the Sc
cret OF how never to grow OLD. when |
asked HIM about this be only smiled
AMI SAID, 81 am a hosicruclAn.
AQUEER OLD PLACE.
Making this mention Of Poe reminds
me that there ID another man in the
Quaker City who relates strange stories
Of the melancholy poet. There Is the
uueerest little den on Seventeenth street
Won ever SOW. Is 10 kept Iy a seedy-
looking old man, Of wrukied parch-
ment skin, whom YOU never Zee II
YOU only enter his place sllured
by the Sign Of "liguor," for the
drink you demand il passed out 70 you
by trenblng bony fingers through p.-
gson-holc. But when you come 10 know
tie aged IiSrris and win his conf
dsnce and regard. he admits you With
much ceremony into n wee little back
room. utterly devoid OF decoration save
for the terube wooden figure ol satan
set IN niche ia one corner. Here you
NAV meet select coysy of prominent
Philadelphia lawyers who are fond oi
tie mysterious atmosphere Of tho place
and find the southern whiskey OF old
/ Mr. Harris very much to their liking
or il tho Old msn is quite alone,
and the weather without IS parJcu-
lArly ugly AMI the wind hows u
demoniacal degree in the chimney,
it IS likely be may at shrunken
AMI dim IN his high-hack, homemade
char with the iitful glow Of the CRATE on
him. like another Mr.. Smslwood, snd
speak to you IN whispers Of his qnon-
dam friend. Thi3 much you may be
sure he Will tell You that Poo assured
him that the sweetest posm ever written
vas that Of Florence !sn-. the EFFORT
Of en- Obscure Virgiuian, beginning
81 loved thea long aod dearly
flofouso ans;
Ny lfss young drssn ahl early
Mas como agala.'