Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-02-01
THE BURIALS OF POE.
CONTRAST BETWEEN THE EXERCISES
At THE, TWO CEREMONIES.

The Latest Account Given by Man Who
Claims the Closest Personal knowledge.
Killed by . Drug.
In striking contrast were the first and
last burials of Edgar A. Poe. On that
tlreary autumn afternoon In 1S49, when
the most original of American poets was
laid to rest among his ancestors in West
minister churcbyard in Baltimore, only
one carriage followed the body OF the poet
from the hospital where he died. The
ceremony was scant, and the attendants
scanter, for eight persons only were pres
ent. Poe had died under a cloud His last
hours were passed in the charity ward OF
q public hospital He was buried in a
poplar coffin, stained in imitation Of wal
nut. 1t waSBa funeral such as poor man,
with few friends and relatives, might have
had.
The mystery surrounding Poe's death
has never been satisfactorily explained.
The account given by DIR. John j. Moran,
in his defense of Edgar A. Poe" Is
known to be incorrect and misleading.
For instance, he gives the names OF eight
persons as present at the funeral only
two of whom were there. They were tho
Rev. w. II. ID. GLENN and Henry Her
ring, both of whom were relatives of Poe.
The other person who attended the first
burial were H. Collins Lee, afterward
Judge of the superior court of Baltimore,
who had been classmatc Of Poe at the
University Of Virginia.; Nelson Poe, aft
erward chief Judge of the orphans court
of Baltimore; Edmund Smith, well
known schoolteacher in Baltimore 30
wears ago, and his wife, who was first
cousin of the poet; DR.. j. f. Snoderass,
the last editor of tho Baltimore Saturday
Visitor the paper from which Poe received
the 500 prize offered for the best story.
Another of Dr. Moran's misstatements
is that the body of the poet was laid in
state in the large room in the rotunda OF
the college building adjoining the hospi-
tai: that hundreds Of his friends and &C
auaintances came to see him; that at least
so ladies received locks of his hair. Poe
had few friends in Baltimore-nota dozen
and il $50 ladies received locks OF his
hair" they existed only in DIR. Moran 8
vivid imagination.
Poe was a mystery to the world during
life, his death was mysterious, and, al
though he has Leen dead As years, he re-
mains a mystery still. Nine lives of the
poct have been written, but the time and
place of his birth have been differently
mentioned by different biographers. The
place of his burial was long disputed
point; tho cause Of his death and the cir
cumstances attending it have not yet been
= definitely settled.
An old resident of San Francisco, for
mcrly of Baltimore, gives what he says is
true account of = oc's last days and death.
His story is;
II was an intimate associate of Edgar
Allan Poe for years. Much that has been
said and written about his death is false.
His habtual resort in Baltimore was the
Widow Meagher's, an oyster stand and
liquor bar down on tho wharf much fro
quented by journalists. 1t was respecta
BILE place. where parties could enjoy q
gamo of cards or engage in social CONVEX
sation.
Poe was sort of pet of the old wom-
an, and no had fayorite seat just be-
hind the stand. He went by the name OF
The Bard, and when parties came into
the place it was Bard, come up and take
nip!' or Bard, come and take hand in
this game
st was in the Widow Meagher's little
shop that Poes attention was called to al
advertisement in philadelphia newspaper
of prize for tho hest original story, and
it was there that he wrote his famous
story, The Gold Bug which carried of
tho 500 prize. The Bard had been shift
ing for several years between Baltimore,
Philadelphia and New York. He had not
been in Baltimore for several months when
he turned up one evening at the Widow
Meagher's was there when he came in.
"Ho privately told me that he had been
to Richmond and was on his way north
to get ready for his wedding 1t was the
night before an election, and about 10
o'clock four of us, including Poe, started
IN town. We had not Como half a dozen
squares when we were nabbed by gang
of mon who were on the lockout for voters
to COOP 1t was tho practice in those
days to seize mon, whether drunk or sober,
lock them up until tho polls were open,
then march them around to every precinct,
where they wsrc made to vote the ticket
of the party that controlled the coop. Our
scoop was in tho rear of an engine house,
either on North or Calvert street.
ut was part of the game to stupefy the
prisoners with dragged liquor. Well, the
next day we were voted at 81 differcn,
places and over and over again, it being
las much rs a mans life was worth to re-
fuse Poe was SO badly drugged that after
he was carried on two or three different
rounds the leader of the gang said that il
WAS no use 10 vote dead man any longer,
so they showed him into cob and sent
him to hospital to get him out of the
way.
"The commonly accepted story that Poe
died from tho effects of dissipation is al
bosh. 1t was nothing of the kind. Ht
died from laudanum or something of The
kind that was forced upon him in the
coupe He was in a dying condition wher
he was being taken around the city The
story by Griswold of Poe having been or
"a weeks spree and being picked up on tht
street is false. saw him showed into thu
cab myself, and he told me that he hae
Just arrived in the city"
The above account Of Poe's last hour:
agrees in several respects with the account
(which tho late Chief Justice Nelson Po'
gave to the present writer.
i The second burial of Edgar A. Poe tool
place on Nov. II, 1876. The occasion wa
interesting and remarkable. An immens'
S ~. tLa ,I, n