Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-02-01
THE BURIALS OF POE,
CONTRAST BETWEEN THE EXERCISES
AT THE TWO CEREMONIES.
Yelling tho Death of the Poet.
The Latest Account Given by q Man Who
Claims the Closest Personal Knowledpa
Killed by a Drug.

ny u MAN w IL
s Claims the Closest Personal Knowlede.
a Killed by a Drug.
( In striking contrast were the first an
| last burials of Edgar A. Poe. On tina
sreary autumn afternoon in 1s49, whel
, the most original of American poets wa
, laid to rest among his ancestors in West
. Minister churchyard, in Baltimore, onl,
one carriage followed the body of the noe
from the hospital where he died, TIL,
ceremony was scant, and the attendants
scanter' for eight persons only were pres
n Foe had died under a cloud. His las
nouns were passed in the charity ward O
q public hospital. He was buried in +,
poplar coffin, stained in imitation of wal
u 1t was a funeral such as a poor man
with few friends and relatives, might have
had.
The mystery surrounding Poe's death
mas never been satisfactorily explained.
The account given by DR.. John j. Moran,
IN his defense of Edgar A. Poe," is
known to he incorrect and misleading.
For instance, he gives the names of eight
persons as present at the funeral. only
Two OF whom wero there. They were the
lev. W. I. D. GLENN and Henry Her.
ring, both of whom were relatives of Poe.
The other person who attended tho first
burial were q. Collins Lee, aftcrward
Judge of the superior court of Baltimore,
VINO had been a classmate of Poe at the
University of Virginia; Nelson Poo, aft
erward chief judge OF the orphans' court
OF Baltimore; Edmund Smith, a we'll
, known schoolteacher in Baltimore IN
years ago, and his wife, who was a first
cousin of the poet; DR.. j. E. Snoderass,
the last editor Of the Baltimore Saturday
Visitor, the paper from which Poo received
the 500 prize offered for the best story.
Another of DR.. Moran's misstatcments
is that the body of the poet was laid in
state III the large room in the rotunda of
the college building adjoining the hospi-
tai; that hundreds Of his friends and ac-
qualntances came to see him; that at least
5O ladies received locks of his hair. Poe
mad few friends in Baltimore-not a dozen
and II 80 ladies received looks of his
hair they existed only in DR.. Moran's
vivid Imagination.
Poe was a mystery to the world during
llfe, his death was mysterious, and, al
though he has been dead As years, he re.
mains u mystery still. Nine lives of the
poet 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 a disputed
point; the cause of his death and the cir
cumstanccs attending it have not yet been
definitely settled.
AN old resident Of San Francisco, for
merly of Baltimore, gives what he says is a
true account of Poe's last days and dcaJh.
His story is:
II was IN intimate associate of Edgar
Allan Poe for years. Much that has been
said and written about his death is false.
His habitual resort in Baltimore WAS the
Widow Meagher's, an oyster star,d and
liquor bar down on the wharf much fire..
quented by journalists. 1t was a respecta-
Die place, where parties could enjoy a
game of cards or engage in social CONVEX
sation.
Poe was q sort of pet of the old wom-
an, and he had a favorite scat 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
a nip! or Bard, come and take a hand in
this game
"It was in the Widow Meagher's little
shop that Poe's attention was called to an
advertisement in a Philadelphia newspaper
of a prize for the best original story, and
it was there that he wrote his famous
story, The Gold Bug which carried off
the 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.
He 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
up town. We had not gone half a dozen
squares when VIC were nabbed by a gang
of men who were on the lookout for voters
to COOP 1t was the practice in those
days to seize men, whether drunk or sober,
lock them up until the polls were open, |
then march them around to every precinct,
where they were made to vote the ticket
of the party that controlled the coop Our
coop was in the,rear of an engine house,
either on North OF Calvert street.
lit was part of the game to stupefy the
prisoners with drugged liquor. Well, the
next day we were voted at 81 different
places and over and over again, it being
as much us a mans life was worth to re-
fuse. Poe was so badly drugged that after
he was carried on two or three different
EOunuS the leader OF Cno gang SAID That IL
was nc use to vote a dead man any longer,
so they showed him into a cab and sent
him to a hospital to get him out of the
way.
1.-THE commonly accepted story that Poe
died from the effects of dissipation is all
bosh. 1t was nothing of the kind. He
died from laudanum or something of the
kind that was forced upon him in the
coupe. He was in a dying condition when
he was being taken around the city. The
story by Griswold of Poe having been on
a weeks spree and being picked up on the
street. Is false. I saw him showed into the
cab myself, and he told me that he had
just arrived in the city"
The above account of Poe's last hours
agrees in several respects with the account
which the late Chief Justice Nelson Poe
gave to the present writer.
The second burial Of Edgar A. Poe took
place on Nov. II, 1876. The occasion was.
interesting and remarkable. An immense
assembly, representing the education and
culture of Baltimore, was drawn together
to do honor to an American poet whose
fame had gone abroad and whose genius
~or. i. "a --.kS-z -sl ma -.-