The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1902-10-05
III Poe Wrote y y
I y y "Leonainie.

old
Ehng 81 ,sbinpton city The subject OF the poem Of
acv q o. Loax poem written by Mr. Riley many years
,ersins ,.,o the conversation. The poem was
cans sso;t imitation of the style OF Edgar Allan Poe,
|fnsg ~ R;ley his FIRST recognition outside Of Indiana
ssve ~. Lss never been accurately told said Mr..
ne a0y fair happened--but I'm not good at dates
u ing me, ,szz, said J. NJ Dekey, Mr.. Reys secre-
va .. sonals advertising and all sorts of miscel-
dons Including some rhyming. On the paper with
Is wo TI.r M Croan and Michael Y. Todisman. 1t
Ftl s '.sson and we pranked a good deal.
s eu' s;a,ard was brilliant young fellow on the
Ni n.sld the opposition paper. He had consider
ss1 ,sstes and a subtle sense of humor. Mr.. Ethel
h' y, ,;bs myself been painter, was then reading law
40 -, Samuel Richards, the artist, who afterward
outstion and died in Denver after returning from
Il 's re also one of us.
a Ns WI ,ssd to have great deal Of fun with me
Aa novice in newspaper work. He rallied me
W. bout my poetry, which he did not hesitate TO
~, as a rather feeble output, and he said that he
" .,,vel at all that when sent to magazines 1t was
~ .,l nd promptly returned to the writer.
" IA raiilery invariably responded that the writ
-, returned simply because ! was unknown, and
,rs. Of the quality of the work. that on the roster
e.rolace names J. w. Riley, as then signed myself
u, "a hal these initials might mean Joseph Wilson
T.s,y or Tabez Williamson Riley, and argued that
~ ordinary name was much the cause of the
~, lie manuscripts as anything else. / advanced
"
~ - zane or a name of some distinction, my poetry
IN AS, muster that critics would accept it for the
Y ,sa ~. ARGUMENT and defense Knnard laughed again
IN, Then set about to demonstrate the soundness Of
A,.-,;on With the chums | have named, a little
y ss eel on foot Looking about the list of dead
i II iected Poe as a little in the hoaxing line himself
Ia ,ha perhaps he would not particularly care il
4 iiS.rti.s should be taken with his
4, Vas under these circumstances that wrote Leon
In \ was written on fly leaf which was detached from
Al eopy Of Ainsworths dictionary that was in the
&sr.on democrat Office. | took this leaf to Mr.. Ethel
a Samuel Richards All this before the poem was
4 ,n When it was written it was called Leonainie, and
4 in imitation Of Poe
Tere was some experimenting by two artist friends
hom furnished my copy with all the fluctuations and
uation marks carefully put down. as one of the char
&rs OF Poe his exquisite taste in such matters
seemed 10 have it in mind to make his copy perfect
q 40 composor could possibly wrong in reproducing
II the font
4 in getting this together had limited amount of
+ smile Of the handwriting of Poe taken from a maya
article on the poet that had appeared long before
N Il became necessary to build story regarding the
be- Of the poem which had been put back into the old
81 Il was not deemed prudent to publish it in the
#ocrat the paper with which ! was connected. The
bus would have scented the genesis of the poem. So
wrote asking the editors of the Kckomo Dispatch TO
81 the poem with the story that it had been found, to-
IA with the story of the finding Of IT in Kokomo.
"A wanted to be able to shake that poem in Kinnards
"a things than the opinion Of critics that many
ecsd without any basis at all to 90 upon.
"A Il al for sport Mr.. Ethel and Mr.. Richards
nsned with the Poe handwriting, Mr.. Ethel called
81 before any copy produced. The final copy was
n down by Samuel Richards who had to do some invent
necessarily having all the required letters of Poes
ETiing
Edmund Clarence Stedman was reported to have said
81 was the best imitation poem OF Poe he had ever
What he did say that it was the best imitation
#as handwriting that he had ever seen This he told
mstlf in his own library with the further remark that
frght 70 be considered somewhat of authority on
handwriting, An assistant or secretary then took a
from bis desk and unrolled it upon the floor, II
Meye or fifteen feet long all in Poe's handwriting an
81 written for magazine and with all the Poe peculiar
q which we have been speaking, showing his accuracy
aauauon, the legibility of his writing, utterly pre-
s composior from mistaking any line word syllable
tHctuation mark
hs poem of Leonainie was copied widely with diff
vs. comments, Those who considered it genuine Poe
l'e as strong in their opinion those who doubted
as story Of the finding of the poem as given out by
Aokono Dispatch, was this The editor CHANGED to
one o. his subscribers, worthy butcher in Anderson
II ne inc editor was waiting for him to appear, he
TX " book from table, This was an old copy of
'Hsuhs dictionary
A ne editor opened the book he found in faded ink
&. pIsh with peculiar accuracy that struck printers
y NJ, ,O0kea over the poem. He struck with the
nv VIE -eonainie and saw that the poem was signed
!% H. .e'lenl with the letters Z. A P.
, .ns man of the house came in so the story ran
TX Tx inquired how the book came into his possession
NJ NNUl was told that the owner had it from grand
n s s' IN years gone by had kept tavern the
81 m'nmond' Va. His grandfather had often told the
H;l very eccentric man had stayed at the tavern
ii y An through the night he heard walking the
, ns room, When morning came the guest was
# =. tae most never saw him again But he found
NJ Is fly leaves"
~ M =. . me story of the hoax said Mr. Riley. IL
III sse' mat It would cause, as it did, such wide
& a4ent The only object of those Immediately con
a, IA. make little stir among the State exchanges
,mlsIson Lemocrat | wrote myself an article de
"a ss ~ Ne,enslon that the poem could have as to
N ,si5 e roe This was done throw my friends Off
III say No, Riley didn't write it. He is making
NJ. a NJ ueuonaFy with the poem in it passed into the
81 81 H., 'oote, New York banker. He wrote 10 me
a,ss 49, 81 me story OF the hoax long after he had
IN ~ ION evidently in the best of faith, OF course
'hs Va, nu'p about IT, He then said, very gracotsly
b. ,l sing 70 keep it and hoped the years went
81 M, uia make 1t Of value through my own reputa
l,d posn Leonainie' is in my book Armazindy,'
= y, several years ago
# IA g. VISIONARY, with the poem written twenty five
|ess ~; kiiey' IS now in the possession of Paul
Be d,.,rLss A collector OF Cleveland The poem is yet
Nj Foe ny leaf. The book was bought by him
I'D NJ aied and the Foote collection was sold at
"a q NJ 'wperiey is said to value it at $4,000. The