The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-06-21
DOCTORS BURNED
{. A. POE LETTERS
Woman Who Knew the Poet Re
calls Loss of Historic
Papers.
WERE DESTROYED IN SOUTH.
II Was After Yellow Fever Epi.
dcmic, in Which Owner
Had Fallen a Vie
tim.
WERE DESTROYED IN SOUTH.

Baltimore. Md June en-Mrs- Kate Hen
derson Il No. ar; North Fulton avenue is
one Of the Hrtle handful q people still liv-
ing who knew Edgar Allan Poe in his
student days.
Mrs. Henderson celebrated her eighty
seventh birthday recently, and though more
than three score years and ten have passed
since young Poe was one OF the callers az
her fathers house and a member of the
circle OF young people to which she be-
ioaged. the recollection Of her acquaintance
with the brilliant genius IS a source OF the
keenest pleasure TO her.
Though bent and frail-looking. Mrs. Hen
derson stiii bears the marks OF what n her
earlier days must have been strong and
extremely attractive personality.
She has reached ,he point now when, ow
ing 10 failing eyesight and TO hands Grip
Pied with rheumatism. she has little 10 &C.
cupy her attention. but she brightens in
var.ably when the name Of her poet friend
IS mentioned.
She was an aunt of the late Colonel
Charles Raphun and now makes her home
with Mrs. Estelle Y. Raphun and when
asked by Mrs. Raphun the other day If she
had not been sweetheart OF Poe she as
sented with flash Of what in a debutante
might have been called vanity. She relapsed
into silence. but in minute or two looked
Up again and said:
Oh, no, not = sweetheart-oulv a friend,
lie was never d beau Of mine-only g.
friend
When asked where she met the writer she
responded with great dignity. AT my IA
TIERS house" Then, little by little. she
told The rest Of the story-how-. when she
was : young girl OF u and the poet was
seven or eight years Older, he was brought
Z" her fathers house 10 call. She could not
remember with whom he came. but thought
Il probable II was with his brother who
was employed IN the city
4 STUDENT AT WEST POINT.
Young Poe was then a student at West
Point, she said, and came to Baltimore dur
ing vacation time especially to see an aunt
who lived somewhere in the neighborhood OF
Bond street
Matthew Bleakley. Mrs. Henderson,s
father, and his family, lived not far off
her recollection was that it was in Plow-
man street that their home was al the
QuainteG.
IN those days it seems that military uni
forms We're as greatly admired as now. and
me impression made by the Young West
| Points- IN his cadet fnery has remained
| during all these years. with at least one of
| his fair admirers Asked 10 describe him.
| the Old lady leaned forward in her chair
and tapped her cane lightly on the floor
| she supports herself with a cane now as
| she moves about the house. He was a very
| pretty man, very pretty man she said.
emphasizing the assertion with the light
| taps Of her cane.
Their. she added that he always was
dressed in his uniform when he came to see
her, and that he had dark eyes and dark
curly hair. We always called him NJ.
| Allan Poe she said and l never heard
81 hrlf IN hoe n
l hear people say Eigar Allan Poe
| Asked what the young people did 10 en-
pecially what form of diversion she enjoyed
| in the company Of the young cadet, she
! said: We used TO take long walks to-
| gether." And that seemed to be the extent
| OF the diversions, for she never remem-
| bered having gone TO a party with the ca
| Diet. and neither did she recall having seen
| him at church.
| After his return to the military academy
| young Allan Poe wrote to pretty little Miss
| Kate Bleaklsy a number of times and gent
| her little poems on several occasions. Poe
| was dismissed from West Point in 1881, and
went from there TO Richmond. where he
| married his cousin. Virginia GLENN. in lS33
| 4 few months before this Miss Bleakley,
| though less than l.. was married TO William
| 3. Paine. The correspondence had ceased
! meanwhile, and. 50 far as she can remem-
| bor now she never met Mr.. Allan Poe again.
| Troubles came fast and thick to pretty
! Kate Bleakley after her marriage. She was
thrice widowed before she was 20. Her
| two children, was one of the party that
made the trial trip on one OF the first loco
motives used on the road to Eliicott City.
He died of hydrophobia from the bite of q
pet SpitZ dog a few years after the mar
| rage. The widow subsequently married a
| Mr. Spangler who died of smallpox soon
| afterward The third husband was named
| Henderson and. like the others, was a Bal
| tinorean.
THE LETTERS BURNED.
/ After engaging in business here for some
! - NJ d,Si nroar
ing in Philadelphia. and with his wife and
family moved TO that city. In a short time
an epidemic of cholera broke out In the City
OF Rrotherly Love. and Mr.. Henderson, aft
er an illness Of two or three hours, died. a
| victim of the scourge.
IN the meantime. through all the changes
of these years the letters AID poems from
Poe to Kate Bleakley were cherished by
that lady and her family.
| But 10 nobody had they greater charm
than young Annie Paine. Mrs. Henderson's
daughter by her first husband. young
girl who is said TO have inherltce her
! mothers beauty and attractive qualities,
and who occasionally INDUCED in verse
The Young girl was invited to New Or
| leans to visit relatives, and the letters and
| poems being among her choicest possessions
she carried them with her on the visit. Inc
| as the young girl had finished a letter to
her mother. she was stricken with that
dreadful malady of the Gulf States, yellow
| fever and another chapter of grief was ad-
ded to the mothers strange succession Of
sad experiences.
News of her daughters death reached
Mrs. Henderson first. and soon afterwards
| the letter, with its glowing account of happy
| DAYS which had been posted just before
the girls Illness. arrived. Later she was
informed that all OF her daughters effects
had been burned after her death. and witt
| them the letters and poems from Poe.
Mrs. Henderson had two other children
one of them a son by her third husband
but they also have preceded her to the
grave Eight years ago she came to Bait
| hun and now is cared for by Mrs. Raphun