The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-06-14

always copied by me at Poes request. In these he slashed Locke and some of the other teachers and professors in a merciless manner.
 "On the morning of the 9th of March, when Poe was ready to leave West Point, we were in our room together, and he told me I was one of the few true friends he had ever known, and
 as we talked the tears rolled down his cheeks. I say candidly that I thought
 a great deal of the talented young man. had grown to love him, and I know that he would have risked his life for
 me. He told me much of his past life, one part of which, he said, he had con- fided to no other living soul. This was that while it was generally believed that he had gone to Greece in 1927 to offer his services to assist in putting
 down the Turkish oppressors, he had done no such thing; that about as near Europe as he ever got was Fort Inde- pendence, Boston harbor, where he en- listed, and was assigned to Battery H, First Artillery, which was afterward transferred to Fortress Monroe, Va.
 Poe told me that for nearly two years he let his kindred and friends be- lieve that he was fighting with the Greeks, but all the while he was wear ing the uniform of Uncle Sams sol-
 diers, and leading sober and moral life. So closely had Poe guarded this that after his death both his admirers and traducers in every book, magazine
 and newspaper spoke of Edgar Allan
 Poe emulating the example of Lord By
 ron, and spending more than year
 battling with the Greeks. Even very
 recent writers have held to this yarn.
 did not believe that Poe had told me a falsehood about the enlistment at
 Boston harbor, but to thoroughly satis-
 fly mpself, gathered from the War department at Washington these data,
 which are of record and cannot be dis
 puted:
 Edgar Allan Poe, alias E. A. Perry
 enlisted at Fort Independence, Boston harbor, May 2s, 1927, the enlisting off, cer, Lieutenant H. Griseomb. giving the following desription: d E. A. Perry. white, aged twenty-two; height, five feet eight inches; hair, brown; eyes grey; complexion, fair Was trans ferred to Fortress Monroe, Va, with
 Battery H, First Artillery: was ad- vanced to the on-commissioned staff, having shown ability that attracted at tention; later he was made sergeant major, and was destined to rapid ad- vancement, when, on April 14, 1929, he offered substitute and was honorably discharged. When the substitute was offered 1t became necessary to properly legalize the papers that 'E. A. Perry give his right name, and then 1t was that the young sergeant-major declared himself Edgar Allan Poe. and his foster father John Allan of Richmond, Va.
 Now, do not think it would be easy to dispute these records, and yet Poe kept his secret well. It might be add ed, with every evidence of truth, too, that the chances are that Poe would have remained in the army, contented and satisfied, had it not been for the death of his adopted mother, Mrs. AL Ian, of Richmond, on February 27, near ly two months before he decided to sever his connection with the army. Poe loved this good woman-he told me so often-and when he learned of her death he immediately quit the service. Poe had his faults but I loved him, and may his soul rest in peace"