Certainly one of my very first acts as a brand new New Yorker a few years in the past was to make the journey throughout three boroughs to Woodengarden Cemetery within the Bronx. My purpose: a pilgrimage to Herman Melville’s grave. I got here to not worship a hero, actually, however—as Fordham University English professionalfessor Angela O’Donnell writes—“to see a pal.” Professionalfessor O’Donnell goes on: “It might sound presumptuous to treat a celebrated Nineteenth-century novelist so familiarly, however learning an excellent author throughout the a long time is a way of conducting conversation with him and, inevitably, results in intimacy.” I fully share the sentiment.
I promised Melville I’d visit regularly however, alas, the pleasures and travails of life within the large metropolis saved me away, and I never returned. No such petty distraction saved away a friend-across-the-ages of another Nineteenth-century American writer.
“For many years,” writes the Baltiextra Solar, “Edgar Allan Poe’s deliveryday was marked by a mysterious visitor to his gravesite in Baltiextra. Startning within the Nineteen Thirties, the ‘Poe Toaster’ positioned three roses on the grave each Jan. 19 and opened a bottle of cognac, solely to disappear into the evening.” The identity of the original “Poe Toaster”—who could have been succeeded by his son—stays a tantalizing mystery. As does the mystery of how Edgar Allan Poe died.
Most of you might have probably heard some version of the story. On October 3, 1849, a compositor for the Baltiextra Solar, Joseph Stroller, discovered Poe mendacity in a intestineter. The poet had departed Wealthymond, VA on September 27, sure for Philadelphia “the place he was to edit a volume of poetry for Mrs. St. Leon Loud,” the Poe Museum tells us. As an alternative, he finished up in Baltiextra, “semiconscious and wearing low-cost, ill-fitting garments so not like Poe’s usual mode of costume that many consider that Poe’s personal materialing had been stolen.” He never grew to become lucid sufficient to clarify the place he had been or what happened to him: “The daddy of the detective story has left us with a real-life mystery which Poe scholars, medical professionalfessionals, and others have been attempting to resolve for over 150 years.”
Most people assume that Poe drank himself to loss of life. The rumor was halfly unfold by Poe’s pal, editor Joseph Snodgrass, whom the poet had requested for in his semi-lucid state. Snodgrass was “a staunch temperance advocate” and had reason to recruit the author posthumously into his campaign in opposition to drink, even supposing Poe had been sober for six months prior to his loss of life and had refused alcohol on his deathbed. Poe’s attending physician, John Moran, dismissed the binge drinking theory, however that didn’t assist clear up the mystery. Moran’s “accounts fluctuate so vastly,” writes Biography.com, “that they don’t seem to be generally considered reliin a position.”
So what happened? Doctors on the University of Maryland Medical Center theorize that Poe could have contracted rabies from one in every of his personal pets—possible a cat. This diagnosis accounts for the delirium and other reported symptoms, although “nobody can say conclusively,” admits the Heart’s Dr. Michael Benitez, “since there was no autopsy after his loss of life.” As with every mystery, the frustrating lack of evidence has sparked finishmuch less speculation. The Poe Museum gives the following listing of possible explanation for loss of life, with dates and sources, including the rabies and alcohol (each overimbibing and withdrawal) theories:
- Beating (1857) The United States Magazineazine Vol.II (1857): 268.
- Epilepsy (1875) Scribner’s Monthly Vo1. 10 (1875): 691.
- Dipsomania (1921) Robertson, John W. Edgar A. Poe A Examine. Brough, 1921: 134, 379.
- Coronary heart (1926) Allan, Hervey. Israfel. Doubleday, 1926: Chapt. XXVII, 670.
- Toxic Disorder (1970) Studia Philo1ogica Vol. 16 (1970): 41–42.
- Hypoglycemia (1979) Artes Literatus (1979) Vol. 5: 7–19.
- Diabetes (1977) Sinclair, David. Edgar Allan Poe. Roman & Litt1efield, 1977: 151–152.
- Alcohol Dehydrogenase (1984) Arno Karlen. Napo1eon’s Glands. Little Brown, 1984: 92.
- Porphryia (1989) JAMA Feb. 10, 1989: 863–864.
- Delerium Tremens (1992) Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar A1lan Poe. Charles Scribner, 1992: 255.
- Rabies (1996) Maryland Medical Journal Sept. 1996: 765–769.
- Coronary heart (1997) Scientific Sleuthing Assessment Summer 1997: 1–4.
- Murder (1998) Walsh, John E., Midevening Dreary. Rutgers Univ. Press, 1998: 119–120.
- Epilepsy (1999) Archives of Neurology June 1999: 646, 740.
- Automobilebon Monoxide Poisoning (1999) Albert Donnay
The Smithsonian provides to this listing the possible causes of mind tumor, heavy metal poisoning, and the flu. Additionally they briefly describe essentially the most popular theory: that Poe died on account of a practice referred to as “cooping.”
A website referred to as The Medical Bag expands on the cooping theory, a favourite of “the huge mainity of Poe biographies.” The time period refers to “a practice within the United States during the Nineteenth century by which innocent people had been coerced into voting, typically several instances, for a particular candidate in an election.” Usuallyinstances, these people had been snatched unawares off the streets, “saved in a room, referred to as the coop” and “given alcohol or medication to ensure that them to follow orders. In the event that they refused to cooperate, they’d be beaten and even killed.” One darkishly comic element: victims had been typically pressured to alter garments and had been even “pressured to put on wigs, pretend beards, and mustaches as disguises so voting officials at polling stations wouldn’t recognize them.”
This theory is excessively plausible. Poe was, in any case, discovered “on the road on Election Day,” and “the place the place he was discovered, Ryan’s Fourth Ward Polls, was each a bar and a spot for voting.” Add to this the notoriously violent and corrupt nature of Baltiextra elections on the time, and you’ve got a scenario wherein the writer could very properly have been childnapped, drugged, and beaten to loss of life in a voter fraud scheme. Ultimately, however, we are going to likely never know for certain what killed Edgar Allan Poe. Perhaps the “Poe Toaster” was trying all these years to get the story from the supply as he communed together with his lifeless Nineteenth century pal 12 months after 12 months. But when that mysterious stranger is aware of the reality, he ain’t speaking both.
Notice: An earlier version of this publish appeared on our website in 2015.
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Josh Jones is a author and musician primarily based in Durham, NC.
