Mysterious Death Of E.A. Poe

At the time, the mainstream speculation was that Izzi may have infiltrated a militia group and been murdered when he “ran afoul of the group's rules.” But Sherman H. Skolnick charged that blame for Izzi's death was being shoved in the direction of the populist militias, to cover up what was actually a Chicago Police Department murder squad. (“Mysterious Death Of Mystery Writer,” Conspiracy Nation Vol. 9 Num. 87. http://www.theconspiracy.us/vol9/cn9-87.html)

In the case of Edgar Allan Poe, the first layer of the onion has him having died as the result of alcoholism. In “Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death Of Edgar Allan Poe” (New York: St. Martin's Minotaur, 2000. ISBN: 0-312-22732-9), author John Evangelist Walsh includes a facsimile of an early obituary, reprinted in the Richmond Republican newspaper of October 9, 1849:

“By Last Evening's Mail: Death of Edgar A. Poe: We regret to learn that Edgar A. Poe, Esq., the distinguished American poet, scholar and critic, died in this city [Baltimore] yesterday morning, after an illness of four or five days. This announcement, coming so sudden and unexpected, will cause poignant regret among all who admire genius, and have sympathies for the frailties too often attending it. Mr. Poe, we believe, was a native of this state, though reared by a foster-father at Richmond, Va., where he lately spent some time on a visit. He was in the 38^th [year] of his age.” -- Balt. Sun, 8^th inst.

Alluded to by the “frailties” in the obituary is Poe's notoriety as a periodic binge drinker.

In his re-examination of Poe's death, Walsh (op. cit.) begins early with a quote from “The Mystery Of Marie Roget,” one of Poe's stories. The character C. Auguste Dupin states therein, “Not the least usual error in investigations such as this is the limiting of inquiry to the immediate, with total disregard of collateral or surrounding events... I would divert inquiry in the present case from the trodden and unfruitful ground of the event itself, to the contemporary circumstances which surround it...”

Following Monsieur Dupin's advice, Walsh notices Poe had arrived in Baltimore on the eve of an important election. This is a deeper layer of the “onion” of Poe's death. Prevalent at the time was a practice called “cooping.” One 19^th-century writer describes “cooping” as follows:

“...there was an infamous custom in this and other cities, at election time, of 'cooping' voters. That is, gangs of men picked up, inveigled, or even carried off by force, men whom they found in the streets and transported them to cellars in various slums of the city, where they were kept under guard, threatened, maltreated if they attempted to escape, often robbed, and always compelled to drink whisky until they were stupefied and helpless. At the election these miserable wretches were brought up to the polls in carts and omnibuses, under guard, and made to vote the tickets in their hands.”

So that is what happened to Poe, some believe. He had been abducted, robbed, forced to drink whisky, made to vote a certain way, then abandoned in the streets of Baltimore. But Walsh (op. cit.) suggests this “cooping” story is a false trail, put out to hide what had actually happened.

And so the “onion” of Poe's death gets peeled back again, exposing a deeper layer. Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton, widow of Alexander Shelton, had once been Edgar Allan Poe's childhood sweetheart. Her parents had thwarted the romance. Broken-hearted, Poe had finally married his cousin, Virginia, in 1836. Elmira's husband died in 1844, leaving her fairly wealthy. Poe's wife, Virginia, died in 1847. In the summer of 1849, Edgar A. Poe finally worked up the nerve to visit his childhood sweetheart, Elmira Shelton. It had been almost 15 years since the two had last seen each other.

The embers of their bygone love flamed anew. By late August 1849, Poe had joined a temperance society and purchased a wedding ring. The marriage between Poe and Elmira Shelton was set for October 17, 1849.

But first, the great writer had to handle some business. He had earned money from a series of lectures that summer, but an offer to assist a lady in Philadelphia with her writing, in return for $100 (1849 dollars), lured him north. For some reason, Poe borrowed a sword-cane – a sword hidden in a walking stick – from a friend. Poe traveled by boat to Baltimore, and from there would take a train to Philadelphia.

At some point (it was later learned), a witness noticed Poe being trailed by “two men looking like 'sharks.'” Having by then misplaced his sword-cane, a frightened Poe managed to elude his pursuers. Terrified, Poe visited an old friend, John Sartain. Mr. Sartain later described the incident (qtd. in Walsh, op. cit.):

Poe: “Mr. Sartain, I have come to you for protection and a refuge. It will be difficult for you to believe what I have to tell – that such things could be in this nineteenth century.”

And here is where another puzzling aspect comes into play. Remember Monsieur Dupin's advice: “Not the least usual errors in investigations such as this is the limiting of inquiry to the immediate, with total disregard of collateral or surrounding events...” Walsh follows Dupin's advice and notices a “collateral event.” Poe, when found in apparent stupor, was wearing “a strange assortment of odds and ends”: a cheap hat, trousers and coat “of commonest make,” and with no vest, “in a time when every gentleman wore one.” The fact is, Poe had switched clothes in order to disguise himself. Eventually saying good-bye to Sartain, Poe next visited, in Philadelphia, George Lippard, another trusted acquaintance. But in “the hours between leaving Sartain's place and calling in at Lippard's office, Poe had taken the time to complete his 'disguise,' evidently stepping in at one or more of the city's many secondhand clothing stores.” (Walsh, op. cit.)

Poe believed he was being pursued. In fact, he was being chased, according to Walsh. On his trail were George, James, and Alexander Royster, brothers of Elmira Shelton, Poe's fiance. They considered Poe to be a womanizer, interested only in Elmira's fortune. Poe had earlier been involved in an affair with budding poetess Fanny Osgood, in New York City, 1845-1846. A child had been born, Fanny Fay, in June of 1846. The child had died 16 months later.

In Walsh's reading of events, Poe, in fear of his pursuers, gave up on his $100 Philadelphia employment of assisting a lady writer and got on the train heading back to Baltimore. From there he hoped to continue on to Richmond and the safety of Elmira's arms. But the three brothers captured Poe in Baltimore. They poured liquor down his throat to discredit Poe in Elmira's eyes as having “fallen off the wagon.” They also gave the writer a beating. After Poe had died, which was not in the brothers' plan, a “cooping” story – a false trail – was invented.

Walsh has done an admirable job in ferreting out the clues and deciphering them. But there could be an even deeper layer to what happened to Edgar Allan Poe. There are those who say Poe belonged to a U.S. counter-intelligence network. He may have been assassinated by European enemies of America. (“Poe Haunts Bond Market”, http://www.shout.net/~bigred/PoeHaunts.html)

Walsh is non-commital. He leaves it for the reader to decide, although he himself believes the “three brothers” version. As for Elmira Shelton, she never re-married and remained mostly tight-lipped about Poe for the rest of her days.

Before leaving on his ill-starred journey to Philadelphia, Poe handed “a little trifle” to John Thompson, editor of the Messenger. It was a short poem, “Annabel Lee,” which seems to be about Poe's childhood sweetheart, Elmira Shelton: “I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea; But we loved with a love that was more than love – I and my Annabel Lee.”

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