Name:____________________

Directions!
Before Reading:
Read the background information given about Poes death. After
reading begin reflecting on how Poe could have died and why
there is so much controversy. Skim the articles and identify three
theories that you think could be argued.

During Reading:
Highlight or underline arguments
for the theory and counterclaims
against. To get credit you must:
1. Underline/highlight the main points of
each section
2. Circle any unknown words or phrases
3. At least 2 annotations in the margins

What are counterclaims?

__________________________________________
__________________________________________
_______________________________________
After Reading:

Choose one theory that you plan to argue

for your essay. Begin planning your essay using the argument
essay template. Begin with a thesis.

The Mysterious
Death
of Edgar Allan Poe

Author: The Edgar Allan Poe Society of

Baltimore
Created: May 1, 1997
Last update: January 1, 2016
Background
Bishop Fitzgerald noted that Poe left Richmond with as much as $1,500 gathered as subscription money
for his magazine (Harrison, Complete Works, Vol. I, p. 322). In a letter to E.H. N. Patterson, written on
November 9, 1849, John R. Thompson claimed, The day before he went North from Richmond, I
advanced him a small sum of money for a prospective article which he probably never wrote (Harrison,
Complete Works, XVII, p. 405). If either story is true, especially Fitzgeralds, the fact that no money was
ever found strongly supports the idea that Poe may have been mugged. It should perhaps be noted that
$1,500 would have been an astonishing amount of money for Poe to have collected. Since his proposed
magazine was to cost $5 per year, it would indicate 300 subscribers during this one trip, a number which
greatly exceeds what Poe appears to have been able to gather in all of his previous efforts combined,
dating back to 1840. Without impugning the Bishops integrity, the story should be considered apocryphal in
the absence of more tangible evidence.)
Thomas H. Lanes recollection adds further confusion to the story. In four slightly different accounts, he
recalled that Poe had gone to Philadelphia to see friends, where he was found ill. Lane thought that Poe
intended to go on to New York, but mistakenly took the train back to Baltimore (Quinn, Edgar Allan Poe, p.
637). T. O. Mabbott felt that Lane was correct in the details of the event, but mistaken as to the year,
relating instead what had occurred in 1848 (Mabbott, Poems, 1969, p. 568 n. 6). Moran also states that
Poe went to Philadelphia, but that bad weather prevented completion of the trip (Moran, Defense of Poe, p
58). Poe may have gone to Philadelphia to comply with the request of Mrs. Leon Loud, to edit her collection
of poems, for which Poe was to be paid $100. This clearly was his intent when he wrote to Maria Clemm on
September 18, On Tuesday I start for Phila[delphia] to attend to Mrs Louds Poems & possibly on
Thursday I may start for N. York. If I do I will go straight over to Mrs Lewiss & send for you. It will be better
for me not to go to Fordham dont you think so? Write immediately in reply & direct to Phila. For fear I
should not get the letter, sign no name & address it to E. S. T. Grey Esqr. . . . Dont forget to write
immediately to Phila so that your letter will be there when I arrive (Ostrom, Letters, p. 461). Why Poe felt
that he would not get a letter correctly addressed and why it would be better for him not to go to Fordham is
unclear. That Poe did not get to Philadelphia, or at least did not manage to see Mrs. Loud, seems to be
confirmed by a short notice of her book, Wayside Flowers: The late Mr. Poe was accustomed to praise her
works very highly, and was to have edited this edition of them (the International, A Miscellany of Literature,
Science and Art, Boston, September 1, 1850, p. 265).

The next certain information about Poe is October 3, 1849, when Joseph W. Walker sent the following note
to Dr. J. E. Snodgrass: Dear Sir, There is a gentleman, rather the worse for wear, at Ryans 4th ward
polls, who goes under the cognomen of Edgar A. Poe, and who appears in great distress, & he says he is
acquainted with you, and I assure you, he is in need of immediate assistance, Yours, in haste, Jos. W.
Walker. Ryans 4th Ward Polls, also known as Gunners Hall, was a tavern (such places were often used
as election places, and voters were regularly rewarded with drinks). There appears to be no foundation for
the tradition that Poe was found in a gutter, although it is at least possible that Walker came across Poe on
the street outside, and helped Poe into the nearby public house to wait for the arrival of his friend. Dr.
Snodgrass and Henry Herring (Poes uncle) came and found Poe in what they presumed was a drunken
state. They agreed that he should be sent to the Washington College Hospital, and arranged for a carriage.
At the hospital, Poe was admitted and made as comfortable as the circumstances permitted. Over the next
few days, Poe seems to have lapsed in and out of consciousness. Moran tried to question him as to the
cause of his condition, but Poes answers were incoherent and unsatisfactory (Moran to Maria Clemm,
November 15, 1849). Neilson Poe tried to visit him, but was told that Edgar was too excitable for visitors.
Depending on which account you accept, Poe died at about 3:00 a.m. or 5:00 a.m. on October 7, 1849.
Moran gives his last words as Lord help my poor soul (Moran to Maria Clemm, November 15, 1849) or,
He who arched the heavens and upholds the universe, has His decrees legibly written upon the frontlet of
every human being and upon demaons incarnate (Moran, A Defense of Poe, p. 72). Moran also claims that
on the evening prior to his death, Poe repeatedly called out the name of Reynolds. Substantial efforts
have been made to identify who Reynolds may have been, with unimpressive results. At least one scholar
felt that Poe may have instead been calling the name of Herring (Poes uncle was Henry Herring) (W. T.
Bandy, Dr. Moran and the Poe-Reynolds Myth, Myths and Realities: The Mysterious Mr. Poe, Baltimore:
E. A. Poe Society, 1987, pp. 26-36).
Poes clothing had been changed. In place of his own suit of black wool was one of cheap gabardine, with a
palm leaf hat. Moran describes his clothing as a stained, faded, old bombazine coat, pantaloons of a
similar character, a pair of worn-out shoes run down at the heels, and an old straw hat (Moran, Defense of
Poe, p. 59.) J. E. Snodgrass offers a more detailed description: a rusty, almost brimless, tattered and
ribbonless palmleaf hat. His clothing consisted of a sack-coat of thin and sleazy black alpaca, ripped more
or less at several of its seams, and faded and soiled, and pants of a steel-mixed pattern of caseinate, halfworn and badly-fitting, if they could be said to fit at all. He wore neither vest nor neck-cloth, while the bosom
of his shirt was both crumpled and badly soiled. On his feet were boots of coarse material, and giving no
sign of having been blackened for a long time, if at all (Snodgrass, The Facts of Poes Death and Burial,
p. 284). Moran also quotes Capt. George W. Rollins, supposedly the conductor of the train, as noting two
men who appeared to be following Poe (Moran, Defense of Poe, pp. 60-61.) Most modern biographies take
care to note that in spite of the change of clothing, Poe still had Dr. Carters cane. According to Susan A.
Weiss, this cane was sent by Moran to Mrs. Clemm, who returned it to Dr. Carter (Weiss, Home Life of Poe,
p. 205), but this seems to be a misinterpretation of Dr. Carters own testimony. It has also been suggested
that the key to his trunk was still in his pocket, although this statement seems based on little more than
speculation. The key itself is on display in the Poe Museum in Richmond, as is Poes trunk. It is equally
reasonable that Mrs. Clemm may simply have had a second key.
The only new public reference to a specific cause of death was from the Baltimore Clipper, a somewhat
mysterious congestion of the brain (The Poe Log, p. 851). Death certificates were apparently not required
at the time and none is known to have been filed for Poe. Dr. Morans November 15, 1849 letter to Maria

Clemm unhelpfully avoids the simple information we would have liked by saying Presuming you are
already aware of the malady of which Mr. Poe died . . . In the late 1960s, Birgit Bramsback made an ardent
search for a death certificate or any official hospital records, but found nothing (Bramsback, The Final
Illness and Death of E. A. Poe, p 40, n. 3).

Alcohol Theory
This is the theory most people think of when they are asked about Poes death. That Poe engaged in
stretches of drinking, particularly during Virginias long illness, but how exactly he may have died of
alcoholism has never really been explained. Clearly, Poe did not have an accident and his drinking seems
not to have been consistent nor too intense to cause sclerosis of the liver. It has been suggested that poor
nutrition and a weakened condition brought on by other illnesses could have allowed hallucinations to occur
with fewer and less intense episodes of drinking than would normally be required, but none of these
theories completely explain his condition and the change of clothing.
J. E. Snodgrass felt certain that alcohol was the cause of Poes death and repeated the claim in his lectures
from the early 1850s. In 1856, However because of Snodgrass writing style and motivations he was likely
to exaggerate the story. He was even willing to manipulate the evidence in a way that discredits him as a
reliable source.
In 1878, Mrs. Susan A. T. Weiss explained what she recalled as a foreshadowing incident during Poes last
days in Richmond in 1849. If true, the story may be extremely significant: . . . on the day following he made
his appearance among us, but so pale, so nervous and apparently subdued in order to convince me that he
had been seriously ill. On this occasion he had been at his rooms at the Old Swan [Tavern] where he was
carefully tended by Mrs. Mackenzies family, but on a second and more serious relapse he was taken by Dr.
Mackenzie and Dr. [William] Gibbon Carter to Duncans Lodge, where during some days his life was in
imminent danger. Tireless attention saved him, but it was the opinion of the physicians that another such
attack would prove fatal. This they told him, warning him seriously of the danger. His reply was that if
people would not tempt him, he would not fall (Weiss, The Last Days of Edgar A. Poe, p. 712).
Perhaps the strongest evidence for an alcohol-related death is J. P. Kennedys October 10, 1849 note in his
diary: On Tuesday last Edgar A. Poe died in town here at the hospital from the effects of a relapse. . . . He
fell in with some companion here who seduced him drink, which it was said he had quit some time ago. The
consequence were fever, delirium, and madness, and in a few days a termination of his sad career in the
hospital. Poor Poe! . . . A bright but unsteady light has been awfully satisfied. (Charles H. Bonner, John
Pendleton Kennedy; Gentleman from Baltimore, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1961, p. 194. See
also The Poe Log, p 852, which begins the quotation slightly differently as On Sunday last rather than On
Tuesday. Poe did die on Sunday.) Again, it should be noted that Kennedy was recording information
second-hand, probably from his friend J. E. Snodgrass meaning he could be unreliable.

R. H. Stoddards memoir of Poe states It was believed at the time by his relatives in Baltimore that he
drank with a friend while waiting between trains, due to the fact that he took a wrong train, and proceeded
as far as Havre de Grace, where he was brought back to Baltimore by the conductor of the Philadelphia
train while bordering he was in a state of delirium (Stoddard, Life of Poe, from The Works of Edgar Allan
Poe, New York: A. C. Armstrong & Sons, 1884, I, p. 195). Stoddard then gives the final cause of Poes
death related below as the cooping theory.
John Ruben Thompson wrote to E. H. N. Patterson on November 9, 1849 no confidence could be placed
in him [Poe] in any relation of life, least of all in antagonism to his fatal weakness. He died, indeed, in
delirium from drunkenness; the shadow of infamy beclouded his last moments (Harrison, XVII, p. 404). It
must, of course, be remembered that Thompsons statement was made without any first-hand knowledge.
At some point, Thompson changed his opinion. About 1860, Thompson began to lecture about Poes life
and at some point began to attribute his death to the cooping theory detailed below.
After Thompsons death in 1874, Dr. Moran presented his own series of lectures, eventually published as A
Defense of Edgar Allan Poe (1885). In this book, Moran noted I have stated to you the fact that Edgar Allan
Poe did not die under the effect of any intoxicant, nor was the smell of liquor upon his breath or person
(Moran, Defense of Poe, p. 55) As has already been noted, Moran is notoriously unreliable on many points
and cannot be trusted on matters for which he is the only authority. In addition to the contradictions
apparent in his own writings, Moran apparently told different stories to his friends as well. In 1889, the Rev.
W. T. D. Clemm wrote to Elmer R. Reynolds, Allow me to say that this remarkable statement of Dr. Moran
both confuses and surprises me because it positively contradicts the statement made to me personally by
the Doctor; and surprises me because he did not years ago give to the public what he now avers to be the
true cause of Mr. Poes death.

Disease and Other Medical Problems

In March of 1847, Dr. Valentine Mott, a famous New York doctor in his day, agreed with the diagnosis of
Mrs. Shew, a trained nurse who had helped to care for Virginia during her long illness, that Poe had some
sort of lesions on the brain and suffered from brain fever (The Poe Log, p. 694). T. O. Mabbott noted, A
modern medical man who saw a photograph of Poe told my friend Robert Hunter Paterson that a twist in
the poets face suggested to him a brain lesion. . . (Mabbott, Poems, 1969, p. 562, n. 12). In May of 1848,
another doctor, Dr. John W. Francis, diagnosed that Poe suffered from heart disease, a diagnosis which
Poe denied (Miller, Building Poe Biography, p. 99). That Poe was not completely well is obvious from his
letters to Maria Clemm, July 7, 1849: I have been so ill have had the cholera, or spasms quite as bad,
and can now hardly hold the pen . . . (Ostrom, Letters, p. 452) and July 14, I am so ill while I write . . .
(Ostrom, Letters, p. 454). By July 19, he wrote under more favorable circumstances, You will see at once,
by the handwriting of this letter, that I am better much better in health and spirits (Ostrom, Letters, p.
455). It is possible that Poe had suffered some early incident which had later implications for his health.
Mrs. Shew recalled a scar: I have seen the scar of the wound in the left shoulder, when helping Mrs.
Clemm change his dress or clothes while ill. She said only Virginia knew about it. She [Mrs. Clemm] did
not. I asked him if he had been hurt , in the region of the heart and he told me yes, and the rest as I wrote
to you. His head was also hurt . . . (Marie Louise Shew to John Ingram, May 16, 1875, quoted by John C.
Miller, Building Poe Biography, p. 139) Moran states that his colleague, Dr. John C. S. Monkur, gave it as
his opinion that Poe would die from excessive nervous prostration and loss of nerve power, resulting from
exposure, affecting the encephalon, a sensitive and delicate membrane of the brain (Moran, A Defense of
Poe, p. 71). Arno Karlen theorizes that Poe may have suffered from a rare enzyme disorder. He believes
that a combination of alcohol dehydrogenase deficiency syndrome and brain disease explain Poes
problems with alcohol, his fits of madness and his sudden death.
Tuberculosis, epilepsy, diabetes and even rabies have also been suggested. There are interesting
elements and difficulties in all of these theories. The idea that Poe died from rabies, for example, was
presented in 1996. The article, by Dr. Michael Benitez, was ostensibly based on Morans account of Poes
final days, but apparently filtered through a case-study, itself taken largely from an article by Charles
Scarlett, Jr. (A Tale of Ratiocination: The Death and Burial of Edgar Allan Poe, Maryland Historical
Magazine, 1978). Scarletts badly-documented and rather confused presentation includes a comment that
Poe was given a drink of water to determine if he could swallow freely, but he did this with difficulty
(Scarlett, p. 365). Benitez takes this as evidence of hydrophobia, a fear of water that is crucial to his
argument of rabies. Although the meager footnotes to Scarletts article would lead one to believe that the

observation is from Morans 1885 book, it is in fact from his 1875 article in the New York Herald. Had
Benitez actually read Morans later telling of the tale, he would no doubt have been disappointed to find that
the sentence was changed to read, I put a small lump of ice in his mouth, and gave him a sip of water, to
ascertain what difficulty, if any, he had in swallowing. He drank half a glass without any trouble (Moran,
1885, p. 71). Without evidence of hydrophobia, the possiblity of rabies evaporates.

Notes on the results of test for heavy metals performed in 2002 on hair samples from Virgina and Edgar
Allan Poe.

The Cooping Theory

This is the theory given in the vast majority of Poe biographies, although it cannot be proven true.
Coincidence or not, the day Poe was found on the street was election day in Baltimore and the place near
where he was found, Ryans Fourth Ward Polls, was both a bar and a place for voting. In those days,
Baltimore elections were notorious for corruption and violence. Political gangs were willing to go to great
extremes to ensure the success of their candidates. Election ballots were stolen, judges were bribed and
potential voters for the opposition intimidated. Some gangs were known to kidnap innocent bystanders,
holding them in a room, called the coop. These poor souls were then forced to go in and out of poll after
poll, voting over and over again. Their clothing might even be changed to allow for another round. To
ensure compliance, their victims were plied with liquor and beaten. Poes weak heart would never have
withstood such abuse. This theory appears to have been first offered publicly by John R. Thompson in the
early 1870s to explain Poes condition and the fact that he was wearing someone elses clothing. A possible
flaw in the theory is that Poe was reasonably well-known in Baltimore and likely to be recognized.
Although not in keeping with the political aspects of this theory, there is an earlier suggestion that Poe was
physically abused in his final days: At the instigation of a woman, who considered herself injured by him,
he was cruelly beaten, blow upon blow, by a ruffian who knew of no better mode of avenging supposed
injuries. It is well known that a brain fever followed. . . . (Mrs. E. Oakes Smith, Autobiographic Notes:
Edgar Allan Poe, Beadles Monthly, February 3, 1867, p. 154). It was in reply to Mr. Smiths article that Dr.
Snodgrass wrote his The Facts of Poes Death and Burial noted above.

The eminent Poe scholar Dr. Thomas Ollive Mabbott, quoting Robert DUnger, dismissed the cooping
theory as twaddle, but neither offers any explanation. It does answer some of the stranger details and
may yet be shown to have some merit. James A. Harrison seems to accept the cooping theory. Didiers
book The Poe Cult reprints his article on The True Cause of Poes Death in which he quotes a letter from
a person who claims to have seen Poe in the coop. This information was sent to Didier by Alexander
Hynds on December 8, 1879. Hynds, a Baltimore attorney, identified the source only as my friend, a
prominent man of San Francisco. Since the ultimate source for the letter remained anonymous, it has
generally been dismissed as journalistic sensationalism. In his own biography of Poe, John Joyce quotes
the identical letter, also without identifying the source, and claiming it as if it had been related to him
personally (John A. Joyce, Edgar Allan Poe, New York: F. T. Neely, 1901, pp. 195-197). Mrs. Weiss adds

further to the confusion by repeating the same article, but attributing it, ironically, to Dr. Snodgrass (Weiss,
Home Life of Poe, 207-211). Didier had already published a slightly different account : he met some of his
old West-Point friends, who invited him to a champagne-supper that night. At first he refused to drink, but at
last he was induced to take a glass of champagne. That set him off, and, in a few hours, he was madly
drunk. In this state he wandered off from his friends, was robbed and beaten by ruffians, and left insensible
in the street all night (Didier, The Grave of Poe, Appletons Journal, VII, January 27, 1872, p. 104). One
wonders if Didiers opinion was changed by convicing evidence or mere preference.

N. H. Morrisons letter to J. H. Ingram, November 27, 1874, includes these comments The story of Poes
death has never been told. Nelson [Neilson] Poe has all the facts, but I am afraid may not be willing to tell
them. I do not see why. The actual facts are less discreditable than the common reports published. Poe
came to the city in the midst of an election, and that election was the cause of his death (Miller, Building
Poe Biography, p. 49). Neilson, Poes cousin, spoke briefly at the dedication of Poes memorial grave in
1875, but made no statement concerning the circumstances of Edgars death. If Neilson Poe had specific
information about Poes final days, he apparently took it with him to the grave.

William Hand Brownes letter to J. H. Ingram, August 24, 1874, includes these comments The general
belief here is, that Poe was seized by one of these gangs, (his death happening just at election-time; an
election for sheriff took place on Oct. 4th), cooped, stupefied with liquor, dragged out and voted, and then
turned adrift to die (Miller, Building Poe Biography, p. 69). According to Elizabeth Ellicott Poe and Vylla Poe
Wilson, The conclusion to be drawn, in view of all the factors and probabilities, is that he [Poe] was
shanghaied shortly after his arrival in Baltimore, given liquor and opium to which he was peculiarly
susceptible, and while in that irresponsible condition held until election day. A certain Passano, associated
with that coop, is said to have confessed to relatives in after years that this is what happened to the poet,
but no formal record was made of his testimony to this effect (E. E. Poe and V. P. Wilson, Edgar Allan Poe:
A High Priest of the Beautiful, Washington: The Stylus Publishing Company, 1930, p. 79).

A legitimate question is why there seems to have been very little attention to the cooping theory of Poes
death until J. R. Thompson began his lecture tour. A reasonable answer is the fact that cooping was,
under the best of circumstances, highly illegal, and being connected to an actual death would certainly
make the spotlight of attention even less attractive. Only someone closely associated with the operation
would have known the details of what occurred, and such a person would hardly be likely to publicize the
information. The Whigs were also a party with considerable power, featuring such notable names as the
great Daniel Webster (of Massachusetts) and Zachary Taylor (who was elected president in 1848). A
delegate in the Eighteenth Ward was none other than Edgars cousin, Neilson Poe. (On October 2, 1851,
Neilson was removed from his position for opposing the slate of judges approved by the official Whig
commitee. Neilsons side of this judicial matter was made public as a pamphlet called An Appeal from the
Politicians to the People: In a Letter to Dr. John Hanson Thomas, President of the Whig City Convention,
Baltimore: Sherwood & Co, 1851.)

We also do not know how the idea occurred to Thompson, or precisely when he incorporated it into his
lecture. A small notice in the Southern Literary Messenger for November 1860 comments: We learn that
John R. Thompson, Esq. . . . intends delivering his Lecture on Edgar A. Poe in the Southern cities during
the coming winter. Delivered first in Baltimore, and subsequently in Richmond and other cities of Virginia,
this Lecture excited the highest encomiums (p. 393). Even in his lecture, Thompson does not let Poe
entirely off the hook in regard to drinking, which he notes as Poes besetting sin (p. 42).

Walsh dismisses the cooping theory in part because in looking at newspapers of the period he found no
evidence of the practice (p. 64). Walsh seems to have erred, however, in limiting his search to the most
prominent, and easily obtainable, newspapers, namely the Baltimore Sun. A more careful search by Doug
Boulter did indeed unearth evidence of cooping which disproves Walshs assertion. Two of the most direct
references are printed here with his permission:

Beward of the Whig tricks. Our opponents are at their old game again. Tickets are out with their candidates
and the hickory emblem. Colonization on a large scale is to be resorted to. Illegal votes will be polled from a
distance and otherwise. Coops have been started by them. All this and more the Whigs are doing see
Democrats that they do not succeed. LET US ALL BE ON THE ALERT (the Republican and Argus, Oct. 3,
1849, p. 2). Democrats of the Fourth Ward protect your rights yours is the ward that will receive the
great mass of foreign Whigs. It is in your ward that they expect to swell the vote (the Republican and
Argus, Oct. 1, 1849, p. 2). Neither of these warnings, of course, prove that Poe was the victim of a political
gang, but they do establish that cooping was a recognized political trick in Baltimore in 1849, and that the
term could be used without requiring additional explanation. There seems to have been particular concern
about voting in the Fourth Ward, precisely where Poe was found on that fateful Election Day.

The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan

Poe
By: Natasha Geiling
smithsonian.com
October 7, 2014
1. Beating

In 1867, one of the first theories to deviate from either phrenitis or alcohol was published by biographer E.
Oakes Smith in her article "Autobiographic Notes: Edgar Allan Poe." "At the instigation of a woman, "Smith
writes, "who considered herself injured by him, he was cruelly beaten, blow upon blow, by a ruffian who
knew of no better mode of avenging supposed injuries. It is well known that a brain fever followed. . . ."
Other accounts also mention "ruffians" who had beaten Poe senseless before his death. As Eugene Didier
wrote in his 1872 article, "The Grave of Poe," that while in Baltimore, Poe ran into some friends from West
Point, who prevailed upon him to join them for drinks. Poe, unable to handle liquor, became madly drunk
after a single glass of champagne, after which he left his friends to wander the streets. In his drunken state,
he "was robbed and beaten by ruffians, and left insensible in the street all night."

The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan

Poe
By: Natasha Geiling
smithsonian.com
October 7, 2014
2. Cooping

Others believe that Poe fell victim to a practice known as cooping, a method of voter fraud practiced by
gangs in the 19th century where an unsuspecting victim would be kidnapped, disguised and forced to vote
for a specific candidate multiple times under multiple disguised identities. Voter fraud was extremely
common in Baltimore around the mid 1800s, and the polling site where Walker found the disheveled Poe
was a known place that coopers brought their victims. The fact that Poe was found delirious on election
day, then, is no coincidence.

Over the years, the cooping theory has come to be one of the more widely accepted explanations for Poe's
strange demeanor before his death. Before Prohibition, voters were given alcohol after voting as a sort of
reward; had Poe been forced to vote multiple times in a cooping scheme, that might explain his semiconscious, ragged state.

Around the late 1870s, Poe's biographer J.H. Ingram received several letters that blamed Poe's death on a
cooping scheme. A letter from William Hand Browne, a member of the faculty at Johns Hopkins, explains
that "the general belief here is, that Poe was seized by one of these gangs, (his death happening just at

election-time; an election for sheriff took place on Oct. 4th), 'cooped,' stupefied with liquor, dragged out and
voted, and then turned adrift to die."

The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe

By: Natasha Geiling
smithsonian.com - October 7, 2014

3. Alcohol

"A lot of the ideas that have come up over the years have centered around the fact that Poe couldnt handle
alcohol," says Semtner. "It has been documented that after a glass of wine he was staggering drunk. His
sister had the same problem; it seems to be something hereditary."

Months before his death, Poe became a vocal member of the temperance movement, eschewing alcohol,
which he'd struggled with all his life. Biographer Susan Archer Talley Weiss recalls, in her biography "The
Last Days of Edgar A. Poe," an event, toward the end of Poe's time in Richmond, that might be relevant to
theorists that prefer a "death by drinking" demise for Poe. Poe had fallen ill in Richmond, and after making
a somewhat miraculous recovery, was told by his attending physician that "another such attack would prove
fatal." According to Weiss, Poe replied that "if people would not tempt him, he would not fall," suggesting
that the first illness was brought on by a bout of drinking.

Those around Poe during his finals days seem convinced that the author did, indeed, fall into that
temptation, drinking himself to death. As his close friend J. P. Kennedy wrote on October 10, 1949: "On
Tuesday last Edgar A. Poe died in town here at the hospital from the effects of a debauch. . . . He fell in
with some companion here who seduced him to the bottle, which it was said he had renounced some time
ago. The consequence was fever, delirium, and madness, and in a few days a termination of his sad career
in the hospital. Poor Poe! . . . A bright but unsteady light has been awfully quenched."

Though the theory that Poe's drinking lead to his death fails to explain his five-day disappearance, or his
second-hand clothes on October 3, it was nonetheless a popular theory propagated by Snodgrass after
Poe's death. Snodgrass, a member of the temperance movement, gave lectures across the country,
blaming Poe's death on binge drinking. Modern science, however, has thrown a wrench into Snodgrasses
talking points: samples of Poe's hair from after his death show low levels of lead, explains Semtner, which
is an indication that Poe remained faithful to his vow of sobriety up until his demise.

The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan

Poe
By: Natasha Geiling
smithsonian.com - October 7, 2014
4. Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

In 1999, public health researcher Albert Donnay argued that Poe's death was a result of carbon monoxide
poisoning from coal gas that was used for indoor lighting during the 19th century. Donnay took clippings of
Poe's hair and tested them for certain heavy metals that would be able to reveal the presence of coal gas.
The test was inconclusive, leading biographers and historians to largely discredit Donnay's theory.

The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan

Poe
By: Natasha Geiling
smithsonian.com
October 7, 2014
5. Heavy Metal Poisoning

While Donnay's test didn't reveal levels of heavy metal consistent with carbon monoxide poisoning, the
tests did reveal elevated levels of mercury in Poe's system months before his death. According to Semtner,
Poe's mercury levels were most likely elevated as a result of a cholera epidemic he'd been exposed to in
July of 1849, while in Philadelphia. Poe's doctor prescribed calomel, or mercury chloride. Mercury
poisoning, Semtner says, could help explain some of Poe's hallucinations and delirium before his death.
However, the levels of mercury found in Poe's hair, even at their highest, are still 30 times below the level
consistent with mercury poisoning.

The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan

Poe
By: Natasha Geiling
smithsonian.com
October 7, 2014
6. Rabies

In 1996, Dr. R. Michael Benitez was participating in a clinical pathologic conference where doctors are
given patients, along with a list of symptoms, and instructed to diagnose and compare with other doctors as
well as the written record. The symptoms of the anonymous patient E.P., "a writer from Richmond" were
clear: E.P. had succumbed to rabies. According to E.P.'s supervising physician, Dr. J.J. Moran, E.P. had
been admitted to a hospital due to "lethargy and confusion." Once admitted, E.P.'s condition began a rapid
downward spiral: shortly, the patient was exhibiting delirium, visual hallucinations, wide variations in pulse
rate and rapid, shallow breathing. Within four daysthe median length of survival after the onset of serious
rabies symptomsE.P. was dead.

E.P., Benitez soon found out, wasn't just any author from Richmond. It was Poe whose death the Maryland
cardiologist had diagnosed as a clear case of rabies, a fairly common virus in the 19th century. Running
counter to any prevailing theories at the time, Benitez's diagnosis ran in the September 1996 issue of the
Maryland Medical Journal. As Benitez pointed out in his article, without DNA evidence, it's impossible to say
with 100 percent certainty that Poe succumbed to the rabies virus. There are a few kinks in the theory,

including no evidence of hydrophobia (those afflicted with rabies develop a fear of water, Poe was reported
to have been drinking water at the hospital until his death) nor any evidence of an animal bite (though some
with rabies don't remember being bitten by an animal). Still, at the time of the article's publication, Jeff
Jerome, curator of the Poe House Museum in Baltimore, agreed with Benitez's diagnosis. "This is the first
time since Poe died that a medical person looked at Poe's death without any preconceived notions,"
Jerome told the Chicago Tribune in October of 1996. "If he knew it was Edgar Allan Poe, he'd think, 'Oh
yeah, drugs, alcohol,' and that would influence his decision. Dr. Benitez had no agenda."

The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan

Poe
By: Natasha Geiling
smithsonian.com
October 7, 2014
7. Brain Tumor

One of the most recent theories about Poe's death suggests that the author succumbed to a brain tumor,
which influenced his behavior before his death. When Poe died, he was buried, rather unceremoniously, in
an unmarked grave in a Baltimore graveyard. Twenty-six years later, a statue was erected, honoring Poe,
near the graveyard's entrance. Poe's coffin was dug up, and his remains exhumed, in order to be moved to
the new place of honor. But more than two decades of buried decay had not been kind to Poe's coffinor
the corpse within itand the apparatus fell apart as workers tried to move it from one part of the graveyard
to another. Little remained of Poe's body, but one worker did remark on a strange feature of Poe's skull: a
mass rolling around inside. Newspapers of the day claimed that the clump was Poe's brain, shriveled yet
intact after almost three decades in the ground.

We know, today, that the mass could not be Poe's brain, which is one of the first parts of the body to rot
after death. But Matthew Pearl, an American author who wrote a novel about Poe's death, was nonetheless
intrigued by this clump. He contacted a forensic pathologist, who told him that while the clump couldn't be a
brain, it could be a brain tumor, which can calcify after death into hard masses.

According to Semtner, Pearl isn't the only person to believe Poe suffered from a brain tumor: a New York
physician once told Poe that he had a lesion on his brain that caused his adverse reactions to alcohol.

The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan

Poe
By: Natasha Geiling
smithsonian.com
October 7, 2014
8. Flu
A far less sinister theory suggests that Poe merely succumbed to the fluwhich might have turned into
deadly pneumoniaon this deathbed. As Semtner explains, in the days leading up to Poe's departure from
Richmond, the author visited a physician, complaining of illness. "His last night in town, he was very sick,
and his [soon-to-be] wife noted that he had a weak pulse, a fever, and she didnt think he should take the
journey to Philadelphia," says Semtner. "He visited a doctor, and the doctor also told him not to travel, that
he was too sick." According to newspaper reports from the time, it was raining in Baltimore when Poe was
therewhich Semtner thinks could explain why Poe was found in clothes not his own. "The cold and the
rain exasperated the flu he already had," says Semtner, "and maybe that eventually lead to pneumonia.
The high fever might account for his hallucinations and his confusion."

The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan

Poe
By: Natasha Geiling
smithsonian.com
October 7, 2014
9. Murder

In his 2000 book Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, author John Evangelist Walsh
presents yet another theory about Poe's death: that Poe was murdered by the brothers of his wealthy
fiance, Elmira Shelton. Using evidence from newspapers, letters and memoirs, Walsh argues that Poe
actually made it to Philadelphia, where he was ambushed by Shelton's three brothers, who warned Poe
against marrying their sister. Frightened by the experience, Poe disguised himself in new clothes
(accounting for, in Walsh's mind, his second-hand clothing) and hid in Philadelphia for nearly a week,
before heading back to Richmond to marry Shelton. Shelton's brothers intercepted Poe in Baltimore, Walsh
postulates, beat him, and forced him to drink whiskey, which they knew would send Poe into a deathly

sickness. Walsh's theory has gained little traction among Poe historiansor book reviewers; Edwin J.
Barton, in a review for the journal American Literature, called Walsh's story "only plausible, not wholly
persuasive." "Midnight Dreary is interesting and entertaining," he concluded, "but its value to literary
scholars is limited and oblique."

---

For Semtner, however, none of the theories fully explain Poe's curious end. "I've never been completely
convinced of any one theory, and I believe Poe's cause of death resulted from a combination of factors," he
says. "His attending physician is our best source of evidence. If he recorded on the mortality schedule that
Poe died of phrenitis, Poe was most likely suffering from encephalitis or meningitis, either of which might
explain his symptoms."