Text: Anonymous, “The Poe Monument — Final Arrangements,” Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD), vol. LXXVII, no. 151, November 8, 1875, p. 4, col. 3

[page 4, column 3, continued:]

The Poe Monument — Final Arrangements for the Dedication. — A meeting of the Poe memorial committee, Professor Elliot presiding, was held Saturday afternoon at the Baltimore City College. Final arrangements for the dedication of the Poe monument were decided upon. The remains of the poet, with those of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Clemm, have already been transferred from the old grave, in the rear of the church at the Westminster cemetery, to the new lot secured in the northwestern corner of the same graveyard. The lot, fronting on Fayette and Green streets, occupies a conspicuous position and is sixteen feet square, comprising two single plots, given by owners for this purpose. These were the only lots vacant in the cemetery. The sod will be raised several feet above -its present level, so as to give the monument more prominence, and a substantial foundation of brick will underlie it. Wednesday, the 17th inst., at 2 P. M., is the time agreed upon for the dedicatory exercises, the chief part of which will be conducted in the large study hall of the Western Female High School, adjoining the cemetery. In this hall, ten years age, the first efforts were made to raise funds 101 the erection of the monument at a literary entertainment, in which several prominent ladies took part.

The order of exercises will be as follows: — Music, followed by an historical sketch of the monument, by Professor Elliot, who will preside; reading of letters from various poets in sympathy with the project, among them Henry W. Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver W. Holmes, Whittier and Tennyson, by Miss Sara S. Rice; eulogistic address, by Prof. Shepherd: the recitation of one of Poe's poems, by W. F. Gill, of Boston; personal reminiscences of the poet, by John H. B. Latrobe. The assembly will then adjourn to the grave of the poet, where the remaining exercises will take place. The monument will be unveiled and crowned by a committee of the ladies who took part in the first entertainment referred to above. The whole will conclude with a dirge by the members of the Philharmonic Society, who will also intersperse the exercises with music, one piece of which will be original, and will have reference to the “Raven.” Cards of admission to the exercises have been issued to the city and State authorities, to the teachers of the public schools, and to a large number of citizens. Among the persons who expect to be present are George W. Childs, of the Philadelphia Ledger, and R. M. T. Hunter, State treasurer of Virginia, the only living classmate of Poe at the University of Virginia. Mr. Hugh Sisson is charged with the removal of the monument. It is very probable that a half holiday will be given to the pupils of the public schools in the afternoon.