Text: Anonymous, “Poe, the Man and Poet — Interesting Reminiscences — His Last Hours and Death,” Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD), vol. XC, no. 123, April 8, 1882, p. 6, col. 2

[page 6, column 2:]

LOCAL MATTERS.

Poe, the Man and Poet — Interesting Reminiscences — His Last Hours and Death. — Dr. John J. Moran, of Falls Church, Fairfax county, who was resident physician at the Washington University Hospital, (now the Church Home and Infirmary,) on North Broadway, from March 1849, to October, 1855, visited the institution yesterday for the first time since the dissolution of his official connection therewith. Dr. Moran pointed out the room occupied by Edgar Allan Poe, and related the circumstances of his death, which occurred October 7, 1849. The Doctor states that on the 6th of October, about 9 A. Mr. Poe was brought to the hospital in a driven by an Irishman, who stated that he had found his passenger on Light-street wharf. In reply to an inquiry whether the gentleman was intoxicated, the hackman stated that there was no smell of liquor about him, and that he had lifted him in the carriage like a child. Dr. Moran did not recognize his patient until the hackman presented a card bearing Poe's name.

Mr. Poe was unconscious and very pale. He was placed in the third-story room of the turret, at the southwest corner of the building, about 7 by 10 feet in size. A nurse was stationed at the door, with instructions to call Dr. Moran when the patient awoke. which occurred in twenty minutes. The Doctor, being much interested in his patient, went immediately to his side. A glance sufficed to show that Mr. Poe was extremely ill, and he was so informed. In reply to a question he said he did not know how long he had been sick, and could give no account of himself. He was much surprised when informed that he was in a hospital. He stated that he had stopped at a hotel on Pratt street, where a trunk containing his papers and manuscripts had been left. The trunk was sent for, but the owner made no further reference to it. Dr. Moran proceeded to make a diagnosis of the case. The patient was very weak, but there was no tremor of the limbs, no agitation of the body, no smell of liquor on the breath or person, nor any symptom of intoxication. Owing to the weak condition of the patient Dr. Moran decided to administer a stimulant, and so informed him. Mr. Poe said: “If I thought its potency would transport me to the elysian bowers of the undiscovered spirit-world I would not touch it.” Dr. Moran then proposed an anodyne, when Mr, Poe rejoined: “Twin sister to the doomed and crazed in perdition.”

Mr. Poe continued to converse most despondingly, but was relieved by short intervals of sleep. As his body grew weaker his mind retained its force, and his conscious moments were marked by vivid flashes of his characteristic genius. Nearing the end, Mr. Poe became as gentle as a child. He died an hour past midnight, sixteen hours after his arrival at the hospital. The cause of death was exhaustion of the nervous fluid, the result of exposure, hunger and other causes acting upon a sensitive organization.

The remains were laid in state in the large reception room in the rotunda of the college, where they were viewed by many persons. Fully fifty ladies received locks of the dead poet's hair, which fell in jet black ringlets about his brow. The funeral took place on the afternoon of October 8, 1849, the remains being interred in the burying-ground of Westminster Presbyterian Church, where the monument has since been erected. Dr. Moran unhesitatingly and emphatically pronounces false the stories that have been published of Poe's death having been caused by drink. In compliance with from Mr. Poe's mother-in-law and Mr. Sarah E. Shelton, of Richmond, the original of “Annabel Lee,” Dr. Moran made careful inquiry into Mr. Poe's movements previous to his ar. rival at the hospital. It was ascertained that he left Richmond on the 4th of October for Philadelphia and New York, and arrived in Baltimore by boat on the 5th. He registered at Bradshaw's Hotel, which stood on the site of the present Maltby House. After a short stay there he took a train at the depot, then standing on the opposite side of the street, for Philadelphia. The train proceeded to Havre de Grace, where passengers were then transferred by ferry across the Susquehanna. The river, however, was so turbulent that Mr. Poe declined to cross, and returned to Baltimore, arriving in the evening.

This was the last seen of him by his friends. He was attired in a suit of broadcloth, as was his custom, and the neatness which marked his person is supposed to have aroused the cupidity of certain low characters who infested the of Light street The theory is that he was seized and dragged into some resort for thieves, where he was drugged and stripped of his clothing, cast-off apparel being substituted for it. He was then disposed of by being placed on the wharf, where he remained all night in a stupor. Dr. Moran, from his knowledge of the subsequent condition of Mr. Poe, firmly believes that he was drugged. Mr. Poe himself, while unable to account for the events of the night, declared repeatedly that his condition was the result of no conscious act of his own. The story of Mr. Poe having been made drunk by politicians and forced to vote repeatedly at an election, Dr. Moran states, is absurd, as the election took place on the third of October, and Mr. Poe did not leave Richmond until the fourth.