Text: John C. Miller, ed., “Entry 053: John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman, May 19, 1874,” Poe's Helen Remembers (1979), pp. 157-161 (This material is protected by copyright)

[page 157, continued:]

53. John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman

My dear Mrs. Whitman,

I hope you will attribute my long silence to its true cause — illness. For ten days I have been ill in bed with rheumatic fever & have not been allowed even to be moved out of bed to have the bed remade, & [page 158:] even now, when I have got rid of my pains, the doctor is very severe, saying that the slightest thing may cause a relapse. I am trying to scribble this in bed. I hope you will make it out — ’tis difficult for me to write, although I have written you endless mental epistles during my illness but you can’t get them — we’ve not discovered mental telepathy yet.

I’m tired already & fear I cannot tell you a tithe of what I wanted to. First, however, I wrote to Mr. Eveleth, but got no reply, but you said that he had written to you. Do you think you could induce him to give me a copy of the remaining portion of “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt” which he once wrote you was in his possession? I have kept that, & its two connecting tales, out of the first vol. of my collection in hopes of getting his conclusion. Do kindly try.

How lucky that letter of Graham's should have turned up & how you must have slaved to write it out for me so quickly. It is invaluable. I could not believe my eyes when I read that it had turned up. The whole affair of Poe's life since I commenced writing it has been one series of almost supernatural surprises. For years have I sought for Graham's letter & never could get the slightest clue to it — now, just as its appearance was imperative — eh, presto! ’tis here. Poor Graham! I have met an American in London who knew him well — said he was most gentlemanly but that having been drawn into drunken habits by two assistants, he got ruined — they got the business & Graham died of poverty & drink! Does Graham's Magazine still continue, do you know?(1) Mrs. Lewis was positive that Griswold never edited Graham's. This worried me because you know I made such use of it in “New Facts.” Looking through 2nd vol. of the Broadway, I there discovered not only that he was editor but that he was concerned in & knew all about Poe's sharp notice of Jones, the critic, & therefore knew well when he [Griswold] wrote — towards the end of the “Memoir” about Poe's variable judgments that, in this instance, he (Griswold) was telling a gross & deliberate lie! I’ll have him on the hip! ’Twas just the same with the Laughton Osborne allusion on the same page. He was an unmitigated rascal. I must rest again now.

As regards Miss Blackwell — I’ll write. A friend of mine in our office knows Home. Don’t expect she’ll know much. Mrs. Lewis, even, cannot give any printable information. She thinks Edgar Poe was an angel — too good for this world & would not believe that he ever drank even. Told me of the “Annabel Lee” being for her, but I did not make a single comment. You can’t nail her to any explanation of Griswold's stories. ’Tis enough for her that they are untrue & further, she did not seem to care to investigate. I don’t think I pressed her on the matter of “The South Carolina Lady,” but I asked her if she knew anything of Mrs. E[llet]. Her reply is on another sheet of paper. [page 159:]

Did you get the Gentleman's Magazine & how did you like the paper? Mr. Davidson has been very kind & working very hard for me. Has got me the 2 vols. of Graham's which I most wanted & made up the rest of the “Autography” papers from the N.Y. Illustrated News. Graham's are at my office, but expect them home tonight. Don’t know if they contain the papers on “Cryptology” which I want. I want to find the story of “The Elk” & the “Life & Death,” two tales I know nothing of.(2) I know when nearly all Poe's tales appeared, but not “Landor's Cottage.” It has always had great interest for me, because my dear sister, who is no more, was fond of it & by sketching a ground plan of the cottage, told me that all the doors opened into one room — strange to say, I have never sought to verify this, but she was so exact I doubt not but that she was right.

Mr. Davidson sent me an offer from Ed. of the International to write a life of Poe for him — partly critical & partly biographical. I shall be glad to.

I have just heard from poor Miss Poe & from Mr. Davidson respecting her. I cannot sent her letter as I may have to chew it, but will copy some of it. Poor old lady! I do pity her & will do my best for her at once. Perhaps among your friends you may get a little aid. I am in hopes to get enough to buy her a small annuity. It would do no good to place much money in her hands at once. Mr. Powell (Rev. G. Powell, 127 N. Broadway, Baltimore) writing to Mr. Davidson, says,

That is the substance of Mr. Powell's letter: he, I presume, is a Britisher. Now, presently for Miss Poe's letter, but I’m so tired.& have so much else to say. Your letter containing your portrait was, so welcome that I seemed to revive ever since it arrived. My dear mother was going to write to you for me, but quite knocked herself up over me & is now ill in bed.

I cannot tell how that letter of mine was delayed. I try & post them all myself, to be sure. In my next I want to send you. Baudelaire's [page 160:] Essais on Poe. Your letter of 4th came today & yours dated 6th, but Providence post mark of 5th, came yesterday. This is singular. Much remains to say in my next in a few days. We must find out Mr. Clarke. How strange that Mr. Gill won’t answer — has he sent you copy of Mr. J. Willis's letter? — I mean of Edgar Poe's schoolmate — Miss Poe, I fear, cannot give any information, but she speaks of having lived with her brother at one time. I wonder when — we shall see soon, I suppose. Miss R. M. Poe's letter — copy — Extracts:

Miss Poe asked N[eilson] P[oe] to write, as she could give me no information about “my poor brother's life.” Miss Poe says that when I wrote to Mr. Powell her cousin refused to give any information & to silence her said that I had now published my books & therefore required no more information. This Neilson Poe is a disgrace to his name. Miss Poe has a home but no means of getting food or clothing. She says, “I am 64 — I am two years younger than my brother.”(3) This doubtless is wrong. I will do my best for her as soon as I can. It had better go to Mr. Powell, I suppose.

Can you say how you found out that Poe was descended from Le Poers? The Powers I know well.

And now, my dear friend, quite worn out, I conclude as yours ever faithfully,

As regards Mrs. E[llet] — I’m so tired but will try & tell Mrs. Lewis's story & when you have read this please burn it because although Mrs. Lewis did not say it was private, still our conversation was. Mrs. E. called on Mrs. L. at her lodgings in London. I forget if they had met before. Mrs. E. pretended to be very friendly & asked to be allowed to copy something of Mrs. L's. Whilst she was copying it Mrs. L. left the room to order luncheon for two & by a series of events which I need not record was absent half an hour. On her return saw that Mrs. E. had not got any further with her copying than when she had left the room but did not think anything of that. So they lunched & soon after Mrs. E. said she must go. She went & after her departure Mrs. L. discovered that she had ransacked her large writing desk & that a publisher's letter, which would have been worth $600 to Mrs. L. was gone! It never came back & she lost the money! Mrs. L. says, “I blame myself only, for having received such a viper after all the things I had heard of her.” [page 161:]

I don’t think Poe ever spoke of her to Mrs. L. Mrs. L. says he never spoke ill of a soul. Mrs. L., I fancy, must have been led to believe that Poe cared more for her than he really did. Gratitude for her kindness was undoubtedly his sole feeling towards her. Mrs. Clemm used to taunt her, she says, by declaring Poe had written her long affectionate epistles, but that she, Mrs. C. had intercepted and destroyed them. Mrs. L. is inveterate against Mrs. C., whom she thinks all one with Griswold. Mrs. L. says when Poe died a large trunk full of his papers was brought to her house, at, she understood, his dying request. But in a day or two Griswold came & produced an order from Mrs. Clemm for all the papers, & Mrs. C. personally confirming this order, Mrs. L. gave up everything.

This side re. Mrs. E. I rely upon you to destroy —

I wonder who that other friend was who was present when you parted from E. Poe? Do you think she or he could have originated the rumours — some one who must have known the truth recounted the story.

 

1. In letters to follow Ingram and Mrs. Whitman will continue to speculate about Graham's death, but when this letter was written Graham actually had more than twenty years left to live. He had gone bankrupt in 1853, but he did not die until July 13, 1894. The first issue of Graham's Magazine came out in Jan. 1826; the last in Dec. 1858.

2. “Life in Death,” later called “The Oval Portrait,” was first published in Graham's Magazine, Apr. 1842.

3. Two of Rosalie Poe's letters to Ingram are reproduced in full in Building Poe Biography, pp. 60-63.