Text: E. S. O., “Edgar A. Poe,” Daily Eastern Argus (Portland, ME), vol. 55, no. 108, May 5, 1885, p. 1, col. 2

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NEW YORK, May 4.

My object, as you know, in visiting New York at this time, was to be present at the unveiling of the Actors' memorial to Edgar Allan Poe, which took place this afternoon, at 3 o'clock in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in Central Park. Calling Saturday forenoon at the office of Hon. Algernon S. Sullivan, chairman of the memorial committee, I was furnished by that gentleman with a ticket of admission to the ceremonies.

Saturday afternoon a private view of the Poe memorial was given to representatives of the press. The memorial was made in Florence, Italy, by Richard Henry Park, the sculptor. It consists of a monumental structure of white marble, bearing on its face a bronze bust of the poet in relief, about which a wreath of oak and laurel in marble is held by a life-size marble figure, representing Poetry. This statue stands clear of the architectural structure, on a platform of marble, on which the latter rests. A second platform, which forms the base, is of gray marble. On the panel below the bust is the following inscription — from the pen of Mr. William Winter and closing with a quotation from Horace:

This Memorial expressing a deep and personal Sympathy between the Stage and the Literature of America, was placed here by the Actors of New York to commemorate the American Poet,

EDGAR ALLAN POE.

Whose parents — David Poe, Jr., and Elizabeth Arnold, his wife — were Actors, and whose renown should, therefore, be cherished with peculiar reverence and pride by the Dramatic Profession of his country. He was born in Boston, the 19th of January, 1809: he died in Baltimore, the October, 1849.

He was great in his genius; Unhappy his life; Wretched in his death. But in his fame he is immortal.

The Latin stanza means in English “The lofty pine is the oftener by the winds, the tall towers fall the heavier, and the lightnings strike the mountain tops.”

The reporter of the “World” criticises somewhat the appropriateness of the design of this memorial tribute. He says, and with a great deal of truth:

“The figure is well posed, but the effect of the monument is commonplace, and the bronze bust is out of keeping with its white marble surroundings. Far better would it have been had the memorial committee adopted the idea of a Southern sculptor, Valentine. His design would have represented the line from ‘The Raven’ —

and would have shown a three-quarter life-size figure of Poe just entering a door, on whose cornice a raven was perched.”

The ceremonies at the public unveiling of the memorial this afternoon were very interesting and largely attended. Nearly 5,000 invitations to be present were issued by the committee. The exercises included an address by Hon. A. S.Sullivan; remarks by Edwin Booth, Lester Wallack and Gen. Di Cesnola; a poem by William Winter; an oration by 1 Rev. W. R. Alger; a musical composition by Geo. E. Montgomery, and other entertaining features.

The project of erecting in New York city a monument to Edgar Allan Poe, originated with William F. Gill of Boston, one of the many ardent admirers of the poet's genius. In 1879, Mr. Gill visited the grave of Poe's wife, at Fordham. There he found the sexton of the churchyard scattering to the wind the bones of her whom Poe had loved so tenderly. Mr. Gill collected the bones, carried them to, Baltimore, and caused them to be buried next to the poet's remains. Soon afterwards, he called upon Edwin Booth, and suggested raising a fund for a fitting Poe memorial in this city. Mr. Booth at once consented to do what he could to help on the project.

An entertainment given at the Madison Square Theater on the afternoon of June 28th, 1880, was the beginning of the work, which was ridiculed at the start by many who were unable to understand why the time and labor of actors should go to the building of a monument in honor of an American poet. Nevertheless, the work went on, and scores of actors seemed to be willing to help it — especially actors like Mr. Booth, Mr. McCullough, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Florence, Signor Salvini, Miss Morris, and others who are in the front rank of their profession. The Poe memorial fund became, therefore, an actors’ fund, and was raised chiefly through the labors of the actors of New York — their object being, in this commemoration of Poe, to record their pride and satisfaction in this famous poet as the child of actors.

The entertainments given besides the one already mentioned were: At Booth's Theater February 11th, 1881; at the Union Theater, December 9th, , 1881, and Square at the Academy of Music, April 23d, 1882. A few contributions were received from private individuals among the gifts being from the University of Virginia; but one it was understood, on all sides, that this memorial would be a tribute from the American stage to an American poet born of theatrical lineage.

E. S. O.