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[page 9, column 1, continued:]
SOME REMINISCENCES.
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I read in a recent issue of the Sunday Post an account of the death of Edgar A. Poe. I am familiar with the facts stated. At that time (1849) there could have been no registry in Baltimore, for on the eve of an election “Coops,” as they were called, were prepared in different localities, and men drunk on the street were “gabbed” up and “corralled” like the press gangs of old, in these “coops,” where they were kept drunk or drugged.
Edgar A. Poe was caught by one of these gangs and carried, as I understood, at the time, to a “coop” in the rear of a tavern in old town kept by Ned Peterbridge, a famed political resort in those days, when the contending political parties were Whig and Democratic, and from these “coops” they were taken on the morning of election and voted “early and often.” Thus, while oblivious of his surroundings, came to his death the great poet and genius of his age. I was in Baltimore at the time, and it was generally known that Edgar A. Poe's death occurred as stated. I had gone to Baltimore with Richard Wallack, who was president of the “Rough and Ready Club,” Walter Lenox and Harry Winter escorting to the polls some negligent voters, whose interest in politics required to be stimulated.
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Notes:
Only this one reminiscence has anything to do with Edgar Allan Poe.
The author, partly confirmed by other entries in these reminiscences, appears to have been John Francis Coyle (1820-1905), of whom an extended obituary appears in the Washington Post for Jan. 7, 1905, p. 10, implying that he was born in 1820. In that obituary, he was described as “indeed the ‘last leaf,’ the only survivor of a coterie of men who were the leaders in a brilliant, if somewhat unconventional, life in Washington during the thirty years prior to 1875” and “one of the owners and editors of the National Intelligencer.” He was a personal friend of President Andrew Johnson, but fell out of favor under the presidency of U. S. Grant. He married Katherine Dawson, of Baltimore, and had two children. He was apparently living in poverty during his final years.
The “Cooping” theory has been in circulation from at least 1860, when it was mentioned in a lecture delivered by John R. Thompson, given in Baltimore and elsewhere. The day when Poe was found, was election day, and he was in Ryan's Fourth Ward Polls, a tavern that also served as a voting place, and the possible event of “cooping” has been suggested as an explanation for the apparent observation that his clothing, when he was found, was not his usual attire. The controversy surrounding Poe's death makes it difficult to reach conclusions, and the “cooping” theory is just one of dozens of explanations that have been offered, none of which can be fully verified. This reminiscence is interesting chiefly because it actually names potential participants, although that may be based more on assumption than personal knowledge. The slight errors in some of the names may be attributed to memory issues.
Walter Lenox (1817-1874) was Mayor of Washington, DC, 1850-1852. “Richard Wallack” was actually Richard Wallach (1816-1881), who was president of the Central Rough and Ready Club in Washington, DC when it was formed, and he was later Mayor of Washington, DC, 1861-1868. He roomed with Lenox during the 1840s in what was called “Bachelor's Hall” at the intersection of Sixth and D Streets and Louisiana Avenue. Both were Whigs who were active in politics in the 1840s.
Matchett's Baltimore Directory for 1849-1850 lists an Edward Petherbridge (not Peterbridge) as a tavern keeper at 4 s High. Ned is a common nickname for Edward.
The “Rough and Ready Club” was a political organization of Whigs, formed in 1848 to support Zachary Taylor.
He seems to have been responding to an article in the Washington Post for Sunday, October 1, 1899 “Honor to Edgar Allan Poe” (p. 16) which mentions the cooping theory of Poe's death.
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[S:1 - WP, 1899] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - A Poe Bookshelf - Some Reminiscences (J. F. Coyle, 1899)