Mathew Brady
On October 3, 1849, Dr. Joseph E. Snodgrass received the
following note:
Baltimore City, Oct. 3, 1849
Dear Sir,
There is a gentleman, rather the worse for wear, at Ryan's 4th
ward polls, who goes under the cognomen of Edgar A. Poe, and
who appears in great distress, & he says he is acquainted with
you, he is in need of immediate assistance.
Yours, in haste,
JOS. W. WALKER
To Dr. J.E. Snodgrass.
Dr. Snodgrass found Poe semiconscious and dressed in cheap,
ill-fitting clothes very different from Poe’s usual mode of dressing.
Many believe that Poe's own clothing had been stolen. Poe was
taken to Washington College Hospital on the afternoon of October
3 and did not regain consciousness until the next morning. For
days he passed from delirium to unconsciousness, but never
recovered well enough to tell how he had arrived in such a
condition. On the fourth night, for no known reason he started
calling loudly for “Reynolds”.
In the early morning hours of October 7, Poe calmly breathed a
simple prayer, said "Lord, help my poor soul," and died. The cause
of his death was ascribed to "congestion of the brain." No autopsy
was performed, and the author was buried two days later. In
dying under such mysterious circumstances, the father of the
detective story has left us with a real-life mystery which Poe
scholars, medical professionals, and others have been trying to
solve for over 150 years.
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