Poe's obituary in The Sun
Ever wonder how Edgar Allan Poe's death was handled by The Sun? He died Oct. 7, 1849, at Church Hospital (shown here; it is now housing) in the Washington Hill neighborhood. The note on his passing is very modest by today's standards. With thanks to Paul McCardell, who dug it out of the archives, here it is:
DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE -- We regret to learn that Edgar A. Poe, Esq., the distinguished American poet, scholar and critic, died in this city yesterday morning, after an illness of four or five days. This announcement, coming so sudden and unexpected, will cause poignant regret among all who admire genius, and have sympathies for the frailties too often attending it. Mr. Poe, we believe, was a native of this state, though reared by a foster father at Richmond, Va., where he lately spent some time on a visit. He was in the 38th year of his age.
The page itself makes for great reading. The Poe article was wedged among dozens of tidbits of news (including reports BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH) and ads. Among them: DREADFUL CALAMITY ...
DREADFUL CALAMITY -- We learn from a correspondent, that the Rev. James Nicols, of Caroline Conty, Md., who has for a long time been laboring under an aberation of mind, on Thursday last, shot dead Miss Julie Nichols. ...
STRAYED from home on Friday, 5th instant, a COLORED BOY namde BILL, anout ten years old, slightly marked with small pox. ... All persons are warned not to harbor said boy, at the peril of the law...
FITS! FITS!! FITS!!! HART'S VEGETABLE EXTRACT is the only remedy for EPILEPSY, a FALLING SICKNESS, CONVULSIONS, SPASMS, &c. ...
THE SEWING MACHINE, which attracted so much attention at the Fair, has been removed to the corner of Baltimore and South streets, where the public can witness its operation.
For all the Read Street posts about Poe, click here.
Comments
Thanks for posting this, esp. the other "ads" - what a glimpse they give into Poe's time!
Posted by: Heather J. | October 22, 2008 9:04 AM
How about a PDF of the page?
Posted by: M | October 22, 2008 12:52 PM
I'll see if we can make a pdf work. Unfortunately, we're working off microfilm, so the readability might not be so good after many steps of reproduction. But we do have other news items on Poe in our archives, so I'd like to give folks a look at the originals.
Posted by: Dave | October 22, 2008 1:31 PM
One of my favorite things I did in college when researching was reading old newspapers. One the things that made me smile the most was when going through old editions of the Fredericksburg Star, I found an ad for the "Famous Maryland Lottery".
Posted by: bryanintimonium | October 22, 2008 2:30 PM
he was forty when he died do the math
Posted by: Anonymous | October 8, 2009 5:50 PM
he was nice
Posted by: Anonymous | November 15, 2011 6:18 PM