The (Still) Mysterious Death Of Edgar Allan Poe

As Halloween again approaches, Natasha Geiling at the Smithsonian magazine offers a look back at the mysterious death of Edgar Allan Poe. 

It was raining in Baltimore on October 3, 1849, but that didn't stop Joseph W. Walker, a compositor for the Baltimore Sun, from heading out to Gunner's Hall, a public house bustling with activity. It was Election Day, and Gunner's Hall served as a pop-up polling location for the 4th Ward polls. When Walker arrived at Gunner's Hall, he found a man, delirious and dressed in shabby secondhand clothes, lying in the gutter. The man was semi-conscious and unable to move, but as Walker approached him, he discovered something unexpected: The man was Edgar Allan Poe. 

 …On September 27—almost a week earlier—Poe had left Richmond, Virginia, bound for Philadelphia to edit a collection of poems for Marguerite St. Leon Loud, a minor figure in American poetry at the time. When Walker found Poe in delirious disarray outside of the polling place, it was the first anyone had heard or seen of the poet since his departure from Richmond. Poe never made it to Philadelphia to attend to his editing business. Nor did he ever make it back to New York, where he had been living, to escort his aunt back to Richmond for his impending wedding. Poe was never to leave Baltimore, where he launched his career in the early 19th century, again—and in the four days between Walker finding Poe outside the public house and Poe's death on October 7, he never regained enough consciousness to explain how he had come to be found, in soiled clothes not his own, incoherent on the streets. Instead, Poe spent his final days wavering between fits of delirium, gripped by visual hallucinations. The night before his death, according to his attending physician John J. Moran, Poe repeatedly called out for "Reynolds"—a figure who, to this day, remains a mystery. 

You can read the rest of the piece and watch a brief video via the link below: 

The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe

You can also read my Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat column on Poe in Philadelphia via the link below:

Paul Davis On Crime: Poe In Philadelphia: My Philadelphia Weekly 'Crime Beat' Column On Edgar Allan Poe's Creative Peak In Philly 

A Guide To Hemingway's Paris

Natasha Geiling at Smithsonianmag.com offers a piece on the late Ernest Hemingway's stomping grounds in Paris.

rnest Hemingway was a man of the world, and his global travels are well-reflected in his famous works. The Caribbean, Africa, America and Europe all hosted the famous writer at one point or another, but perhaps no location is as heavily associated with Hemingway as Paris. "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man," Hemingway once wrote, "then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
Hemingway moved to Paris with his first wife, Hadley, in 1921. The young couple lived in an apartment on the rue Cardinale Lemoine in Paris' 5th arrondissement. The apartment was sparse, with no running water and a bathroom that consisted of little more than a bucket. Hemingway rented another space, at 39 rue Descartes, where he did his writing.
During their time in Paris, the Hemingways became acquainted with other ex-pats living in the city. Composing the famous "Lost Generation," these artists, including Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, Picasso and James Joyce, became central to Hemingway's growth as a writer.



Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/guide-hemingways-paris-180950079/#IcVKWRGIGuZRopwt.99
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
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rnest Hemingway was a man of the world, and his global travels are well-reflected in his famous works. The Caribbean, Africa, America and Europe all hosted the famous writer at one point or another, but perhaps no location is as heavily associated with Hemingway as Paris. "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man," Hemingway once wrote, "then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
Hemingway moved to Paris with his first wife, Hadley, in 1921. The young couple lived in an apartment on the rue Cardinale Lemoine in Paris' 5th arrondissement. The apartment was sparse, with no running water and a bathroom that consisted of little more than a bucket. Hemingway rented another space, at 39 rue Descartes, where he did his writing.
During their time in Paris, the Hemingways became acquainted with other ex-pats living in the city. Composing the famous "Lost Generation," these artists, including Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, Picasso and James Joyce, became central to Hemingway's growth as a writer.



Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/guide-hemingways-paris-180950079/#IcVKWRGIGuZRopwt.99
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

Ernest Hemingway was a man of the world, and his global travels are well-reflected in his famous works. The Caribbean, Africa, America and Europe all hosted the famous writer at one point or another, but perhaps no location is as heavily associated with Hemingway as Paris. "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man," Hemingway once wrote," Then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/guide-hemingways-paris-180950079/?no-ist