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Show I Pne's grave, and this was the monument monu-ment to the great poet and author for nearly thirty years. When his mother-in mother-in law Mrs. Clenim. died, she was buried bur-ied by' the side of Mr. Poe, she having made the request of me during her last illness as well as when she would come here to visit his grave, which she often did. Mrs. Clemm never left without with-out a sprig of grass or a weed from Mr Poe's grave. She was devoted to Mr' poe and I have heard her .say, 'My P'r Eddie' 83 the tearS rolIed down her thin cheeks. Yes, yes, I loved Mr. Poe, too, and I was as happy as could be when'that monument was erected to him in 1875. It is not as fine a one as he deserved. It was I who took up his bones and those of 1 hia mother and placed them over there in the northwest corner where the monument monu-ment is. What a crowd there was here on the day the monument was unveiled. un-veiled. There were sermons' and speeches, and songs, and oceans or beautiful' flowers, and all sorts of doings, do-ings, but all this was too late to do poor Mr. Poe any good. My friend, he needed these kindly offerings while he lived; but nowadays people don't seem to care much about the living and often less about the dead." GUARDED POE GRATE. ECCENTRIC BMORE SEXTON IS NO MORE. , the Pt as. Related W - .d Mao. Baltimore LeteTst a little more than a half century has pas sec 1 since Edgar Allan Poe, poet and noveUst waf laid to rest in peaceful old Vt minster graveyard, perhaps the oldest burying ground in Baltimore West minster graveyard was laid out more than a century and a bal : ag and J J the property of the First Presbyterian church in the Maryland metropoli It occupies nearly a half W" inclosed with a substantial "tone and iron fence. Until a few was guarded day and night y Gf rg! W. Spence, sexton, and bis faithful dog, "Sailor." Mr. Spence was a peculiar pecu-liar and eccentric man. and, although courteous and kindly at all times "there were those who had a fear ot coming in contact with him on account of his constant association with the dead and the graveyard, his home for many years having been in an arcn-way arcn-way of the church. In this archway are a number of graves, made- more than a century ago, and over which the present church was built. Just why this kindly old man, above the average av-erage in intelligence and with wealthy and influential family connections, chose this uncanny place for his abiding abid-ing place it is difficult to understand, but possibly the correct solution is the fact that he was a great admirer of 'Edgar Allan Poe, and when the unhappy un-happy and unfortunate poet was laid to rest in a grave near the archway Mr. Spence thought the place was good enough to make lfis home. Spence never grew tired of talking of Poe. The old sexton died a short time ago and his faithfal dog, "Sailor" was given to a gentleman living a long distance dis-tance from the graveyard.. But whenever when-ever the dog can escape from home at ; night he visits the graveyard and will ;whine piteously when he finds that he cannot get over the high iron fence. ': "Sailor" will allow no one to touch I him while at the graveyard, and when he finds that he cannot get in will return re-turn to his home. According to Sexton ; Spence, Mf. Poe was a frequent visitor vis-itor to Westminster graveyard. "Mr. I Poe would hunt in and out among the iold tombstones-and naults," said the, ! sexton, "and he was always quiet and gloomy, appearing deep' in thought Especially did he look at the graves of the Poes, but he would examine the inscriptions on all the stones, monuments monu-ments and vaults. It was only occa- THE FAITHFUL OLD SEXTON sionally that he would ask a question about some person or date. I always liked the great man for he was a , great man and I was pained when I heard of his death, which I knew nothing noth-ing of until instructed to prepare the grave for the 9th of October, 1849. I will never forget the day. It was dark and gloomy, not raining, but damp and raw and threatening. I got everything in readiness with a sad heart, for I had grown to love me man. You would have been surprised to have seen that funeral procession. There was only Just the hearse and one hack following follow-ing behind. There wasn't a single flower, not one, sir. In the hack was the minister, Rev. Mr. W. D. T Clemm; Judge Nelson Poe Henry Herring and Z. Collins Lee. That was all only four except the grave-digger and myself. The service at the grave was simple and soon over and the gentlemen went away. It was about the saddest-looking funeral service I had ever witnessed. I declare most sacredly that I took as much pains with the burial of Mr. Poe as I ever did with any, and yet some busybody started a story in the papers that Mr. Poe had been buried like a dog and that trouble was not even taken to have the coffin placed in an outside box, all of which was an untruth or no one has ever been put away in'this place in that manner. For a in while Mr Foe's grave was unmarked One day I picked up a piece of s stone with the number '80' on it that hd been broken off one of the stone, marking the numbers and divisions of lots. I put this at the head of Mr |