Show lEMlNISCENGE Of rOE I I I The Westminster I Graveyard Where Poet Lies Buried i ITS AGED AND KINDLY SEXTON Ii I i I 1 He Has Now Gone to the Beyond I i But While In Life Hs Was a Char J I actcr His Story of the Burial Visitors to Poes Grave Senator 1 Scotts Committee Room a Scsne of I Friendly Grectings and Farewells at tho Adjournment of Congress Judge Culbersons Possessions I I t Washington Juno lii JUKI a little more than half a century has passed since Edgar Allen Pop poet and novelist novel-ist was laid to rest In tho peaceful old Westminster graveyard perhaps the oldest burying ground In Baltimore but I as time rolls on the poems and lilies of this great author grow nearer and dearer to the entire civilized world His works are more widely knowntand read I perhaps than those of any other American Amer-ican author they have been translated Into the language of every people that possess a modern literature and editions l edi-tions of his wprks are Innumerable Much has been written concerning Poe JIo has been eulogized and admired ad-mired scandalized and defamed liip generous writer has I admired hiS tal eats and let hlSfaults go unchallenged but tho Just critic while giving unstinted un-stinted jwalse to his genius must of necessity say a word If only In pity concerning the unfortunate habit which unquestionably hastened his untimely end The really mean things said about Poe are due to contemporaries whom he overshadowed lie was a severe critic of writers but It cannot be said with truth that Poe was unjust Time has consigned to obscurity the poetasters poetas-ters and writers against whom this bnl hunt mind had warned his readers thus ratifying hits Judgment But the history his-tory of Poo Is too well known to reading read-ing people to require recapitulation here and It is of quiet old Westminster graveyard Its aired sexton the burial 1 of Poe and the monument erected by the public school children the writer wishes to urine out Westminster graveyard wan laid out more than a r century and a half ago and Is the property of the First Presbyterian Pres-byterian church It is located at the corner of Fayeftu and Greene streets and occupies nearly a half square being be-ing enclosed with a substantial stone and iron fence and until a few months ago was guarded day and night by George W Sponce sexton and hid faithful dog Sailor Mr Spence was a peculiar and eccentric man and although al-though courteous and kindly at all times there wvrp those who had a fear of coming In contact with him on account ac-count of his conHtant associations with the dead anO the graveyatd his home I for many year having been in the aichway under the rear of the church I In this archway aio a numcr of graves made more than a century ago andover I and-over which the present church was built Jual whv Wa kind old man above the average lit l Intelligence and with I I wealthy and UUluentJal family connections connec-tions chose tjila uncanny place for hs abiding placo It Is difficult to understand under-stand but possibly the correct solution solu-tion Is the fare that he was a great admirer of Edjjar 1 Allen Poe anti when the unhappy and unfortunate post was laid to lest In a grave near the archway arch-way Mr Ponco thought the place was good cnoujjlv to make his home Ho never grew tIred l of talking of Poe The old sexton died it short time ago and his faithful companion Sailor war f given to a gentleman living quite along a-long distance from tin graveyard It IB aId that whenever dog can escape es-cape from hoip at njfihts he visits the graveyard and will whine piteously when he flndk that hq cannot get over the high Iron fcncc Sullor will allow I no one to touch him while at the graveyard and when he finds that ho cannot get in ha will return home Another An-other peculiar fact I if thai It Is almost Impossible to keen < cuts out of the graveyard ajid itraujger still those cats I seem to prefer the monument of POCH grave as a place h > bask in the sun While the vrrjjer was at the graveyard a fen days AKO a largo torlulgashell cat was snugly slGfping on the very spot where th i mryns of POOK wJfe r ncro phupd years after she died at I loKlhuin N y Wheji th fact lsrc called that Mrs POl lied In the early autumn her life passing away as shu r lay on a bed of straw nipped In one I of her husbands coats and In her I bosom to keep her warm nestled a tor loiseshell cat it Is enough to cause he t superstitious to hasten uwuy from the burying ground O O tl According to Mr Spence In an Inter i Iew ti short time before his Ileuth Mr Poe was a frequent visitor to Westminster West-minster Bfavoyuid Mr Poe would hunt In and out the old tombstones awl vaults said Mr Spence and he was always quiet and gloomy appearing i deep in thought Especially did he like f to look at the graves of the Pocs but he would examine the Inscriptions on I 0l of the stones monuments and vaults It was only occasionally that I he would ask a question about some person or date always liked the great man for he was a great man 1 was pained when I heard of his death I which I knew nothing of until I was instructed to prepare the grave for the 9th of October 15191 will never forget the duy it was dark and gloomy not raining but damp and raw and threatening 1 got everything l In readiness with a sad heart for I I had grown to love the man You would have been surprised to have seen that I funeral procession There was only just the hearse and one hack following behind be-hind There wasnt a single flower not one sir In the hack was the minister min-ister I Rev W D T Clemm Judge Nolson Poe Ml Henry Herring and Hon 55 Collns Lee That was all only four except the graved igger and myself The services at the grave were simple and soon over and the gentlemen gentle-men went away Ii was about the I saddest looking funeral services J had ever witnessed I declare most sacredly sacred-ly 1 that I took as much pains with the burial of Mr Poe as 1 ever did with any and yet some busybody started a story In the papers that Mr Poe had been burled like a dog and trouble was not even taken to place the coffin in an Inaldo box all of Which was an untruth un-truth for no one has ever been put away in this place In that manner For along time Mr Poes grave was unmarked un-marked and one day I picked up apiece a-piece of sandstone with the number 0on it that had broken off one of the stonts marking tho numbers and divisions of lots I put this at the grave of Mr Pocs grave and this was the monument to the great poet and author for nearly thirty years When his motherinlaw Mrs Clemm died she was burled by the side of Mr Poe shu having made the request of me during her last illness as well as when J she would come here to visit his grave which she often did Mrs Clemm noV l er left without a sprig of grass or a weed from Mr Poes grave She was devoted to Mr Poe and I have heard her say My poor Eddie as the tears rolled down her cheeks Yes yes 1 loved Mr Poe too and I was as happy as could be when that monument was erected to him In 1S75 It Is 1 not as line a one as he deserved It was I who took his bones and those of his mother and placed them over there In the noikhWest corner where the monument monu-ment Is What a crowd therewas hereon here-on the day the monument was unveiled There were sermonsahd speeches and songs and oceans of beautiful flowers and all sorts of doings but all this was too late to do MrPae any good My friend he needed tncsc kind offerings while hq lived bulMiowadays people dont seem jotarc much about the living liv-ing I and often less about the dead o And with this theold snxton walked Intohis home In the archway among the giavqs and it was not long after that his eyes closed In the last long sloop h and now another is caring for Mho t craves In old Wentmlnster where I Asleep such men as John Strieker the distinguished Marylander and soldier of the RevolutionCapt Paul Benta lon another Revolutionary hero in whose arms Count Pulaskl died at tho battle of Savannah Gen Samuel Smith a soldier of the Rcvplutlon Secretary Sec-retary of the Navy Mayor of Baltimore Balti-more and for thirty yeum a monger of Congress James McHcnry one of the framers of the Constitution secretary secre-tary to Gen Washington during the Revolution and Secretary oC War In his Cabinet William Patterson father of beautiful Betty Patterson belle of Baltimore and afterward wife of Jerome Bonaparte Philip Barton Key who met death from a pistol shot at the hands of Gen Dan SIcklOH In Washington Wash-ington the father and grandfather of the poet John David Poe John Calhoun Cal-houn fIrst Mayor of Baltimore and Others of equal note A jug of mellow peach brandy In Senator Scotts committee loom was freely tapped by the Senator und his friends on the night preceding tho adjournment ad-journment of that body Republicans and Democrats got together over the seductive fluid and some of tho antics of the lawmakers would inrilce powerful interesting reading It made the usually t usual-ly staid and dlgnlHcd Senators as frisky and as playful as kittens without with-out bringing to thp surface any disposition dispo-sition to display their pugilistic qualifications quali-fications Speaking the West Virginia Senators Sena-tors pencil and honey Congressman Henry of Texas said Ml am reminded by the treatment of Senator Scott of the once famous old Judge Cole of my State He was characterized char-acterized by his attachment to that seducive beverage peach and honey and Ills hatred of whisky and whisky drinkers While holding court at Austin Aus-tin two men were brought up on a charge of drunken naiay It was u plain case and there waa a score of witnesses td the transaction The delinquents de-linquents pleaded guilty and threw themselves on the mercy of the court They werv brought up for sentence separately You arc guilty of an affray growled the Judge Yes your Honor whined tile offender of-fender and with the hope that It might mitigate the punishment added that he was drunk Drunk on rye whisky too1 roared the Judge In a voice of thun eYes i e-Yes your Jrlonor drunk on rye whisky Mr I Clerk lecordal1ne of 30 against this man cried Judge Cole and send him to Jail for sixty days Wish 1 could doublojl This was POOt comfort for the other fellow who was waiting his turn and he came forward with fear and trembling trem-bling but in an Instant his face tore a faint smile which was not understood under-stood until the Judge began to qiien lion him first asking If he toOus drunk drunkYes Yes your Honor drunk very drunk was the reply Oh no your Honor I never drank whisky I got tangled up on peach and brandy o The Judges features relaxed In an Instant and the prisoner realized that he had made u tenstrike As th t Judge raised his spectacles he contemplated contem-plated the offender with Interest and then with something like Tenderness said Ah Hlr peach und honey oh Thats a gentlemans drink sr The court I sympathises with you kit antI does not regard your offense as very ae rlous Mr Clerk enter a fine of SI against this gentleman and cllschargo him on payment of costs S According to Senator Tlllman Nine tySix t S i C was named by an Indian woman It being the end of h Journey I made by her on foot during the Revolutionary Revo-lutionary war to inform the British that tile enemy would attack them The Indian woman knew the tort wan in danger and determined to Inform the officials She left her home on the Keowce river and made her way on foot through virgin forest t swamp and I snow On crossing each stream ShIn gave It thus name lot tie number of mllus she had traveled before reaching reach-ing It In Plckfnn couijty aloig the Piedmont belt through which the Southern railway runs there are eighteen creeks named uUto twenty slxt pIt < I p-It required a day and a night for the = I squaw to reach Ninetysix It is one of the oldest towns in the Stnips his tory The buildings arc of ancient construction con-struction The typical African IB to bo found there who have defeated ihe Jim Crow card for having their hair done up In a French twlsl S S There Is a peculiar portrait In AVash IiiRlon which has created much in torcst to those who know of Its existence exis-tence Its peculiarity Is that every year It has been changed to show the changes which time would have made In the original The portrait Is by l a Washington artist and Is that of his wife and was painted many years ago when she wus a young bride A few years after tho portrait was painted the young wife died and so great was the grief of the artist that he determined deter-mined to keep her likeness with him all the time and to do so he decided that year by year he would change the portrait so as to make it grow old with him and thus keep I her as it were ever with him Every year on the anniversary of their wedding day the artist locks himself In his studio and changes the lines of the race of the portrait adding what ho thinks would make the difference the year There has been many adversaries of that wedding day and consequently many changes in the portrait Today the picture Is that of an old woman the hair turned gnny the face wrinkled and pale but still beneath the marks of time as made by the brush of the artist cun be seen the early beauty of the bride and the attractiveness of tile woman S S SIt S-It Is said that the late Judge Cul berson of Texas for many years In Congress and I at the time ohls death a member of the codifying commission com-mission had In his possession documents docu-ments which would prove an important impor-tant contribution to the records of tho Rebellion and would shpw that Texas came near being one of the chief battlegrounds bat-tlegrounds of the Civil war Gen Sam Houston was Governor of Texas at the time of the beginning of the conflict and was opposed to acceding but the ordinance of secession passed the Legislature President Lincoln knew of Gov r Houstons stand and sent a messenger to Austin offering to furnish the Governor 75000 soldiers to back him A conference of the Union men was held In the Executive Mansion Man-sion and the messenger personally delivered de-livered the Presidents offer The responsibility re-sponsibility was more than they Could undertake and President Lincoln was so Informed |