It is ironic that the creator of the mystery genre died in the most curious way. The death of Edgar Allan Poe on October 7, 1859 in Baltimore is one which stumps historians and professors to this day (Semtner). Was his extreme alcoholism the cause of his downfall? Was he beat to death by those whose works he criticized? Or was he simply ill; both mentally and physically? Although all of these theories hold truth in some regard, and most likely contributed to his eventual death, the ultimate cause of Poe’s death was cooping.
Cooping is a method of voter fraud that was used by gangs in the 19th century; an unwary victim would be kidnapped, drugged, disguised, and forced to vote for a specific candidate several times (Geiling). The circumstances in which Poe was found point to the fact that he was the victim of a cooping. He was found delirious on election day at Ryan’s 4th Ward Polls, also known as Gunner’s
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Poe struggled with alcoholism for most of his life(Geiling). With this in mind, it is not surprising that someone related to cooping could easily tempt Poe with alcohol and get him drunk to a dangerous point. Another factor that could have contributed to his death is illness. Whilst preparing for his departure for Richmond during his final days, Poe contacted a physician due to weak pulse and fever; the doctor told him he was not fit for travel, yet Poe traveled anyway (Geiling). In addition, years later after having Poe’s body exhumed and reburied, a mass was found rolling around inside of his skull (Harris). While the mass couldn’t possibly be his brain, it could be a brain tumor which can calcify after death (Harris). Since Poe was reportedly so ill, adding alcohol, cold weather, and illness would all contribute to an extremely weak man. With all of these burdens, it should not be a surprise to anyone that Poe passed away when he