How Is Edgar Allan Poe A Victim Of Cooping

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Edgar Allan Poe was found outside of a Baltimore pub, lying in the gutter, on October 3, 1849. He was incoherent and in different, dirty clothes belonging to another person. He was last seen a week ago, on his way to Philadelphia. Poe died on October 7th, 1849, and in the days between being discovered and his death, he was unable to regain coherentness fully, spending his last days in a hallucinic haze. There are many theories regarding his death, many theorizing it had to do with a relapse of alcohol, some sort of disease like influenza or rabies, murder, brain tumor, etc. I believe that Edgar Allan Poe was a victim of cooping, a type of voter fraud practiced commonly in the mid-1800s. It would explain the change of clothes and the strange …show more content…

Joseph W. Walker founded Poe on October 3, 1849, which was election day in Baltimore. When Poe was found outside of Gunner’s Hall, the pub, he appeared to be not wearing his proper clothing but someone else’s. An article states that in a co-op scheme, “[t]he victims were drugged, disguised and forced to vote over and over at different polling places for the chosen candidates, then left for dead,” and his ill-fitting clothes on his person when found point more towards this theory (Pruitt). His normal attire consisted of a black woolen suit that looked sophisticated and elegant. An article described how he was wearing “a cheap gabardine one with a tattered straw hat” and mentioned that “Poe’s outfit was noticeably out of character, ill-fitting, and dirty, suggesting he may have been forced to change his garments while casting multiple votes under duress,” (The Raven Report). Since victims were made to change at various times to disguise themselves, it makes sense that Poe wore clothes not typically associated with …show more content…

Various theories have been made regarding his death. However, many contain holes in the timeline or details that do not fit into them. For example, the theory of him drinking himself to death is questionable because a postmortem test done using a hair sample showed his low lead levels, meaning he couldn’t have died from alcohol. The article argues that “another physician, who tested Poe’s postmortem hair samples, claimed that in the months before his death, Poe had been avoiding virtually all alcohol — a pronouncement that threw oil on the fires of speculation,” (Serena). Other theories, like Poe being murdered by his fiance’s brothers or being beaten to death after encountering ruffians, are very unlikely given the fact that his injuries would be noticeable and mentioned, as well as the fact that they do not explain his symptoms of hallucinations and fever. The article states that “[m]ost diseases, such as influenza and rabies, have been ruled out,” and that “[o]ther theories that involve poisoning of any kind have also been debunked, as additional studies done on Poe’s post-mortem hair samples yielded no evidence,” (Serena). Opponents may argue that cooping does not make sense of the strange symptoms as well; however, it would make sense if he was drugged or received a severe head injury from being

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