Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/104

 for Poe, whom he introduced to Mr. White, editor and proprietor of The Southern Literary Messenger, of Richmond.

Mrs. Clemm was now living at No. 3 Amity Street and whatever Poe made went into their common fund of living. The city limits were near, and Poe with his friend L. A. Wilmer, editor of The Saturday Visitor, often taking Virginia with them, went for long walks in the country. The two men became fast friends and Wilmer gallantly defended Poe, when, in 1859, he published a book entitled "Our Press Gang, or The Crimes of the American Newpapers."

Mr. Allan died in Richmond on March 27, 1834. "Shortly before this event Poe called at his house, and being told by Mrs. Allan, who did not recognize him, that the physicians had forbidden her husband to see anyone, he thrust her aside and walked rapidly to Mr. Allan's chamber; on his entrance Mr. Allan raised his cane which he used to walk with, and, threatening to strike him if he came within his reach, ordered him out, a command that Poe at once obeyed. This was the so-called violent scene in which the two parted. Mr. Allan left three children; his will cut off any lingering hopes of inheritance Poe may have indulged in and threw him irretrievably on his own resources.

Again in Baltimore, Poe with his friend Wilmer planned a literary journal whose utterances were to be untrammeled with opinions other than their own, the first note here sounded of Poe's wish for his own medium of expression, henceforth co-existent with his life. Nothing came