My Home Town

Today I’d like to take a slight change of pace with a look at an area that is not often associated with Edgar Allan Poe, but an area in which the Allan family vacationed - White Sulphur Springs during the summers of 1812, 1813, and 1814.   Prior to the Civil War, the White Sulphur Springs area was called western Virginia, but all that changed when West Virginia became a state in 1863.

Now it would have taken roughly three days for the Allans to travel from Richmond to Charlottesville, then two days (the way the schedules for carriages were structured) to travel the 30 miles from Charlottesville to Staunton, and at least three days to travel from Staunton to White Sulphur Springs. This podcast episode will concentrate on several events in the 19th century that occurred in Staunton - a town that means a great deal to me because it is where I was born, grew up, and lived over half my life.

Transcript

Ghost of Mr. Poe - Italics
George - plain text

Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley, and this is Episode 246 - My Home Town - and this podcast episode uses some of the material that Celebrate Poe used for one of the most popular episodes that this podcast has ever had.

Today I’d like to take a slight change of pace with a look at an area that is not often associated with Edgar Allan Poe, but an area in which the Allan family vacationed - White Sulphur Springs during the summers of 1812, 1813, and 1814.   Prior to the Civil War, the White Sulphur Springs area was called western Virginia, but all that changed when West Virginia became a state in 1863.

Now it would have taken roughly three days for the Allans to travel from Richmond to Charlottesville, then two days (the way the schedules for carriages were structured) to travel the 30 miles from Charlottesville to Staunton, and at least three days to travel from Staunton to White Sulphur Springs. This podcast episode will concentrate on several events in the 19th century that occurred in Staunton - a town that means a great deal to me because it is where I was born, grew up, and lived over half my life.

GHOST ENTER

Hello, Mr. Poe: How are you today?

Most tolerable.  You know that it is a part of my nature to make a grand entrance.

Yes, Mr. Poe - you do have your histrionic side. 

Now I was telling our listeners today that during the summers of 1812, 1813, and 1814, that the Allans would vacation at White Sulphur Springs in West Virginia.

You mean, WESTERN Virginia.

Yes, Mr. Poe - I stand corrected - West Virginia had not been recognized as a state until after your earthly demise, so it would have been western Virginia.

I accept your correction. 
 
Now  I believe we will discuss a period of my life when those around me would be more apt to call me little Edgar, Eddie, or just Edgar. Some might say I was still adjusting to life with the Allans, and was gradually becoming more at ease. Mrs. Allan was extremely accepting and nurturing - John Allan less so - I later came to believe that the fact that he agreed to raise me was a result of his wife’s pleadings.  

I became almost like a pet in the Allan household as I unknowingly helped fill the empty home.  You might say that I was an extremely precocious child.  Before I was six, I could read, draw, and dance - talents I frequently displayed to visiting guests. Often when guests came, the family’s long and narrow Virginia table would be cleared and the table became my stage. 

Mr. Poe - I can only imagine you singing and dancing on the living room table.

Yes, such an action is somewhat embarrassing to me now -

I certainly understand.   Would you continue you story?

Now I feel it is important to note that John Allan had made plans - tho those plans were still in their infancy - to establish a branch of his business of Ellis and Allan in London.  Traveling to England would have been quite exciting - but Mr. Allan was forced to postpone these plans as a result of the trade embargo.  Now at the time, I attended a private school in Richmond for students of my age to learn what best could be described as the rudiments of knowledge. I later discovered that John Allan was also paying Mr. William Richardson, a Richmond schoolmaster, to tutor his illegitimate son Edwin Collier - information that certainly helped to sour any positive relationship I might have had with Mr. Allan.  But at the time, I knew Mr. Allan lovingly as Pa.

According to writers Dwight R. Thomas and David K. Jackson, Ma wrote John Allan expressing her fears at the British landings on September 11 of 1814, though fortunately her fears were largely groundless. 
In one of the few letters of hers that still exists, she wrote 
My Dear husband
I received your kind epistle of the 6th and was pleased to hear my dear friends were well - also that our City is safe from the enemy I trust in god it may continue so — Judge Coalter has been so polite as to call on me and invite us to dine with him. we accepted the invitasion and spent a very agreable day, . give my love to all my friends and accept the same from
yours affectionnately
FRANCES K. ALLAN
Ma wrote this letter from Staunton, Virginia

Then Mr. Poe - I am blown away by the fact that your mother dined with a Judge Coalter.  Judge Coalter was from Staunton, and owned a huge plantation.  He was a lawyer, judge, and served almost twenty years on  the Virginia Supreme Court.  And I used to LIVE on a Coalter Street in Staunton.  

How quaint.

During the summer months - the - how should i put it - the Southern aristocracy - traveled to White Sulphur Springs to basically socialize with others - to see and be seen.  During the summers of 1812, 1813, and 1814, the Allans went to that fashionable resort area.

And, a note before we go any further - listeners have probably noted that I pronounce the subject of today’s episode as STAN ton - instead of what might look like its correct pronunciation phonetically - STAWN - ton
One story about this was that during the War Between the States, citizens of the town created the STAN ton pronunciation so they could quickly identify Yankees who would probably pronounce the word STAWN - ton -  that’s also a good way of identifying a telemarketer from the north - who invariably would say, “Can I speak with George Bartley of STAWN - ton?’ 

Mr. Bartley let us return our concentration to the subject at hand - the Allan’s vacations in White Sulphur Springs.
The route to the Springs obviously started in Richmond, and then to Charlottesville.  So the Allans would have traveled the approximately 60 miles from Richmond to Charlottesville, and then the 30 miles to Staunton. 
After the city environment of Richmond, I am sure that I was impressed, awed, and perhaps a bit frighted as our stagecoach traveled the forests in Virginia.  I am sure that Ma would have comforted me when I heard the noises of frogs and birds in the forests at night.

Unfortunately, Mr. Poe, we just don’t have many historical records that would indicate exactly what the Allan family did during their stop-overs in Staunton.  But according to Staunton historian Charles Culbertson in his excellent the Staunton Virginia Anthology, the main hostelry in Staunton for almost 70 years was the Washington Tavern.  

Mr. Bartley, I don’t remember exactly where we stayed during a stopover in Staunton on our way to White Sulphur Springs, but based on the information you learned from your research, it seems that the Washington Inn seems like exactly the place that the wealthy Allans would have stayed overnight. There were most definitely other inns and taverns in Staunton where the Allans could have stayed, but the Washington Tavern played host to such contemporaries as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Henry Clay, and seems to be the a most esteemed establishment - an establishment worthy of John Allan’s financial means and prestige. Mr. Bartley I learned from reading a work by Mr. Culbertson in the Alderman Library that we do not know exactly when the Washington Tavern  was founded - just that it was located on the northeast corner of what are now South New and Johnson streets - where today’s New Street parking garage is located.

Wow!  I used to have an apartment across from the New Street parking garage in Staunton.

You know, Mr. Poe - you hear  people saying “Washington slept here.” - Well, I used to park my car everynight where Washington slept!  

Again, Mr. Bartley - thank you for your totally insignificant observation.

Well, Mr. Poe - bless your heart!

We need to rapidly alter the tone of this conversation, Mr. Bartley, before we begin to disagree in a most lamentable fashion. Continuing our discussion of the Washington Inn- it was located at the end of at least one stage line that we know about - and that makes it seem more likely that the Allans would have stayed there rather than tramp around town searching for rooms.

Mr. Bartley - The story is told that a young Englishman by the name of William Watson lodged at the Washington in 1788, and being a rather troublesome individual with a hot temper, was murdered there.  His killer beheaded him in his room.  The murderer then took Mr. Watson’s body to a cave on what was then called Abney’s Hill (today citizens refer to the relevant area as Sear’s Hill) and dumped the body in a cave there.  Later some boys were exploring the cave, and found the body. 
Now it is said that the blood stains on the floor of Mr. Watson’s room resisted any attempts at cleaning. 

You mean, the blood stains wouldn’t come up!

That is exactly what I stated. Nothing would enable an individual to remove the blood stains.  And future occupants of the room where Mr. Watson was beheaded would claim that Mr. Watson’s headless body would visit them.  The story was so widely accepted that those staying at the Washington Tavern would specifically request that they not be given the haunted room with blood on the floor.

Mr. Bartley, if you would permit me, I would like to end this episode with a true crime story that occurred in Staunton in the 1830s.  One might say it is very Poe-esque, the death of a beautiful woman, and a complicated murder .
And Mr. Poe - for the benefit of our listeners, could you relate the story using a more contemporary style rather than what you might have written in the 19th century?

Certainly
.
And while the tale doesn’t exactly have a happy ending, it does have a little bit of Cinderella - but instead of evil step-sisters, you have evil-step daughters. The tale is the story of Mr. Jackson Wessels of Staunton.  He died in 1837, and his estate led to a combination of greed, lust, lies, and in the words of Mr. Shakespeare - murder most foul.

To begin with - when Mr. Wessells died, he left an estate worth $300,000 dollars. I checked on the Internet machine, and today that would be worth over 7 ½ million dollars.  Mr. Wessels left several survivors - three married daughters - Reminds me of King Lear with his three daughters and a young and most beautiful second wife, Adelia. And he left a will that gave almost everything to the husbands of his daughters -

Yes, Mr. Poe - leaving to the husbands instead of their wives is something that would have been done in Shakespeare’s time, but I can’t believe that  it was done just 200 years ago. 

However,  Mr. Bartley, the problem was that no one could find the will.  And the notary public who had drawn up the will was deceased, so there was no one in Staunton who could verify the will’s existence. The young Adelia, who was described as a “handsome amiable woman” of about 30, was not able to ignore a $300,000 fortune, so she began to argue with her step-daughters and their husbands regarding the money - one can easily surmise  that a considerable amount of ill-will was generated.

Again, Mr Poe, it sounds like the three sisters in King Lear.

Mr. Bartley, Adelia was quite beloved in the Staunton community, so the public quickly sided with her.  This even became a national story, and a reporter for the Huntingdon Journal in Pennslyvania wrote about Adelia: “Her sweetness of temper was almost proverbial, and the spiteful comments which her step-children made upon her were most unfavorably received by the people of Staunton.”  Wrangling over the estate extended into 1839, with neither Adelia nor her step-children claiming the estate. Then on Sept. 2, 1839, - to use your current vernacular - the plot thickened.  You see, a Mr. Charles Fredericks – a handsome, 22-year-old lawyer from Baltimore – came to settle in Staunton. Being a proper gentleman, he bore a letter of introduction to Adelia Wessels, whom he visited the day after arriving in the city. When they met, the attraction between Mr. Fredericks and Adelia was almost instantaneous. The pair, “five minutes after being brought face to face, had become declared lovers,” noted the Huntingdon Journal reporter. They were married the next day.  Not surprisingly, all of Staunton was horrified at their blatant disregard of the norms of polite society. Adelia was reported to have said, “I have never felt as contented as I do now. My husband is the best of men.”  But four days later, while her husband was away on business, tragedy occurred . Adelia was found dead in her bed.

Staunton’s lone physician, (who was probably deficient in his knowledge of medicine - examined the corpse and declared that Adelia had died of heart disease. Adelia’s body was almost removed from the house when Mr. Fredericks returned from his business trip. Can you imagine if Mr. Fredericks had returned a day later to find that his wife’s body was no longer in the house? That would have been especially tragic, especially because he had not heard of her death until he reached Staunton.  It is said that when he first saw her body - dead, stiff, and stark - he stood for a minute as if spellbound.  Then he threw himself on the body of his wife wildly lamenting and covering her cold cheeks with the burning kisses of despairing love.

When Mr, Fredericks arose, he asked, dazedly, “Who killed her?” 
The coroner replied - Dr. Barnes says she died of heart disease.
Mr. Fredericks exclaimed, “He must be a fool.  Look at this!”

Mr. Fredericks pointed to several black spots on Adelia’s neck.  The coroner and several other individuals in the room examined the spots, then opened her mouth, and saw that her tongue was black.
“Heart disease!!! ” Mr. Fredericks said scornfully to Dr. Barnes - Death by suffocation, I suppose!

Mr. Fredericks was by now completely distraught, and had to be removed from the room.

Then the coroner announced that Adelia had been “strangled by some person unknown.” 

Was it the husband? Or one or all of the sisters? Or one or all of the husbands? Now the investigation first focused on the husband, but he was quickly discounted as a suspect because he would have been out of town during the murder.

But unfortunately, there seemed to be no clues, and the case appeared unsolvable.  Mr. Fredericks left Staunton a few weeks later.  Adelia’s step-daughters and then husbands were quickly awarded the estate. 

Mr. Poe, that seems like a really unfair ending to the tale.

Yes, Mr. Bartley, it would seem so, but human nature, being what it is, changed everything.  In 1842, the sisters began quarreling among themselves,  One of the daughters was especially angry, and claimed that Edward Jeffires - the husband of one of the sisters - had murdered Adelia in 1839.   According to the Huntingdon Journal, This statement created a profound sensation in Staunton, and the three daughters and their husbands were arrested,”  Mr. Fredericks then came back to Staunton.  He informed the women that the women would receive perfect immunity from criminal prosecution, and that an Edward Jeffries went to Adelia’s house when he knew she would be in bed.  He had long lusted for Adelia, and made sexual advances, which she promptly rejected, as any proper lady would.   Furious at her repudiation of his advances, he wrapped his hands around her neck and choked her.

When confronted with this information, this Edward Jeffries did not deny his crime. He somehow appeared to feel justified by attributing it to his “amorous passion” for Adelia.  Edward Jeffries was found guilty of murder in the first degree, and was hanged on January 5, 1846.

Wow, Mr. Poe - that was really a cool story.  I couldn’t have told it better myself.

And now, Mr. Bartley, I must take my leave.

Farewell, Mr. Poe.

Farewell, Mr. Bartley.


SOUND OF GHOST EXITING
Join Celebrate Poe for Episode 247 - Being Gay in the 19th Century - a introduction to the episodes for Pride Month with such 19th century LGBTQ notables as Oscar Wilde, John Addington Symonds, Emily Dickinson, Bayard Taylor, and Walt Whitman.

Sources include the Staunton Anthology by Charles Culbertson, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography by Arthur Hobson Quinn, and The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Dwight R. Thomas and David K. Jackson.

Thank you for listening to Celebrate Poe.