Note remembered

Baltimore City, Oct 3d 1849

Dear Sir,--

There is a gentleman, rather the worse for wear, at Ryan's Fourth ward polls, who goes under the cognomen of Edgar A. Poe, and who appears in great distress, & he says he is acquainted with you, and I assure you, he is in need of immediate assistance.

Yours in haste,

Jos. W. Walker

To Dr. J.E. Snodgrass

Quoted from Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, by John Evangelist Walsh. Poe left Richmond on Sept. 28, 1849, for Baltimore, then disappeared for five days. The note was written to an acquaintance of Poe's who lived near the mentioned ward polls; Snodgrass helped Poe to a hospital, where he died a few days later.