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I propose a different theory. Since I wrote The Beale Papers in the 1840’s, I was familiar with the words stampede and appliance and could easily incorporate them into my stories. A survey of my work will reveal frequent use of the word appliance, which Kruh suggests was rarely used in the 1840’s.
In fact, further analysis of The Beale Papers reveals some astonishingly similar patterns of word usage between the 1822 letters, the 1885 text and my work. Particularly with respect to my habit of using conjunctions to define practically everything, my tendency to define measurements with a lack of precision, my feelings regarding the fairer sex and my favored use of the unnamed narrator, the similarities between my work and The Beale Papers strongly suggest that I am the author of this fascinating mystery.
Conjunctions
Observe how “Beale” describes particular individuals, places and activity in the January 4, 1822 letter to Morriss:
simple and easily told character and standing friends and acquaintances information and advice long and welcome pleasures and temptations boundless wealth and future grandeur tools and appliances order or method wild and dangerous false or idle respect and confidence
Now take a look at two descriptors used in the May 9, 1822 letter from “Beale” to Morriss:
week or ten days vigilance and care
Next review the descriptors chosen by the anonymous author in the 1885 text:
fortune or accident practical and natural interest and excitement wild and roving abandoned and unclaimed generous and sympathizing purchaser and shipper owned and occupied smiling face and cheering words largest and best friendship and countenance wealthy and distinguished poor and lowly poor but worthy days and weeks forbearance and unparalled generosity courteous and gentle stern and determined confidence and affection checquered and eventful hopes and disappointments views and opinions refined and courteous free and independent week or ten days favored and popular social disposition and friendly demeanor pleasant and friendly strength and activity dark and swarthy tanned and discolored tender and polite affable and courteous supercilious or presuming genial and popular meaning or allusion faint or barely perceptible excavation or vault
All told, there are over fifty of these conjunctions in The Beale Papers. Comparing the number of conjunctions contained in the letters (14) with those in the text (38) tends to support Kruh’s conjecture that The Beale Papers is a hoax because the 1822 letters and the 1885 text appear to have been written by the same person.
Extending this analysis to my work reveals very persuasive evidence that I, indeed, am the creator of the Beale mystery. Observe a small sample of the very frequent use of conjunctions in my work:
The Purloined Letter
back library or book closet intently and exclusively chamber or cabinet nook or corner scrambling and struggling observation and admeasurement thoughts and sentiments interest and excitement appearance and arrangement
A Tale of the Ragged Mountains
interest and curiosity singularly vigorous and creative wild and dreary thick and peculiar mist or smoke rhapsodical and immethodical uncouth and fierce interest and perplexity rattling or juggling
The Pit and the Pendulum
soft and nearly imperceptible gently and stealthily feel and entertain blackness and vacancy occupied and distracted moist and slippery fabulous and frivolous sutures or joints hideous and repulsive faded and blurred effort and attention confounded and amazed massy and heavy The Man of the Crowd
vivid yet candid mad and flimsy calm but inquisitive dense and continuous abstract and generalizing talked and gesticulated absent and overdone hose or gaiters moved and settled substantial and ancient pallor and compression darker and deeper feeble and ghastly sidled and tottered innumerable and indescribable firm and springy noisy and inordinate fitful and garish arrested and absorbed confusedly and paradoxically filthy and ragged settled and heavy steadily and perseveringly wild and vacant uneasiness and vacillation narrow and gloomy bustle and activity
I rarely used just one word when two or more would permit me to surgically define whatever action or setting I wished to create for the reader. Of course, I continued in this fashion when I wrote The Beale Papers.
Indefinite MeasurementThe phrase-week or ten days-can be found in both the 1885 text and the May 9, 1822 letter. Note my practice of qualifying measurements of time, people, things, etc.:two or three servants The Beale Papersa month or more The BealePapersfor some days The Beale Paperssome 250 or 300 miles The Beale Paperseighteen months or more The Beale Papersmore than three quarters of a million The Beale Paperssixty-five or seventy years of age The Man of the Crowdnearly an hour The Man of the Crowd hour and a half, or thereabouts The Man of the Crowd party of some ten or twelve roisters The Man of the Crowd eight or ten of the neighbors The Murders in the Rue Morgue two or three long and thick tresses The Murders in the Rue Morgue nearly four thousand francs in gold The Murders in the Rue Morgue to Madame L’Espanaye for nearly four years The Murders in the Rue Morgue corpses were found, for more than six years The Murders in the Rue Morgue some five or six times The Murders in the Rue Morgue a porter once or twice The Murders in the Rue Morgue a physician some eight or ten times The Murders in the Rue Morgue about three o’clock in the morning The Murders in the Rue Morgue found some twenty or thirty persons The Murders in the Rue Morgue for several minutes-probably ten The Murders in the Rue Morgue four or five of the party The Murders in the Rue Morgue width of some eight or ten feet The Murders in the Rue Morgue about five and a half feet The Murders in the Rue Morgue twenty or thirty hairs…perhaps half a million of hairs The Murders in the Rue Morgue ten or twelve paces The Pit and the Pendulum thirty or forty feet overhead The Pit and the Pendulum nearly seven feet long Some Words with a Mummy three or four thousand years old Some Words with a Mummy five thousand and fifty years and some months Some Words with a Mummy sixty or seventy feet in length The Sphinx thirty or forty feet in length The Sphinx nearly one hundred yards in length The Sphinx some ten or twelve feet in diameter The Sphinx some three or four days The Sphinx about a sixteenth of an inch The Sphinx an hour or more The Oblong Box about a month The Oblong Box twenty-five or thirty in all The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether
You get the idea! Of course, I could be exceedingly precise when the circumstances in my stories required exact dimensions, but, as a rule, I chose indefinite measurements. I would wager that wherever in my stories I had a choice, I elected an indefinite or imprecise measurement ninety percent of the time. Why should I not continue this pattern in The Beale Papers?
The Fairer Sex
My description of Sarah Mitchell as the courageous, loving, supportive wife of Robert Morriss is consistent with my feelings toward the fairer sex. Both my aristocratic upbringing and the devastating losses of my mother, stepmother and wife, reinforced the prevailing views of the time that the ideal woman supported her man with quiet dignity, a cheerful disposition and unwavering devotion. Note my description of Sarah Mitchell:
“As a wife she was without reproach, as a generous and sympathizing woman she was without an equal; the poor will long remember her charities, and lament the friend they have lost….It was at this time that Mrs. Morriss exhibited the loveliest traits of her character. Seemingly unmindful of her condition, with a smiling face and cheering words, she so encouraged her husband that he became almost reconciled to his fate…” Now take a look at my August 20, 1835 letter to my cousin William Poe ($750,000 letter.) Note my description of my future mother in law, Maria Clemm:
“…-her daughter Maria attending her during her long & tedious illness with a Christian and martyr-like fortitude, and with a constancy of attention, and unremitting affection, which must exalt her character in the eyes of all who know her…” My work and personal letters are replete with examples of “Sarah Mitchell” and it makes sense that I would describe the only woman in The Beale Papers in my usual fashion.
The Unnamed Narrator
The unnamed narrator populates most of my short stories, so it should come as no surprise that I use this literary device in The Beale Papers. Perhaps the most famous of my narrators was C. Auguste Dupin’s foil, the father of all detective “sidekicks” and the model for Arthur Conan Doyle’s Dr. Watson. LeGrand’s unnamed friend in The Gold Bug is another confidant I created to convey the intellectual challenge of deciphering a coded message and the thrill of a treasure hunt. Likewise, I developed a chain of custody similar to that used in The Beale Papers when I created the exploration hoax, The Journal of Julius Rodman. In that story, I moved a purportedly true journal from the writer, Julius Rodman, through an anonymous source to the publisher. The Gold Bug v. The Beale Papers [Home]
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