What happened to Edgar Allan Poe during his final trip from Richmond to Baltimore?

The final days of Edgar Allan Poe remain one of literature's great unsolved mysteries. After leaving Richmond on September 27, 1849, intended for Baltimore and New York, his whereabouts remained largely unknown until he was discovered in a Baltimore tavern on October 3.1

Poe was found in a state of near-unresponsiveness, wearing cheap, ill-fitting clothes that were not his own, rather than his usual attire. He was taken to a hospital, where he drifted in and out of consciousness, hallucinating until his death on October 7.1

Several theories attempt to explain his condition and death:

• Alcoholism: Some, including a doctor who saw him at the tavern, suggested he succumbed to complications from alcohol withdrawal.1
• Cooping: Because the tavern served as a polling place, it is theorized he may have been a victim of "cooping," a form of electoral fraud where victims were drugged or beaten and forced to vote multiple times, which could explain his strange clothing.1
• Medical Conditions: Various illnesses have been proposed, including diabetes, heart disease, and rabies, the latter supported by his reported difficulty drinking water.1