Edgar Allen Poe's Death--Rabies or Alcoholism?

Edgar Allen Poe's Death--Rabies or Alcoholism?

Dear Editor,
I am fairly sure you have heard of Edgar Allan Poe. Pretty much everyone has, so I’m hoping you have as well. I am truly sorry for taking up your valuable time, but I have a very important issue to discuss. Poe’s death. Poe died of rabies, according to me. As you may have read, the days Poe spent in the hospital before his death, he was, according to Michael Benitez, ‘perspiring heavily, hallucinating, and shouting at imaginary companions.’ And ‘in the brief period when he was calm and awake, Poe refused alcohol and could drink water only with great difficulty.’ Those are all symptoms of rabies.
One of my reasons for believing that Poe died of rabies is that Poe had a cat. Sure, we don’t have proof about the cat having had rabies, yet we know it’s a definite possibility. They hadn’t invented ‘rabies shots’ back then, so there was really no way to determine if the cat had rabies or not. Also, it’s not necessary that the cat bit him. The man was unconscious for a few days, and he was on the streets. Any stray animal could’ve bitten him and Poe could’ve gotten rabies that way. Therefore, my warrant for this is that since Poe had a cat who had a possibility of having rabies, and he was unconscious for a few days and might’ve been bitten by a stray animal, Poe received rabies.
My second reason for this belief is that when he was delivered to the hospital, none of the doctors knew whom he was. They all simply thought that he was another random patient. Therefore, they didn’t treat him extra specially. They were honest about what they thought the problem with Poe was, and what they said was that the symptoms pointed towards rabies. My warrant for this claim is that since none of the doctors knew their patient was Poe, they were wholly honest with their analysis, and they said he had rabies, so that makes me believe he does have rabies.
Many people argue against the views of people who say Poe died of rabies. The people that argue against this fact...

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