Walt Whitman, ca. 1862. Photograph credited to Alexander Gardner and Mathew B. Brady. Courtesy of the Walt Whitman Archive.

For many years, beginning in the early twentieth century, Walt Whitman scholars speculated about the identity of the mysterious Ellen Eyre, who had sent the poet a seductive letter requesting a further pleasurable liaison in 1862. The letter indicated that the poet and Eyre had met the night before at Pfaff's, the popular bohemian cafe in New York.

Several scholars displayed a particular eagerness to find a documented girlfriend to shore up Whitman's credentials as a full-fledged woman lover. They were especially concerned given all the evidence that pointed to Whitman being a full-fledged and active man lover.

Then in 2009, Whitman scholar Ted Genoways revealed that two newspaper reports indicated that Eyre was a blackmailer.[1] As Ellen Eyre, she sent suggestive come-on letters to wealthy men, many married. Eyre then blackmailed them after they responded to her request for a rendezvous. The papers stressed that Eyre was a conman who went by a variety of names.

OutHistory founder Jonathan Ned Katz and researcher Tyler Albertario have now looked into available digitized newspaper reports about Eyre.

We have found evidence in the New York City Municipal Archives that, when arrested, the blackmailer's name was listed as Benjamin Calkin, though even that may have been an alias.

We also have looked at what Whitman scholars have had to say about Eyre and Whitman.

We present the evidence and our analysis of the materials, along with a timeline of the available information and a bibliography of sources.

Our Discoveries

New York City newspapers called the accused “Coffin,” “B. Coffin,” “Dr. B. Coffin,” and “Dr. Benj. Coffin.”[2]

On June 19, 1862, the date of the blackmailer's hearing before Justice Kelly, “Benjamin Calkin” was booked by Detective Wilson on the complaint of attorney Walter Burton. Burton had received an invitational letter from Ellen Eyre, found it suspicious, and alerted the police.

Calkin was the only man booked by Wilson for disorderly conduct on June 19, 1862.[3] We should not assume, however, that Benjamin Calkin was the birth name of the impersonator, as he offered different names to different persons at different times.

Our Questions

(1) Why, we ask, was a blackmailer who reportedly first came to the attention of the New York City police around March 1862, and who the police say they thought was a woman, “allowed to depart under promise of doing so no more?”[4] It seems likely that the blackmailer's victims, who were wealthy and respected men, reportedly including a judge and possibly including lawyers, hushed up the prosecution, letting the blackmailer go free to try it again.

(2) What, we ask, was Ellen Eyre/Benjamin Calkin's fate after their second arrest on June 19, 1862? Again it seems that Calkin was allowed to slip out of sight so as not to embarrass any of those wealthy and powerful men.

(3) Is it possible that newspaper references to a person named Coffin rather than Calkin was a subterfuge to help that person disappear from public view?

(4) Who was the “black man” who picked up Ellen Eyre's mail? Was he an occasional assistant or a regular employee of Eyre's? Was he in on the blackmailing? One source referred to him as short.[5] Is there any way we can find out more about him?

(5) Is there any way future researchers can document Ellen Eyre/Benjamin Calkin's birth name and ascertain anything about what they thought about their biological sex, their gender identity, and their sexual desires?