 Griswold biographer Joy Bayless wrote that Griswold used a pseudonym not to conceal his relationship to the obituary but because it was his custom never to sign his newspaper and his magazine contributions . Regardless , Griswold 's true identity was soon revealed . In a letter to Sarah Helen Whitman dated December 17 , 1849 , he admitted his role in writing Poe 's death notice . " I was not his friend , nor was he mine " , he wrote . 
