despite local success at having his poems published, his submissions continued to be rejected by established eastern periodicals as being below their standards. riley began formulating a plot to prove his work was of good quality and that it was being rejected only because his name was unknown in the east. he wrote a poem imitating the style of edgar allan poe and submitted it to the "kokomo dispatch" under a fictitious name claiming it was a long-lost poe poem. the "dispatch" published the poem and reported it as such. riley and two other men who were part of the plot waited two weeks for the poem to be published by major newspapers in chicago, boston, and new york to gauge their reaction; they were disappointed. while a few newspapers believed the poem was authentic, most did not, claiming the quality was too poor to be written by poe. a "dispatch" employee learned the truth of the incident and reported it to the "kokomo tribune", which published an exposé that outed riley as a conspirator behind the hoax. the revelation damaged the "dispatch"s credibility and harmed riley's reputation.