APittsburgh Daily Post Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Monday, November 01, 1858 - Page 2 — Chess - Letter from Mr. Morphy. — The London Era, received by the Persia, contains a manly and straightforward letter from Paul Morphy to H. Staunton, wherein it is stated that that insinuations in the chess column of the Illustrated London News, (edited by H. Staunton) as to Mr. Morphy being unprovided with funds, &c., “are not strictly in accordance with fact.” Mr. Morphy says he leaves the matter of appointing seconds and arranging preliminaries with the gentlemen of the St. George Chess Club, and requests Mr. S. to fix a date for commencing the match. We make the following extract:
“Permit me to repeat which I have invariably declared in every chess community I have had the honor of entering, that I am not a professional player—that I never wished to make any skill I possess the means of pecuniary advancement—and that my earnest desire is never to play for any stake but honor. My friends in New Orleans, however, subscribed a certain sum, without any countenance from me, and that sum has been ready for you to meet a considerable time past. Since my arrival in Paris I have been assured by numerous gentlemen, that the value of those stakes can be immediately increased to any amount; but, for myself personally, reputation is the only incentive I recognize.”
In the match with Mr. Harrwitz, Mr. Morphy refused to receive the amount of stakes Mr Harrwitz, after being beaten in five straight games, pleaded illness as an excuse for postponing the match for fifteen days, which was longer than Mr. Morphy, owing to previous engagements, could remain in Paris. Mr. Harrwitz, however, was not too ill to play with all others who wished to meet him at the Cafe de la Regence. The letter referred to above is not printed in the latest News, Mr. Staunton excusing its absence on account of a want of room. It is to be feared that Mr. Staunton will avoid the match. If the so-called King of chess does not meet the American boy, we shall see chess played as well as it can be. It will then be for Mr. Staunton to justify his contemptuous criticisms of Mr. Morphy's games, and Mr. Morphy will, for the first time, have an inducement to play as well as he knows how. Mr. Morphy may be expected home before the close of the year.
Chess - Letter from Mr. Morphy. 01 Nov 1858, Mon Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com
