1876

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January 02, 1876

• The Observer London, Greater London, England Sunday, January 02, 1876 - Page 7 — “…of Morphy, the great chess player. His theory is that Colburn was able to form a quasi-physical picture in his mind's eye of the large numbers on which he operated, and that similarly Mr. Morphy was able to carry in what we may be, perhaps, allowed to call the memory of his imagination, a perfect picture of a chessboard, with all its pieces. Such an explanation seems to use to be obscurum per obscurins…” Read More

January 04, 1876

• The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Brooklyn, New York Tuesday, January 04, 1876 - Page 4 — Sports and Pastimes - Chess. — “…they can offer a series of prizes sufficient to tempt the leading players of Europe to cross the Atlantic, especially as we now have no Morphy, apparently, to win their laurels from them, as was done in 1857. It is to be hoped that the Brooklyn Chess Club will duly attend to the request of the Philadelphia Club, and to do so the best way would be to open up a subscription book for the purpose, open to every chess player in the city willing to subscribe any amount to the fund.” Read More

January 14, 1876

• New York Daily Herald New York, New York Friday, January 14, 1876 - Page 4 — Chess at the Centennial Exhibition. — The best of the European visitors would find a vigorous antagonist in Captain MacKenzie, who, next to Paul Morphy, is generally conceded to be the strongest player in America, and who knows that such an assemblage of chess magnates might not tempt Morphy himself from his long retirement? ★ / ★ / ★ Read More

January 16, 1876

• The New Orleans Bulletin New Orleans, Louisiana Sunday, January 16, 1876 - Page 6 — List of Letters Remaining in the New Orleans Post Office, January 16, 1876, Morphy, Paul C. ★

January 31, 1876

• The Times Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, January 31, 1876 - Page 4 — The Chess Tourney. The Fever About to Re-Open — Brilliant Consultation Game at the Rooms of the Philadelphia Chess Club—Mr. Bird, the English Player, Already a Favorite.

February 02, 1876

• The Inter Ocean Chicago, Illinois Wednesday, February 02, 1876 - Page 7 — The Proposed Chess Congress.

February 06, 1876

• New Orleans Republican New Orleans, Louisiana Sunday, February 06, 1876 - Page 7 — Succession of Widow Diego Morphy. ★ / ★ / ★ / ★

February 18, 1876

• The Herald and Mail Columbia, Tennessee Friday, February 18, 1876 - Page 3 — Nashville's Chess Defeat / ★

February 27, 1876

• Chicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois Sunday, February 27, 1876 - Page 8 — The Game of Chess

March 04, 1876

• Isle of Wight Observer Ryde, Isle of Wight, England Saturday, March 04, 1876 - Page 8 — The Game of Chess - To the Editor.

April 02, 1876

• St. Louis Globe-Democrat St. Louis, Missouri Sunday, April 02, 1876 - Page 2 — Chess. — “The ‘City of London’ Chess Magazine, which was announced to conclude its existence of two years with the January number, has passed into the hands of Mr. Wisker, a distinguished English amateur, and will be continued. This magazine was one of the best chess publications going, and we hope it will keep up its high reputation under the new management. Mr. Lowenthal (an old time antagonist of Paul Morphy), and Mr. Potter, late editor of the magazine, will aid the new publication. Mr. Rosenthal, who is probably by far the strongest player in France, recently contested twenty-nine simultaneous games, with the condition of never taking over one minute to a move! Thus his opponents had an average of just twenty-nine times as much time on each move as the single player. Mr. R. (who is, by the way, a very young man), won twenty-five games, lost one, and three were drawn. Taking conditions into account, this beats all previous records of “simultaneous” chess. We give one of the games below…” Read More

April 09, 1876

• Detroit Free Press Detroit, Michigan Sunday, April 09, 1876 - Page 2 Chess

April 12, 1876

• The Daily News Lebanon, Pennsylvania Wednesday, April 12, 1876 - Page 1 — Paul Morphy Declines to Play a Chess Match at the Centennial ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★

Paul Morphy Declines Play At Centennial 15 Apr 1876, Sat Burlington Daily Sentinel (Burlington, Vermont) Newspapers.com

April 30, 1876

• Chicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois Sunday, April 30, 1876 - Page 3 — The Game of Chess

May 07, 1876

• Chicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois Sunday, May 07, 1876 - Page 12 — Game of Chess. — “… P to Q 3 is more frequently played here, but the move in the text, with P to Q Kt 4 as a continuation has been played by Morphy, and is recommended by the German “Handbuch.”

May 21, 1876

• The New York Times New York, New York Sunday, May 21, 1876 - Page 6 — Paul Morphy's Marvelous Skill in Chess Created a Regular Chess Madness

• Chicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois Sunday, May 21, 1876 - Page 12 — The Game of Chess

June 09, 1876

• The Newcastle Weekly Courant Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England Friday, June 09, 1876 - Page 7 — Chess by William Mitcheson — Perhaps the most brilliant player of indisputably the first rank was Morphy. We say “was” because he has virtually retired from the chess world, in which, at one time, he shone as the cynosure of all eyes. The Young America's games are beautiful to play over; but the student should keep ever before his eyes a fact that may easily be overlooked. Morphy's combinations are as accurate as they are admirably excellent. They never involve many moves, such as do the combinations of Staunton and players of a similar class of mind. It is not our present purpose to discuss the probabilities of the result of an encounter between Staunton and Morphy. Their styles of play were different. Staunton was out of practice, and, engaged as he was editing Routledge's Shakespeare, had no time to get himself into form. It would certainly have been interesting to witness an encounter between these two master minds. We have stated that Staunton's method of pushing an advantage gained from position was slow but sure; Morphy's was direct, short, incisive. He was eminently a “frappez vite et frappez fort” player. An encounter between Staunton and Morphy would have recalled to mind the struggles of the dogged, patient, and persevering Macdonnell with the ardent Labourdonnais, the chess Napoleon of his day. A critical friend once remarked to us that Morphy's combinations were not far reaching, but he was always able to see the best five moves that could be played in succession. one this point we shall say something further on… Read More

July 21, 1876

• The Morning Post London, Greater London, England Friday, July 21, 1876 - Page 3 — Death of a Chessplayer - Mr. J.J. Loewenthal

July 22, 1876

• The Times-Picayune New Orleans, Louisiana Saturday, July 22, 1876 - Page 1 — Death of Jacob Lowenthal

July 23, 1876

• Detroit Free Press Detroit, Michigan Sunday, July 23, 1876 - Page 6 — Chess. — Herr Lowenthal. The chess world will regret to learn that this eminent chess author and player departed this life on Thursday last. His labors in the cause of the royal game were invaluable. For years he was President of the British Chess Association, and we are indebted to his able pen for that grand edition of Morphy's chess games, so impartially analyzed, and for the “Chess Players Magazine,” which, for years, he conducted with so much success. Both are enduring monuments of his unsurpassed and priceless services in the cause of chess. Read More

August 01, 1876

• The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Brooklyn, New York Tuesday, August 01, 1876 - Page 3 — A Chess Challenge ★

August 04, 1876

• The Newcastle Weekly Courant Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England Friday, August 04, 1876 - Page 7 — Chess — “The name of Herr Lowenthal is well known throughout Europe as that of an eminent chess player, and his death will generally be lamented in leading chess circles. Not only was he a great player; he was also a voluminous writer… He also edited Morphy's games and was successively chess editor of the Era … Read More

August 06, 1876

• Chicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois Sunday, August 06, 1876 - Page 13 — The Game of Chess

August 08, 1876

• The Daily Commonwealth Topeka, Kansas Tuesday, August 08, 1876 - Page 2 — The death is announced of J.J. Lowenthal, a great chess player and writer on chess. He was by birth a Hungarian, but was banished from that country in 1848, and went to England, where he afterwards lived. He conquered every competitor of his day except Morphy. ★ / ★

August 18, 1876

• The American Israelite Cincinnati, Ohio Friday, August 18, 1876 - Page P2 — Chess. — Those interested in chess-playing will learn with concern of the death of Mr. Lowenthal, one of the best chess-players, and Secretary of the Chess Club. He died on the 21st inst., at St. Leonards-on-the-Sea. The deceased was a co-religionist and a Hungarian by birth. In consequence of the political disturbances in 1848 in his native country, he had to expatriate himself and come over to England, where he ever since resided. It is believed that he was only second as chess-player to Morphy, the American. Read More

August 25, 1876

• The Newcastle Weekly Courant Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England Friday, August 25, 1876 - Page 7 — Chess.

September 13, 1876

• The Luzerne Union Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Wednesday, September 13, 1876 - Page 2 — “Some years ago Paul Morphy almost a beardless boy astonished the world by his great skill in the game of chess. After vanquishing all opponents on this side of the water he went over to Europe and easily conquered the skilled veterans in chess, men who had spent years in the study and practice of the game…” Read More

September 14, 1876

• New Orleans Republican New Orleans, Louisiana Thursday, September 14, 1876 - Page 3 — Widow Alonzo Morphy

September 15, 1876

• The Newcastle Weekly Courant Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England Friday, September 15, 1876 - Page 7 — Chess. “Our best chess players have not been men whose time and talents have been exclusively devoted to the game. That purely professional players have existed and do still exist cannot be denied; but such players are not sole possessors of first-class aptitude for the game.… Mr. Morphy is a lawyer, and from the mimic strife of the chess board has directed his whole attention to the more severe strife that takes place in the arena, where civil and criminal vexed questions require solution. Mr. Staunton was a well-known litterateur. He edited the Routledge's “Shakespeare,” and few men were more competent than he, to undertake such a task. An excellent Elizabethan scholar, and a warm and appreciative as well as a critical student of the works of our greatest literary mind… Read More

October 27, 1876

• The Newcastle Weekly Courant — Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England Friday, October 27, 1876 - Page 7 — Chess. — “…The book contains an historical account of the game, and numerous anecdotes of eminent players, particularly of Leonardo du Cutri. The second part consists of games, and ends of games. Leonardo excelled in the game of chess at so early an age that he was well known by the appellation of ‘Il Puttino’ —the little boy. It will be recollected that many of our great chess players have attained eminence in the game at an early age— notably Mr. Morphy. We scarcely believe in prodigies—they are like forced plants; they come to soon to a false, immature perfection, and as soon die off” Read More

November 03, 1876

• The Newcastle Weekly Courant Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England Friday, November 03, 1876 - Page 7 — “Chess”

December 03, 1876

• Detroit Free Press Detroit, Michigan Sunday, December 03, 1876 - Page 6 — Chess. National Chess Tournament. — The Lexington (Ky.) Chess Club propose to inaugurate a series of correspondence matches between the clubs in the United States …

December 28, 1876

• Harrisburg Telegraph Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Thursday, December 28, 1876 - Page 1 — “When Paul Morphy visited Europe on a tour of conquest over the chess board, he astonished the patrons of that noble and intellectual game by playing simultaneously, while blindfolded, a large number of games with different antagonists. Morphy is lost to the world of chess, and the memory of his skill only remains. But his methods have been studied with effect by both native and foreign players. One of the latter, Mr. Bird, an Englishman, on Thursday last amused the New Yorkers by playing twenty games simultaneously and winning nineteen of them.” Read More

“The happiness of “the Bohemian Caesar,” as Steinitz fondly called himself, was not unalloyed. Paul Morphy was his bête noire. He attempted to undermine the pedestal upon which Morphy's glory is everlastingly established. But he did not succeed. If Blackburne makes a brilliant combination, he calls it a “bit of Morphy.” But no one ever heard anybody call a brilliant finish a bit of Steinitz…” — The Age Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Saturday, June 19, 1897 Poison Pen Blackmail and Defamation of New Orleans Lawyer Paul Morphy: These articles were part of 1860s-80s campaign of stalking. Attempts by friends of Morphy vouching for his sanity & to stop such false rumors (New Orleans Republican 11/21/1875; Tennessean Nashville, 5/05/1877, “The Truth About Mr. Paul Morphy. He has Never been Insane”; Detroit Free Press 11/30/1880, etc). 1884 at age 47, Mr. Morphy “suddenly died”. The stalker's press release claimed ‘due to a bath on a hot day.’ Forensic toxicology was still in its infancy and no investigation ever performed. ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★