1880

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January 07, 1880

• The Sun New York, New York Wednesday, January 07, 1880 - Page 3 — Games Where Brains Win - Opening Battles of the American Chess Congress - Who the Warriors Are

January 11, 1880

• The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Brooklyn, New York Sunday, January 11, 1880 - Page 3 — Chess - The Fifth American Congress ★

January 13, 1880

• The Sun New York, New York Tuesday, January 13, 1880 - Page 3 — The Intellectual Arena. - Yesterday's Battles in the Chess Congress-Fiercest Games in the Tourney.

January 19, 1880

• The Times Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, January 19, 1880 - Page 2 — A Battle of Brains ★

January 20, 1880

• The Buffalo Commercial Buffalo, New York Tuesday, January 20, 1880 - Page 3 — The Chess Tournament

January 25, 1880

• St. Louis Globe-Democrat St. Louis, Missouri Sunday, January 25, 1880 - Page 9 — Chess. — “As the visitor enters the hall, the eye meets a mass of drapery of our own flag, within the folds of which appears the name of Morphy, inscribed in an elegant scroll. Opposite to this is seen the name of Staunton, with a fine marble bust, in bas relief, of the great English player, appropriately surrounded by flags of Great Britain; adjoining, amid a beautiful gathering of German flags, is seen the name of the lamented Anderssen; a like collection of French flags, adorned with the name of Philidor, comes next; then the Irish flags, which are honored with the name of McDonnell, appear, followed, in order, round the rooms, flags of Spain, with the name of Ruy Lopez; of Hungary, bearing the name of Lowenthal; of Italy, with the name of Greco; of Russia, with the name of Petroff; of the East India Company, with the name of Cochrane. These flags, and many others, are most artistically arranged, and present a most pleasing effect. The five large windows on Union Square have handsome lace curtains and lambrequins, and the room is brilliantly illuminated at night by ten chandeliers; these, and the walls, were not covered by bunting though handsomely decorated with evergreens, and ornamented with miniature flags of silk, while the entire broad expanse of the ceiling is festooned with long streamers of bunting. On a table in the center stands an elegant marble bust of Morphy; the walls are adorned with fine pictures of chess scenes and portraits of well-known players; prominent among these we noticed a fine engraving of the Staunton-St. Amant match, a large picture of the first American Chess Congress of 1857, a fine portrait of Marache, etc.; most of the pictures and the marble busts, are from the valuable collection of Mr. Charles A. Gilbert, who has kindly loaned them for the occasion. The appearance of the room, especially at night, is very fine.— Turf, Field and Farm.” Read More

January 31, 1880

• The Leeds Mercury Leeds, West Yorkshire, England Saturday, January 31, 1880 - Page 20 — Chess.

February 03, 1880

• The Times-Picayune New Orleans, Louisiana Tuesday, February 03, 1880 - Page 1 — Chess Congress in New York Remarks ★

February 04, 1880

• The Times-Picayune New Orleans, Louisiana Wednesday, February 04, 1880 - Page 2 — “In the course of some remarks on the Chess Congress in New York, the Sun says that the result proves that America has produced no great original player since Paul Morphy. “It is said of Morphy,” continues the Sun, “that he would throw forward his pawns, and then, combining his superior forces, rush on to an overwhelming victory. In this manner he frequently defeated the giants of the game, who had studied the old masters an their lives.” “With all due deference to our New York contemporary, we are bound to say that this is superlative nonsense. Mr. Morphy did not sacrifice his pawns recklessly. He was not, in any respect, a reckless player, except in the eyes of novices. No man that ever lived more thoroughly understood the openings than he did, or made better use of this indispensable knowledge. Perhaps no man, except Major Jaenisch, ever approached him in this respect. It was his thorough knowledge of all that had been discovered before his time, added to his supreme genius for the game, that gave him his pre-eminence. Either one, without the other, would have never made him a great player. It is a fact, too, that Mr. Morphy never gave his name to any new opening, or to any new move in the old attacks and defenses, although he lent the weight of his preference and authority to several moves previously made. It is remarkable, too, that the inventors of new openings and new moves have scarcely ever been the greatest players of their time. Capt. Evans, the inventor of that famous opening the Evans gambit, was not conspicuously a strong although he was good player. Mr. Cochrane, who gave his name to the Cochrane gambit, was a brilliant player, but he had to yield to several ef his contemporaries, McDonnell, who invented a move in the Bishop's gambit, was a fine player, but he was beaten by Labourdonnais, Muzio and Algoier, and Ruy Lopez and Salvio - were celebrated players, but we know too little of the chess world of their time to assign them their true positions. On the whole, originality in chess, though a valuable quality, does not seem to justify the ignoring of established principles and the consequences of thoroughly analyzed openings and positions. Mr. Morphy is, himself, a conspicuous illustration of this truth.” Read More

February 09, 1880

• The Times-Democrat New Orleans, Louisiana Monday, February 09, 1880 - Page 2 — Genius And Theory. — “This rather philosophical train of thought, however, has been superinduced in us by the perusal of an article in the last number of the Turf, Field and Farm upon the subject of the Fifth National Chess Congress just adjourned in New York. Our much esteemed and usually very accurate contemporary undertakes therein to correct certain statements of one of its own neighbors upon the subject of chess, and among these, as the Turf concludes, the assertion that “the ten gentlemen who have been fighting the battles of the congress at Union Square are but children by the side of Paul Morphy.” In this connection the Turf remarks:
  “The truth of the matter is, that Morphy would be beaten by at least five of the players were he to step from the past, flushed with the victories of his earlier years, and be pitted against each. Paul Morphy was the greatest chess genius that the world has produced; but while he has stood still, the knowledge of the game has advanced. … it would require the practice and study of years to make him the dangerous opponent of Mackenzie or Grundy. If our neighbor had had the least knowledge of its subject it (illegible) would have been more guarded.”
  These are truly remarkable statements, and we are strongly inclined to conclude them written by some one but little conversant with the subject which he discusses. “The truth of the matter” is that while the theory of chess with regard to the openings—and the openings only—has advanced in some small degree, in all essential respects the royal game remains as it was even before Morphy's time. The turmoil of the mid-game still requires and yields its infinite opportunities of combination, and the nicety of the endings still demands the same mathematical precision which so often for Morphy snatched victory from the jaws of apparently inevitable defeat.
  Thus, in two-thirds and more, the game remains unchanged, and will remain unchanged so long as the capacities of the human intellect continue fixed within their present limits. There has been, as we have said, a progression in the openings, but it is a comparatively inappreciable one; and when mentioned in connection with an admitted genius like Morphy, amounts literally to nothing.
  Indeed, when the Turf calls Morphy “the greatest chess genius that the world has produced,” it effectually negatives every one of its own assertions. It is the special prerogative of genius that it naturally and intuitively grasps and applies the true theory of any matter subjected to its consideration. By mysterious processes, which we can only admire but never understand, it infallibly divines the truth in the abstract, and combining things and theory, deals unerringly with the concrete. Perhaps the Turf, will be surprised to learn that Morphy was never, in any sense, a student of chess. Indeed, we have good reasons to assert that he never specially studied any chess work. The genius, who, when barely twenty-one years old, and almost wholly without the experience of play with great masters, could vanquish the first rank in Europe, in the proportion of nearly one hundred and twenty-five to twenty-five games, may very well be excluded in all ordinary calculations.
  We may rest assured that the faculty, which could so easily produce such results, would not have failed to produce much greater ones, if aroused by a greater resistance. It is a characteristic of such extreme genius that it masters—is not mastered by—the occasion, and were Morphy “in full possession of his faculties,” we have little doubt that none of the five gentlemen mentioned by the Turf, would prove at all “a dangerous opponent” for him; nor do we believe that any of them has the slightest conception of such a thing. Of course, circumstances force us to derive our conclusions from only relative reasons—the practical test is forever impossible; but looking to the past, we believe that we can justly claim that New Orleans has produced a chess genius, not only the greatest that had ever arisen up to the time of his triumphs, but incomparably greater than any that has since appeared.
  We might be ungenerous enough to repeat, in conclusion, the final clause in the paragraph, quoted above, but out of sincere respect for our contemporary's general and conspicuous accuracy, we refrain. Read More

February 13, 1880

• The Irving Blue Valley Citizen Irving, Kansas Friday, February 13, 1880 - Page 4 — Capt. McKenzie of New York

March 06, 1880

• Northern Tribune Cheboygan, Michigan Saturday, March 06, 1880 - Page 3 — “Chess”

March 07, 1880

• Chicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois Sunday, March 07, 1880 - Page 3 — Cheating In Chess. — New York, March 6. — The American Chess Association of the United States has debarred James Grundy from participation iin the games of the Association, and suspended Preston Ware, Jr., for one year. The charge was that Ware, of Boston, accepted a bribe from Grundy to draw a game in the late Chess Congress. Grundy denied the charge, and threatened exposures involving one of the Congress Committee. Read More

March 08, 1880

• The Times-Democrat New Orleans, Louisiana Monday, March 08, 1880 - Page 2 — Unfair Tactics. “Our esteemed contemporary, the Turf, Field and Farm, seems mightily huffed over the passing comments of the TIMES, a fortnight or so ago, upon its very remarkable statements on the subject of chess, as quoted by us at the time. It “comes back at us”—so to speak—with an article quite as remarkable as the first, and in a series of clever misrepresentations of its original positions and absurd similes in reference to those of the TIMES, dexterously evades the only substantial questions at issue. Much as we might desire to expose the one or correct the other, we have, however, neither time, space, nor inclination to follow our contemporary through more than half a column of incoherent maunderings concerning “illusory concepts,” “speculative philosophy,” “the nature of the unknowable,” etc., etc., in order to do so.
  In point of fact, the one and only important question at issue between the Turf and ourselves is similarly this: How much and in what respect “has chess advanced since Morphy's time?” The Turf says distinctly that “chess has been revolutionized in vary many of its more important particulars—more especially in the style of play,” and that Morphy “would be staggered by the methods of the modern school of which Steinitz and Winawer are the exponents.” But, begging our contemporary's pardon, these are simply vague and empty generalities, wholly unspecific, almost unmeaning. Does the Turf intend to convey the idea— and we confess that we can conceive of no other meaning—that Steinitz or Zukertort, or Winawer, or any other recent players, have so absolutely perfected the openings, or have discovered such in the fallible methods of conducting the initiatory attack and defense that the character of the mid-game, and even the endings is so inevitably determined at the very start, that genius can find no opportunity for brilliancy of conception in the one or delicacy of calculation in the other; that the chess-masters of the present day have raised the game to so transcendental a pitch that the absolutely certain in the end is nearly, if not quite, realized by their calculations in the very beginning? If this be not its meaning; if, on the contrary, it agrees with us that the modern improvements are necessarily limited to the openings, per se, and have thus comparatively little more influence on the rest of the game than they did in Morphy's time, how unfounded are the assertions just quoted, how untenable the further conclusion that “Morphy to-day might play a thousand match games without once having an opportunity of launching forth in any one of his favorite methods of attack, (sic.), except, perchance, these which modern analysis has proved to be unsound!”
  We think it will puzzle the Turf to explain how the game—itself a distinct entity, consisting simply of a series possibilities in combination and calculation—can be so radically revolutionized, quoad those possibilities, by a style of play, a mere manner of dealing with, of evolving them, adopted by certain players. As well say that no other exponent of the melodious school is possible, because Wagner and his followers have adopted the style of the music of the future.
  In conclusion, we merely remark that we, of the provinces, having nothing to be ashamed of in the title, even if it were applicable. If the Turf had only extended its reading beyond its favorite meta-physicians, and even touched upon the domain of history, it would have learned that ever since the provinces furnished the best brains of Rome down to the present day, the world has steadily refused to admit the identity of metropolitanism and infallibility—whatever some persons—and more especially amateur metropolitan editors—may fondly imagine to the contrary.” Read More

March 09, 1880

• The Indianapolis News Indianapolis, Indiana Tuesday, March 09, 1880 - Page 3 — The 15 Puzzle and the Intellect, To the Editor of The Indianapolis News: “It seems to be an established fact, that in many cases what would seem to be the solution of the most intricate mathematical problem, is not, so far as we are able to judge, the result of superior education or intelligence. The game of chess is perhaps the most complicated, and yet Paul Morphy, the recent champion player, had little education save so far as the game was concerned. The same might be said of nearly all the professional billiard players. Some twenty years since, the writer, who had some reasons for believing he was, to say the least, a good chess player, taught a young man of very limited education the game; after playing a dozen games, my pupil would beat me nine time out of ten. He could give no intelligible reason for his moves which were very quickly made. While I; knowing the rules, studied hard, and felt very much exhausted after an hour's maneuvering of the kings, pawns, &c.
  Nearly thirty years ago the writer that on a Mississippi steamboat an almost idiotic boy, whom the captain told me was permitted by general consent to deadhead on the boats. He could barely read and had never studied mathematics in any form, and yet tell this boy you were born on the 29th day of February 1800, and that it was now 10:30 a.m., June 1, 1852, and ask him how many seconds you had lived, without pencil or paper he would, in almost the time it took you to ask the question, give you a correct answer. Nor were his powers confined to multiplication only: he with apparent equal facility subtracted and divided. But this boy had no idea of the mental process by which he arrived at his conclusions; it seemed a sort of intuition. He positively informed me that he could not add up figures. Cases of this kind though rare are not perhaps exceptions.
  Now to the 15 puzzle: My little daughter, eight years of age, the first time she got hold of it working it out five times in succession, in the course of an hour. She has never failed in the fifty or hundred times she has tried it; has done it repeatedly in one minute's time. She has attended school only a few weeks, and has difficulty in determining time by the clock, although I have often explained the matter to her. But the rapidity with which she will move about the blocks in the puzzle and solve the problem, is wonderful. How is this? While the child endeavors to give reasons for her moves, they are hardly intelligible to myself or her mother. She simply does it. D.A.E. Read More

March 14, 1880

• The Times Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Sunday, March 14, 1880 - Page 7 — The Chess Table — A Hitherto Unknown Game by Morphy. — We are indebted to Mr. Martinez for the following game by Morphy, hitherto unknown to the general chess public. It was played on the occasion of the great master's visit to Havana in 1863, his opponent being the noted chess player, Mr. Celso Golmayo. The Queen's Knight, which Mr. Morphy gives as odds, must be removed from the board. … Mr. Morphy resigned, remarking that he could not afford to give such odds to Mr. Golmayo. Read More

March 27, 1880

• Northern Tribune Cheboygan, Michigan Saturday, March 27, 1880 - Page 3 — A beautiful “Evan's Gambit” that was played Nov. 11, 1866, at New Orleans. (Remove White's Queen Knight.) Morphy vs. Maurian.

April 03, 1880

• The Buffalo Commercial Buffalo, New York Saturday, April 03, 1880 - Page 4 — Kings and Pawns - A Historic Criticism of the Game of Chess. — “Some twenty years back America sent over to Europe the youthful, but peerless, Paul Morphy. He came, he saw, he conquered. Such an exhibition of skill was never before seen, and has not been seen since. The most accomplished players in the Old World were vanquished one after another; and, if ever genius and judgment, boldness and caution were duly combined, they were so in this wonderful player. It has always been matter for regret with patriotic chess enthusiasts that our own great champion, Mr. Staunton, was unable to arrange for an encounter with the conquering American. The Eastern world has produced first-rate players, one of whom, Ghulam Kassim, of Madras, was a distinguished writer on the subject…” Read More

April 22, 1880

• The Union Republican Winston-Salem, North Carolina Thursday, April 22, 1880 - Page 4 — Chess Study One of Morphy's Games, An Evans Gambit in which the Defense Wins.

May 02, 1880

• The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Brooklyn, New York Sunday, May 02, 1880 - Page 3 — Chess.

May 06, 1880

• The Union Republican Winston-Salem, North Carolina Thursday, May 06, 1880 - Page 4 — Game Between Messrs. Morphy and Bird. Evans Gambit.

June 27, 1880

• The Times Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Sunday, June 27, 1880 - Page 6 — The Chess Board - The International Chess Congress to be Held at Wiesbaden. — “Mr. Minchin, in responding to a toast, related some anecdotes, the following among others: On one occasion her Majesty played a game with the Queen of the Belgians, who was then on a visit to England, and in the course of the contest Lord Palmerston strained his constitutional privileges so far as to give his sovereign some hints about the game, which, notwithstanding his assistance, was won by the Belgian royal lady. “It was the fault of your Majesty's humble adviser,” said the Prime Minister, consolingly. The “chair” referred in near and appropriate terms to some of the great masters, and he spoke of Paul Morphy as being, probably, the greatest chess genius who ever lived, and who had left an indelible mark on the history of our pastime.” Read More

September 05, 1880

• St. Louis Globe-Democrat St. Louis, Missouri Sunday, September 05, 1880 - Page 11 — Chess. — “A member of the St. Louis Chess Club has given us two volumes—1848-'49 and 1849-'50—complete of Chess Monthly, published under the joint management of Paul Morphy and Daniel W. Fisk; also a copy of George Walker's “Art of Chess Play.” These books are scarce, and are considered valuable now on account of their being out of print. He has also placed at our disposal a copy of “Book of Chicago Chess Congress.” To these we add the Huddersfield College Magazine, 1877. In accordance with the wish of several of our contributors, we have inaugurated a problem tourney and offered the above-named books as prizes.” Read More

• The Chess Monthly: An American Chess Serial, Volume 2, Paul Charles Morphy, Daniel Willard Fiske, Miller, 1858
• The Chess Monthly: An American Chess Serial, Volume 3, Paul Charles Morphy, Daniel Willard Fiske, Miller, 1859
• The Chess Monthly: An American Chess Serial, Volume 4, Paul Charles Morphy, Daniel Willard Fiske, Miller, 1860
• The Art of Chess-play: A New Treatise on the Game of Chess, George Walker, Sherwood, Gilbert & Piper, 1846

October 08, 1880

• The Hull Packet; and East Riding Times Hull, East Yorkshire, England Friday, October 08, 1880 - Page 8 — (g) Black's artillery is irresistible. This game illustrates Morphy's half-truth that Pawns are “encumbrances which prevent the free action of the pieces.” All Gambit practice rests upon the judicious application of this principle.

October 31, 1880

• St. Louis Globe-Democrat St. Louis, Missouri Sunday, October 31, 1880 - Page 11 — Chess. — “There appears to be considerable misapprehension in European chess minds regarding de Riviere's play with Paul Morphy, and some go so far as to say that he beat the great American. The score of 1858 was, as is well known, 7 to 1 in favor of the American, but concerning their meeting in 1863 less is known, and we will now for the first time publish the entire score. It is true that in their play of 1863 Mr. Morphy lost four out of the first seven games, but it is equally true that he won 10 to 1, making the score of that series 13 to 5, and the total score: Morphy, 20; de Riviere, 6.—[Philadelphia Times] Read More

November 05, 1880

• The Leeds Mercury Leeds, West Yorkshire, England Friday, November 05, 1880 - Page 3 — International Chess Match Between England and India. — “A most remarkable match in the history of chess has been commenced between the clubs of Liverpool and Calcutta by telegraph, and is proceeding with praiseworthy rapidity. The nearest parallel to this performance was the match which finished in 1874 between London and Vienna, and the Liverpool Chess Club has shown a notable spirit of enterprise in undertaking a couple of games with so distant a point in Her Majesty's dominions. The idea originated with Mr. Robert Steel, a member of the Liverpool club, and now a resident of Calcutta, and the foremost player in India, but could scarcely have been carried out on account of the great expense of telegraphing to the East had it not been for the invention of the code, a remarkably subtle ingenuity, by which any possible combination of moves in two games can be sent in one word, a seemingly impossible feat when the complexity of the game and its variety of resource is taken into consideration. Had such a code been in existence, Morphy could have challenged the world and played without moving from his own fireside…” ★ Read More

November 12, 1880

• The Hull Packet; and East Riding Times, Hull, East Yorkshire, England Friday, November 12, 1880 - Page 8 — Chess.

November 21, 1880

• St. Louis Globe-Democrat St. Louis, Missouri Sunday, November 21, 1880 - Page 15 — Chess. — “The following parlie is invested with peculiar interest, being the first attempt of the great Paul Morphy to play sans voir. It was played in New Orleans when Paul was not more than 12 years old, with Mr. Ernest Morphy, his uncle. This sparkling game, replete with coruscation of budding chess genius, has never before appeared in print, and we take much pleasure in laying it before our readers…” Read More

November 30, 1880

• Detroit Free Press Detroit, Michigan Tuesday, November 30, 1880 - Page 1 — The Royal Game — Chess in America — Paul Morphy, Its Most Renowned Representative. — Without doubt the most wonderful chess player who ever lived, was born in New Orleans in 1838. His parents were of French and Spanish descent, and Paul was therefore a Creole. Paul's father, who was Chief Justice of Louisiana and very wealthy, gave his son as excellent an education as the Universities of Georgia and South Carolina afforded the Southern youth. Young Morphy excelled in both classical and mathematical studies, a union of thought very rarely met with, and which afterward developed into the accuracy and imagination of his chess playing. During the American Chess Tournament in 1857 Mr. Morphy was awarded first prize. One year later he went to Europe, and there played against and defeated Lowenthal, Harrwitz, Anderssen, and other noted players. Returning to America in 1858, victor over all chess players in Europe and America he attended a large banquet given in his honor by the Chess Club of New York City, and was there presented with a gold and silver set of chess men, the gift of the chess players of the Northern States. About this time he returned to New Orleans, and his father dying shortly after, he took possession of the estate. During the war the Morphy property was largely injured and diminished by the Federal troops. Although Mr. Morphy was champion of the world, he hardly thought it worth his while to hold the position through a succession of years, and consequently gave way to Messrs. Paulsen, Kolisch, Steinitz, Zukertort and Blackburn, who in turn succeeded him. Has flourished in a remarkable degree ever since the first American Chess Congress in 1857, which brought to the front Mr. Morphy and Mr. Paulsen, the former of whom is now residing in New Orleans and the latter in Strasbourg, Germany. A vast deal of gossip has been set afloat touching the former, which may be very quickly and very easily set at rest. The writer of this article has within a few weeks conversed with a gentleman who spent all last winter at New Orleans and who, being an excellent chess player and during his residence at the Southern metropolis, a member of the New Orleans Chess Club, is certainly well informed, touching Mr. Morphy. He says, as the writer conjectured, that Morphy was satisfied when he became the champion of the world as a chess player; that he did not care to undergo the labor and the care requisite to “keep his chess in a glass constantly” and thus to be prepared to continually to meet over the board all comers; that being possessed of an income sufficient to meet all wants, he has found no necessity of pursuing the profession of the law for which he was educated; that he plays chess occasionally, to-day, giving a knight successfully to the strongest players of the New Orleans Club and, finally, that all the stories about Mr. Morphy's mind being affected are the veriest moonshine. Read More

Chess In America 30 Nov 1880, Tue Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) Newspapers.com

December 04, 1880

• The Leeds Mercury Leeds, West Yorkshire, England Saturday, December 04, 1880 - Page 19 — Chess

December 11, 1880

• Detroit Free Press Detroit, Michigan Saturday, December 11, 1880 - Page 3 — Chess. — Brentano's Monthly.—This monthly for November contains seventeen pages of chess matter, including several games by Morphy and others and problems by Jantz, Barnes, Sophie Schett, R. Sahlberg and others. The chess players of the country will probably soon have an opportunity of showing the extent of the desire said to exist for a veritable chess magazine. Mr. Brentano proposes to issue a prospectus for a monthly chess magazine of forty pages, at 2.50 per year, and if the chess players give him sufficient encouragement, that is, if he finds that he is likely to obtain enough subscribers to cover the expense, he will undertake it. In that event he will organize an editorial corps of the best obtainable talent, and that he will spare no pains to make the magazine a credit to American chess. Read More

• Brentano's Monthly: New Series, Volume 3, 1880

• Brentano's Monthly: New Series, Volume 4, 1880

December 16, 1880

• St. Joseph Weekly Herald St. Joseph, Missouri Thursday, December 16, 1880 - Page 1 — Paul Morphy is still an expert chess-player, and often takes a hand at his home in New Orleans, giving a knight successfully to the strongest players of the chess club in that city. ★ / ★

• The Onaga Democrat Onaga, Kansas Thursday, December 16, 1880 - Page 1 — “An exchange says that all the stories about ‘the mind of Paul Morphy’, the chess player, being affected are mere moonshine, and that Mr. Morphy often takes a hand in the game at New Orleans, his residence, giving a knight successfully to the strongest player of the chess club of that city.” ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ / ★ Read More

Paul Morphy's Mental State 16 Dec 1880, Thu The Onaga Democrat (Onaga, Kansas) Newspapers.com

December 17, 1880

• Tunkhannock Republican Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania Friday, December 17, 1880 - Page 4 — Our Chess Column.

December 22, 1880

• Shenandoah Herald Woodstock, Virginia Wednesday, December 22, 1880 - Page 2 — Paul Morphy, the celebrated chess player, is not insane, as reported. He plays occasionally with members of the New Orleans Club, giving its strongest players the odds of a knight.

Stories About the Mind of Paul Morphy Being Affected Are Nonsense 17 Dec 1880, Fri The News-Courant (Cottonwood Falls, Kansas) Newspapers.com

“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. ★ / ★ / ★