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19th Century Chess Karma from Newspapers—
In 1865 Paul Morphy's northern chess associates
⇗ in Washington, D.C. threatened “cutting him so dead”—
Smear campaign of “insanity” is a smokescreen to conceal an ongoing, twenty year defamation and stalking campaign by “Northern Newspapers”. Quite in difference to the lies printed in contemporary press, no postmortem exam, no autopsy was ever performed, in spite of indications poison was involved. The absence of coroner “inquest” is duly noted. Rumors began as early as 1861, during the Civil War, accusing Morphy of attending a “Rebel Chess Club” in Richmond, Virginia where he was practicing law, which spiraled into paranoid accusations of being a “commander in the Rebel Army”. Such allegations were readily denied, and refuted by the friends of Morphy. Morphy resumed practice of law after the close of the Civil War and upon return in 1865 to Yankee territory to play chess, former associates in Washington, D.C. threatened Paul Morphy with “cutting him so dead.” New York chess associates persisted in their smear campaign in late 1860's in manufacture of rumors in newspaper to permanently drive a wedge between Paul Morphy and his participation in Chess when he ventured to attend the 1867 Paris tournament. By 1868, their vicious campaign of fraudulent defamation succeeded. Never again would Morphy attend another Chess venue. Overt, orchestrated attempts to rewrite Paul Morphy's history in contemporary publications were made. By 1873-1884 their callous defamation campaign escalated into false accusations of being placed in a “lunatic asylum” (refuted by New Orleans Insane Asylum records, now public) along with a myriad of false, defamatory rumors and insinuations of death threats that continued till he was found dead in 1884, under questionable circumstances. Repeated attempts were made by the friends of Morphy to put a cap on the defamation, to no avail. Paul's mother died only 6 months after his death, due to grief and the shock from the inexplicable. As a contemporary of the era in 1884 observed, “libel laws of this country offer no adequate redress.” Stalking was only acknowledged as a criminal offense punishable by law in 1990. In 1884, forensic toxicology was in its infancy and a myriad of poisons were readily available for purchase by the general public.
See for yourself how these stalkers and unscrupulous orchestrators of fake “Chess Revisionist History” were prematurely “ending Paul Morphy's chess career” for him… publishing accounts that “…his chess career ended in 1860…” when in fact, the record shows Paul Morphy was active in New York among chess associates in 1865 (and winning) in spite of ongoing Yankee threats and slander. Paul Morphy returned to New Orleans and continued participation, 1866, as reported by Herr Lowenthal's Chess column in British newspaper. In 1867, even attending the Paris tournament, but did not enter the contest himself. Paul Morphy did not “end his career in 1860” as Northern slander would try to mislead the public. But “1860,” is the year that marks the eve of the Civil War so that Yankee political bias and discrimination based on geography is the rule where Northern Chess publishers are concerned…
Paul Morphy was still active playing chess, even in the 1880's… and was not, nor ever was “insane”. Even the day of his death, July 10, 1884, his friends reported he was in “good mental and physical health.”—
