The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1858-10-30
Tho Wonderful Pcrformnncos Of
Morphy, the Chess Player.


The paris correspondence Of the New York
Times gives tie following recent Illustrations
of the memory and skin Of lh, great Amrri-
can ehcss.playcr ;--
"Ihc astonishing performances ~ young
Paul Morphy have brought the excitement
% ia the chess playing world of this eity up 10
white heat On Monday last hc played
against and beat. hliudioldcd. eight Of the
/ best players of Paris NJ one time The Cafe
dc Ia Rrgcncc, "a; which the Extraordinary
/ feat occurred, has two large rooms on the
ground, floor In the first room, which is
ful of marble tables were seated the eight
ndvcrsnrrs Of MIR, Morphy In the second
ruom IN which are two billiard tables WAS
seated the single player large portion of
/ his room, including the billiard tables, was
shut Oft from the crowd 10y a cord, aud be-
hind the tables, IN a large armchair, sat Mr..
Morphy, with his back nearly directly 10 the
crowd. Two gentlemen, reporting for the
press, Kept the game, aud I've stheI gentle
men, Mcssis luuruoud and Arnoud dc Rivi-
ere, cried out the moves, or rather carried
them from one room to the other The adj
versarcs Of Mr. Morphy were Mcssrs Rau-
/ cher, BierWith Brancmann, Lcqursno, Uhe
distinguished sculptor) Potter, Prcti, and
Scguin They were all either old or middle
aged men, aud superior players, while Mr..
n
boards of the eight players were numbered |,
., 3,etc. in the order in which have given
the names of the gentlemen. At - - o..
clock the game commenced, Mr.. Morphy
PLAYING first and calling out the same move
I ior all the eight boards, X P2. The games
we're conducted in French, Mr. Morphy
| speaking French pcrfcctly0 At o'clock,
No. I was beaten with an unlookc for check
mate. Soon after o'clock. No 6 abandon
ed the game as hopeless, and half an hour
later NJ. Lsqnesne, Ne played for and
gained draw game. Nos |, . and 3, were
soon after beaten. At 10 o'clock, No. made
the blind player accept draw game, but il
was 10 - o'clock before NJ Seguin, No 8,
a very old gentleman, who contendCd with
great desperation, was beaten. Thus he beat
six while two, who acted on the defensive
and onh sought draw game, affected their
purpose, but draw game, under such cir
cumstapces, ought TO be considered equiya.
lent TO n beat.
During the entire game, which lasted just
ten hours, Mr. Morphy sat with MS knees
and eyes against the bare wall, never once
rising or looking toward the audience, nor
even taking II particle of drink or other re.
freshment. His only movements were those
of crossing his legs from side TO side, and oc-
cnsionnlly humping tune with his fingers
on the arms of the .fdUteuH lie cried out
his moves without turning his head, Against
|, ., 3, 6, I, who were not up to the standard
of the other three players, he frequently
made his moves instantaneously after receiv-
ing theirs He was calm throughout and
never made a mistake, nor did he oull n move
twice 1t must be recollected, mort over,
that Morphy played against the fcld'--in
other words, that around each of the eight
boards there was n large collection Of excel
lent chess-playcrs, who gave their advice free
| ly, and who had eight times longer to study
! their play in, than the single player. He
! played certainly against fifty men, and they
rever ceased for n moment making supposed
moves and studyirg their game most thor
oughly during the long intervals that neocs-
| sarily fell to each board. And yet Morphy,
/ who was out of sight of these eight boards,
saw the game palmer ON each than those
who surrounded them. | could scarcely
have believed the thing possible if had not
/ seen it. At the end of the game there was n
shout from the three hundred throa,s present
which made one believe he was back again
in old Tammany Hall. The fact Is, there
was considerable number of Englishmen
| and Americans present (among the latter
was Prof Morse, who took deep interest in
| this extraordinary gamo,) but much the larg-
er number were French. Morphy did not
! seem Mt all fatgued, and appeared so modest
I that the frenzy and admiration of the French
! knew no bounds. lie was SHAKEN by the
hand and compimented till he hung down
/ his head in confusion. One gray haired old
man, an octogenpfan chess player, stroked
| his hair with hls-Ae+tds, as nc would child
| OF his own, and showered him with terms of
endearment. Morphy has no beard yet, and
looks more ike schoolbpy Than a worlds
champion. lie escaped from the exalted
crowd as soon aS possible, and leh with some