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The
Bishop Berkley sent me this May 3, 1891 New York Times newspaper
clipping
According to Regina Morphy-Voitier:
Then came a settlement of the three successions and in which, unfortunately,
Paul Morphy's trophies had to be included in the sale. The magnificent set of
gold and silver chessmen was bid in by Mr. Walter D. Denegre of New-Orleans, it
was said for a client in New-York. This set brought in at auction $1,500. Mr. J.
Samory, also of New-Orleans who had known Paul Morphy intimately, bid in the
silver wreath and also the silver trophy won by Morphy at the American Chess
Congress. The wreath was sold for $250, and the tray and goblets for $400. At
Mr. Samory's death, he willed the above to a mutual friend of his and Morphy's,
Judge Edward Bermudez. Soon after the historical old home was, sold at public
auction to J. B. Esnard, Esq., at the ridiculously low figure of $6000, after
having been for forty-five years the home of the Morphy family, and for which
Judge Morphy had paid $90,000. The new owner rented the house to various people.
Among these, Mrs. L. Conant and her daughter. These ladies were, at that time,
connected with the Christian Women's Exchange, whose headquarters were then on
Bourbon Street. After Mrs. Conant's removal, the house was occupied by different
people as a sort of rooming house, and the room in which Judge Morphy used to
sip his early morning coffee, was occupied by an Italian cobbler and his family,
and from early morning till dark, he worked at his last, scattering leather all
over the place. A few years ago, Mr. W. R. Irby, capitalist and philanthropist
of New-Orleans, purchased the old house in order to preserve it as one of the
landmarks of the Vieux Carré of New-Orleans.
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