Bankruptcy, Cholera, and Chess

Source: Ha-Magid, 12.2.1873

This is the sort of thing that could only happen to chess. Here is a cutting from the news section of the Jewish weekly Ha-Magid (hat tip: Moshe Roytman, our frequent contributor, and -- like most if not all selections from newspapers on this blog -- The Historical Jewish Press web site.)

You know your favorite hobby is not held in high esteem when the following three items appear in succession, by the weekly's correspondent Aharon Tetenboym :

1). 'In 1871 bankruptcies in North America totalled 85,352,000 dollars';
2). 'The terrible disease, Cholera, had, with God's help, stopped in our city of Warsaw'; and
3). 'In Vienna, our Jewish brother, the Baron Rothschild, was chosen as the head of a chess committee'.

As they say -- choose your poison: bankruptcy, Cholera, or chess?