Chess, the New York Clipper, and the Start of the American Civil War: April 1861 By John S. Hilbert With its April 13, 1861, issue the New York Clipper, a weekly sporting and theater magazine owned and edited by Frank Queen, announced the close of its eighth year. Begun in 1853 as a four page spread devoted to a variety of entertainment, the Clipper was not modest. Queen's editorial that week prided itself on denouncing the "sport" of dog fighting, for instance, because it had become "but a pretext for the basest swindling, for law breaking; for the grossest demoralization of the man and cruelty to the brute." The Clipper would no longer report the disgraceful doings of men who set … [Read more...]