November 22 1915
Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Monday, November 22, 1915
Dr. Adolf Decker Is Dead.
Dr. Adolf Decker, author of German dialect stories, a chess expert of international fame, and a practicing physician of Chicago for the last twenty-six years, died Saturday night at his residence, 4950 Kenmore avenue, after a short illness. Dr. Decker was formerly president of the German Medical Association of Chicago, and for many years contributed chess problems to THE TRIBUNE.
He was for many years editor of the chess column of the Illinois Staats Zeitung. His Bavarian dialect poems appeared in several volumes in Germany, and his poem on the Chicago World's Fair received a wide reading in his native country.
December 05 1915
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sunday, December 05, 1915
According to dispatches from Chicago, the veteran German-American problemist, Dr. Adolph Decker died there on Sunday, November 21. Readers of The Gazette Times will remember his photograph, which appeared in the issue for October 15, 1911, with a sketch of his life. Since that date Dr. Decker has been something of an invalid. He went abroad in June, 1914 [Editor Note: Ellis Island and other New York Passengers Lists record a date of return arrival in New York, NY, USA on November 21, 1914], and returned soon after the beginning of the war, and worry on the subject doubtless aggravated his condition. He spent the summer of 1915 at a cottage at Happy Lands, Michigan, and my last letter from him was received just after his return to Chicago. In it he said that the outing had not benefited him as he had hoped. I sent him a package of books to amuse him during his stay, and his letter contained some interesting notes on what he regarded as the lack of progress in the style of composition during the last 10 years. He was a stickler for mate purity and for economy of force, and he wrote extensively on these subjects in many foreign papers, especially, strange to say, in those of Italy. He composed upwards of 1,200 problems, of which he kept an accurate and numbered record in two series, the first containing the 50-odd problems composed before coming to this country, the second and much larger one containing his American work. His theory of composition led him to compose a great many rather slight problems, and a great many anticipated by other composers. This never disturbed him, for he said his interest was in the discovery of ideas new to himself. If others chanced on them, before or after him, so much the better for the idea. The one below, selected from his unpublished work by Mr. C. H. Wheeler, is typical of his art, and the problem by Kubbel shows about how near to other works his average run of composition was. He was a delightful correspondent, always writing in German, and a good friend to me for over 15 years.
Alain C. White.
