Your suggestion is quite possible.

<OBJECT TO JUDD.

Anti-Semitism Has Run Mad in the Austrian Empire.

Vienna, April 1.— The anti-Semites and clericals are agitated over the appointment by Cleveland of Max Judd of Missouri as Consul-General of the United States at Vienna, the opposition to Judd being based upon the ground that he is a Hebrew and is therefore an undesirable person for the office. A petition is being prepared, addressed to the Emperor Francis Joseph an to the Austrian Foreign Offlce asking the Imperial officers to refuse to accent Judd as American Consul-General.>

The proximity of the date of his death and the SF earthquake are likely just a coincidence.

http://www.chess.com/blog/batgirl/s...

<OBITUARY.

The New Orleans Times Democrat of May 20th records the death of Mr. Max Judd, of St. Louis, one of the strongest of America's amateur chess players. In the course of a lengthy obituary notice our contemporary says :—" Mr. Judd was born in 1852, and during the past thirty-six years took part in nearly every American chess congress, and contributed generously to Caissa's cause.

In 1871 he won fourth prize at the Cleveland International Tourney; third at Chicago, in 1874; second at Philadelphia, in 1876; fifth at New York, in 1880; a special prize at New York, in 1889; second in the St. Louis, or seventh American Congress of two years ago. In 1903 he won the Championship Tourney of the Western Chess Association, and was selected to participate in the Cambridge Springs Tourney, but ill-health prevented his playing. For several years he was President of the St. Louis Chess Club, and it was mainly through his untiring efforts that the sixth and seventh American Chess Congresses were made possible. In none of his matches against St. Louis players was Mr. Judd ever defeated. In 1874 he won a match from the then well-known Italian master, Alberoni, by the score of six games to three; in 1884 he defeated A. B. Hodges with five wins to the two of his opponent, no games being drawn; in 1890 he defeated J. W. Showalter by seven points to his adversary's three.

Taking into account all the characteristics of Mr. Max Judd's play—its solidity, it's depth, its quick grasp of the strategic possibilities of a position, and so, too, its frequently manifested capacity for the achievement of the brilliant in the game—there could be no question but that he belonged to the ranks of the undoubted masters. Had he, like certain others with a similar natural aptitude for chess, made it the business of his life, instead of merely its recreation, it is not hazarding too much to say that he would have occupied a very much higher rank in the history of the game—fully on a plane with Weiss, English, Kolisch, Zukertort, and even Steinitz, all of his own Jewish race and faith. But that he chose wisely in resting content with a strictly amateur status it is very sure that none can fairly doubt">

What is the source of the Dec 27 dob?

has <Judd--Bardeleben 1889.11 Cafe Kaiserhof (26) 0-1>

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...

In the pix I've compared Judd has a more pronounced ear lobe spacing from ear to skull, and he also has a widow's peak hairline, which this photo also shows. The pix of Paulsen appear to be inconsistent with those particular features shown here.

<The well-known chess player Max J u d d will arrive from New York next week to participate at the local Chess Tournament, starting on May 10th.>

There is a report in "Neues Wiener Journal" at the beginning of October mentioning Judd as a chessplayer in Vienna and without any indication that he already left: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/a...

At the end of November, Judd is definitely in the US. This can be claimed by three articles in the "St.Louis Republic" dealing with a simul he gave in St.Louis on 29 November.

Maybe someone with access to the passenger lists at ancestry can find out exact dates of his voyage.

"Der bisherige nordamerikanische Consul in Wien, Schachmatador Max Judd, veranstaltete seiner durch den Präsidentenwechsel verursachten Rückkehr nach den Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika im Wiener Schachklub ein Meisterturnier, an dem sich folgende Spieler betheiligten: Hugo Fähndrich, Max Hamlich, Jaap Eden, Max Judd, Albert Mandelbaum, Georg Marco, Karl Schlechter und S.R. Wolf. Das Resultat war: 1.Preis Schlechter 6.5, 2. Judd mit 5.5, 3. Marco mit 5, 4. Fähndrich mit 4 Gewinnpoints."

- Maximilian Judkiewich