Jerome Gambit: Another Strange and Shocking Opening

I was wandering the internet the other day, when I came upon a rather outrageous and totally unsound gambit that made me think, of course, of my favorite, the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). 

The line comes out of the Scotch Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 with 4.Ng5!?.

What?

Of course, Black tried to shoo the pesky Knight away with 4...h6, only to experience 5.Nxf7 - White throwing a piece away, but checkmating before a dozen moves have passed.

Very strange. Very shocking.

I wanted to learn more about the line - for historical purposes, of course.

I found some some light (and light hearted) analysis by Chess Domatio at "Getting Out of the Trap#1: Scotch Gambit Trap" and at two sites by Grandmaster Igor Smirnev, "The Best Chess Opening against 1...e5 | Scotch Gambit Traps" and "Deadly Chess TRAP to Win in 7 Moves! [Works up to 2200 ELO".

The earliest game example with 4.Ng5 that I could find was Johnston, A. - Hosmer, H., 2nd American Chess Congress 1871: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Ng5 Nh6 5.Bc4 Bc5 6.Qh5 Qf6 7.O-O d6 8.h3 Ne5 9.Bb3 Qg6 10.Qh4 f6 11.f4 fxg5 12.fxg5 Nhf7 13.Kh2 Be6 14.Ba4+ Nd7 15.c3 Bc4 16.Rf5 O-O-O 17.Bd1 Nfe5 18.b3 Bd3 19.Bb2 dxc3 20.Nxc3 c6 21.a3 Rdf8 22.b4 Bb6 23.Bg4 Nxg4+ 24.hxg4 Bc7 25.Qf2 d5+ 26.Kh1 dxe4 27.Qxa7 Rxf5 28.gxf5 Qh5+ White resigned

I verified the moves by consulting The Book of the Second American Chess Congress, Cleveland, Ohio, December 1871, by Max Judd (Dubuque, Iowa, 1871).

It is interesting that Johnston played a more mainline variation in the same tournament, Johnston, A.  - Smith, HD, 2nd American Chess Congress 1871: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Ng5 (Sarratt Attack, at least as old as Sarratt - NN, London, 1818) Nh6 6.Qh5 O-O 7.Bxf7+ Rxf7 8.Nxf7 Nxf7 9.Qxc5 d6 10.Qc4 Qe7 11.Qe2 Nfe5 12.O-O Be6 13.Na3 Rf8 14.f4 Bg4 15.Qb5 Ng6 16.Qxb7 Qxe4 17.Qb3+ Kh8 18.Qg3 Bf5 19.Qf3 Qe8 20.Bd2 Be4 21.Qg3 Nce7 22.Rae1 d5 23.f5 Nxf5 24.Qxc7 Ngh4 25.Rf2 Qg6 26.Qg3 Qe8 27.Qh3 h6 28.g4 Qg6 29.Rxe4 dxe4 30.Kh1 e3 31.Rxf5 Nxf5 32.gxf5 Qc6+ 33.Kg1 exd2 34.Qd3 Rxf5 35.Qxd2 Qg6+ White resigned

Was 5.Ng5 against Hosmer a fingerfehler?

Why mention an opening from a game over 150 years ago, that White lost, and that nobody plays these days?

It is an interesting coincidence that Johnston was at one time a member of the Cincinnati Chess Club, as was S. A. Charles, who wrote opening analyses, first for the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, then later for the Pittsburgh Telegraph, including an examination of the Jerome Gambit; and J.W. Miller, who published Cook's Synopsis of Chess Openings A Tabular Analysis by William Cook, With American Inventions in the Openings and Fresh Analysis since 1882, which also contained analysis of the Jerome Gambit.

Besides, it is not quite accurate that nobody today plays 5.Ng5!? In fact, lichess.org has 869,324 (!) games with that move, with White scoring a decent 56%. Also, the site has 260,399 games with 5.Ng5!? h6 6.Nxf7!?, with White scoring an impressive 73%.

Something to consider in your next blitz game, if you decide to bypass the Jerome...