The $ 1 million from the bank robbery was enough to launch an underground casino in Paris, and then create the largest criminal network for its time, entangling London. All these criminal feats were committed by a man named Adam Worth (pictured below).
Contemporaries called him the Napoleon of the underworld, and the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle, copied his professor Moriarty from him.
Profession - deserter
In 1891 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle conceived an unheard-of atrocity. He decided to get rid of the annoying Sherlock Holmes, but he was going to do it in such a way that the genius detective would die, having performed some great feat. The writer needed a character equal to Holmes in mental abilities, but at the same time embodying absolute evil, so that the ingenious detective would die, having managed to destroy him. Conan Doyle heard a high-ranking Scotland Yard officer, Sir Robert Anderson, refer to one of the criminals as the Napoleon of the underworld. This criminal was called Adam Worth. Soon, Conan Doyle published a story in which Sherlock Holmes died, dragging the ominous Professor Moriarty to the bottom of the Reichenbach Falls.
Adam Worth was born in 1844 in a poor Jewish family, either Werth or Wirtz, who lived somewhere within Prussia. When the family moved to the United States in 1849, it was decided to change the surname to the English manner, and since then the family has been called Worth. Adam's father opened a small sewing workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The family had three children: older John, middle Adam and younger Harriet. Feeding them all wasn't easy, so every cent counts. Little Adam did not immediately understand the value of money. One day a school friend showed him a brand new shiny coin and offered to exchange it for two old worn coins of the same denomination. Adam happily agreed and went home to brag about the good deal. The father was furious and roughly punished his son. Subsequently, Worth argued: "Since that incident, I have not allowed myself to be fooled by anyone else." It would be more accurate to say that from now on he played the role of a deceiver.
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The famous Harvard University was located in Cambridge, so that in the city one could constantly observe cheerful and well-dressed young people, often throwing money. Adam Worth looked at them with a mixture of envy and admiration. Many of his peers dreamed of money and luxury, but this was not enough for Worth. He longed to be a gentleman with graceful manners and refined taste. He wanted to dress in the latest fashion, lead a high life and shine in high society. However, the tailor's son was destined for a completely different fate. Not wanting to put up with his share, 14-year-old Adam ran away from home and moved to neighboring Boston, where, apparently, led the life of a street tramp and was interrupted by odd jobs and thefts. At 16, he moved to New York and soon found a job as a shop assistant. This was the first and last timewhen Adam Worth earned his living honestly. On April 12, 1861, the Civil War broke out in the United States, and young Worth preferred a life full of danger and adventure to a boring job in a dusty shop.
At first, the army of the northerners was recruited from volunteers, and each recruited was entitled to a monetary reward. Worth lied about his age, telling recruiters that he was 21 years old, received his money, and was enlisted in New York's 34th Light Artillery Regiment. In the regiment, he showed courage, responsibility and soldier's ingenuity, so that a few months after enrollment he was already wearing corporal's and then sergeant's stripes. Worth was soon in command of the battery.
On August 28, 1862, Worth's regiment took part in the major battle of Bull Run. The victory went to the Confederates, and the northerners suffered heavy losses. Worth was hospitalized wounded and soon found himself on the list of the dead. The brave sergeant did not think for long what to do: remain an honest campaigner and return to his comrades in arms, or try to make money on his "death". Worth chose the latter. He again enlisted in the army under a different name and again received the coveted award. Then he repeated the same trick several more times - he deserted, and then again portrayed a volunteer and received an award. There were quite a few professional deserters like him in those days. They were called jumpers, and when they were caught, a tribunal awaited them. The search for the "jumpers" was carried out by Pinkerton's agents, famous for their professionalism in detective business,so Worth's craft was very dangerous. At the end of the war, he decided to defect completely and, once again escaping from the unit, returned to New York. Here a new life awaited him, for which he was already quite ready.
New York in 1865 was perhaps the most corrupt and criminal city in the United States. The population of the city was about 800 thousand people, of which, according to the authorities, 30 thousand were engaged in theft, and 20 thousand - in prostitution. In New York there were about 3 thousand drinking establishments, 2 thousand gambling houses and countless brothels and thieves' dens. Power in the metropolis was concentrated in the hands of the Irish mafia, which arbitrarily removed and appointed officials, judges and deputies. In the criminal world, meanwhile, the colorful authorities with the eloquent nicknames Pig Donovan, Gip Blood, Eddie Plague, Jack Eat them-all and other similar figures ruled. The city was divided between gangs with no less striking names: "Cockroach Guard", "Forty Thieves", "Slaughterers".
Young Worth felt like a fish in water in this world. He already knew how to steal, lie and, on occasion, escape from the pursuit. In addition, in the army, he was taught to command people, so that he could count on a successful criminal career. Soon, Worth formed a gang and began organizing small thefts. His gang operated primarily in the Manhattan area and over time achieved some notoriety in the underworld. Good luck did not accompany him for long. One day, Worth was caught red-handed while trying to steal money from the mail car. He was sentenced to three years in prison, but escaped from prison a few weeks later, climbing over the fence and swimming to a barge on the Hudson River.
Worth realized that if he continued to work without the patronage of one of the crime kings of New York, he would soon get caught again and not get off so easily. Soon he found himself a patron who could appreciate all his talents.
Steal a million
Frederica Mandelbaum, like Worth, came from Prussian Jews. Arriving in the United States in 1848, she and her husband opened a grocery store, which was really just a cover for a completely different kind of business. The real income came from buying stolen goods. In 1866, Mama Mandelbaum was one of the largest buyers in New York. This plump 48-year-old woman not only provided the sale of stolen items, but also organized the crimes herself, handing out orders to thieves. Moreover, Mother was a real shadow socialite. She kept a salon where she took the cream of the criminal world. The most skilled thieves, crooks and robbers gathered in her luxurious mansion. Here shone the thief of diamonds Black Lena Kleinschmidt, the burglar Max Schinbrun, nicknamed Baron, came here,famous for aristocratic manners and incredible aplomb, Charles Bullard, known as Charlie the Piano, also visited here. Bullard was a good pianist, although he was a drunkard, but used his ear for music, picking codes for safes. During lavish receptions at Mama Mandelbaum's house, Charlie Piano sat down at the piano and performed Chopin's etudes with inspiration. Among the visitors to the salon were also corrupt judges, lawyers, politicians and police officers, so the social life was in full swing.politicians and policemen, so that social life was in full swing.politicians and policemen, so that social life was in full swing.
Worth once managed to be among those invited to the house of Mammy Mandelbaum. He made a good impression on the hostess and began to work for her. Mother's patronage provided tangible benefits. Firstly, the problem of selling the production was solved, and secondly, in her salon it was possible to make useful contacts, and thirdly, Mandelbaum always tried to help her people in trouble. She paid for the services of the most dexterous lawyers, gave out bribes and even organized the escape of prisoners. Worth did not disappoint the hopes of the patroness. He pulled off several daring thefts, one of which was particularly successful. Once he managed to steal bonds worth $ 20 thousand from the office of an insurance company.
In 1869, Charlie Piano was caught, and Mother decided to get him out of his cell, whatever the cost. Communication with the prisoners was established, and soon the construction of a tunnel began under the walls of the White Plains prison. Bullard was digging from his cell, while Worth and Max Schinbrunn were moving outside to meet him. The escape was a success, and the grateful Charlie Bullard forever became a loyal friend of Adam Worth. Shinbrunn, on the other hand, hated Worth and envied Worth for the rest of his days.
After the escape story, Worth and Bullard became companions. Worth's ingenuity and Bullard's skill in dealing with safes produced excellent results. In the fall of 1869, friends decided on a big deal. The target was Boylston Bank in Boston. The companions rented a building adjacent to the bank's wall. Here they opened a fake office that allegedly sold tonic drinks. In fact, Worth and Bullard were gradually dismantling the wall separating them from the bank vault. The work was completed on November 20, 1869. After the bank was closed, the robbers drilled several holes in the wall of the safe and sawed out a passage large enough for Worth to get inside. That night, $ 1 million in cash and securities were stolen from the Boylston Bank vault.
Worth and Bullard hastily left Boston and returned to New York, but it was no longer safe for them to remain in the United States. The robbed bankers hired Pinkerton's agents, and if these detectives wanted to find someone, sooner or later they did. The companions decided to flee the country and soon sailed to Europe on the steamer "Indiana".
Paris is always Paris
In early 1870, the newly minted millionaires arrived in Liverpool. Here Worth identified himself as a financier named Henry Judson Raymond, and Bullard became the oilman Charles Wells. They lived in grand style, indulging in all possible entertainment. Here they met the love of their life. Kitty Flynn, 17, worked as a waitress at a bar. Despite her young age, she was already a rather experienced thief and longed for money and a beautiful life. Worth and Bullard confessed their love to her, and she reciprocated them both. Friends decided not to quarrel over Kitty, leaving her to make the final choice. In the meantime, the girl lived with one of them, then with the other. In the end, Kitty chose Bullard and married him. Worth was not offended and even gave the newlyweds a luxurious wedding present. He stole £ 25,000 from a large Liverpool store.and gave them to the newlyweds.
Worth and Bullard were rich, but they knew perfectly well that without wise investments, money would sooner or later run out. In 1871, they decided to act. At that time, France had just lost the Franco-Prussian War, and the bloody epic of the Paris Commune was coming to an end in Paris. The authorities had not yet had time to shoot all the Communards when a strange trinity appeared on the streets of Paris, speaking in English. Worth, Bullard and Kitty arrive in the devastated French capital to fish in troubled waters.
Soon, not far from the still unfinished building of the Grand Opera, a luxurious restaurant called American Bar appeared. On the first and second floors, guests could enjoy gourmet food and American cocktails, still unknown in Europe, and on the third floor there was an illegal gambling house. When the police appeared at the doors of the establishment, the gambling tables moved into the caches arranged behind the walls and under the floor.
Kitty played the part of the hostess, while Charlie Piano entertained the guests with piano concerts. Adam Worth could boast of a solid appearance and wore a luxurious mustache that turned into lush sideburns, so he got the role of head waiter. He dignifiedly paced the sparkling halls of his establishment, exchanging pleasantries with the guests and at the same time making useful contacts. The American Bar has become a popular destination for international high-profile criminals. It was visited by the Dutchman Charles Becker, nicknamed Scratch, who so cleverly forged documents that he himself could not later distinguish them from the originals, the famous bank robber Joseph Chapman, the swindler Carlo Sisikovich, whom everyone considered Russian, the cracker Joe Eliot, nicknamed the Kid, and many others. Subsequently, all these people agreed to work for Worth,but in those happy days in devastated Paris, none of them had ever thought about it.
In 1873, an unexpected guest appeared at the American Bar. It was William Pinkerton, the son of Allan Pinkerton himself, the founder of the famous detective agency. Worth and Pinkerton recognized each other immediately. American detectives could not arrest criminals in France, but Pinkerton was not prevented from reporting on Worth to the French authorities. The detective and the thief sat down at one table and had a nice conversation over a glass of the best French wine. Pinkerton made it clear that he knew everything about Worth - from his first desertion to the bank robbery in Boston. The detective took his leave, and Worth realized that it was becoming unsafe in Paris.
It was decided to close the American Bar, but Worth could not leave France without doing the last thing. On the eve of his departure, he robbed a diamond merchant, who had the imprudence to put a suitcase with precious stones on the floor while playing roulette. While Worth spoke to him, Joe Eliot changed the suitcase. The cost of the stolen diamonds was £ 30,000.
The abduction of the "Duchess"
In the story “The Last Case of Sherlock Holmes,” the brilliant detective said about Moriarty: “He is the Napoleon of the underworld, Watson. He is the organizer of half of all atrocities and almost all unsolved crimes in our city … He has a first-class mind. He sits motionless, like a spider in the center of his web, but this web has thousands of strands, and he picks up the vibration of each of them. He himself rarely acts. He only makes a plan. But his agents are numerous and superbly organized. This description of the criminal community is best suited to what Worth intended to create when he moved to London with Bullard and Kitty.
The heart of the British Empire was little like a gangster New York, and yet there were a great many thieves and swindlers. Worth was going to be something like Mammy Mandelbaum for them or something more. He soon began to act.
To begin with, Worth bought a mansion south of town. There was everything a true gentleman was supposed to have: expensive furniture, a rich library, a tennis court, a bowling alley, a target shooting gallery, a stable with ten racehorses, and other signs of wealth and high social status. Then he rented an apartment in central London, from where it was convenient to do business, and set about building his criminal empire.
Worth has formed a gang of high-class criminals around him. His inner circle included Charlie Piano, Scratch, Kid, Carlo Sisikovich and Joseph Chapman. Worth planned thefts, scams and robberies, and then instructed his henchmen to find suitable performers. The Napoleon of the underworld demanded that his people refrain from violence. Worth admonished: “A man with brains has no right to carry a weapon. Exercise your brain! However, Worth did not need a weapon, because he was accompanied everywhere by a valet - a former wrestler named Jailer Jack. This bully, who earned his nickname by carrying all the stuff in his pockets all the time, was not very smart, but he could beat anyone.
Sherlock Holmes said about Moriarty: “Brilliant and incomprehensible. The man entangled the whole of London with his nets, and no one even heard of him. This is what raises him to an unattainable height in the criminal world. " Worth was just as ubiquitous and elusive, but if his literary counterpart sat somewhere "in the center of his web," then he himself attended concerts at the Albert Hall, the royal races at Ascot and enjoyed all the joys of life that Victorian London had to offer a rich gentleman with exquisite taste.
The Pinkerton report stated that Worth "practices all forms of crime: making false checks, fraud, forgery, breaking safes, road robberies, bank robberies … all with complete impunity." Of course, William Pinkerton informed Scotland Yard of who Worth really was, but it was absolutely impossible to prove his involvement in the crimes. Scotland Yard Inspector John Shore vowed to catch Worth and imprison him, but he acted with the awkwardness of a literary Lestrade. In addition, Worth had a network of informants: two Scotland Yard detectives and one attorney regularly reported to him on every step of the hapless inspector.
Worth came dangerously close to failure a couple of times. First, he tried to find a job for his older brother John. He instructed his brother to go to Paris and cash the fake check made by Scratch. Adam forbade John to enter Meyer & Company Bank, because this institution had recently been tricked in this way. It was to this bank that John Worth went, where, of course, he was caught red-handed. Adam spent a lot of money on lawyers to get his brother out of jail, and then put him on a steamer and sent him home to America. On another occasion, nearly all of Worth's organization was in trouble. Eliot, Becker, Chapman and Sisikovich were caught with counterfeit securities in Turkey and ended up in an Ottoman prison. Inspector Shore was already rubbing his hands and intending to extradite the criminals, but Worth was faster. He distributed most of his fortune in bribes to Turkish officials, but ransomed his people.
From time to time, Worth himself committed thefts. He did this partly out of sporting interest, partly out of a desire to confirm his reputation as a skillful thief. In 1876, he committed the real theft of the century. A year before, the whole of London was excited by the news that a painting by Gainsborough, long considered lost, would be sold at Christie's. The painting was painted in 1787 and was called “Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire”. Lady Georgiana herself was a very dissolute lady, and now, 70 years after her death, all the newspapers again wrote about her scandalous adventures. The pre-sale PR campaign was so powerful that only the lazy was not talking about the picture. As a result, Gainsborough's work was bought by art dealer William Agnew, who paid 10 thousand guineas for it, which corresponds to today's $ 600 thousand. Now, when paintings are sold for tens of millions,such a deal does not seem too large, but at the time the amount looked fantastic. Agnew intended to resell the painting to the Morgan clan, which was distantly related to the unlucky duchess, but his plans were not destined to come true.
On the night of May 27, 1876, Worth stole the painting. The case involved Rumble Jack and Kid, but their work was limited to standing on the watch. Worth personally made his way into the room where the masterpiece was kept and kidnapped it.
It was impossible to sell a painting of such value, and therefore Worth only hid it from one place to another. The accomplices were tired of waiting for their share, and Junkie Jack even tried to turn Worth to the police, but Napoleon of the underworld easily exposed his simple plan. So Adam Worth became the secret owner of Gainsborough's masterpiece. Many years later, the kidnapped "Duchess" will save him from poverty and lonely old age.
Reichenbach Falls
Worth's criminal career continued. Once, for example, he and two other accomplices ransacked a mail car, in which there were Spanish and Egyptian bonds for 700 thousand francs. On another occasion, Worth decided to take a closer look at the diamond fields of South Africa and went to Cape Town. Here the intellectual thief decided to retrain into a robber and tried to rob a stagecoach with diamonds. The Boers, guarding the wagon, almost shot him, and the would-be robber forcibly carried off his feet. Worth decided to return to the principles of non-violence, and this time it worked out. He learned that from time to time, diamonds are left in a safe located at the post office. Worth befriended the aged postmaster, entertaining him with a game of chess, and discreetly took casts of the keys to the vault. The rest was a matter of technique. Worth returned to Europe with suitcasesstuffed with diamonds.
In the 1880s, Worth was quite happy and pleased with himself. He was rich, he was received in polite society, and Inspector Shore still could not find a single piece of evidence against him. He married a poor girl named Louise Bolyan, who bore him a son, Henry, and a daughter, Beatrice. "The Duchess of Devonshire" no longer burned his hands: he found a way to take the painting to the USA and hide it there in a safe place. True, he was worried about the fate of his friend. Kitty left Bullard and went to America, where she married a millionaire. Charlie Pianino used to kiss the bottle, and now he started to drink too much. Leaving him in business was simply dangerous. As a result, Bullard also left for the United States, where he again contacted the Baron.
The general picture of happiness was not darkened even by a new meeting with William Pinkerton. The two respectable gentlemen bowed and bought each other a drink. Worth and Pinkerton talked in the bar like old comrades and, in a sense, colleagues, deeply respecting each other's professionalism. Saying goodbye, Worth said with feeling, “Sir, I believe Inspector Shore is a helpless idiot. I deeply respect you and your people. I just want you to know this."
The collapse of Napoleon came quite unexpectedly. In 1892 the Baron and Charlie Piano showed up in Belgium. They tried to rob a bank, but got caught and went to jail. Worth traveled to Liege, hoping to ransom a friend, but was late. Charles Bullard died in a cell. This death shocked Worth deeply. What he did next was completely out of his style. Worth planned to steal a box of money from a moving post carriage, and he prepared for the crime extremely carelessly, and found accomplices inexperienced and unreliable. It seems he was just trying to get revenge on Belgium for Bullard's death. At the appointed hour, he jumped into the post carriage, but was caught red-handed, because his accomplices, seeing the police, simply ran away without giving him a signal.
Worth ended up in the dock. Inspector Shore gleefully sent his dossier on the London crime king to Belgium, but this had little effect on the court's decision, since he still had no real evidence of Worth's guilt. They were with William Pinkerton, but he remained deathly silent. Kitty Flynn, who by that time had become a very rich widow, extended a helping hand. She helped find good lawyers and organize defense.
In 1893, Adam Worth was sentenced to seven years in the only proven episode of carriage robbery. But the worst was just beginning. Worth assigned one of his henchmen to take care of his family, who simply robbed and raped his wife. The unhappy woman went mad and was admitted to a mental hospital. The children were taken to America by his brother John.
Worth was released from prison in 1897 for good behavior. He no longer had friends or family. But he had a plan. Returning to London, he robbed a £ 4,000 jewelry store and immediately went to the United States. He visited his brother and children, and then left them, saying that he had two friends left in America. He was referring to William Pinkerton and "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire."
Pinkerton was quite surprised when the man he had been trying to catch for so long came to see him. Adam Worth had a business proposal. He promised to return the Georgiana to its rightful owners on condition that Pinkerton would help him get the ransom. In fact, Worth offered the chief detective of the United States to help him realize the stolen goods. William Pinkerton thought about it and agreed.
William Agnew got his Gainsborough by paying $ 25,000. The amount was much less than Worth usually received for his machinations, but he was glad of that too. Taking the children, he left for London, which he loved, where he lived out his days, leading a life worthy of a poor elderly gentleman who had retired.
On January 8, 1902, Adam Worth passed away. The last promise made to him by William Pinkerton was now in effect. Worth's son Henry was hired by the Pinkerton Detective Agency and made a good career there.