Real criminals and their atrocities are capable of giving a powerful impetus to the writer's creative imagination. It is in such cases that characters are born like the main enemy of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson - Professor Moriarty.
In Great Britain, there is the Society of Friends of Sherlock Holmes, whose members analyze works about the great detective and often find interesting moments. For example, how could Stapleton, unbeknownst to others, deliver a huge amount of fresh meat for his giant "Baskervilles" dog? And why did the writer not make "Professor Moriarty" the woman, the queen of the London underworld - Jenny Diver, who previously served as the prototype for the main character in Beggar's Opera? However, the last question can be answered by supporters of the version according to which a certain Adam Worth could well claim the role of Professor Moriarty.
Smart student
The information about this swindler that has come down to our time is rather contradictory. According to some sources, Adam Worth (Worth) was born into a Jewish family in Munich in 1844. In search of happiness, the family moved overseas to the United States. The boy turned out to be from among difficult teenagers, participated in a showdown between local gangs, and having killed one of the same young bandits, like himself, fled from Boston to New York, where he was sheltered by a family from the Bronx. There, he received additional training in battles between youth gangs. But very soon, as soon as the Civil War between the North and the South began, Worth was among the volunteers in the camp of the northerners. During one of the battles, Adam was seriously wounded, and after being discharged from the hospital, he learned that he was included in the lists of the dead.
Worth immediately realized how to benefit from this - to be recruited into the army again and again, but under false names, referring to the fact that his documents were irretrievably lost during the hostilities, and receiving army allowance and the corresponding salary. The plan was good, but after a while Worth fell under the audit of officials of the military treasury and decided to desert, hiding in his native New York.
Very quickly, he found his old friends in the criminal business who worked for Mamasha Mandelbaum, the real "godmother" of Brooklyn criminals. This "American Sonya Golden Hand" quickly appreciated the intellectual abilities of her new charge. She has long needed not a stupid gangster who breaks into a bank with a pistol in his hand, but a developer capable of planning and performing a surgical precision operation to open safes and gut wallets.
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European Adventures
Under Mama's direction, Adam organized several successful robberies. And then he decided to build his own criminal business. Several friends and a dozen successful raids allowed him to put together a good fortune. After that, Adam is established as the leader of the underworld. However, armed raids gave scanty booty, and in 1869 Adam and company rented a warehouse, carefully dismantled a wall adjoining one of the Boston banks, and then stole a safe with all its multimillion-dollar cash. Worth was an intelligent and cautious man and understood that after such a daring robbery, many would look for him, and with great care. Therefore, having hit a big jackpot, he immediately moves to Europe.
Now his name is Harold Ryle, and he is opening the American Bar in Paris, a prestigious VIP restaurant with an underground casino in the basement. In this institution, Adam's assistants worked quite successfully. None of the tipsy visitors could remember how much he had lost, since a couple of hundred francs in a taxi (in accordance with the owner's instructions) always remained in the client's wallet. But two years later, the institution had to be liquidated, as the detectives of the American police, who did not forget about the bank robbery, came on its trail. In addition, detectives from the private agency of Alan Pinkerton joined the search, who never gave up and always achieved their goal.
This time the leader of the gang decides to settle in the UK. And he decides not to waste his time on trifles anymore. He organized his headquarters in one of the most prestigious areas of London, and its structure has functioned for more than a decade, organizing robberies and breaking into safes. At the same time, Worth himself always remained in the shadows. His firm offered all kinds of criminal services - from selling a set of master keys to providing the services of professional "bugbears". He did not disdain blackmail either. True to the characterization given to Professor Moriarty by Sherlock Holmes, Worth weaved a web into which his victims fell, who had ever had the imprudence to write compromising letters. The conspiracy in Worth's organization has been raised to the highest level. Ordinary members of the criminal clan knew only their foremen, and even if they ended up in jail, they were silent, because they knew that their relatives would not be in poverty at large.
It is difficult to say whether this was actually the case or another criminal legend is taking place here, but historians of the criminal world of that era attribute to Worth the creation of an entire pirate flotilla that robbed merchant ships off the coast of Latin America, and in South Africa, Worth's fellows attacked a train that transported diamonds. As a result, 20 people died, and the precious cargo disappeared without a trace. In any case, information about these "exploits" regularly reached the shores of Foggy Albion. But thanks to police officials who tried to ignore the rich gentleman with a dubious reputation, receiving "donations" and invitations to social events for this, Worth flourished. He managed to get an impressive plot of land on the outskirts of London, where he built a mansion filled to the brim with the most valuable antiques, with a stable for 10 horses. His estate was often visited by high-ranking persons, who later would not hesitate to disown their benefactor.
Court and prison
To provide himself with an alibi for the time of committing crimes, Worth usually went to the hospital, under the supervision of "his" doctor, Dr. John Live. There was only one diagnosis - hypertension. The corresponding conclusions of the bribed doctors allowed Adam to direct the actions of his subordinates without leaving the hospital ward.
Fatal for Worth was the decision to take part in the release of his accomplice - a certain Bullard, who, according to his scenario, organized an attack on a collector's car in Liege, as a result of which the Belgian treasury was to lose two million francs. And here fortune betrayed the king of the underworld. It was not difficult to neutralize the guards, but it was impossible to open the door of the armored car with a simple crowbar, and the robbers ran away. Among them was Bullard, who was unlucky. Due to the heavy weight, he could not run far. But Worth, who took a personal part in the operation, managed to get away with his legs.
Bullard's rescue was pointless, since he died of a heart attack on the way to the police station. But by this time, American detectives had a very decent evidence base in relation to the crimes committed by Adam Worth. In addition, there were direct testimonies against him given by his former accomplice Max Shinburne.
As a result, Worth was arrested. The trial was high-profile, and it began with the indictment of the theft of the painting "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire" by the artist Thomas Gainsborough.
However, the results of this case were more than modest. The "professor of the underworld" was given only seven years in prison. Most likely, he just bought off.
Later, Worth went into the shadows, and his name practically disappeared from the pages of newspapers. But Conan Doyle, who closely followed the criminal chronicle, most likely chose Worth as the prototype of the "lord of the underworld".
Here is a description of Adam Worth preserved in the Scotland Yard criminal archives: “Short in stature, a little more than one and a half meters, stooped, elongated skull, head with bald patches, sunken eyes, but very expressive, the hands and fingers of the pianist are in constant motion, as if they are looking for something, preferring to wear black clothes over the version of the professor's robe."
By the way, this is how the leader of the underworld appeared on the screen in the cult Soviet TV series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
Sergey URANOV