The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth,
by Ben MacIntyre, 1998
Adam Worth (1844–1902) was born in Germany but taken to the USA as a little boy, settling in Cambridge Mass. Worth left home early and by 1860 was in New York, employed as a clerk in a boring department store. But for Worth & others, the outbreak of America's Civil War in 1861 provided an opportunity for adventure.
At 17 Worth enlisted in the Union army. He was promoted to sergeant in the 34th New York Light Artillery Regiment. When in a battle in Aug 1862, Worth was seriously wounded and shipped to a Washington D.C hospital. On recovering, he found that he’d been listed as killed in action. Officially dead, Worth could now re-enlist and claim another bounty. He took the money, deserting, then re-enlisting in another unit under another name. [I mention this because it marked a life of illegal activities].
After the Civil War, Worth saw his chance in the N.Y criminal underworld, using his talents for planning and financing criminal enterprises. Alas he landed in the very nasty Sing Sing prison on a 3-year sentence. Worth soon escaped and vowed to move into a more lucrative career, robbing banks.
Altering his appearance with fine whiskers, he established a profitable relationship with a conduit for stolen goods, Frederika Mandelbaum. Worth had masterminded great robberies and was trusted to spring the high class robber Charley Bullard from prison. This successful operation involved bribing guards and digging a tunnel.
Worth and Bullard now formed a long term partnership, and one of their most notable successes was robbery of the National Bank in Boston in 1869. They set up a health shop near the bank and excavated a tunnel to gain entrance. The men were now so successful that the Pinkerton Detective Agency launched a serious investigation. The Agency tracked the shipment of trunks from the shopfront to Worth and Bullard, so the two crims moved to Europe.
After the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and the Commune that followed in 1871, Paris was the corrupt city immortalised by Zola and de Maupassant. As the “American financier Henry Raymond”, Worth acquired the polish to carry it off. He and Bullard operated a major gambling centre in Paris and succeeded with high-value robberies.
In the mid-1870s they moved to London where “Raymond” established himself as a popular member of smart society, a wealthy acquaintance of Albert the Prince of Wales. He bought a superb villa in Clapham and maintained a flat in fashionable Piccadilly.
Scotland Yard was aware of Worth’s network but couldn't prove anything. Inspector John Shore made Worth's capture his personal mission. From his Londonbase, the Worth operation expanded internationally, including a theft of uncut diamonds in South Africa that Worth personally oversaw in the 1870s.
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In the 1880s, “Henry Raymond” married Louise Boljahn and had two children
By 1892, Worth was arrested during a robbery of a money-transport in Belgium. He refused to talk, but it all fell apart when his photograph and details were circulated to Scotland Yard, Pinkertons Detective Agency and NYPD. He was now betrayed by his criminal colleagues and after the trial, got 7 years in a Belgian gaol. It appeared to have broken him.
The American financier wanted to return to the USA, where his two children were living, but he needed funds to sail. So he robbed £4,000 worth of diamonds from a London dealer!
Worth was at risk of prosecution in the U.S for his earlier offences there. He still had the Duchess of Devonshire painting, kept secret for 20 years, hiding it under his mattress. He approached the Pinkertons and agreed to return the painting to the Agnews, in return for a healthy ransom and a guarantee of non-prosecution. The exchange of portrait and payment occurred; cashed up again, Worth-Raymond returned to London with his children.
The real Adam Worth was a clever, cultured, agreeable American gentleman, who found acceptance at the highest level of British society. But he’d received relatively little for his ransom. In 1901, the Agnew Gallery reacquired the Duchess portrait and later it was re-hung in its original home, Chatsworth. Worth/Raymond died penniless in London in 1902, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery.
I have concentrated on Worth’s theft from the art world. For the rest of his colourful career, read HEADSTUFF.
Altering his appearance with fine whiskers, he established a profitable relationship with a conduit for stolen goods, Frederika Mandelbaum. Worth had masterminded great robberies and was trusted to spring the high class robber Charley Bullard from prison. This successful operation involved bribing guards and digging a tunnel.
Worth and Bullard now formed a long term partnership, and one of their most notable successes was robbery of the National Bank in Boston in 1869. They set up a health shop near the bank and excavated a tunnel to gain entrance. The men were now so successful that the Pinkerton Detective Agency launched a serious investigation. The Agency tracked the shipment of trunks from the shopfront to Worth and Bullard, so the two crims moved to Europe.
After the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and the Commune that followed in 1871, Paris was the corrupt city immortalised by Zola and de Maupassant. As the “American financier Henry Raymond”, Worth acquired the polish to carry it off. He and Bullard operated a major gambling centre in Paris and succeeded with high-value robberies.
In the mid-1870s they moved to London where “Raymond” established himself as a popular member of smart society, a wealthy acquaintance of Albert the Prince of Wales. He bought a superb villa in Clapham and maintained a flat in fashionable Piccadilly.
Scotland Yard was aware of Worth’s network but couldn't prove anything. Inspector John Shore made Worth's capture his personal mission. From his Londonbase, the Worth operation expanded internationally, including a theft of uncut diamonds in South Africa that Worth personally oversaw in the 1870s.
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire,
by Thomas Gainsborough, 1787, 127 x 102 cms
stolen by Worth in 1876; retrieved in 1901 by the Agnew Gallery
Worth was in love with the Duchess painting. He organised its successful theft with two associates, thus triggering an international fuss for years. Police thought that the unknown thieves would attempt to sell it, but it was actually in Worth’s London flat, near the gallery.
Stealing the Duchess of Devonshire led to Worth’s eventual downfall; his co-conspirators, Joe Elliot and Junka Phillips, were angered by not being financially rewarded for stealing the valuable painting. When Worth refused to divulge its whereabouts, Elliot and Phillips went to the police and Worth was sent to prison. Following his release for good behaviour after 4 years in 1897, Worth returned to America, and began negotiations with the Pinkerton Detective Agency to ransom the painting.
Worth formed a criminal network, organising major robberies via intermediaries; as a result his name was unknown to those who were involved directly. The focus was on high-value proceeds and Worth reemphasised that guns were never used. Detective William Pinkerton affirmed this was 100% true. Nonetheless Scotland Yard starting calling Worth the Napoleon of the Criminal World. This title seemed to have inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, with the idea of a criminal mastermind, Professor James Moriarty.
stolen by Worth in 1876; retrieved in 1901 by the Agnew Gallery
Back in Chatsworth House since 1994
Now pay attention readers! In May 1876, Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire caused a stir when it was auctioned at Christie's London. It sold to the art dealer William Agnew for $51,540, the highest price ever paid for an auctioned painting. The London dealer quickly hung the Duchess at his Agnew Gallery.
Now pay attention readers! In May 1876, Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire caused a stir when it was auctioned at Christie's London. It sold to the art dealer William Agnew for $51,540, the highest price ever paid for an auctioned painting. The London dealer quickly hung the Duchess at his Agnew Gallery.
Worth was in love with the Duchess painting. He organised its successful theft with two associates, thus triggering an international fuss for years. Police thought that the unknown thieves would attempt to sell it, but it was actually in Worth’s London flat, near the gallery.
Stealing the Duchess of Devonshire led to Worth’s eventual downfall; his co-conspirators, Joe Elliot and Junka Phillips, were angered by not being financially rewarded for stealing the valuable painting. When Worth refused to divulge its whereabouts, Elliot and Phillips went to the police and Worth was sent to prison. Following his release for good behaviour after 4 years in 1897, Worth returned to America, and began negotiations with the Pinkerton Detective Agency to ransom the painting.
Worth formed a criminal network, organising major robberies via intermediaries; as a result his name was unknown to those who were involved directly. The focus was on high-value proceeds and Worth reemphasised that guns were never used. Detective William Pinkerton affirmed this was 100% true. Nonetheless Scotland Yard starting calling Worth the Napoleon of the Criminal World. This title seemed to have inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, with the idea of a criminal mastermind, Professor James Moriarty.
In the 1880s, “Henry Raymond” married Louise Boljahn and had two children
By 1892, Worth was arrested during a robbery of a money-transport in Belgium. He refused to talk, but it all fell apart when his photograph and details were circulated to Scotland Yard, Pinkertons Detective Agency and NYPD. He was now betrayed by his criminal colleagues and after the trial, got 7 years in a Belgian gaol. It appeared to have broken him.
The American financier wanted to return to the USA, where his two children were living, but he needed funds to sail. So he robbed £4,000 worth of diamonds from a London dealer!
Worth was at risk of prosecution in the U.S for his earlier offences there. He still had the Duchess of Devonshire painting, kept secret for 20 years, hiding it under his mattress. He approached the Pinkertons and agreed to return the painting to the Agnews, in return for a healthy ransom and a guarantee of non-prosecution. The exchange of portrait and payment occurred; cashed up again, Worth-Raymond returned to London with his children.
The real Adam Worth was a clever, cultured, agreeable American gentleman, who found acceptance at the highest level of British society. But he’d received relatively little for his ransom. In 1901, the Agnew Gallery reacquired the Duchess portrait and later it was re-hung in its original home, Chatsworth. Worth/Raymond died penniless in London in 1902, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery.
I have concentrated on Worth’s theft from the art world. For the rest of his colourful career, read HEADSTUFF.