Worth, Adam

Born into a poor Jewish family in Germany. His real name was “Werth.” When he was five years old, his family moved to Cambridge , Massachusetts , to the United States of America , where his father became a tailor. In 1854, he escaped from home and moved first to Boston , and then, in 1860, to New York . He worked as a clerk in a department store for one month.

When the Civil War broke out , Worth was 17 years old. He lied about his age and was enlisted in the army of the Union . Worth served in the 2nd New York L heavy artillery battery (later called the 34th New York battery) and received the rank of sergeant two months later. He was wounded in the Second Battle of Bull Run on August 30, 1862, and was sent by sea to Georgetown Hospital in Washington, DC . At the hospital, he found out that he was listed on the lists as " died in battle ", and after recovery he left him.

Worth became a “mercenary jumper”: he began to join various regiments under false names, received his pay, did a little work, and then deserted. When the Pinkerton National Detective Agency began to track him, like many others using similar methods, he fled to New York and then to Portsmouth. ^{[ specify ]} .

After the war, Worth became a pickpocket in New York . Over time, he founded his own gang of pickpockets, and then proceeded to organize robberies and thefts. When he was caught stealing money from a safe in an Adam Express van, he was sentenced to three years in prison at Sing Sing , but fled a couple of weeks later and resumed his criminal career.

Worth began working for the well-known crime lord and author of criminal schemes, Frederic Marm (“Teacher”) Mandelbaum. With its help, around 1866, he began to rob banks and shops, eventually moving on to planning his own thefts. In 1869, he helped Mandelbaum pull Charlie Bullard’s teddy bear out of White Plains Prison through a tunnel.

Together with Bullard, Worth robbed the vault of the Boyleston National Bank in Boston on November 20, 1869 - again through a tunnel, this time from a nearby store. The bank warned Pinkerton detectives who tracked a batch of crates that Worth and Bullard had used to transport their production to New York . Worth decided to move to Europe with Bullard.

Bullard and Worth first went to Liverpool . Bullard took the name “Charles H. Wells,” an oilman from Texas . Worth pretended to be a financier named "Henry Judson Raymond" - a name that he will use for many years after that. They began to compete for the favor of a barmaid named Kitty Flynn, who eventually recognized their true identities. She became Bullard's wife, but Worth did not fall into her disfavor. In October 1870, Kitty gave birth to a daughter, Lucy Adeline, and seven years later, a second daughter named Katherine Louise. The paternity of these two girls remains a debatable issue. It is possible that Kitty herself did not know who their father was, but Bullard and Worth both claimed the rights to each child. William Pinkerton believed that both of Kitty's daughters were from Adam Worth.

When the Bullards went on their honeymoon, Worth began to rob local pawnshops . He shared the booty with Bullard and Flynn when they returned, and together the trio moved to Paris in 1871 .

In Paris, the police were disorganized after the events of the Paris Commune . Worth and his associates founded the American Bar, a restaurant and a bar on the ground floor, and a gambling hall on the top floor. Since gambling was illegal, the gaming tables were built in such a way that they could be folded inside the walls and floor at any time. A bell rang from the stairs that warned customers before the police burst. Worth created a new gang of criminals, some of his accomplices were his old comrades from New York .

When Alan Pinkerton , founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, visited this place in 1873 , Worth recognized him. Later, Parisian police raided the site several times, and Worth and Bullards decided to abandon the restaurant. Worth used this place for the last time to trick diamond dealers, and the trio then moved to London .

In England, Worth and his associates bought West Lodge at Capham Common (a Georgian-style mansion in the south of London). He also rented an apartment in Mayfair and joined high society. He formed his own criminal network and organized major robberies and thefts through several intermediaries. Those who participated in his schemes never knew his name. He insisted that his subordinates should not use violence.

In the end, Scotland Yard found out about his network, although they were initially unable to prove anything. Inspector John Shore captured Worth for the purpose of his life.

It all started to go wrong when Worth’s brother John was sent to exchange a fake check for money in Paris — he was arrested and extradited to England; Worth managed to pull him out and get him sent back to the United States . Four of his bandits were arrested in Istanbul for distributing fake checks, and he had to spend a considerable amount of money to bribe judges and the police. Bullard became more violent as his alcoholism progressed and he eventually left for New York shortly after Kitty.

In 1876, Worth personally stole the recently discovered painting of Thomas Gainsborough with a portrait of Georgiana Cavendish , Duchess of Devonshire, from the London gallery "Agnew and Sons" with the help of two assistants. He took the painting to himself and did not try to sell it. The two robbers, Jinka Phillips and Little Joe, lost patience. Phillips tried to get him to talk about theft in the presence of a police informant, and Worth quickly kicked him out. Worth gave Joe some money to return to the United States , where he tried to rob Union Trust, was arrested and interrogated by Pinkerton. They warned Scotland Yard , but still could not prove anything.

Worth kept the painting in his possession even when he traveled and organized new schemes and robberies. In the end, he decided to go to South Africa, where he stole $ 500,000 in rough diamonds. Returning to London, he founded the company Wynert & Company , which sold diamonds at a lower price than competitors.

In the 1880s, Worth married Louise Margaret Bolzhan using the name Henry Raymond, and they had a son, Henry and a daughter, Beatrice. Perhaps his wife did not know about his real identity. He smuggled the painting to the United States and left it there.

In 1892, Worth decided to visit Belgium, where Bullard was in prison. He worked with Max Shinburn, a rival to Worth, when Belgian police captured both of them. In Belgium, he heard that Bullard had recently died.

On October 5, Worth organized a robbery of a money delivery carriage in Liège with two investigative partners, one of whom was an American Johnny Curtin. The robbery was poorly organized, and the police captured him on the spot. Two other bandits fled.

In prison, Worth refused to identify himself, and the Belgian police made inquiries abroad. The New York police and Scotland Yard identified him as Worth, although Pinkerton did not say anything. Max Schiburn, who was in a Belgian prison, told the police everything he knew. In prison, Worth did not hear anything about his family in London , but received a letter from Kitty Flynn, who suggested financing his defense.

The trial of Worth took place on March 20, 1893 . The prosecutor used all the facts that he knew about Worth. Worth categorically denied that he had anything in common with the various crimes attributed to him, saying that the last robbery was a stupid act that he had committed because of the need for money. All other charges, including the British and American police, were just rumors. He claimed that his wealth was gained from legal gambling. In the end, Worth was sentenced to seven years for robbery and was sent to the prison of Leuven .

During his first year in prison, Shiburn hired other prisoners to beat Worth. Worth later heard that Johnny Curtin, who was supposed to take care of his wife, was seduced and abandoned. She went crazy and went to a psychiatric hospital. The children were supervised by his brother John in the United States.

Early released for exemplary behavior in 1897 . He returned to London and stole £ 4,000 from a diamond store to earn a living. When he visited his wife, she barely recognized him. He went to New York and met with his children. Then he met with William Pinkerton, to whom he described the events of his life in great detail. The manuscript Pinkerton wrote after Worth left is still preserved in the archives of the Pinkerton Detective Agency in Van Nyce, California .

Through Pinkerton, Worth organized the return of the portrait of the Duchess to the Devonshire Gallery "Agnew and Sons" in exchange for $ 25,000. The portrait was exchanged for money in Chicago on March 28, 1901 . Worth returned to London with his children and spent the rest of his life with them. His son, taking advantage of the agreement between his father and Alan Pinkerton, became a detective at the Pinkerton Agency.

He died on January 8, 1902 . He is buried in the Highgate Cemetery on a beggar site under the name "Henry J. Raymond." A small tombstone was erected on his grave in 1997 by the Jewish American Society for the Preservation of Monuments of History.

It is believed that Adam Worth served as the prototype for the image of Professor Moriarty , the hero of the works of Arthur Conan-Doyle about Sherlock Holmes .