The Napoleon of Crime

The Life and Times of Adam Worth, the Real Moriarty

Ben Macintyre

• Publisher: HarperPress
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9780006550624
• eBook ISBN:
  9780007383641
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

The rumbustious true story of the Victorian master thief who was the model for Conan Doyle's Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' arch-rival. From the bestselling author of 'Operation Mincemeat' and 'Agent Zigzag'.

Adam Worth was the greatest master criminal of Victorian times. Abjuring violence, setting himself up as a perfectly respectable gentleman, he became the ringleader for the largest criminal network in the world and the model for Conan Doyle's evil genius, Moriarty.

At the height of his powers, he stole Gainsborough's famous portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, then the world's most valuable painting, from its London showroom. The duchess became his constant companion, the symbol and substance of his achievements. At the end of his career, he returned the painting, having gained nothing material from its theft.

Worth's Sherlock Holmes was William Pinkerton, founder of America's first and greatest detective agency. Their parallel lives form the basis for this extraordinary book, which opens a window on the seedy Victorian underworld, wittily exposing society's hypocrisy and double standards in a storytelling tour de force.

Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content that appeared in the original print version.

Notes

The following abbreviations denote the principal archives used in this work:

PA	Pinkerton’s Detective Agency Archive, California
AA	Agnew’s Archive, London
CHA	Chatsworth House Archives, Derbyshire
NG	National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

EPIGRAPHS/PREFACE

‘Adam Worth was the Napoleon…’ C. McCluer Stevens, Famous Crimes and Criminals (London, 1907), p. 38.
He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson…’ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Final Problem’, The Annotated Sherlock Holmes (New York, 1992), Vol II, p. 303 (henceforth Conan Doyle).

‘I hope you have not been…’ Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (London, 1895), Act II.

CHAPTER ONE

‘the amenity and graces…’ Nathaniel Wraxall, Posthumous Memoirs, Vol. III, p. 342, quoted in Pictures in the Collection of J. Pierpont Morgan, (privately printed London, 1907), Gainsborough section, p. 2.

CHAPTER TWO

‘his father was a Russian…’ ‘The Gainsborough Duchess’ by E. A. B., p. 25, AA. This frustratingly undated 30-page pamphlet is highly informed and appears to have been written shortly after the return of the painting, possibly by a member of Agnew’s staff (henceforth The Gainsborough Duchess).

‘Had he continued…’ ‘Adam Worth, alias ‘Little Adam’ – Theft and Recovery of Gainsborough’s Duchess of Devonshire’, pamphlet privately printed by Pinkerton’s Detective Agency and written principally by William Pinkerton (New York, 1904), p. 1 (henceforth Adam Worth).

‘born of an excellent…’ Sophie Lyons, Why Crime Does Not Pay, (New York, 1913), p. 38.

‘entered school when six years…’ Adam Worth, op. cit., p. 1.

‘gave him a most…’ Max Shinburn, ‘Life of Adam Worth, alias Henry Raymond’, unpublished document (c.1894), in PA, p. 1.

‘impressing on him…’ Adam Worth, op. cit., p. 1.

‘From that day…’ ibid., p. 1.

‘The Napoleon of…’ C. McCluer Stevens, op. cit., p. 38.

‘ambition…’ Cardinal Newman, ‘Parochial and Plain Sermons’, 8, No. II, 159, (1836). Quoted in Walter E. Houghton, The Victorian Frame of Mind, (Oxford, 1957), p. 183.

‘a vagabond life…’ Shinburn, op. cit., p. 1.

‘in one of the…’ Adam Worth, op. cit., p. 1.

‘bounty of $1,000’ ibid., p. 2. This figure appears far too large to be believed, and was doubtless inflated by Pinkerton.

‘He became associated…’ ibid., p. 1.

‘mud hole…’ Jacob Roemer, Reminiscences of the War of the Rebellion (Flushing, 1897), p. 26.

‘All we wanted…’ ibid., p. 27.

‘Shot and shell flew…’ ibid., p. 58

‘Boys, it is no longer…’ ibid., p. 72.

‘Bullets, shot and shell…’ ibid., p. 79.

‘During this battle…’ ibid., p. 82.

‘stationed for a time…’ Adam Worth, op. cit., p. 2.

‘On his third enlistment…’ Shinburn, op. cit., p. 1.

‘About this time…’ ibid., p. 1.

‘took advantage…’ ibid., p. 3.

‘through the Confederate States…’ ibid., p. 1.

‘gained experience…’ Foreword by John Shuttleworth to The Pinkertons meet Jimmy Valentine by Alan Hynd, Macfadden Publications, (New York, 1943).

CHAPTER THREE

‘elegant storehouses…’ William Howe and Abraham Hummel, ‘In Danger’ (1888) quoted in Luc Sante, Low Life (New York, 1991), p. 213.

‘became required reading…’ Carl Sifakis, The Encyclopedia of American Crime (New York, 1992), p. 352.

‘On account of his…’ Adam Worth, op. cit., p. 2.

‘Most of the saloons…’ Eddie Guerin, I Was a Bandit, (New York, 1929), p. 49.

‘growing from every orifice’ Sante, op. cit., p. 116.

‘Sadie [The Goat] acquired…’ Herbert Asbury, Gangs of New York (New York, 1928), p. 64.

‘the most notorious…’ ibid., p. 216.

‘Picking pockets has…’ Edward Winslow Martin, The Secrets of the Great City – A Work Descriptive of the Virtues and the Vices, the Mysteries, Miseries and Crimes of New York City, (Philadelphia 1868), p. 366.

‘Like myself…’ Lyons, op. cit., p. 39.

‘it was not…’ ibid., p. 39.

‘the first manifestation…’ ibid., p. 39.

‘The Dodger trod…’ Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, (1839).

‘plenty of money…’ Lyons, op. cit., p. 39.

‘I don’t believe…’ Sifakis, op. cit., p. 450.

‘tomb of the living dead…’ ibid., p. 451.

‘never...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• The Elopement
• A Fine War
• The Manhattan Mob
• The Professionals
• The Robbers’ Bride
• An American Bar in Paris
• The Duchess
• Dr Jekyll and Mr Worth
• Cold Turkey
• A Great Lady Holds a Reception
• A Courtship and a Kidnapping
• A Wanted Woman
• My Fair Lady
• Kitty Flynn, Society Queen
• Dishonour Among Thieves
• Rough Diamonds
• A Silk Glove Man
• Bootless Footpads
• Worth’s Waterloo
• The Trial
• Gentleman in Chains
• Le Brigand International
• Alias Moriarty
• Atonement
• Moriarty Confesses to Holmes
• The Bellboy’s Burden
• Pierpont Morgan, the Napoleon of Wall Street
• Return of the Prodigal Duchess
• Nemo’s Grave
• EPILOGUE: The Inheritors
• Keep Reading
• Notes
• Index
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• By the Same Author
• About the Publisher