The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-07-21

in stealing from the postoffice of Eliza
beth Port. They brought the stolen
| diamonds on 10 London, and later john
l ny Smith, alias john c. Wynert, opened
an Office as a diamond dealer in High
Holborn street, from where he and
| Worth sold off the stolen goods, mostly
10 the very persons who were their real
former owners-that IS to say. TO the
dealers to whom they were originally
consigned in London from the South AT
| rican diamond mines.
Adam Worth is without doubt the
most successful burglar Of the present
time from The point OF view of the time
| ne served il prison, which times does
not amour: t. more than two and a half
years in his case. From the time of his
trading two old pennies off for new
one with a plsy-fellow no one has ever
| got the best of him; on the other hand,
ne has the reputation Of having got the
| best OF everybody in his line with whom
be- has ever had any transaction. His
! policy is to deal with weak men in his
] line of business with whom he may do
| as he likes without question: this Is
evident in looking over the men with
whom he has been connected. He does
not recognize the principle Of honesty
| among thieves, and he has never been
| in a JOB where he has not taken some
mean advantage Of his pals. This he
| may have been entitled TO do in conse-
| quence os always having been The head
End soul OF every job he has been into,
| but if so it ought to have been under
stood before the JOB was undertaken.
'In the Roylston bank robbery it is
well known that he 'weeded the swag'
| 10 the amount of some $4,000. In a
diamond robbery in Paris he defrauded
his confederate by purchasing diamonds
Of off color and substituting these for
others Of the first quality, which were
n the 'swag,' thereby reducing the
value OF his confederate's part by one
half In train robbery on the Calais
| Par.s railroad train he did some weed
ing and gave one of the men concerned
in it only one-fourth part Of that which
by Worth's own showing he was entitled
to. In the last great diamond robbery
there were four men concerned. and the
sum realized from the sale of the dia-
monds amounted to $4,000 pounds, Of
which Worth kept $4,000 pounds, and
spit up the rest among the three men
concerned.
"One of the most dishonest acts in
that line is his beating of old Jack
Powell, who vas his confederate in the
stealing OF the celebrated Gainsborough
painting from private picture gallery
in Bond street, London, cut Of his part
&c that picture by informing Powell that
he had sold il for a bagatelle sum and
making Powell accept so pounds for his
part, when at the same time this paint
ing had never passed out of Worth's
hands. and is to This day under his con-
troll The London police will be sur
prised to hear this fer the first time how
and by whom the theft of the above cell
ebra:ed painting worth $4,000 pounds,
was perpetrated. Old Jack got terri
bly, sore Oh Worth-or. rather, Raymond,
by which name he is known in London
on account OF his dead beat conduct
toward him, and in the beginning of
April, 1883. he went over to the Critic
rion, in Piccadilly, where Raymond is
generally to be found, to give him a
beating. but after exchanging a few
blows friends interfered and separted
them. otherwise he would have got a
good thrashing. as ne was evidently the
smaller man of the two. THIS robbery
Of the picture was committed in the fol-
lowing manner:
Worth got up on the shoulders of
Powell, and by the aid of awning stays
got up 10 the second story window.
hiding himself behind a large signboard
-, H..
when the coast was clear all he had TO
do was 20 undo the window catch with
an instrument made for that purpose,
lift the window, pass into the picture
gallery, cut out the painting nicely from
its frame, roll it up and let II down into
Jacks hands. following after in person
after having closed down the window
again as it was before. This Is the
whole mystery Of which the newspapers
of tat time wrote SO much.
Adam Worth is a man slightly tn
der the medium size, of rather Jewish
appearance and very fond OF wearing
much flashy looking but valuable jew
elry, especially a number of diamond,
ruby end emerald rings on his fingers.
His weight is about $50 pounds: ne has
rather a Jewish face, black hair, black
eyes and generally wears side whiske-s.
He is what is termed bow-legged. He
lives in extravagant style in a house in
Piccad'ily above the store of Fordham
& Mason. the celebrated grocers. He
has also country house. where he now
keeps his mistress since his landlord OF
the Piccadilly house objected to his
keeping her there. Worth has also
yacht. employing twenty hands aboard
of her. He has very probably about |
sS5o,00o. for since the great diamond rob-
berry he has made a great deal in pur-
chasing stoler bonds from thieves. He
is also supposed TO have purchased the |
whole Of the tewelry swag which was
got off with last winter n the Avenue |
de rOpera, in Paris, to the vaule of !
100000 francs.
The above facts were supplied by |
person mot a police officer VINO has
known Worth, alias Raymond, since his
boyhood days
This person can be none other than
Max Shinburn. The intimate knowl- |
edge shown Of all the inner facts in the |
career Of Worth proves that the docu-
ment must have been given out by a |
former friend and confederate Now
for years Worth's most intimate friend
and confederate was Sh.nburn Yet |
though all the minor pals are mentioned |
b. name and by sobrique;. Shinburn's |
name never appears This fact alone |
would fas;en the statement upon him.
And now a word about scme OF the |
other men mentioned in this precious !
document. Directive Timothy Golden.
OF New York. is acquainted with all OF |
them. as well as with Max Sh:nburn.