Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-11-28
MOST NOTED ART CROOK.
Adam Worth Always Suspected When
Valuable Pictures Disappear.

Valuable Pictures Disappear.
1t is lust as natural for Adam Worth
10 be under suspicion as 1t is for you
to smack your lips and say, well, !
guess it is buckwheat cakes for mine
on this fine winter morning"
That is one Of the penalties deft
crook has to pay for acquiring rep
utation. No detective or stool pigeon
ever takes pleasure in going after
tpiker. No one ever thinks OF accusing
a small-fry author of plagiarism. The!
wait till he grows up and then brano
him till he howls for mercy.
For stealing the 100000 Gainsbor'
ough in 1901; for picking the lock OF
a. van in the Place de la Bastile and
carrying off 100000, and for getting
out of Kimberly with a quarter OF q
million dollars in stolen diamonds
well, that Is why Adam Worth Is sus-
pected of stealing the Da Vinci Mona
Lisa" the world famous portrait OF
the woman who was the third wife
of Francesca Del Giocondo.
When Leonardo's "Gioconda" was
missed from the Salon Carre In Paris
two theories were advanced as to the
cause of its disappearance. the nrs'
was that it had been taken away by
some one desirous of proving that the
treasures of the Louvre were insufh-
ciently guarded; the second was that
lunatic had, succumbed to Its fas-
cinations and made off with 1t to gloat
upon its charms in secret. The first
idea gained less favor as the investl-
gators went on, for 1t was felt that
the confiscation of the panel for an
hour or two would suffice anyone
wishing to make case against the
museum officials; the other, in con-
sequence, gained ground. None could
imagine that the work had been taken
for sale-as we'll, as a writer put It,
seek to sell the towers Of Notre Dame
Anyway, its disappearance caused a
far greater sensation than did that OF
Gainsborough's Duchess of Devon
shire" This Is not to be wondered at,
for It is one Of the most famous paint
ings In the world.
But while all the art world was
speculating about 1t, there settled IN
the minds of the Partisan police and
journalists a pretty settled convictio.,
that Adam Worth had been at work.
Perhaps he hadn't. But he gets the
credit for 1t, nevertheless, because OF
his former prowess-a prowess that
his police and journalistic admirers
will not admit to have waned. So
Worth now finds himself the "herb
of fiction Cor possibly facD in the COL
umns of the lively Partisan dailies'
He finds himself filling the niche that
the wholly fictional character Arsene
Lupin has occupied in the literary
world of France for the last six or
eight years; a similar place to that
held in America and England by
Sherlock Holmes.
- Partisan journalists who think
Worth guilty do not hesitate to say
so. He does not appear In their nc
ton under another name. He is Adam
Worth, and II he isn't guilty. he might
as we'll be. NJ. Maurice Strauss, VINO
writes almost as many novels as JACK
London or Upton Sinclair, has been
making a lot of deductions for the
Paris Figaro and every deduction leads
right up to the doorstep Of Adam
Worth's lodging place.
IT am sure Worth Is the man. says
Monsieur Strauss, who evidently has
no fear of libeling his hero.
Fifty years old, good features
fine proportions and bearing. height
trifie above the average. eyes cold
and KEEN
such was the description of the
thief or his accomplice' given by the
man who saw him go out OF the
Louvre that Monday morning by the
Visconto gate.
LAS 1 read this thougt at once of
Worth.
NO other man living could have
shown such cool audacity, such aston
ishing dexterity. Ten years ago l saw
this king of clever boys at the Royal
cafe in London, watched by Scotland
Yard policemen, not for his security,
but for that of Christendom-which,
alas! has not been sufficiently looked
out for.
Worth rarely operates, but when
he does it is always on a grand scale
and unexpected. He is constantly un-
der suspicion, yet he has only once
been arrested.
Worth, alias Raymond, is the Ma
poleon Of thieves.
"The episode Of the waiter who Of
fered to bring back the picture for
200, 900 francs was less negligible than
the papers say 1 can we'll understand
why NJ. Driou sat up all night over 1t.
Gueneschaut is neither a lunatic nor
a humbug. He is stupid. The role
thrust upon him was that of a dunn
my He was to put out feelers.
For the Mona Lisa can't be sold.
| Only its return to the Louvre can
bring it's present guardian any profit.
But it is no easy matter to blackmail
France. And yet, have not England
and the United States consented to
pay ransoms to Turkish or Moorish
brigands for the release Of British or
American citizens. Isn't the fate Of the
Mona Lisa as serious as that of a
tourist?
1.-The witness who declares he saw
the thief or his accomplice' describes
him as a man of SO. rather tall, and
of good figure and bearing.
Worth, alias Raymond, is now 60,
but looks ten years younger. Slender,
nervous and active, he made off with
the Mona Lisa and needed no one
to help him. 1t Is not his way to en-
ploy an assistant He did not take a
train at the Quai d'Orsay. After cross
ing the bridge, he turned to the left.
with the picture neatly covered with
cloth, under his arm. He then went