The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-14
tNew York Tclegraph.)

1t is just AS natural for Adam
Worth to he under suspicion as it is
or you to smack your lips and say,
We'll, | guess 1t is buckwhcat cakes
Tor minc on this fine winter morning"
That is ono of the penalties a deft
crook has To pay for acquiring a rep
utation. No detective or stool pigeon
ever X pleasure in going after Il
plkcr. NO one ever thinks of accus-
Ing a small-fry author of plagiarism.
They wait till he grows up and then
brand him till he howls for mercy.
For stealing the $120, 900 Gainsbor-
ough in 1901; for picking the lock- of
Il VAN in the Place dc la Bastile and
carrying off $4,000 o and for getting
out of Kimberly with IL quarter Of a
million dollars in stolen diamonds
we'll. that is why Adam Worth is sus-
pected of stealing the Da Ninci Mona
!.lsa.' the world-famous portrait of
the woman who was the third wife of
francesca Dol Giocondo.
When I4eonardo's "Gioconda" was
missed from tho Salon Carrie in Paris
two theories We're advanced as to the
cause OF its disappearance. Thc first
was that 1t had been taken away by
some one DESTROYS of proving that the
treasures of the Louvre We're insult
tlciently guarded; the second wa that
a lunatic had succumbed to it's fas-
rlnations and made off with it. to gloat
upon its charms in secret. The first
idea gained less favor as the investiga-
tors Went on. for it was felt that the
c~ontiscation OF the panel for an hour
or two would suffice II m wishing
to make n case against the museum
ofhciaIs; the other. in onseoucnc
gained ground. None would imagine
that the work had been taken for sale
as we'll, as a writer but 1t. seek to
sell the towers of Notre Dame. ANY,
Way, Its disappearance caused a far
greater sensation than did that of
Gainsborough's Duchess Of Devon
shire" This is not to be wondered
at, nor 1t is of the most famous
pointings in the world.
But while all the art world was
speculating about it there settled In
the minds of the Partisan police and
Journalists a pretty settled conviction
that Adam Worth had been at work.
Perhaps he hadn't. But he gets the
credit for it nevertheless. because of his
former prowess-a proves that his
police n journalistic admirers will
not admit to lave waned. So Worth
now finds himself the herb" of fic-
ton Cor possibly fact) in the columns
of the lively Partisan daiiies. He
finds himself filling the niche that the
wholly f%ictional character Arsenc Lu-
pin 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 fiction I'M
der another name. He is Adam
Worth. and if he isn't guilty he might
as we'll be. NJ. Maurice Strauss, who
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.
Il am sure Worth is the man" says
Monsieur Strauss. who evidently has
no care Of libeling his hero.
Fifty yea old. good features, fine
proportions and bearing, height a
trl1e above the average, eyes cold and
Keen
Such was the description of tho
thief or his accomplish given by the
man who saw him go out of the Leu
vre that Monday morning by the Wis.,
conto gate.
"As I read this 1 thought at once
of Worth.
NO other mar living could have
shown such cool audacity, such aston
fishing dexterity. Ten years ago /
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 sufficient
ly looked out for.
Worth rarely operates. but when
ne 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
100000 francs was less negligible than
the papers say. ] can we'll under
stand why NJ. Driou sat up all night
over 1t. Gueneschaut is neither a. lun-
attic nor a humbug. He is stupid. The
role thrust upon him was that of u
dummy. He was to put out f~eelers.
For the Mona Lisa can't be sold.
Only It's 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?
THE witness who declares he say
the thief or his accomplice' describes
him as q. man of so, rather tall. and
of good figure and bearing.