Adam Worth

Adam Worth
Born	1844 Germany
Died	8 January 1902 (aged 57–58) London, England
Other names	Henry J. Raymond, Edward Grey
Occupation	Clerk, Soldier, Thief, Gambler
Criminal charge	Robbery
Criminal penalty	Seven years imprisonment
Criminal status	dead

Adam Worth (1844 – 8 January 1902) was a German-born American criminal. Scotland Yard Detective Robert Anderson nicknamed him "the Napoleon of the criminal world", This is widely considered the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional criminal mastermind James Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes series, whom Conan Doyle calls "The Napoleon of Crime".

Adam Worth was born into a poor Jewish family in Germany. His original surname might have been "Werth". When he was five years old, his family moved to the United States and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Worth's father became a tailor. In 1854, Worth ran away from home and moved first to Boston and then, in 1860, to New York City. He worked as a clerk in a department store for one month.

When the American Civil War broke out, Worth was 17. He lied about his age and enlisted in the Union army. Worth served in the 2nd New York Heavy Artillery, Battery L (later designated 34th New York Battery) and was promoted to sergeant in two months. He was wounded in the Second Battle of Bull Run on 30 August 1862 and shipped to a Georgetown Hospital in Washington, D.C. In the hospital, he learned he had been listed as killed in action and left.

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