PAST CRIMEScriminals. They were guilty of betraying their class and letting the side down,
but were not seen to be as demonic as the criminals on the streets.
Less exalted burglars and robbers had to learn new skills, as complex safes
and ever more intricate locking systems were devised and manufactured. New
avenues for crime and evasion of police included the railway networks.
Confidence tricksters, pickpockets, female blackmailers and illegal gambling
rings set themselves up in the railway carriages.
The Great Train Robbery of 1855 is said by some to be the first modern
criminal venture. It was carefully planned in advance, down to undertaking a
rehearsal on the train to make sure everything would go to plan. The London
to Paris express was carrying bullion in the form of gold coins packed in
sealed boxes inside steel safes─£12,000 was to be stolen from the gold put
aboard the train at London Bridge Station. A railway guard was bribed and
one of the gang succeeded in gaining employment with the railway company.
Lead shot was prepared to put into the boxes so that the theft would not be
discovered immediately, and copies of keys were made, tested and refined to
open the safes.
The heist went off successfully, and it was not until the boxes were opened
at the Paris bank that the theft of the gold was discovered. French and British
police made hundreds of arrests and spent many months investigating the
Figure 31. A copy of court sketches made during the trial of Eliza Jane
Scoffham