The Great Train Robbery [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION-It is difficult, after the passage of more than a century, to understand the extent to which the train robbery of 1855 shocked the sensibilities of Victorian England. At first glance, the crime hardly seems noteworthy. The sum of money stolen12,000 in gold bullionwas large, but not unprecedented; there had been a dozen more lucrative robberies in the same period. And the meticulous organization and planning of the crime, involving many people and extending over a year, was similarly not unusual. All major crimes at the mid-century called for a high degree of prepara-tion and coordination.Yet the Victorians always referred to this crime in capital letters, as The Great Train Robbery. Contem-Ll'.porary observers labeled it The Crime of the Century?!i'and The Most Sensational Exploit of the Modern Era.} j,The adjectives applied to it were all strong: it was lil: ; "unspeakable," "appalling," and "heinous." Even in an f V age given to moral overstatement, these terms suggest some profound impact upon everyday consciousness. r ,To understand why the Victorians were so shocked by the theft, one must understand something about the meaning of the railroads. Victorian England was the first urbanized, industrialized society on earth, and it | evolved with stunning rapidity. At the time of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, Georgian England was a I predominantly rural nation of thirteen milHon people.r '' i I11