In 1855, England and France
were at war with Russia in the Crimea.
The English troops were paid in gold.
Once a month Ј25,000 in gold
was loaded into strongboxes...
..inside the London bank
of Huddleston and Bradford...
..and taken by trusted armed guards
to the railway station.
The convoy followed no fixed route
or timetable.
The gold was loaded into the
luggage van of the Folkestone train...
..for shipment to the coast
and from there to the Crimea.
The strongboxes
were placed in two Chubb safes...
..constructed
of three-quarter-inch tempered steel.
Each safe weighed 550 pounds.
Each safe was fitted with two locks
requiring two keys,...
..or four keys altogether.
For security,
each key was individually protected.
Two keys were entrusted to the railway
dispatcher, who kept them in his office.
A third was in the custody of
Mr Edgar Trent,...
..president
of the Huddleston and Bradford.
And the fourth key
was given to Mr Henry Fowler,...
..manager of the Huddleston
and Bradford Bank.
The presence of so much gold
in one place...
..aroused the interests
of the English criminal elements,...
..but in 1855 there had never been
a robbery from a moving railway train.
Is he dead?
Mm.
Robbery? I'd hardly call it that -
one poor fellow working alone.
He had no chance of success.
Indeed, speaking on behalf of the bank,...
..I must inform you the matter was trivial
and hardly worthy of our consideration.
I think I may say that
without fear of contradiction.
The villain expired?
Quite. The guard threw him
from the train at full speed.
He died instantly. Poor devil.
- He's not been identified?
- I shouldn't think so.
The manner of his passing was such
that his features were... disarrayed.
He was obviously after the Crimean gold.
- Apparently. Speaking...
- This damnable war...
- ..will be the undoing of the nation.
- He's off again.
Unrest in the north, and now this
ill-considered war with the Tsar.
What do you expect
when one man in seven has the vote?
We have shopkeepers voting now!
And women next. If they get their way.
Women voting! Really!
- This robbery had interesting...
- They haven't the capacity for logic.
- Too emotional. Quite absurd.
- It's not their logical capacity I enjoy!
- Even a good woman's too much trouble.
- Come, Arthur, they do have their uses.
Edward's got the proper view
by not marrying at all.
Someone will catch him.
- I know one or two with their eye on him.
- No one will catch Edward.
God knows what a man may catch
in London if he's not married!
This thief on the train, Henry.
Was there a risk of him stealing the gold?
- None. Quite impossible.
- Nothing's impossible.
Utterly impossible. Two Chubb safes,
four keys separately guarded. lmpossible.
- Still, I suppose it could be done.
- I can't imagine how.
A thief would have to get all four keys.
Two are locked away in the station.
One is in the hands of our president,
Mr Edgar Trent, who is utterly reliable.
I don't know where Mr Trent
keeps his key but I know of the fourth,...
..for I am myself
entrusted with guarding it.
Damn it, Henry, when are you going to
tell us where you've hidden your key?
I keep it about my neck.
I wear it at all times.
Even when bathing?
Even while bathing.
It never leaves my person.
- Clever.
- Most ingenious.
(Henry) So you see, to get all four keys -
quite impossible.
The Crimean gold and all the bank's
other transactions are entirely safe.
Thank God for that.
You may count on it, Edward. Count on it.
- Who do those men think you are?
- Edward Pierce. A sharp businessman.
A sharp businessman?
That covers a multitude of sins.
It does among that group.
And what's your business?
It's not really clear. I've made a great deal
of money in coal,