Download or read book Great Train Crimes written by Jonathan Oates and published by Grub Street Publishers. This book was released on 2010-06-15 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Oates charts train crimes from the Victorian period to the present day, from casual murder to calculated robbery. . . . A must for true-crime addicts” (Practical Family History). Murder and robbery committed on the railways have long held a special place in British criminal history. Railways and trains create special conditions—and opportunities—for criminal acts. Two legendary large-scale robberies took place on the British railways—the Gold Bullion Robbery of 1855 and the Great Train Robbery of 1963—and these extraordinary episodes are often used as examples of the ultimate in criminal audacity. But as Jonathan Oates shows in this powerful selection of case studies, most railway crime is less sensational yet, in many ways, more revealing. He reconstructs in vivid detail some of the most memorable cases dating from Victorian times to the present day. Included are cases of adults and children who were thrown to their deaths from trains, decapitated corpses found beside railway lines, passengers who were pushed from platforms into the path of oncoming trains, and others who were stabbed, shot, or strangled during their journeys and were found dead on arrival. The sheer variety of crimes is astonishing, as are the stories that unravel behind them. As he retells these sensational, bizarre, often ghastly tales, Oates gives an insight into the reality of railway crime. His collection is a must for addicts of true crime cases and for readers who enjoy railway history.
Download or read book The Great Train Robbery written by Michael Crichton and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-05-14 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Jurassic Park comes classic historical thriller about Victorian London’s most notorious gold heist. London, 1855, when lavish wealth and appalling poverty exist side by side, one mysterious man navigates both worlds with perfect ease. Edward Pierce preys on the most prominent of the well-to-do as he cunningly orchestrates the crime of his century. Who would suspect that a gentleman of breeding could mastermind the extraordinary robbery aboard the pride of England’s industrial era, the mighty steam locomotive? Based on fact, but studded with all the suspense and style of fiction, here is a classic historical thriller, set a decade before the age of dynamite—yet nonetheless explosive…
Download or read book The Man from the Train written by Bill James and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, this “impressive…open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America” (The Wall Street Journal) shows legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applying his analytical acumen to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history. Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Jewelry and valuables were left in plain sight, bodies were piled together, faces covered with cloth. Some of these cases, like the infamous Villasca, Iowa, murders, received national attention. But few people believed the crimes were related. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station. When celebrated baseball statistician and true crime expert Bill James first learned about these horrors, he began to investigate others that might fit the same pattern. Applying the same know-how he brings to his legendary baseball analysis, he empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. Then after sifting through thousands of local newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, he and his daughter Rachel made an astonishing discovery: they learned the true identity of this monstrous criminal. In turn, they uncovered one of the deadliest serial killers in America. Riveting and immersive, with writing as sharp as the cold side of an axe, The Man from the Train paints a vivid, psychologically perceptive portrait of America at the dawn of the twentieth century, when crime was regarded as a local problem, and opportunistic private detectives exploited a dysfunctional judicial system. James shows how these cultural factors enabled such an unspeakable series of crimes to occur, and his groundbreaking approach to true crime will convince skeptics, amaze aficionados, and change the way we view criminal history.
Download or read book Signal Red written by Robert Ryan and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-03-25 with total page 547 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An edge-of-your-seat caper based on one of the most sensational crimes in British history In August 1963, a Royal Mail train traveling between Glasgow and London was forced to make an unscheduled stop. Led by a charismatic jewel thief, a gang of fifteen unarmed men boarded the train, incapacitated the driver, and made off with more than £2 million. Divided equally, it was more than enough money for them to disappear forever—if they could all keep quiet. Incensed by the brazenness of the crime, Scotland Yard investigators employed every means they could think of to get the thieves to turn on one another. Soon, a meticulous plan descended into a desperate free-for-all as the gang went down one by one. This heart-racing novel inspired by the Great Train Robbery asks the most fascinating question of all: Who talked? This ebook includes an afterword by Bruce Reynolds, mastermind of the Great Train Robbery. Signal Red is the 3rd book in the Great British Heroes and Antiheroes Trilogy, which also includes Empire of Sand and Death on the Ice.
Download or read book Great Train Robbery Confidential written by Graham Satchwell and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2019-10-04 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1981, Detective Inspector Satchwell was the officer in charge of the case against Train Robber Tom Wisbey and twenty others. The case involved massive thefts from mail trains – similar to the Great Train Robbery of 1963 where £2.6 million was taken and only £400,000 ever recovered. Thirty years later their paths crossed again and an unlikely partnership was formed, with the aim of revealing the truth about the Great Train Robbery. This book reassesses the known facts about one of the most infamous crimes in modern history from the uniquely qualified insight of an experienced railway detective, presenting new theories alongside compelling evidence and correcting the widely accepted lies and half-truths surrounding this story.
Download or read book The Autobiography of a Thief written by Bruce Reynolds and published by Kings Road Publishing. This book was released on 2023-08-07 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the 8th August 1963 a gang of 15 men stopped a mail train in Buckinghamshire and proceeded to steal sacks of money worth £2.6 million. It was the biggest heist ever carried out in the UK and frontpage news around the world. The mastermind behind this most audacious crime of the twentieth century was Bruce Reynolds. Perhaps the last of the 'gentlemen villains'; Reynolds epitomised that particular breed of sharply dressed, post-war criminals who mixed with royalty and movie stars, and never carried a gun. They thrived on adventure and glamour, and the Great Train Robbery was their last ride. From his childhood and early forays into crime, to planning the robbery and his life on the run, and finally his capture, prison years and growing old with the gang - this is a true crime classic. Widely regarded as a one of the finest memoirs of a life of crime, Autobiography of a Thief is essential listening for anyone interested in true crime. Narrated by his son, Nick Reynolds, who grew up on the run with his father.
Download or read book The First Great Train Robbery written by David C. Hanrahan and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In May 1855, the citizens of Victorian Great Britain were shocked to read in their morning edition of The Times that 12,000 pounds worth of gold bars and other valuables had been stolen from a train travelling between London and Paris--without explosives or violence! Who did it and how was a great mystery which was finally solved.
Download or read book The Secret Train Robber written by Lee Sturley and published by Random House. This book was released on 2015-05-21 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Crime of the Century. The biggest train heist in Britain’s history. The Great Train Robbery. In the early hours of Thursday, 8th August 1963, a fifteen-strong gang stole £2.6 million (£45 million of today’s money) from the Glasgow to London mail train at Sears Crossing, Buckinghamshire. The crime was so epic; every single development of the case was followed tirelessly by the press. Countless books have since been published and, even today, films, television dramas and documentaries continue to study the smallest of details of one of the most daring and cleverly concocted criminal plans of all-time. Much of the gang were later captured and paid the price with lengthy jail sentences. But 50 years on, many still question who the real mastermind behind the plot. For years most people accepted that Bruce Reynolds was but is that really the case? One man knows the answer and the true identity of the man behind the robbery all too well. In this engrossing biography, the only living person who personally knows the real mastermind revisits the Great Train Robbery and rewrites history as we know it. Full of explosive, fresh revelations, The Secret Train Robber sees the final piece of the puzzle firmly set in place and the name of one of Britain’s most sophisticated criminal minds ever is finally revealed.
Download or read book Disclosure written by Michael Crichton and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2012-11-27 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of Jurassic Park, Timeline, and Sphere comes an electrifying thriller in which a shocking accusation of sexual harassment triggers a gripping psychological game of cat and mouse and threatens to derail a brilliant career. #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A fresh and provocative story.”—People An up-and-coming executive at the computer firm DigiCom, Tom Sanders is a man whose corporate future is certain. But after a closed-door meeting with his new boss—a woman who is his former lover and has been promoted to the position he expected to have—Sanders finds himself caught in a nightmarish web of deceit in which he is branded the villain. As Sanders scrambles to defend himself, he uncovers an electronic trail into the company’s secrets—and begins to grasp that a cynical and manipulative scheme has been devised to bring him down. “Crichton writes superbly. . . . The excitement rises with each page.”—Chicago Tribune “A heart-stop story running on several tracks at once. Disclosure is up to [Crichton’s] usual locomotive speed.”—The Boston Globe “Expertly crafted, ingenious and absorbing.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Download or read book The Great Train Robbery written by Nick Russell-Pavier and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2013-01-10 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Definitive account of the famous 1963 Great Train Robbery - and its aftermath. In the early hours of Thursday 8th August 1963 at rural Cheddington in Buckinghamshire, £2.6 million (£50 million today) in unmarked £5, £1 and 10-shilling notes was stolen from the Glasgow to London nightmail train in a daring and brilliantly executed operation lasting just 46 minutes. Quickly dubbed the crime of the century, it has captured the imagination of the public and the world's media for 50 years, taking its place in British folklore and giving birth to the myths of The Great Train Robbery. Ronnie Biggs, Buster Edwards and Bruce Reynolds became household names. But what really happened? This is the story of four talented villains who took the criminal world by storm, of the 'perfect crime'. It is also the story of ruthless policemen, determined to hunt the robbers down and to make sure nobody slipped through the net, not even the innocent. It is the story of an Establishment under siege, and of one mistake which cost the robbers 307 years in prison. Fifty years later, here is the story set out in full for the first time, a true-life crime thriller, and also a vivid slice of British social history.
Download or read book How to Rob a Train written by Gordon Goody and published by . This book was released on 2014-11-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gordon Goody is the mystery man of the Great Train Robbery, the most notorious theft in British history. Regarded by his partners as tough and fearless, he has kept his silence for five decades. Until now. Raised in rural Northern Ireland, Goody served as an army sergeant but chose a life of crime and became one of the most professional and prolific robbers in London. He and his gang were offered the job of a lifetime: details of a Glasgow to London mail train laden with cash, provided by The Ulsterman, whose identity Goody reveals for the first time.
Download or read book The Great Train Robbery written by Brenda Haugen and published by Capstone. This book was released on 2011 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shout and we'll kill you! Threats and violence were part of the Great Train Robbery of 1963. Its loot was, at that time, the largest amount of cash ever stolen in Britain. The Crime of the Century seemed to be perfectly planned and executed, but police aimed to show that they'd find those involved and bring them to justice. Would they succeed or would the daring criminals involved in the crime escape with the cash?
Download or read book The Great Train Robbery and the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad written by Geoff Platt and published by Wharncliffe. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The amazing true story of one of Great Britain’s most notorious heists and the crack team that brought the perpetrators to justice. On August 8, 1963, a group of fifteen men dressed in military uniforms stopped the Royal Mail train running between Glasgow and London at Sears Crossing in Ledburn. The gang uncoupled the engine and first two cars, drove them to a different location, and then disappeared with one hundred and twenty mailbags containing more than £2.5 million in used banknotes. A number of books have already been published about England’s infamous Great Train Robbery, but until now, little has been written about the intensive police investigation and the intrepid team that hunted down the criminals responsible. In this riveting true crime chronicle, author, journalist, and former police detective Geoff Platt explores the execution and aftermath of the brazen criminal enterprise that British newspapers dubbed “the Crime of the Century.” He introduces readers to members of the elite Flying Squad organized by “the Old Grey Fox,” Det. Chief Superintendent Tommy Butler, and details step by step, the organization and execution of the massive police inquiry, and exposes the mistakes that hindered the robbers and the investigators alike. In addition, Platt compares the methods used more than fifty years ago with contemporary crime fighting and forensic techniques to explore how the same investigation would most likely be run today. A fascinating study of crime and detection, The Great Train Robbery and the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad shines a brilliant new light on a legendary act of audacious criminality.
Download or read book Railway Crimes Committed in Victorian Britain written by Malcolm Clegg and published by Pen and Sword Transport. This book was released on 2023-05-04 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The vast majority of Britain’s railways were built between 1830 and 1900 which happened to coincide with the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). By the turn of the Nineteenth/Twentieth Century, over one hundred different railway companies were operating in Britain on more than 22,000 miles of railway track. Although these new railways brought prosperity to the nation and enabled goods and passengers to be speedily transported the length and breadth of the country for the first time, this remarkable feat of engineering brought with it some unwelcome side-effects, one of which was crime. Wherever crowds of people gather, or unattended goods are being transported, a few unscrupulous individuals and career criminals will usually emerge to ply their trade. Some railway staff members are also unable to resist the temptation of stealing money or goods passing through their hands. This book gives an insight into the nature and types of crime committed on the railways during the Victorian era, incorporating such offenses as theft, assaults and murder, fraud, obstructing the railways and various other infringements of the law. Over seventy different cases mentioned in the book are true accounts of events which took place on the railway during the Victorian era, the details of which were obtained as a result of hours of researching British Newspaper Archives of that period. The author hopes that readers will get as much pleasure from analyzing the various cases cited in the book, as he himself derived from researching and writing about them.
Download or read book Wells Fargo Co Stagecoach and Train Robberies 1870 1884 written by James B. Hume and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2010-03-08 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In January 1, 1885, Wells, Fargo & Company's chief detective James B. Hume and special agent John N. Thacker published a report summarizing the company's losses during the previous 14 years. It listed 313 stagecoach robberies, 23 burglaries, and four train robberies but included little or no details of the events themselves, focusing instead on physical descriptions of the robbers. Widely circulated, the report was intended to assist law enforcement in identifying and apprehending the criminals believed still to present a danger to the company. The present volume revisits each crime, updating Hume and Thacker's original report with rich new details culled from local newspapers, personal diary entries, and court records.
Download or read book The Great Train Robbery written by Andrew Cook and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Great Train Robbery of 1963 is one of the most infamous crimes in British history. The bulk of the money stolen (equivalent to over £40 million today) has never been recovered, and there has not been a single year since 1963 when one aspect of the crime or its participants has not been featured in the media. Despite the wealth and extent of this coverage, a host of questions have remained unanswered: Who was behind the robbery? Was it an inside job? And who got away with the crime of the century? Fifty years of selective falsehood and fantasy has obscured the reality of the story behind the robbery. The fact that a considerable number of the original investigation and prosecution files on those involved and alleged to have been involved were closed, in many cases until 2045, has only served to muddy the waters still further. Now, through Freedom of Information requests and the exclusive opening of many of these files, Andrew Cook reveals a new picture of the crime and its investigation that, at last, provides answers to many of these questions.
Download or read book Fixing Broken Windows written by George L. Kelling and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1997 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cites successful examples of community-based policing.
