Free Great Train Crimes: Murder and Robbery on the Railways by Jonathan Oates Page B

attempting to leave the train whilst it was in transit. He certainly paid the price for his moment of folly.
    Other crimes of this type occurred later in the century; a woman was attacked in 1887 on a train between Shrewsbury and Wellington; two were attacked in 1892, one on the London–Brighton line and another on the Midland one. In all cases, the victims escaped by leaving the compartment whilst the train was in transit, one taking the dangerous expedient of clambering onto the roof.

The Murder on the Brighton Railway,
1881
     
    ‘I am glad you found me. I am sick of it.
I should have given myself up in a day or two.’
     
    Frederick Isaac Gold was born in about 1818 in London. He had been a corn merchant for most of his life, residing at Wentworth Place, Mile End Road. Gold retired from the profession in 1863. However, he was still involved in business matters and owned a freehold baker’s shop on East Street, Walworth, in south London. The shop was kept for Gold’s nephew. Gold was also a married man, though he and his wife, Lydia Matilda, had no children. The couple had lived at Titchfield Preston, near Brighton, since at least 1871, when they had but one servant. Gold was in very good health, had a robust constitution and was of temperate habits. He usually had with him about two or three sovereigns. He also had an old-fashioned gold watch and chain which were hung about his neck. In 1881 he was worth £1,670 9s 1d, a fair sum.
    As he did every Monday morning, Gold went up to London. He went on other days, too, but on Mondays he was a regular commuter to London. Monday 27 June 1881 was no exception. As his wife later related, ‘He left home at five minutes past eight in the morning, with the intention of going by train to Brighton, in order to catch the up express train leaving Brighton at 8.45.’ Arriving at London Bridge station, he then went to his shop and collected the previous week’s takings from Mrs Cross, amounting to £38 5s 1d, putting it into a small bag. This money was then paid into the eastern branch of the London and Westminster Bank and then Gold went back to the station to catch the train home. He usually took about £10 for housekeeping expenses for the forthcoming week, too. However, it seems that no one was aware that he was carrying any money, except his wife and their servant.
    On boarding the 2 pm express train at London Bridge, Gold, as was usual, chose a compartment in which he would be alone. His wife remarked of this habit, ‘he never liked getting into a full compartment. He was a man of not very conversational mood, and used often to say that it confused him if people talked to him too much. He had a habit of closing his eyes and lying back in the seat as if asleep, in order that people should not talk to him.’ Humphrey Gibson, a chemist of King’s Road, Brighton, was also on board, though in a second class compartment.
    The journey was not an ordinary one. After leaving London Bridge, the first stop was Croydon. Ann Brown, wife of Daniel Brown, a farm labourer, had a cottage in Horley 100 yards from the railway line on which the train passed between 2 and 3 pm. She later said, ‘It was going fast. I saw in one of the carriages two gentlemen standing up. They appeared to be fighting or “larking”.’ The next stop was at Preston Park, where Gibson noticed that blood was flowing from the compartment which had been used by Gold. It was at this point that Gibson recalled that he had heard what he had thought to be the sound of blasts from a fog horn. These had been emitted in Mertsham tunnel. Might they not have been gun shots?
    Later, the train had passed through Balcombe tunnel. About an hour later, Thomas Jennings, a Horley labourer employed by the railway company, was walking through that same tunnel, with his nephew, William. It was about 4.15 pm. The two made a shocking discovery, as Jennings senior later remarked: ‘In the middle of the tunnel I saw the body of a man