Fishmarket Great Eastern Hotel

Fishmarket Great Eastern Hotel

Fishmarket Great Eastern Hotel

The Great Train Robbery

By Michael Crichton

Published by Avon Books, 2002

ISBN: 9780060502300, 0060502304

The pull was genius. One Chubb safe filled with £12,000 worth of gold bullion, leaving London Bridge station via South Eastern Railway en route to Ostend, Belgium, then headed for a steamship to Paris. The final destination was the Crimea, where British soldiers, engaged in battle against the Russian empire, awaited their pay.

The safe was cracked, the boxes containing the gold were pried open, and packets of lead shots were switched in their place. When the crime was discovered, the Brits blamed the French for the theft and the French accused the Brits of trying to flim-flam them. The press on both sides had a field day!