The Great Train Robbery

On November 5, Guy Fawkes Day, Constable Johnson arrests a young woman whom he catches stealing from a “prostrate man” during the celebrations. While the woman, Alice Nelson, sits in the station waiting to be processed, she tells the station sergeant, Dalby, that she wants to make a deal. She tells him that she knows the screwsman (lockpicker) who participated in the Great Train Robbery and states that the man in question is in Newgate Prison. They question her and learn that she is Robert Agar’s lover; Agar has been arrested for “forging five-pound notes” (258).

Harranby questions Agar, who initially denies knowing Pierce or anything about the heist. Harranby pretends to read Agar’s past criminal record from a piece of paper and says that Agar will likely be sent to Australia for his next offense. Three days later, Agar confesses everything he knows about Pierce and the heist in exchange for a lenient sentence. On November 13, authorities raid Pierce’s house, but he is away in Manchester attending a boxing match.

The authorities take Agar to the boxing match, where he identifies Pierce (a.k.a. John Simms), who is arrested. Pierce tells Harranby, “You’ll never hold me” (266). By November 19, Pierce, Burgess, and Agar are all being held at Newgate Prison.