The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-17 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

bar. Burgess was dressed in the uniform of a rail-
way guard, and the other two prisoners were in plain
clothes. Tester, who is much the youngest of the
three, and who wears a moustache and large black
whiskers, evidently felt the nature of his position
much more keenly than his comrades. All three
prisoners during the whole of the day kept up a
inetty constant communication with their legal
advisers.

There were four indictments against them. The
first charged them with stealing two hundredweight
of gold, value 12,0001., the property of their em-
ployers, the South-Eastern Railway Company ; the
second charged them with stealing a number of bars
of gold end some gold coins, the property of the
same prosecutors ; the third charged them with
stealing the same property in the dwelling•house of
the prosecutors ; and the fourth charged them with
feloniously receiving the property, knowing it to have
been stolen.

The prisoners pleaded "Not guilty" to the whole
of the charges.
Sergeant Shea attended specially, with Mr. Bodkin
and Mr. Monk of the Northern Circuit, to conduct
the prosecution ; Mr. Sergeant Ballantine attended
specially, with Mr. Sleigh, to defend Tester; Mr.
Sergeant Parry, also specially retained, with Mr.
itibton, appeared for Pierce; and Mr. Gifford, Mr.
Poland, and Mr. F. H. Lewis defended Burgess.
The details of this famous robbery have already
been so fully made public at the preliminary exami-
nations in November, that a brief summary of the
affair will be sufficient at the present moment. On
the night of the 15th of May, 1855, some 12,0001.
worth of gold was stolen from the bullion chests of
the South-Eastern Railway while on their way by
train from London to Folkestone. Upon the dis-
covery of the robbery it was soon ascertained that
the boxes, when weighed at Boulogne, weighed less
than they did in London, and exactly what they
weighed at Paris; hence the robbery must have been
effected between London and Boulogne. It was im-
possible that it could have been done while crossing
the Channel, and so the conclusion was inevitable
that it had been effected between London and
Folkestone. Eighteen months after the commission
of the robbery the confession of a convict in Portland
Prison established the truth of this conclusion.
Edward Agar, a convicted forger, one day last
autumn stated to the prison authorities at Portland
that he could give information relative to the great
gold robbery. They questioned him, and he at once
named Pierce, a discharged servant of the railway
company, Burgess, a guard, and Tester, a clerk in
the traffic department, as his confederates, and then
gave a detailed statement of the manner in which the
robbery was effected. Four years ago, meeting
Pierce accidentally in Covent-garden, Agar got into
conversation with him. Pierce suggested a robbery
of bullion on the railway. Agar thought it impracti-
cable, and there the matter ended. Agar went to
the United States. In 1854 he returned, and met
Pierce again. Pierce again suggested the robbery,
said he thought he could get impressions of the keys,
and Agar at once entered into the affair with profes-
sional zeal. Burgess and Tester, it would ap-
pear, had been previously sounded by Pierce,
and they also entered into the spirit of the thing.
Pierce and Agar then go down to Folkestone for a
week to watch the movement of the clerks, the
arrival of the tidal trains, and, above all, to ascertain
where the keys of the bullion safe were kept, and, if
possible, obtain secretly an impression of them.
Failing in this, and attracting the attention of the
police, they returned to town. A short time after
wards Agar goes down with Tester, who is to in-
troduce to Agar the clerk of the station, Sharman,
with the view either of bribing Sharman to lend
the keys, or otherwise to obtain useful information
from him. The introduction takes place, but nothing
ensues ; Sharman was a "sedate young man," and
Agar "could not make his way with him." No
results ensued, and the difficulty of obtaining an
impression in wax of the keys seemed insuperable,
when good luck befriended them. A key of the
bullion chest was suddenly lost, and the chest was
sent up to town to be refitted with a key. When
the new key was made it was entrusted to the care
of Tester; he at once carried it to Agar, who took the
impression in wax. As there were two keys to the
safe, it was necessary to obtain the impression of
the other. A third visit of Agar, arid the r of Agar and
Pierce, to Dover took place, and one day during the
absence of the clerk from the office Pierce took the
key from its cupboard, Agar hastily took an impres-
sion of it in wax, the key was safely returned to
its place, and the robbery from that moment was as
good as effected. Agar then came to town, bought
keys in blank, and set to work to file them out.
With the connivance of Burgess he made frequent
trips by train to fit his keys to the bullion-chest
locks till they were fitted perfectly. After this came
the purchase of lead to make up the weight intended
to be abstracted in gold, and of leather and shot-
bags, ,he. The fortnight's watching and evening
cab-drives to the station until the gold was going

SATURDAY,

down, and the ingenuity with which the robbery was
effected, are fresh in the memory of our readers.
Suffice it to say, that on Tuesday last Agar repeated
his detail almost verbatim, while on the part of the
prosecution witnesses corroborated his statement in
all its motet material points—witnesses with whom
he could have been in no possible collusion. Wit-
nesses confirmed his statements with respect to the
visits to Dover and Folkestone, the filing out the
blank keys, the purchase of the bags and shot, and
the constant visits to the station in cabs ; while as to
the division of the profits of the robbery, the posses-
sion of four out of six hundred pound notes, ex-
changed at the Bank for 600 sovs., was clearly
traced to Burgess and Tester.
Mr. Sergeant SHEE, in opening the case to the
jury, at great length gave a detailed narrative of the
events of this remarkable case, in substance pre-
cisely similar to the history previously given by Agar
when examined before the Lord Mayor, and pub•
lished in THE PnEss of Nov. 15 and 22.

Agar was then called, and repeated his evidence
almost verbatim as previously given, and on
concluding which he was cross-examined as to his
mode of life previous to his conviction, with the
view of showing that he was a character of
the very worst class. Agar ultimately acknowledged
that some fourteen or twenty years ago ho had been
for four years in the service of Mr. Davis, a linen-
draper at Chiswell, and that three years after leaving
his service " he commenced a course of crime,'' and
that up to his conviction last year had continued
" engaged in crime." _

The examination of a few witnesses who proved
the discovery at Boulogne of the short weight of the
boxes, and at Paris of their being filled with bags of
English shot, occupied the first day.
On Wednesday the examination of witnesses was
proceeded with.

Cabmen were called, who proved that Agar and
Pierce had been driven several times to St. Thomas's-
street or the neighbourhood, and servants in coffee-
houses and public houses proved that Burgess, Pierce,
and Agar were frequently together before the robbery.
The purchase of 5001. of Turkish Bonds for Burgess
was also proved, and the evidence of Raffan, the
fruiterer, as to Pierce having given him a 1001. note
with other notes to get cashed, repeated.
The fact that Tester, with a black bag, came up
from Redhill, one night in May, 11455, was sworn to
by a railway guard, and other witnesses, railway
porters and clerks, corroborated this testimony. One
had lifted the hag, and found it " lumpy."

Fanny Kay in her evidence gave some points of
interest in connection with the conduct of Agar and
Pierce in the house at Shepherd's-bush :

I remember the death of Mrs. Bessell, our next door
neighbour, on the 18th of May, 1855, and I went to see
my child after that occurrence. For a few days both after
and before that event Agar was absent from home all
night. He was so on the Tuesday or Wednesday night
before Mrs. Bessell's death. When next I saw him he
came in the afternoon in a cart with Pierce, and they then
had two bags with them, which they carried into the wash-
house. After that Pierce came regularly almost every day,
and they usually went then up to the first floor back room.
I looked into that room upon one occasion when they were
there together, and I saw that they had got the stove out,
and that there was a very bright fire. I opened the door,
but was not allowed to go in. They both ran to the door
as soon as I opened it, and closed it se as to prevent my
entrance. Previous to that they had been a good deal in
the washhouse together, sometimes spending the whole of
the morning there. Ido not know what they were doing
there, but I often heard them hammering. They had
shooting•bags with them made of drab leather, and one
black bag. When they were upstairs in the back room,
although I saw nothing, I constantly heard a noise, such
as proceeds from a furnace ; it was like the roaring of a
large fire. It continued for several days. After that I saw
what appeared to me to be square pieces of stone brought
downstairs by Pierce and taken away. When they were
working in this way they came down regularly to their
meals, and appeared always very hot and dirty. I asked
them what they were doing, and they said, " Leather.spron
weming." They never gave me any other answer. I
went into the room after their operations had ceased, and
I saw that the stove had been replaced and blackleaded. I
also noticed that the floor was burnt in two places.
In the course of her cross-examination it appeared
that she had never received any benefit from some
2,5001. invested for her by Agar. Mr. Baron
Martin remarked upon this statement, and Mr.
Wontner explained that the money had been invested
by Pierce in Turkish Bonds. Mr. Rees, the solicitor
for the Railway Company, deposed to having in-
spected Kilburn-villa (Pierce's residence), where
nothing but a box of tools and Turkish Bonds to
the amount of 2,0001., leases, deeds, and securities
of different sorts were found :

I also went to Cambridge•villas, Shepherd'i-bnsh (Agar's
residence, where the gold was melted down). I had the
grate in the back bedroom removed, and behind it I found
the three firebricks which have been produced and idenu-
fied by Agar. The chimney bore evident marks of having
been subjected to great heat. The floor between the fire-
place and the window was very much burnt. I had the
boards taken up, and underneath were a number of small
bits of gold, which had evidently run through the floor.

JANUARY 17, 1857.

This closed the case for the prosecution.

On Thursday Mr. Sergeant PARRY opened the
defence in favour of Pierce, grounding his argument
on the authority of Lord kbinger and Baron Alder.
son, of the right of Pierce to an acquittal, upon the
point that tie evidence of the accomplice, Agar,
should be corroborated, not merely to the facts of
the case, but also with reference to the person of the
accused against whom the evidence lay, and also in
all material and substantial particulars. The learned
sergeant then proceeded to analyse the evidence, and
contended that it did not sufficiently establish Pierce's
guilt in reference to the perpetration of the robbery.
On no one occasion of the journeys up and down the
railway was Pierce, though well known, recognised.
Neither was there a tittle of evidence to connect him
with the reception or sale of the gold. It was abso.
lutely necessary that Agar should be fully corrobo-
rated in the most material parts of the case, but there
was a total absence of corroboration, which, if Pierce
had been engaged in the robbery, could easily have
been obtained. Referring to the 100/. note which
had been traced to Pierce through Raffan, whose
name appeared on the back of it, be must remind
the jury that it was not changed until November,
18.55, six months after the robbery, and after Agar
was arrested. Who was to say that this was not one
of the notes left by Agar with Pierce for the support
of Fanny Kay, and now by Agar's malignity turned
into evidence against the prisoner?
Mr. GIFFARD next followed on behalf of Burgess,
and with great ingenuity endeavoured to prove the
improbability of Agar's story, so far as concerned his
frequent journeys undiscovered up and down the
line to tit the keys of the safe, and upon the utter
improbability of three men, on the night of the rob-
bery, being able unobserved to secrete themselves in
the bullion van, and to get out without creating re-
mark. The learned counsel then proceeded to com-
ment upon the statement made by Agar, and said
that if Burgess and Tester were really concerned in
the robbery, it appeared to him they had no necessity
for the assistance of Agar, but if they had the guilty
intention to commit such a robbery as this, they had
every facility for the commission of such a crime by
themselves, and there was not the least necessity for
them to introduce any strangers into the transaction.
He was instructed that Burgess knew no more of the
robbery than the jury did, and he submitted that
nothing was mere probable than that the robbery
might have been effected while the bullion boxes
were upon the quay at Folkestone, during the night.
It appeared to have been the custom for the bullion
chests to be placed in this position, and he asked if
anything was more likely than that a person who was
prowling about for an improper purpose should be-
come acquainted with the fact, and embrace the
opportunity to commit the robbery during the
period that they were so left. He contended that
there was no evidence to show that the robbery was
actually committed in the manner spoken to by
Agar, and that, for anything that appeared to the
contrary, the robbery never was committed as Agar
suEgested; but that it was equally probable that the
robbery was effected after the bullion chests had
been removed from the train, and that Burgess, con-
sequently, knew nothing whatever of the matter.
Mr. Sergeant BALLANTINE then followed for Tester,
taking much the same ground held by Sergeant
Parry, that there was not sufficient evidence to
identify Tester in connection with any one fact, of
Agar's statement, so as to fix upon him the guilt of
complicity. He observed upon the absence of any
esidence to show that Tester had any control what-
ever over the keys of the bullion chests. It was not
even pretended that Tester was seen with this black
bag on the night the robbery was committed, but it
was merely said that it was about the time, and from
this fact the jury were to infer that he had a portion
of the stolen gold in his possession. Supposing the
statement to be true, how could they account for his
conduct in going to the Greenwich station instead of
at once proceeding to his own residence, and endea-
vouring to avoid observation? instead of doing so,
however, he actually went to the clerk and fixed his
attention to the fact of his having gone down to
-Reigate after business hours, and to his having a
Llack bag in his possession that contained something
heavy.
No witnesses were called, and this concluded the
case for the defence.
Mr. Baron ..ilartrist then proceeded to sum
up—expressing his opinion in favour of the rob-
bery having been committed between London
and Folkestone, and, going through the whole
of Agar's evidence, pointed out those portions
in which it was corroborated by other witnesses,
from his account of the visits of himself and Pierce
to Folkestone to the consummation of the robbery,
the return to London, and the division of the plunder,
Having thus pointed out those parts of Agar's evidence
confirmed by other witnesses, the learned Baron dis-
missed the jury at a few minutes to five o'clock to
consider their verdict.
, In ten minutes the jury returned a verdict of
Guilty.' on the second count (simple larceny)