BERKHAMSTED COMMON. 65 
skilled workmen, and gangers, armed with proper 
implements and crowbars. ‘The train reached Tring at 
1.30a.m. At this point the operation nearly miscarried. 
The contractor, it appeared, had sub-let his contract to 
another person. The two met together at a public- 
house near Euston Station the evening before the 
intended raid, and drank so freely that neither of them 
was in a condition to lead the force into action, and the 
navvies arrived at Tring without a leader, and with no 
instructions. Fortunately, Mr. Lawrence had sent a 
confidential clerk to watch the proceedings from a 
distance, and this gentleman, perceiving the difficulty, 
took the lead of the force. 
A procession was formed at the station. A march 
of three miles in the moonlight brought them to Berk- 
hamsted Common, and the object of the expedition 
was then first made known to the rank and file. The 
men were told off in detachments of a dozen strong. 
The substantial joints of the railings were then 
loosened by hammers and chisels, and the crowbars 
did the rest. Before six a.m. the whole of the fences, 
two miles in length, were levelled to the ground, and 
the railings were laid in a heap, with as little damage 
as possible. It was seven o’clock before the alarm was 
given, and when Lord Brownlow’s agent appeared on 
the scene, he found that Berkhamsted Common was 
no longer inclosed. It was too late to do more than 
make an energetic protest against the alleged trespass. 
Meanwhile, the news spread, and the inhabitants 
of the district flocked to the scene. Gentlemen came in 
F 
