The turn of the century marked the dawn of urban mass transit. The London underground opened in 1863, making it the oldest subway in existence, followed by underground rail lines in Boston (1898), Paris (1900), and New York (1904). With over two hundred miles of lines,
of lines, New York City's subway was the largest in the US, and from the time of its celebrated opening, it remained much in the public eye. It was made the subject of numerous short films, including City Hall to Harlem in 15 Seconds by Thomas Edison (1904),
A Rube in the Subway (1905) which showed a pickpocket at work, and 2 A.M. in the Subway (1905), whose subject was a young couple removed from the train for lewd behavior.
In "The Bradys and 'Brooklyn Bob,'" which appeared in Secret Service on December 24, 1909, the subway becomes a stage for another kind of misbehavior-a robbery. 'Brooklyn Bob' is caught by the two detectives as he attempts to hold up a group of people in the subway, his audacious act earning him the title of "the Boldest Crook in the World."