The plan was to execute a wages snatch at Schnurmann's Rubber Factory in Chesnut Road, Tottenham, North London. The payroll was £80. Calculated on the Retail Price Index, £80 in 1909 would be worth £5,730 in 2006. Calculated on average earnings, it would be worth £30,320.

The perpetrators were two Russian anarchists, Paul Hefeld and Jacob Lapidus. Across the road from the factory, at no. 6 Chesnut Road, there was a photographer's shop owned by Frederick William Perry. Hefield and Jacob loitered outside the shop, watching the factory's reflection in the glass window.