Bidwell's Travels, from Wall Street to London Prison - Fifteen Years in Solitude

Austin Bidwell

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bidwell's Travels, from Wall Street toLondon Prison, by Austin Biron BidwellThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.orgTitle: Bidwell's Travels, from Wall Street to London PrisonFifteen Years in SolitudeAuthor: Austin Biron BidwellRelease Date: March 2, 2008 [EBook #24739]Language: English*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIDWELL'S TRAVELS ***Produced by Afra Ullah and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This file wasproduced from images generously made available by TheInternet Archive/American Libraries.)Transcriber's Note:Page 457 has missing text. It is shown in the text with a mouse-hover popup.BIDWELL'S TRAVELS.FROMWall StreetTo London PrisonFifteen Years in Solitude.FREED A HUMAN WRECK, A WONDERFUL SURVIVAL AND A MOREWONDERFUL RISE IN THE WORLD.TO-DAY HE HAS A NATIONAL REPUTATION AS A WRITER, SPEAKERAND IS CONSIDERED AN AUTHORITY ON ALL SOCIAL PROBLEMS.HE WAS TRIED AT THE OLD BAILEY AND SENTENCED FOR LIFE.CHARGED WITH THE £1,000,000 FORGERY ON THE BANKOF ENGLAND.THIS STORY SHOWS THAT THE EVENTS OF HIS LIFE SURPASS THEIMAGINATIONS OF OUR FAMOUS NOVELISTS, ITS THRILLINGSCENES, HAIR-BREADTH ESCAPES AND MARVELOUS ADVENTURESARE NOT A RECORD OF CRIME,BUT ARE PROOFS OF ...

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• Publié par: veal
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 25
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bidwell's Travels,
from Wall Street to
London Prison, by Austin Biron Bidwell
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no
cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,
give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg
License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Bidwell's Travels, from Wall Street to London
Prison
Fifteen Years in Solitude
Author: Austin Biron Bidwell
Release Date: March 2, 2008 [EBook #24739]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
BIDWELL'S TRAVELS ***
Produced by Afra Ullah and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This fileProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This file
was
produced from images generously made available by
The
Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Transcriber's Note:
Page 457 has missing text. It is shown in the text with
a mouse-hover popup.
BIDWELL'S TRAVELS.
FROM
Wall Street
To London Prison
Fifteen Years in Solitude.FREED A HUMAN WRECK, A WONDERFUL
SURVIVAL AND A MORE
WONDERFUL RISE IN THE WORLD.
TO-DAY HE HAS A NATIONAL REPUTATION AS A
WRITER, SPEAKER
AND IS CONSIDERED AN AUTHORITY ON ALL
SOCIAL PROBLEMS.
HE WAS TRIED AT THE OLD BAILEY AND
SENTENCED FOR LIFE.
CHARGED WITH THE £1,000,000 FORGERY ON
THE BANK
OF ENGLAND.
THIS STORY SHOWS THAT THE EVENTS OF HIS
LIFE SURPASS THE
IMAGINATIONS OF OUR FAMOUS NOVELISTS, ITS
THRILLING
SCENES, HAIR-BREADTH ESCAPES AND
MARVELOUS ADVENTURES
ARE NOT A RECORD OF CRIME,
BUT ARE PROOFS OF THAT
IN THE WORLD OF WRONGDOING
SUCCESS IS FAILURE.
490 Pages. 80 Graphic Illustrations.
Copyrighted 1897 by BIDWELL PUBLISHING
COMPANY, HARTFORD, CONN.
Editorial New York Herald.Referring to a Whole Page.
"If an American dramatist or novelist had
taken for the ground work of a play or work of
fiction the story of the Bidwell family to-day
related on another page of the Herald, all
European critics would have told him that the
story was too 'American,' too vast in its
outlines, too high in its colors, too merely 'big'
in fact.
"The story has its lesson. The play is not a
mere spectacle. The lesson is that in the
doing and undoing of wrong the Bidwell family
expended enough ability and energy to stock
a good many reigning European families for
generations.
"Let the Comedie Humaine write itself and it
will outwrite Balzac."
Hon. Lyman J. Gage.
Having read the Bidwell book I believe it will
benefit every one to read this marvellous
history of human experience.
Aside from its dramatic interest there are
great moral lessons involved of especial
value to young men and employees in
positions of trust.
Therefore, I recommend this book as unique
and a valuable acquisition for home and
office.office.
From Chas. M. Stead, Union League Club,
New York.
"Dear Sir—I read your book with a good deal
of interest, and would like to change it for a
higher-priced binding if you have one."
The Worcester Spy.
"Mr. Bidwell's book has been compared with
Dumas' famous 'Monte Christo.' The
extraordinary character of its adventures,
indeed, would render it dramatic and powerful
as fiction; as human truth, it is simply
overwhelming. No one can read this book
unmoved. From every conceivable
standpoint, physiological, sociological, and
literary, it is a marvel."
Philip W. Moen.
Mr. Moen, of Washburn & Moen, Worcester,
Mass., writes: "I have read Mr. George
Bidwell's book with the deepest interest. It is
a book that deserves to be widely read, and I
am very glad to recommend it."
A Niece of Oliver Wendell Holmes
writes: "Few books have so stirred my mind
for years as the book by George Bidwell.
Hearing of the book, prejudice immediately
seized me against it. The history given by
himself, to be interesting at all must besensational, therefore disastrous to morals.
So avowed prejudiced thought; and,
determined to find fault, I began this
remarkable history. It is impossible to find
fault with the book, which is valuable and
wonderfully absorbing."
From Ira D. Sankey, Esq.
"Mr. George Bidwell, Dear Sir—I have read
with great interest your book, and believe it
will do much good among young men
wherever read. Your life is a proof and your
book a burning record of the truth that
'Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also
reap.' I believe in throwing light into all the
dark places of this life, that men, seeing the
dangers, they may avoid them. I wish you
success."
From Hon. Robert G. Ingersoll.
"George Bidwell, Esq.:
My Dear Sir—Knowing as I do that you will
tell a candid story of your career, I believe
you will do good. Crime springs mostly from a
lack of intelligence and imagination. Only the
foolish can think that the practice of vice is
the road to joy. As a matter of fact, the wrong
does not pay. You have, in your remarkable
book, made this fact perfectly clear, and you
will enforce this great truth on the platform. In
the world of crime success is failure. Good
luck to you."luck to you."
Rev. Dr. Edward Beecher
writes; "I recommend this book to the friends
of morality."
Office of Street's Insurance Agency,
Hartford, Conn.
"Mr. George Bidwell, Dear Sir—A clergyman
consulted with me regarding his son, who had
fallen into bad associations, taken part in
many small thefts, and seemed hardened
against shame or dread of exposure. I
believe the mean, dangerous boy has
become a man by reading your book." Yours
very truly,
F.F. Street, Hartford, Conn.
Hartford Daily Times.
"This autobiography is a story of thrilling
interest."
CONTENTS.
A NEW YORK HERALD EDITORIAL.

CHAPTER I.
Brooklyn Public Schools in the Sixties 1
—Old. No. 13—Parents Suited to the 9Golden Age—A Curious Preparation fo
r the Battle of Life—Knew that Brutus
Slew Caesar—George the Third Was
a Bad Fellow Who Got a Tea Kettle Th
rown at His Head In Boston Harbor—
My Model Home Library—An Innocent
Leaves Home.
CHAPTER II.
In a Broker's Office—A Nice Old Gentl 2
eman—Situation in Wall Street—An U 4
p-to-Date Young Man—Visions of Wea
lth—Speculations—Wall Street in the
Sixties—The Hon. John Morrissey, ex-
Pugilist—His Famous Gambling House
—I Try a Game of Faro—Midnight Ban
quets—I Have Entered the Primrose
Way.
CHAPTER III.
Pleasure Before Business—Result of 2
That Method—On Financial Rocks—J 8
ames, Otherwise "Jimmy," Irving—He
Was a Model Chief of Detectives—Poli
ce Headquarters, 300 Mulberry Street,
in the Early Seventies—He Takes Me f
or a Drive out Harlem Lane—A Trio of
Detectives—They Make a Startling Pro
position—A $10,000 Temptation—Men
tal Conflicts—I Dare Not Be Poor—C'e
st le Premier Pas Qui Coute.
CHAPTER IV.
History of the Famous Lord Bond Stea 3
l—"On the Office"—Three Sneaks Stu 6
mble on a Fortune—A $1,250,000 Tin Box—Dazed Crooks—What to Do with
Their White Elephant—Excitement at
Police Headquarters—Bullard et al.—A
Violin Virtuoso—Superintendent of Poli
ce Kelso Presents a $500 Silver Punch
Bowl to the Daughter of Boss Tweed—
Paid for with Stolen Cash.
CHAPTER V.
Police Protectors—New York Gangs— 4
Irving & Co. Give Me $80,000 Lord Bo 8
nds to Sell Abroad—A Midnight Farew
ell—Alone on the Sea—When Jim Fisk
Owned Our Judges—Chief Irving Plan
s a Famous Bank Robbery—His Three
Burglar Confederates.
CHAPTER VI.
The Bank Looted—Irving Notified by B 5
ank Officials—His Feigned Surprise— 8
Hunts the Burglars, but Divides the Plu
nder at His Own House—Count Shinb
urne and His Palace on the Rhine—Tw
enty Years Later.
CHAPTER VII.
I Arrive in Paris—Field of Waterloo—M 6
eet the Antwerp Chief of Police—He Is 5
on Trail—A Dutch Van Tromp and the
Countess Winzerode—His Dream of Bl
iss and Tragic Death—My Negotiation
s in Frankfurt-on-the-Main.
CHAPTER VIII.
Marpurgo & Weisweller, Bankers—Fra 7
ncoise Blanc, the Gambler King—His 3