Bidwell's Travels, from Wall Street to London Prison. English-only reading by default; switch among English, Chinese, and Spanish, or compare languages side by side.
This chapter develops the memoir’s account of Chapter IV. FOOLS STUMBLING ON FORTUNES., connecting personal narrative with the financial, legal, and prison-world setting of the period. The chapter’s opening perspective is: The present generation has become tolerably familiar with defalcations and robberies involving enormous sums. Previous to 1861 they were comparatively unknown, the reason being that the currency of the country was strictly limited.
This chapter is for readers following Bidwell’s memoir chapter by chapter, especially the section titled “Chapter IV. FOOLS STUMBLING ON FORTUNES..” It is most useful for readers interested in financial crime history, nineteenth-century banking culture, criminal justice, prison memoir, and the social setting of the period.
Read “Chapter IV. FOOLS STUMBLING ON FORTUNES.” as a historical memoir rather than guidance. The banking procedures, legal assumptions, public reputation, social judgments, travel conditions, and prison practices described belong to Bidwell’s nineteenth-century setting and may not match modern institutions.