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 VI. CHEATED VISIONS AND VANISHED HOPES., connecting personal narrative with the financial, legal, and prison-world setting of the period. The chapter’s opening perspective is: Saturday night was the time chosen to get into the bank, and the plunderers were to remain there until Sunday. The members of Irving’s ring were to keep watch to prevent any officious interference from passers-by or from ward policemen.
This chapter is for readers following Bidwell’s memoir chapter by chapter, especially the section titled “Chapter VI. CHEATED VISIONS AND VANISHED HOPES..” 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 VI. CHEATED VISIONS AND VANISHED HOPES.” 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.