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 XXIII. SHOWERS OF GOLD FALL—AND THEN?, connecting personal narrative with the financial, legal, and prison-world setting of the period. The chapter’s opening perspective is: I shall try and condense into a single chapter the narrative of events in London from the time of my departure until the day, some months later, when our scheme exploded and all took to flight when Noyes was arrested. Our expenses had been so enormous that we were anxious to make enough to recoup them, so it had been agreed that the first batch of bogus bills should not exceed the amount paid out since leaving Rio.
This chapter is for readers following Bidwell’s memoir chapter by chapter, especially the section titled “Chapter XXIII. SHOWERS OF GOLD FALL—AND THEN?.” 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 XXIII. SHOWERS OF GOLD FALL—AND THEN?” 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.