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 XLIII. A BATTERED HULK STRANDED ON A SHORE TO WHICH NO TIDE RETURNS., connecting personal narrative with the financial, legal, and prison-world setting of the period. The chapter’s opening perspective is: I am glad to say that during the almost lifetime I passed at Chatham there were only a scant half dozen Americans who came down to keep me company. One, Stoneman by name, interested me.
This chapter is for readers following Bidwell’s memoir chapter by chapter, especially the section titled “Chapter XLIII. A BATTERED HULK STRANDED ON A SHORE TO WHICH NO TIDE RETURNS..” 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 XLIII. A BATTERED HULK STRANDED ON A SHORE TO WHICH NO TIDE RETURNS.” 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.