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 XLVI. IF PAIN IS NOT AN EVIL, IT CERTAINLY IS A VERY GOOD IMITATION., connecting personal narrative with the financial, legal, and prison-world setting of the period. The chapter’s opening perspective is: The world inside of the walls has a public opinion of its own, and it is at least quite as often just as the public opinion whose sphere is not circumscribed by stone walls and iron bars. The man who accepts the situation, resolved to get his hand as easily as possible out of the tiger’s mouth, soon becomes known as a sensible fellow, willing to give others no trouble and anxious to have no trouble given him.
This chapter is for readers following Bidwell’s memoir chapter by chapter, especially the section titled “Chapter XLVI. IF PAIN IS NOT AN EVIL, IT CERTAINLY IS A VERY GOOD IMITATION..” 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 XLVI. IF PAIN IS NOT AN EVIL, IT CERTAINLY IS A VERY GOOD IMITATION.” 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.