Bidwell's Travels, from Wall Street to London Prison: Fifteen Years in SolitudeBidwell, Austin
General
Bidwell's Travels, from Wall Street to London Prison: Fifteen Years in Solitude
Bidwell, Austin
Bank fraud -- England; Bank of England; Bidwell, Austin; Criminals -- Biography
Of course, as soon as the messenger had turned his back Noyes bolted
around the corner to a place agreed upon, while Mac followed the
messenger to the bank and saw he was paid without question. He gave the
pre-arranged signal to George, who went with all haste to notify Noyes,
and when the messenger arrived with the cash, he found him standing on
the steps as cool and unconcerned as possible. Paying the messenger, all
three started to the bank, Mac on the way giving Noyes the L2,300 check,
which he presented. Nodding good day to the cashier he asked for L2,000
in gold and the remainder in notes, which were handed him at once, and
three very happy men sat down that evening to dinner, because the day's
operations had conclusively proved that the Bank of England methods were
fallible.
The next morning Noyes went to Jay Cooke & Co. and ordered $75,000 in
United States bonds, giving a check for them on the bank. The same
afternoon he went to Birmingham and mailed another letter, this one
containing L15,000 in bills, and later drew L2,000 in gold from the
bank. On Monday he went after the bonds, and the $75,000 was handed over
to him without questions. The whole operation was a repetition of these
tactics, but with an ever-increasing volume in the amounts of the bills.
On some days the mail brought to the bank letters with bills for
$100,000, sometimes for more, sometimes for less. So November and
December passed away, and the bank continued day by day and week by week
laying away in its vaults the worthless collateral of Mr. F. A. Warren in
exchange for its gold.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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