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
It will interest Americans, perhaps, to hear that the representations of
the President and of the Secretary of State of the United States met the
same courtesy as was shown to all the previous ones. Still, George was
not discouraged. He sent agents to England, who managed to interest the
newspapers in the matter, and never did he cease, until by the
statements of the press upon the ferocity of my treatment, the
reproaches of my friends and the representations of many I had never
seen, including Lady Henry Somerset, Mrs. Helen Densmore (then residing
in London) and the Duke of Norfolk, at last the Home Secretary felt the
pressure, and all unwillingly--"much against his will," as he termed
it--was forced to order my release.
* * * * *
"Thou shalt forget thy misery and remember it as waters that pass
away."
Twenty years had passed away since I had bade my friends good-bye under
the Old Bailey, and now 1893 had come. It was a frosty February night,
and I was alone in that little room with its arched roof and stone
floor. It was past 7 o'clock, and the prison gloom and stillness had
settled down on all the inmates, when suddenly there came the noise of
hurrying feet that echoed strangely from the arched roof as the warders
tramped loudly on the stone floor of the long hall. A rush of feet, or,
indeed, anything that broke the horrible stillness at that hour, was
startling. They were the feet of the reserve guard, which was never
called in save when the patrol who glided around the corridors in
slippered feet discovered some suicide. Many a heartbroken man had I
known in that twenty years who in his despair ended his misery thus.
While wondering who the unfortunate could be I heard their steps
mounting the stairway leading to my landing, and then a sudden thrill
shot through me as they turned down the corridor toward my cell. My
heart stood still as I thought, could they be coming for me? I had a
sudden frenzy of fear that they might pass my door, but no, they came
straight on, halted, and Ross, a principal officer--I had known him
twenty years--gave a thundering rap on my door and shouted, "I want
you!" Then a key rattled in the lock, the door was thrown open and three
friendly faces looked in. Faint, deadly white, trembling like a
frightened child, I started to my feet trying to speak, but no sound
came from my lips for a moment. At last I stammered, "What's the
matter?" Ross thrust his form through the door, and with face close to
mine said the thrilling words, "You're free!" I cried, "I don't believe
you!" and Ross said: "Come on, my boy; it's all right."
Like one in a dream I passed out through the door of that little cell
whose grim, narrow walls had frowned on me for a score of years and had
in vain tried to crush my spirit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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