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
On resuming our journey we took a nap, and when we awoke we found
ourselves nearing the Rhine; about noon we arrived at Cologne, and going
to Uhlrich platz, drank a bottle of Tokay in a famous wine cellar there,
then hurrying back to the station we traveled across the sandy plain
that stretches from near the Prussian border to the capital. We arrived
soon after dark, and Mac went at once to the Hotel Lion de Paris and
registered. I waited across the street in the shadow of the Empress
Palace. Mac soon came out, and we went to dine in a large cafe. We
enjoyed the novelty of the scene, and were never tired of marveling over
the all-predominant militarism. Soldiers everywhere, all with good lungs
and loud voices. We spent the evening seeing the town; at midnight we
parted to meet and breakfast together at the cafe at 8. I then went to
an obscure hotel and soon was in the land of dreams. In the morning I
awoke with an anxious feeling, and found myself wishing it were night.
At 8, the appointed time, I met Mac. He may possibly have felt some
anxiety; if so, it was invisible.
When an honest man makes a mistake he has not only sympathy, but can
always pick himself up again. With a rogue a mistake may easily be and
almost always is fatal. We feared the unseen and the unexpected. Above
all, our imagination magnified the danger while tormenting us with
needless fears. In Germany the banks open at 9 o'clock, and we knew they
would receive soon after 8 the letter we had deposited in the mail in
London. We decided that it would be best for Mac to enter the banker's
at five minutes after 9. We had discovered the night before the location
of the firm. During breakfast Mac went carefully through his pockets,
taking out every scrap of paper and turning everything over to me; then
taking out from among the others in our bag the letters of credit and
introduction we made our last scrutiny of them. We had not settled upon
the amount he should ask for, but agreed that it should not in any case
be less than 25,000 gulden ($10,000). If everything seemed favorable
then Mac was to use his own judgment and demand any sum under 100,000
gulden ($40,000). His letter of credit was for L10,000, and we did not
want to leave it behind. Of course, if we drew any less sum than the
amount the credit called for, the sum we drew would be indorsed on the
letter, and it would be returned to Mac and be instantly destroyed. So
with the documents in his pockets and giving me a smile, out he went,
and I followed after, keeping him in sight, and very anxious I was. We
were on Unter den Linden. Walking one square and turning to the left
half a block away were the bankers--Hebrew, by the way. I saw Mac
saunter up the steps and disappear from view. Outside of America money
transactions are carried on with the utmost deliberation; to an American
with exasperating slowness; so I thought it possible he might remain
invisible for a whole half-hour, and a long half-hour it would be to me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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