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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bidwell's Travels, from Wall Street to
+London Prison, by Austin Biron Bidwell
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Bidwell's Travels, from Wall Street to London Prison
+       Fifteen Years in Solitude
+
+Author: Austin Biron Bidwell
+
+Release Date: March 2, 2008 [EBook #24739]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIDWELL'S TRAVELS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Afra Ullah and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BIDWELL'S TRAVELS.
+
+FROM
+
+Wall Street
+
+To London Prison
+
+
+_Fifteen Years in Solitude._
+
+
+  FREED A HUMAN WRECK, A WONDERFUL SURVIVAL AND A MORE
+    WONDERFUL RISE IN THE WORLD.
+  TO-DAY HE HAS A NATIONAL REPUTATION AS A WRITER, SPEAKER
+    AND IS CONSIDERED AN AUTHORITY ON ALL SOCIAL PROBLEMS.
+  HE WAS TRIED AT THE OLD BAILEY AND SENTENCED FOR LIFE.
+    CHARGED WITH THE L1,000,000 FORGERY ON THE BANK
+      OF ENGLAND.
+
+  THIS STORY SHOWS THAT THE EVENTS OF HIS LIFE SURPASS THE
+    IMAGINATIONS OF OUR FAMOUS NOVELISTS, ITS THRILLING
+      SCENES, HAIR-BREADTH ESCAPES AND MARVELOUS ADVENTURES
+        ARE NOT A RECORD OF CRIME,
+          BUT ARE PROOFS OF THAT
+
+_IN THE WORLD OF WRONGDOING SUCCESS IS FAILURE._
+
+
+
+490 Pages. 80 Graphic Illustrations.
+
+
+Copyrighted 1897 by BIDWELL PUBLISHING COMPANY, HARTFORD, CONN.
+
+
+Editorial New York Herald.
+
+_Referring to a Whole Page._
+
+"If an American dramatist or novelist had taken for the ground work of a
+play or work of fiction the story of the Bidwell family to-day related
+on another page of the Herald, all European critics would have told him
+that the story was too 'American,' too vast in its outlines, too high in
+its colors, too merely 'big' in fact.
+
+"The story has its lesson. The play is not a mere spectacle. The lesson
+is that in the doing and undoing of wrong the Bidwell family expended
+enough ability and energy to stock a good many reigning European
+families for generations.
+
+"Let the Comedie Humaine write itself and it will outwrite Balzac."
+
+
+Hon. Lyman J. Gage.
+
+Having read the Bidwell book I believe it will benefit every one to read
+this marvellous history of human experience.
+
+Aside from its dramatic interest there are great moral lessons involved
+of especial value to young men and employees in positions of trust.
+
+Therefore, I recommend this book as unique and a valuable acquisition
+for home and office.
+
+
+From Chas. M. Stead, Union League Club, New York.
+
+"_Dear Sir_--I read your book with a good deal of interest, and would
+like to change it for a higher-priced binding if you have one."
+
+
+The Worcester Spy.
+
+"Mr. Bidwell's book has been compared with Dumas' famous 'Monte
+Christo.' The extraordinary character of its adventures, indeed, would
+render it dramatic and powerful as fiction; as human truth, it is simply
+overwhelming. No one can read this book unmoved. From every conceivable
+standpoint, physiological, sociological, and literary, it is a marvel."
+
+
+Philip W. Moen.
+
+Mr. Moen, of Washburn & Moen, Worcester, Mass., writes: "I have read Mr.
+George Bidwell's book with the deepest interest. It is a book that
+deserves to be widely read, and I am very glad to recommend it."
+
+
+A Niece of Oliver Wendell Holmes
+
+writes: "_Few books have so stirred my mind_ for years as the book by
+George Bidwell. Hearing of the book, prejudice immediately seized me
+against it. The history given by himself, to be interesting at all must
+be sensational, therefore disastrous to morals. _So avowed prejudiced
+thought; and, determined to find fault, I began this remarkable
+history._ IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND FAULT WITH THE BOOK, WHICH IS
+VALUABLE AND WONDERFULLY ABSORBING."
+
+
+From Ira D. Sankey, Esq.
+
+"MR. GEORGE BIDWELL, _Dear Sir_--I have read with great interest your
+book, and believe it will do much good among young men wherever read.
+Your life is a proof and your book a burning record of the truth that
+'Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.' I believe in throwing
+light into all the dark places of this life, that men, seeing the
+dangers, they may avoid them. I wish you success."
+
+
+From Hon. Robert G. Ingersoll.
+
+"GEORGE BIDWELL, ESQ.:
+
+_My Dear Sir_--Knowing as I do that you will tell a candid story of your
+career, I believe you will do good. Crime springs mostly from a lack of
+intelligence and imagination. Only the foolish can think that the
+practice of vice is the road to joy. As a matter of fact, the wrong does
+not pay. You have, in your remarkable book, made this fact perfectly
+clear, and you will enforce this great truth on the platform. _In the
+world of crime success is failure._ Good luck to you."
+
+
+Rev. Dr. Edward Beecher
+
+writes; "I recommend this book to the friends of morality."
+
+
+Office of Street's Insurance Agency, Hartford, Conn.
+
+"MR. GEORGE BIDWELL, _Dear Sir_--A clergyman consulted with me regarding
+his son, who had fallen into bad associations, taken part in many small
+thefts, and seemed hardened against shame or dread of exposure. I
+believe the mean, dangerous boy has become a man by reading your book."
+Yours very truly,
+
+F. F. STREET, Hartford, Conn.
+
+
+Hartford Daily Times.
+
+"This autobiography is a story of thrilling interest."
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  A NEW YORK HERALD EDITORIAL.
+
+
+  CHAPTER I.
+
+  Brooklyn Public Schools in the Sixties--Old. No. 13--Parents Suited
+  to the Golden Age--A Curious Preparation for the Battle of
+  Life--Knew that Brutus Slew Caesar--George the Third Was a
+  Bad Fellow Who Got a Tea Kettle Thrown at His Head In
+  Boston Harbor--My Model Home Library--An Innocent Leaves
+  Home.                                                               19
+
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+
+  In a Broker's Office--A Nice Old Gentleman--Situation in Wall
+  Street--An Up-to-Date Young Man--Visions of Wealth--Speculations--Wall
+  Street in the Sixties--The Hon. John Morrissey,
+  ex-Pugilist--His Famous Gambling House--I Try a Game of
+  Faro--Midnight Banquets--I Have Entered the Primrose
+  Way.                                                                24
+
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+
+  Pleasure Before Business--Result of That Method--On Financial
+  Rocks--James, Otherwise "Jimmy," Irving--He Was a Model
+  Chief of Detectives--Police Headquarters, 300 Mulberry Street,
+  in the Early Seventies--He Takes Me for a Drive out Harlem
+  Lane--A Trio of Detectives--They Make a Startling Proposition--A
+  $10,000 Temptation--Mental Conflicts--I Dare Not Be Poor--C'est
+  le Premier Pas Qui Coute.                                           28
+
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+
+  History of the Famous Lord Bond Steal--"On the Office"--Three
+  Sneaks Stumble on a Fortune--A $1,250,000 Tin Box--Dazed
+  Crooks--What to Do with Their White Elephant--Excitement
+  at Police Headquarters--Bullard et al.--A Violin Virtuoso--Superintendent
+  of Police Kelso Presents a $500 Silver Punch
+  Bowl to the Daughter of Boss Tweed--Paid for with Stolen
+  Cash.                                                               36
+
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+
+  Police Protectors--New York Gangs--Irving & Co. Give Me $80,000
+  Lord Bonds to Sell Abroad--A Midnight Farewell--Alone on
+  the Sea--When Jim Fisk Owned Our Judges--Chief Irving
+  Plans a Famous Bank Robbery--His Three Burglar Confederates.        48
+
+
+  CHAPTER VI.
+
+  The Bank Looted--Irving Notified by Bank Officials--His Feigned
+  Surprise--Hunts the Burglars, but Divides the Plunder at His
+  Own House--Count Shinburne and His Palace on the Rhine--Twenty
+  Years Later.                                                        58
+
+
+  CHAPTER VII.
+
+  I Arrive in Paris--Field of Waterloo--Meet the Antwerp Chief of
+  Police--He Is on Trail--A Dutch Van Tromp and the Countess
+  Winzerode--His Dream of Bliss and Tragic Death--My Negotiations
+  in Frankfurt-on-the-Main.                                           65
+
+
+  CHAPTER VIII.
+
+  Marpurgo & Weisweller, Bankers--Francoise Blanc, the Gambler
+  King--His Casinos at Monte Carlo, Homburg and Wiesbaden--I
+  Meet Van Tromp's Countess--Outlived Her Beauty--Now a
+  Hanger-on at the Rouge et Noir Tables--Takes My Advice--Marries
+  a Rich Burgher--Becomes a Good Stepmother--Her
+  Pious End and Epitaph.                                              73
+
+
+  CHAPTER IX.
+
+  I Sell the $80,000 Bonds--Reach London Safely--Drifting--Success
+  in Crime a Failure--A Desolate Woman--Beautiful Barmaid
+  Show--Westminster Abbey--Good Resolutions--Sail Home--Irving
+  at the Wharf--Meet at Taylor's Hotel--The Total: "I
+  Have Another Job for You"--A Fool's Game.                           84
+
+
+  CHAPTER X.
+
+  Edwin James, Q.C., and a Possible Lord Chancellor of England--His
+  Extravagance--On the Border Land of Crime--He Oversteps--Disbarred--Comes
+  to New York--Richard O'Gorman's
+  Great Heart--The Brea Will Case--A Dark Plot--$20,000 out of
+  Wall Street--Jay Cooke & Co. Narrowly Escape Loss of $240,000--Chief
+  Irving in the Plot--Detective George Elder Not in Our
+  Ring--Accidentally He Appears and Thwarts Our Plans.                94
+
+
+  CHAPTER XI.
+
+  Eastward Ho!--The James and Brea Exit--Ezra, the Shrewd Lawyer--Three
+  Unhappy Daughters--He Marries One--Detects
+  Forged Will--Flight of Brea to Montana--A Sunrise Surprise
+  at Butte City--James Returns to London--Fills a Pauper's
+  Grave Instead of a Lord Chancellor's.                              114
+
+
+  CHAPTER XII.
+
+  Bordeaux, Marseilles and Lyons "Donate" $50,000--A Bad Quarter
+  of an Hour--Eggs and Peasant Women--"Sweets to the Sweet"--A
+  Mysterious Stranger Disappears Among the Tombs.                    123
+
+
+  CHAPTER XIII.
+
+  A Starry Talk--Contrast Between Mac's Philosophy and His Errand--A
+  Financial Trip Through Germany--From Leipsic Fair
+  to London--Return Loaded with Thalers.                             132
+
+
+  CHAPTER XIV.
+
+  A Drive to Hampton Court--Send $10,000 Police Tribute to New
+  York--Discussing the Bank of England in the Throne Room
+  at Windsor Castle--Believe It to Be a Fossil Institution--Greene,
+  the Tailor--Introduces Me to Bank--No References
+  Required--Joy That Ends in Sorrow.                                 142
+
+
+  CHAPTER XV.
+
+  Voyage to Rio Janeiro--The Lady of the Lucitania--A Swedish
+  Colonel's Party of English Engineers--A Bibulous Chaplain--Modern
+  Buccaneers--Scenes at Bordeaux--Crossing the Line--Father
+  Neptune's Visit--Fun at Sea--Arrival in Rio--Maua &
+  Co.--Our Plans.                                                    154
+
+
+  CHAPTER XVI.
+
+  Fifty Thousand Dollars on Bogus Letters of Credit--Visit to a
+  Coffee Plantation--Slaves Dining--Dangerous Errors in Letters
+  of Credit--A Nervous Day--An Eagle-Eyed Hebrew--"Show
+  Me Your Letter of Credit"--Mac in a Corner--A Bold Coup--Strategy--Can
+  We Get Out of Brazil?                                              160
+
+
+  CHAPTER XVII.
+
+  Brazilian Law--Visit Police Headquarters--A Douceur to the Chief--In
+  a Tight Spot--A "Doctored" Passport--A Detective on
+  Trail. Who Ingratiates Himself into Mac's Confidence--Manoeuvres--The
+  Detective on a "Wild Goose Chase"--Safely on
+  Board--A Distinguished Party in a Rowboat--A Stern Chase--Off
+  at Last.                                                           173
+
+
+  CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+  Rio to Buenos Ayres--Return and Meet Mac in Paris--Determine
+  to Abandon a Dangerous Business--Vienna--Watching the
+  Game--Must Have More Money--Good Resolutions Vanish--Return
+  to London--Determine to Assault the Bank of England--Deposit
+  $67,000.                                                           186
+
+
+  CHAPTER XIX.
+
+  Bank of England Requires No References--Letter from Paris--A
+  Gilded American Young Man--Duped into Marriage with a
+  Parisienne Moendaine--A Ghost at Monte Carlo--In a Greenwood
+  Mausoleum--Earthly Happiness and the World to
+  Come.                                                              193
+
+
+  CHAPTER XX.
+
+  A Council of War--Description of Bills of Exchange--Frederick
+  Albert Warren, the Great American Railway Contractor--The
+  Great Bank Proves Fallible--Discounts Bogus Bills of Exchange.     200
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXI.
+
+  Draw Fabulous Sums--Bags of Sovereigns by the Cab Load--In a
+  French Railway Wreck--Baron Alfonse de Rothschild, Head
+  of the Paris House--A Famous L6,000 Draft.                         206
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXII.
+
+  Last Call at the Bank of England--Noyes Arrives in London--An
+  Artful Plot--Introduce Noyes--Plan Now Complete--Our Wise
+  Forefathers--No Change in a Century--Our Paper Is Discounted--Prepare
+  for Flight--Thou Shalt Not.                                        214
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+  Fifty Thousand Dollars a Day--The Golden Shower Continues to
+  Fall--Operations Shrouded in Midnight Darkness--No Possibility
+  of Discovery--Finish and Begin Again--Amazing Oversight--Pitcher
+  Goes Once Too Often--Noyes Arrested--Unparalleled
+  Excitement on the Stock Exchange.                                  224
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+  Consternation--A Mob of Bankers--The Financial World Shaken--Noyes
+  Taken to Newgate--Mac Cables Irving--His Flight to
+  France--Sails from Havre on Board Thuringia--Arrested at
+  Quarantine--The Pinkertons on Trail.                               236
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXV.
+
+  Hunted Through Ireland--$2,500 Reward for My Capture--Detectives
+  "Spot" Me at the Cork Railway Station--Obliged to
+  Abandon Taking Passage by the Ill-Fated Atlantic--A Game
+  of "Hare and Hounds"--Eluding a Detective "Trap"--English
+  Misrule in Ireland--Am Taken for a Priest--A Typographical
+  Thunderbolt at Lismore--An Early Morning Walk--A Ride on
+  an Irish Jaunting Car--"On the Road to Clonmel"--Shelter in
+  a "Shebeen"--How Thirsty Souls Get the "Craythur" In Ireland--A
+  Good Old Irish Lady--Pursuit and Refuge in a Ruined
+  Cottage at Cahir.                                                  248
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+  An Unceremonious Call--"I am a Fenian Leader"--A "Story" Told
+  in the Dark--Maloy Helps My Escape on an Irish Jaunting
+  Car--Eggs--A Policeman Anxious to Obtain the Five Hundred
+  Pounds Reward--Dublin Again--A Jewess' Blessing--I Turn
+  Russian, and Later Become a Frenchman--Belfast Detectives--Escape
+  into Scotland--The Other Side of the Story--A Bow
+  Street Detective's Adventures While Hunting Me Through Ireland
+  --Cross-Questioning--My Jaunting Car Driver--"A Cold
+  Water Cure"--Hot on the Trail--Not in the Fort--A Fruitless
+  Hunt--Many Innocents Arrested--Maloy Becomes a "Know-Nothing."     261
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+  A Marriage at the American Embassy in Paris--Anxious Moments
+  at Versailles--Off for Spain--Crossing the Pyrenees--Gunshots--Train
+  off the Track--Captured by Carlist Bandits--Released--Through
+  the Pass on Ox Carts--A Mountain Blizzard--Camp
+  in a Snowstorm--Mutiny--A Morning Dream.                           275
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+  A Carlist Officer--A Picturesque Caravan--Arrival at Burgos--Startling
+  Telegrams--Revolution at Madrid--The Railway
+  Seized--My Party in a Trap--Madrid Cathedral and a Bull
+  Fight--A Special Train Proves a Slow Train--No News Good
+  News.                                                              292
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+  Arrival in Santander--Gloomy Forebodings--Sail for Cuba--Watch
+  the Pyrenees Sink in the Sea--Two Sisters of Charity, Innocents
+  on a Voyage--Circus at St. Thomas--Sunset Gun in Havana--Thirty
+  Seconds Change My Destiny.                                         301
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXX.
+
+  Slavery in Cuba--Life in Havana--The Million-Pound Forgery
+  Discovered--My Opinion Asked--Trip to the Isle of Pines--The
+  Cuban Rebels--A Battle Field--A Slave Cook--The Missionary
+  and the Cannibal--Going into the Interior.                         312
+
+  CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+  On the Caribbean--A Motley Cargo--Turning Turtles and Shark
+  Fishing--A Dinner Party in Havana Proves a Surprise Party--Capt.
+  John Curtin of the Pinkertons Appears on the Scene--Consternation
+  Among the Diners--Offer the Captain $50,000 for
+  Ten Minutes' Start--No--I Shoot Him--Struggle and Capture--In
+  the Arsenal.                                                       327
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+  Friendly Spanish Officials--Plots to Escape--Leap for Liberty--Escape
+  out of Havana--Travel the Beach Nights--Refuge in
+  the Jungle Days--Construct a Raft--Food and Water Gone,
+  but Pluck at the Fore--I Will Join the Rebels And Win Military
+  Laurels--Man Proposes, but----                                     338
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+  Creeping Across a Bridge--Sentries Discover Me--They Challenge:
+  "Quien Va?"--They Fire--Flight and Escape on the Raft--A
+  Tropical Night Swim--Sharks Everywhere--Knife Between My
+  Teeth--Regain the Shore--Nearing the Rebel Camp--The Black
+  Soldiers Surprise and Capture Me--I Strike the Captain--He
+  Dashes at Me with a Bayonet--Stopped by a Woman--Desperation.      355
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+  Back in Havana--Curtin's Story--Extradited--Spain Delivers Me
+  to England--Pinkertons Escort Me on Board Steamer--Arrival
+  at Plymouth--Newgate at Last--When Time is Old and
+  Hath Forgotten Himself.                                            372
+
+  CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+  Life in Newgate--Legal Sharks--A Pattern Solicitor--A Lame Defense
+  --Before Lord Mayor Waterlow--Trial at the Old Bailey--Thronging
+  Crowds--Days of Mental Torture--Jury Retires--Suspense--Guilty.    383
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+  A Modern Jeffreys--Penal Servitude for Life--End of the Primrose
+  Way--A Resolve--Will Fortune Ever Smile Again?--Newgate to
+  Chatham Prison--A Cocky Little Major--You Were Sent Here
+  to Work--In the Mud--Night and Silence.                            387
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+  Events of the First Day--Hopeless Outlook--Lack of Mental and
+  Physical Food--A Shakespeare Won and Hope Dawns--In the
+  Infirmary--Effects of Prolonged Imprisonment.                      401
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+  Prison Management--Warders Under Military Discipline--Their
+  Long Hours and Small Pay--Their Character and Antecedents--English
+  Prison System Not Reformatory--Turns Out Murderers--Prison
+  Pets--Rats, Mice and Beetles.                                      404
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+  A Genius--Strange Story of Arthur Heep--Unwise Parents--Driven
+  from Home--Temptation and Fall--In a Lunatic Asylum--Escapes
+  Naked in a Storm--Clothes Secured from a Scarecrow--Rearrested--Serves
+  Five Years--To America and Return--Again
+  Behind the Bars.                                                   417
+
+
+  CHAPTER XL.
+
+  English Prisons Schools for Crime--Two Prison Aid Societies--United
+  States Laws Evaded--Snug Berths for Reverend Barnacles--Contributions
+  Go for Salaries--No Benefit to ex-Prisoners--How
+  Discharged Prisoners Are Hustled to the United
+  States.                                                            426
+
+
+  CHAPTER XLI.
+
+  Rev. Mr. Whiteley--How to Stop Influx of Foreign Criminals--Foster
+  an Example--Whiteley, Secretary of Aid Society, Sends
+  Foster to Sea--His Arrival in Chicago--Meets an Old Prison
+  Chum--Turns Detective--Chicago Justices--Foster's Story--Human
+  Tigers--A Plot and $20,000--A Letter and Diamond Pin--In
+  the Toils Again.                                                   430
+
+
+  CHAPTER XLII.
+
+  A Gettysburg Veteran--In the Wethersfield, Ct., State Prison--Makes
+  and Conceals a Set of Burglar's Tools--Liberated--Returns
+  and Burglarizes the Prison--Boat Load of Plunder--Captured--Sixteen
+  Years More in Prison--Then Goes to England--Gets
+  Twenty Years--Joins Me at Chatham.                                 436
+
+
+  CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+  The Fenians at Chatham--Dr. Gallagher--McCarty, O'Brien and
+  Others--We Become Friends--Excavating the Chatham Ship
+  Basin--Starvation and Despair--Self-Mutilation of an Arm or
+  Leg to Reach the Hospital--Release and Death of McCarty--Gallagher
+  Breaks Down--Speedy Release or Death for Him.                      443
+
+
+  CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+  Fenian Prisoners in English Prisons--McCarthy, O'Brien--A Plan
+  Miscarried--In the Tolls--Severe Punishments--Curtin, Daly,
+  Egan--Poor Dr. Gallagher.                                          447
+
+
+  CHAPTER XLV.
+
+  A Dictionary and Life of the Prophet Jeremiah vs. a Shakespeare--Prison
+  Hospital Proves a Paradise--Nature's Compensations--Reality
+  Not So Terrible as Imagined--Human Nature Unchangeable.            453
+
+
+  CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+  Public Opinion Within Says the Same as Outside--A Sensible Fellow--Pluck
+  Wins--Roses Scarce, Thorns Plenty--Woe to Mutineers
+  for "More Bread"--Sentiment Banished--Resistance
+  Crushed--English Judges Are Autocrats--No Appeal.                  459
+
+
+  CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+  Hard Lines--A Boaster--A Veneered Flunkey--Billy Treacle's Aunt
+  Dies Again--Frederic Barton and His Vain Petitions--I Give
+  Him a Pointer--His Inherited Fortune Fake--Surreptitious Mail
+  Route--Warders as Letter Carriers.                                 463
+
+
+  CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+  Sixteen-Thousand-Acre Tea Plantation in India and Sixty Thousand
+  Pounds Imaginary Inheritance--Barton Becomes a Great
+  Man--The Plot Thickens--Letters from London--Smith Discharged--Petition
+  for Barton--Smith Presents It at Home Office--Home
+  Secretary Swallows the Bait--Barton's Triumphant
+  Release--His Imaginary Fortune Does Not Materialize.               466
+
+
+  CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+  Tantalizing the Home Secretary--Refused a Letter Sheet--Petition
+  the Home Office for One--Sarcasm About Barton's Release on
+  My Sub-Rosa Petition--Good Conduct Fails--Feigned Wealth
+  Wins Freedom for Barton--Apropos Quotation from Goethe--Sir
+  Vernon Harcourt and His Opinion--I Tread Dangerous
+  Ground.                                                            471
+
+
+  CHAPTER L.
+
+  Niblo Clark--The Mysterious Three R's--His Characteristic Verses--My
+  Tenth Anniversary at Chatham--All Efforts Fail and
+  Fifteen Years Gone Forever--Despairing When Good News
+  Comes--My Sister in England--George Freed--Hope Returns
+  and Abides--George Gets James G. Blaine, J. Russell and
+  Others to Intercede--Fresh Failures--Home Secretary Matthews
+  Won't--George and My Sister Will--Which Will Wear
+  the Other Out--George and Sister Win--Night and Gloom in
+  My Cell--These Walls Have Frowned on Me for Twenty Years--Warder's
+  Tramps on Stone Corridor Arouse Me--Door Opens--"You
+  Are Free"--First Sight of Stars in Twenty Years--I
+  Shout, 'Twas Like a Prayer: "God Is Good."                         478
+
+
+     NOTE TO THE PUBLIC
+
+     The Hon. Lyman J. Gage, Dr. Funk and hundreds of others have said
+     that my book should be put at a price which would place it within
+     the reach of every young man, etc.
+
+     Hitherto, it has been sold by subscription at $3.50, $5 and $10 per
+     copy--the five editions printed having been easily sold at those
+     prices.
+
+     Notwithstanding the thousands of friends their circulation has
+     made, I did not care to have my family name go any further in this
+     connection than financial needs required in working for the release
+     of the men still undergoing life sentences in English prisons.
+
+     At last, however, certain influence causes me to let it go in the
+     revised and improved form here presented, and may it prove as
+     valuable and engrossing to the general public as it has to 20,000
+     subscribers to former editions. GEORGE BIDWELL.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+HAD THERE BEEN WISDOM THERE?
+
+
+We lived in South Brooklyn, near to old No. 13, the Degraw Street Public
+School. To that I was sent, and there got all the education I was ever
+fated to have at any school, except the school of life and experience.
+
+I attended for some years, and even now I cannot recall without a smile
+the absurd incompetency of every one connected with the institution and
+their utter ignorance of the art of imparting knowledge to children.
+
+At home I had picked up that grand art of reading, and went to school to
+learn the other two R's, with any trifle that I might come across
+floating around promiscuously.
+
+I certainly hope our much-lauded public schools are conducted on better
+lines now than then; if not, they are frauds from the foundation. The
+instruction in No. 13 was so lax and radically bad that the whole
+governing body and the principal ought to have been sent to the
+penitentiary on the charge of false pretense for drawing their salaries
+and giving nothing in return. And yet I remember when examination day
+came, instead of the committee investigating the progress of the pupils,
+it usually turned into a mere hallelujah chorus upon our "grand public
+school system."
+
+Here is a remarkable fact: I seldom missed a promotion and passed from
+grade to grade until within two years I found myself in Junior "A," the
+next to the highest class in the school, just as ignorant as my
+classmates, and that is saying much.
+
+It was all very pitiful. My blood boils even now when I think of the
+traitors chosen and paid to see me fully equipped and armed to begin the
+battle of life who left me with phantom weapons which would shiver into
+fragments at the first shock of conflict.
+
+I left Junior A of old No. 13, with its algebra, logic, philosophy
+(heaven save the word!) and advanced grammar, unable to write a
+grammatical sentence. I had been taught spelling out of an expositor--a
+sort of pocket dictionary containing about fifteen hundred words. Most
+of these, with their definitions, parrotlike, I had learned to spell,
+but never once in all my school experience had I been taught the
+derivation of a single word. Indeed, I took it for granted that in the
+good old days Adam had invented the words much as he named the animals,
+and, of course, supposed that he spoke good English. The knowledge of
+history I gained at No. 13 was strictly limited and exceedingly
+primitive. I knew the Jews in the old days were a bad lot. That Brutus
+had slain Caesar. That the Mayflower had landed our fathers on Plymouth
+Rock. That wicked George III. was a tyrant, and that the boys in Boston
+had thrown a tea-kettle at his head. I knew all about our George and the
+cherry tree, and there my historical knowledge ended.
+
+So here I was launched out in the world a model scholar! Stamped as
+proficient in grammar, history, logic, philosophy and arithmetic, but
+yet in useful knowledge a barbarian, unable to spell or even write a
+grammatical letter and unversed in the ways of the world--a world, too,
+where I would be cast entirely upon my own resources.
+
+My home life was happy. My father had lost his grip on the world, but
+his faith in the Unseen remained. My mother, caring little for this
+life, lived in and for the spiritual. To her heaven was a place as much
+as the country village where she was born. She was never tired of
+talking to us children about its golden streets and the rest there after
+the toils and pains of life. But, boylike, we discounted all she said,
+and felt we wanted some of this world before we knocked at the gates of
+the next.
+
+We loved our mother, but her soul was too gentle to keep in restraint
+hot, fiery youths like my brothers and myself. On the whole we were good
+boys, and I suppose caused her no more pain than the average youngsters.
+Perhaps the keynote of her character can best be found in the following
+incident, if that which was of daily occurrence could be called an
+incident:
+
+Every night of my life in those days she would come to my bed to pray
+over me, ever saying, as she kissed me or clasped my hand: "My son,
+remember if you were to pass your whole life here in poverty and
+hardship it would not much matter so long as you attain to the Heavenly
+Rest." This teaching would have been well had she only taught me some
+worldly wisdom with it, but that all-essential knowledge was kept from
+me, I being left to learn the ways of man in that terrible school of
+experience. The consequence being that when after some months I was
+launched out in life I was a ripe and apt victim to be caught in the
+world's huge snare. In fact, had my parents designed me to become a
+traveler in the Primrose Way they could not have educated me to better
+purpose.
+
+Save when in the school I had never been permitted to associate with
+other boys, but was kept in the house, and up to my sixteenth year
+hardly dreamed there was evil in the world. I was told much about the
+"wicked," but thought that meant those who smoked tobacco or drank
+whisky. I hardly thought any women came under that category, but if any,
+then it must mean those who came around selling apples and oranges. The
+reader will see that when once away from the shelter of home, in
+threading the world's devious ways, I would be crossing the roaring
+torrent "on the perilous footing of a spear," all but certain to fall
+into the flood beneath.
+
+During my last year at school and for a long time after leaving it, my
+father and mother were never tired of talking about my good education.
+Possibly they were not very good judges, but I am confident that they,
+after all, did not realize the importance of a boy being well equipped
+in that regard. Their thoughts and minds were so bent on the other
+world, and things unseen bulked so hugely on their mental vision, that
+there was small space left for things of this earth. They, good, simple
+souls, were made for and ought to have lived in the Golden Age, when all
+men were brave and all women true, where neighborly eyes reflected the
+love and faith within; but in our utilitarian days they were sadly out
+of place, and little wonder if they had lost their way in this world.
+
+In their intense longing for the life beyond the grave, their passionate
+desire to walk the streets of gold, they, by their actions, seemed to
+forget that we were on this earth, and that we were here with many sharp
+reminders of the fact.
+
+The same guilelessness was manifested in their choice of our home
+reading. The books I was allowed access to in the house were "The Life
+of King David," "The History of Jerusalem," "Baxter's Saints' Rest,"
+"The Immortal Dreamer's Pilgrim" and Fox's "Book of Martyrs." His first
+martyr is Stephen, and such was my gross ignorance of history that I
+always supposed Stephen had been martyred by the Church of Rome. Here
+was mental food for a boy who had his own way to make in the world.
+
+[Illustration: A HOME CHRISTMAS DINNER VS. IN A CELL. "WHERE IS OUR
+WANDERING BOY TO-NIGHT?"]
+
+Craving other mental food than "The Life of David," I used to club
+pennies with a chum and buy that delectable sheet, "Ned Buntline's Own,"
+then in fear and trembling would creep to an upper room and read "The
+Haunted House" or "The Ghost of Castle Ivy" until my hair stood on end
+in a sort of ecstatic horror; or the stirring adventures of "Jack the
+Rover" or "Pirate Chief" until my brain took fire and a mighty impulse
+stirred every fibre impelling me to follow in their footsteps.
+
+I had remained idly at home for some six months after my release from
+school, when one night my father returned from New York and said: "My
+son, I have found a situation for you." That was delightful news, and
+when I went to bed that night I was too excited to sleep.
+
+The future was full of color, red and purple, of course. Happily for me
+the future in all its black misery was hidden behind those gilded
+clouds.
+
+So now at sixteen I was about to sail out of harbor, and how equipped!
+
+Absolutely without education, void of worldly wisdom, and in my boyish
+brain dividing the world into two sections. In one was King David
+slaying the Phillistines or dancing before the Ark. In the other was
+Jack the Rover and the Pirate Chief. How easy to guess the rest! Yet I
+was not a bad boy--far from it. I only needed wise guidance and good
+companionship, and as the ignorance and crudity of my character dropped
+off, the innate virtue--mine by lawful heritage--would have been
+developed. But pitchforked into the wild whirl of Wall street and its
+fast set of gilded youth, the gates of the Primrose Way to destruction
+were held wide open to my eager feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+"'TWAS EVER THUS." OF COURSE IT WAS.
+
+
+The situation my father had obtained for me was with a sugar broker by
+the name of Waterbury. He was a partner in a large refinery, his office
+being in South Water street. He was a nice, conservative old man, and
+let things run on easily. His chief clerk, Mr. Ambler, was every inch a
+gentleman, who, quickly perceiving what an ignoramus I was, out of the
+goodness of his heart resolved to teach me something.
+
+There were two sharp young men in our office. They liked me well enough,
+but used to guy me unmercifully for my simplicity and clumsiness. One of
+them, Harry by name, was something of a scapegrace, and soon acquired
+quite a power over me. I stood in much fear of his ridicule, and
+frequently did things for which my conscience reproached me, rather than
+stand the fire of his raillery. The greatest harm he did me was in
+firing my imagination with stories of Wall street, of the fortunes that
+were and could be made in the gold room or on 'Change. He made tolerably
+clear the modus operandi of speculators, and I secretly resolved that
+some day I, too, would try my fortune.
+
+My friend Mr. Ambler's health was bad, and frequent attacks of illness
+caused him to be away from the office for weeks at a time, and that
+meant much loss to me. When I had been there about a year, he resigned
+his position and went as manager for a factory in New Haven. But before
+leaving he interested himself so far in my welfare as to secure me a
+position with a firm of brokers in New street, at a salary of $10 a
+week. My employers were good fellows, lovers of pleasure and men of the
+world, not scrupling to talk freely with me of their various adventures
+out of business hours. I had lost much of my awkwardness and gauche
+manners, and under the $10 a week arrangement began to dress fairly
+well. My employers did a brokerage business and speculated as well on
+their own account. My duties were decidedly light and pleasant, and
+brought me into contact with some of the sharpest as well as the most
+famous men in the street. Among them was a brilliant young man of my own
+age, who took a great fancy to me, and frequently proposed that we
+should start for ourselves. Being doubtful of my powers, I shrank from
+risking my scanty funds in any speculative venture. Much to my mother's
+concern, I had begun attending the theatre, and one night, on my friend
+Ed Weed's invitation, I went with him to Niblo's. After the performance
+we went to supper at Delmonico's, and I was perfectly fascinated by the
+company and surroundings, going home long past midnight a different man
+than I had last left it.
+
+The next day Ed came to the office and invited me to lunch, where, after
+making some disparaging remarks about the country cut of my garments, he
+offered to introduce me to his tailor, who was never in a hurry for his
+money. After business that day we walked uptown together, and, prompted
+by Ed, I ordered $150 worth of garments, then went to his outfitter and
+ordered nearly an equal amount in shirts, ties, gloves, etc.
+
+One amusing result was that when, a few days later, I walked down to our
+office, comme il faut in garb, my employers raised my salary to $30 a
+week, but this left me poorer than when I had husbanded my poor little
+$10. Soon after, piloted by Ed, I ventured $50 on a margin in gold.
+Unluckily, I won, invested again and again, and within fourteen days was
+$284 ahead. I paid my tailor and outfitter's bill, bought a $100 watch
+on credit, and gave a wine supper on borrowed money. Soon after this I
+went to board at the old St. Nicholas, the then fashionable hotel. From
+that time I began to drift more and more away from home influences.
+
+Soon after the wine supper episode I threw up my position, and Ed and I
+started on our own account under the name of E. Weed & Co. My partner's
+parents were wealthy, and his father had been well known in the street,
+which fact gave us standing.
+
+The years I speak of were fortunate ones for Wall street, stocks of
+every kind on the boom, the general wealth of the country massing up by
+leaps and bounds, and every kind of speculative enterprise being
+launched. Our firm history was the usual one of broker firms in that
+tumultuous arena--the Wall street of those days--commissions in plenty,
+a large income, but one's bank account never growing, for what was made
+by day in the wild excitement of shifting values was thrown away amid
+wilder scenes at night. Those, too, were, indeed, the flush times for
+the professional gambler; for men were not content unless they burned
+the candle at both ends. Day faro banks were open everywhere around the
+Exchange, and enormous sums were nightly staked in the uptown games.
+These were everywhere--all protected, and the proprietors invested their
+money for rent, fixtures, etc., with as much confidence, and kept their
+doors open as freely, as if embarked in a legitimate speculation.
+Hundreds who spent the business hours of the day in the mad excitement
+of the Exchange flocked around the green cloth at night, devoting the
+same intensity of thought and brain to the turning of a card which
+earlier in the day they had given to the market reports of the world.
+Small wonder that death cut such wide swaths in the army of brokers.
+Statistics show that it was more fatal to belong to that army than to an
+army in the field.
+
+Ed loved to have me with him, and I used to accompany him to a game,
+then quite famous, run by John Morrissey, who later became a member of
+Congress. At this time I never ventured a single bet, and did not like
+to visit the place. But Ed would beg me to go, and always promised
+faithfully not to remain more than twenty minutes. Of course, his twenty
+minutes would lengthen into hours. Frequently I would take a chair into
+a corner and go to sleep until he left the game, that being almost any
+hour between midnight and morning. As usual, in such places, an elegant
+supper was served free at midnight. The proprietor was always rather
+attentive to me, and, to give him the credit due, seemed anxious that I
+should not play. At supper he always reserved the chair next to himself
+for me. One night while standing beside the roulette wheel, no one was
+playing, and the dealer was idly whirling the ball, a sudden impulse
+seized me, and the ball then rolling, I pulled a $20 bill from my pocket
+and threw it down on the red remarking, "I'll lose that to pay for my
+suppers." Unhappily I won, and, laughing, turned to the dealer and said:
+"Here, give me my money. I am done," and a moment later went out with my
+friend, fully determined never more to gamble. But, being in there the
+next night, I, of course, ventured again. Again I was so unfortunate as
+to win, and within a short time staked and lost or won nightly. But
+something worse than gambling was ahead of me, just at the very door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A LICENSED PIRATE.
+
+
+We had latterly somewhat neglected business--our real business being at
+night, when we made the pursuit of pleasure hard work. Soon the finances
+of our firm not only ran low, but were on three several occasions
+exhausted, so that we not only had recourse to borrowing, but were
+barely saved from bankruptcy by liberal donations from Ed's parents. His
+father was a fine, jolly old gentleman, and took it quite a matter of
+course that it was his duty to help us off the rocks when we ran on
+them. My partner took everything easy, but I, having no indulgent parent
+behind me ever ready to draw a check, began to be uneasy over the
+financial situation. Strangely enough, however, it never occurred to me
+to cut down my personal expenses, and I continued living at the same
+extravagant rate as when money was plenty--dining and wining and being
+dined and wined. Just here an important character, one destined to have
+an influence for evil on my future life, came upon the scene, and I will
+halt for a moment in my narrative to give some account of him.
+
+This man was James Irving, popularly known as Jimmy Irving, chief of the
+New York Detective Force, and a bad-hearted, worthless scamp he was. I
+was with several friends in the Fifth Avenue Hotel one cold January
+night when he came in, and one of our party, knowing him, introduced us.
+He was a man of medium height, rather heavy set, blond mustache,
+pleasant eyes, but with a weak mouth and chin, and a flushed face,
+telling a tale of dissipation. It was when Boss Tweed ruled supreme in
+New York and the whole administration was honeycombed with corruption.
+Except under similar political conditions could such a man attain to so
+responsible an office in a great city as that of chief of the detective
+force--a position which at that time invested him with all but
+autocratic power. An old rounder and barroom loafer, without one
+attribute of true manliness and not possessed of any quality which would
+point him out as a fit man for the place. Nevertheless, when the
+position became vacant his political pull caused his selection. From
+being a mere detective on the staff he became chief. And truly this
+meant something in those days. The great civil war had but lately ended,
+and the country was still reeling from the mighty conflict. The flush
+times, resultant from the enormous money issue of the Government, kept
+everything booming. The foundations of society were shaken and vice no
+longer hid itself in the dark caves and dens of the great city. The
+Tenderloin, with its multifarious and widereaching influence for evil,
+was then created, and the police of the city reaped a royal revenue from
+its thousand dens of vice for their protection. To be captain of the
+Tenderloin precinct meant an extra weekly income of $1,000 at least. He
+had the lion's share; about an equal amount went to Headquarters, to be
+divided between the Chief of Police and the gang, Irving being one of
+the half dozen who had pull enough to get in the ring. The Tenderloin
+lieutenant, roundsman and sergeant came in for about $100, $50 and $25 a
+week, while the common patrolman got what blackmail he could on his own
+account from the unhappy women of the street. These were considered
+lawful game, and woe betide the poor unfortunate who refused to pay the
+tax. Too well she found it meant a violent arrest, accompanied with
+brutal treatment, a night in a filthy cell, and then to be dragged
+before the magistrate, who was some ward heeler, hand in glove with the
+police. The form of a trial and a speedy "six months on the island" from
+the lips of the judge followed.
+
+From Spring street to Tenth, Broadway was full of night
+games--faro--each and all paying large sums for protection. This money,
+however, did not all go to Police Headquarters, there being a host of
+parasites aside from the police. The shoulder-hitter politicians, each
+with his pull, and each having a claim to his percentage. Most of the
+Broadway games were known as square games, but then there was the host
+of skin games in the Bowery, Chatham square, Houston, Prince and other
+streets. The Eighth Ward and all Broadway were considered the lawful
+happy hunting grounds for Headquarters detectives, and this by long
+prescription. Outside of that they had no claim save only to a
+percentage from the Tenderloin. But the protection money paid by the
+swindling games around Chatham square, Bayard street, and the whole
+length of the Bowery, by a sort of sacred prescription, belonged to the
+captains of those precincts, save only that part absorbed by the
+politicians of the district who had a pull. These usually were the
+Aldermen and Councilmen with their henchmen.
+
+[Illustration: "PULLING OUT A $20 BILL, I THREW IT DOWN."--Page 27.]
+
+But to return to my friend, Capt. Jim Irving, who, before our party
+separated, had opened three bottles of wine. Before leaving I had asked
+him to call on me at the St. Nicholas. The next day he came and invited
+me to take a drive with him to Fordham the following Sunday. On Sunday
+he appeared behind a fast trotting horse, and in every respect an
+elegant turnout. During our drive he casually remarked that he had paid
+a thousand dollars for the rig, and as his pay was some two thousand
+dollars per annum I easily figured that his rig and diamond pin had cost
+him about a year's salary. It was a lovely morning, not cold, but
+bracing, just the day for a ride. We started for Fordham, but changed
+our minds and drove to the High Bridge, through Harlem lane, and well
+out into Westchester County. Returning, we stopped at O'Brien's Hotel
+for dinner. We fared sumptuously the whole day through, our dinner being
+particularly fine, my companion paying for everything, and really it was
+all highly enjoyable. He had a vast fund of anecdote, and many strange
+stories of city life and adventure, which naturally would be expected
+from one in his position. Many of those we passed or met during the day
+were personally known to him, and some, both women as well as men, who
+were then clothed in purple and fine linen, had histories, and many had
+at some period of their lives looked on life from the seamy side, having
+passed through strange vicissitudes.
+
+Soon after dark we returned to my hotel, and after dinner, lighting our
+cigars, we started for Police Headquarters. There he attended to some
+routine business, having introduced me to two of his chief detectives.
+Many who read this will recognize the men, but in this narrative they
+will be known as Stanley and White. I will not further describe them
+now; as they will appear in the story from time to time, the reader will
+be able to judge what manner of men they were.
+
+For the next eight weeks my life went on much the same as usual. In our
+business we made some money, but by one unfortunate investment lost our
+entire capital, and what proved worse for me, my partner's health began
+to fail. Dissipation, late and heavy dinners and irregular hours began
+to break a not over-strong constitution; consequently one Saturday he
+abruptly announced his intention of withdrawing from the partnership to
+take a trip to Europe. There was nothing to divide save the furniture in
+our office, which he presented to me. The following Wednesday he sailed
+with two members of his family. I saw him off, bidding him what proved
+to be a last farewell. I left the wharf feeling very lonely and
+miserable. It may be well to remark here that he died a year later in
+Italy, one more victim of a fast life, while I was spared, but took no
+warning from his fate. In truth, I was in the Primrose Way, which is
+ever found a most tormenting and unhappy thoroughfare.
+
+How I grieved all through the twenty years of captivity that I had not
+had the moral courage to start afresh upon a basis of truth, sobriety
+and honorable endeavor.
+
+Instead of cutting down my expenses, I rather became more extravagant,
+fearing my companions would suspect I was pressed for money. How much
+more manly had I called them together and told them we must part
+company.
+
+Meeting Irving from time to time, he was most flattering in his
+attentions, while I was young enough and silly enough to be pleased with
+his notice. One evening about this time I met him while coming out of
+Wallack's Theatre. Shaking hands warmly, he invited me to supper at what
+was then known as upper Delmonico's. After supper, walking to the St.
+Denis Hotel at Broadway and 11th street, we found Detectives Stanley and
+White. Here wine was ordered, and long after midnight we parted, they
+first having exacted a promise to dine with them the following night at
+Delmonico's, at the same time stating that they wished to make me a
+business proposition.
+
+The next evening White came in and said we would dine at a restaurant at
+Sixth avenue and 31st street, instead of at Delmonico's; then he left
+me, upon my promise to be on hand.
+
+At eleven I arrived, and entering the restaurant was at once recognized
+by a waiter, evidently on the lookout, and ushered into a private room
+upstairs. Only White had arrived, but soon Irving and Stanley came, and
+supper was ordered. With such gentry as these wine is always in order.
+Then they became confidential, and the conversation turned to the
+subject of making money. Very skillfully they extracted the confession
+that I had none. When excited by the talk and the wine I cried out, "By
+heaven, I want money!" Stanley grasped my hand and said: "Of course you
+do; a man's a fool without it." Irving interjected: "Are you game to do
+us a favor and make ten thousand for yourself?" "But how?" I gasped. "Go
+to Europe and negotiate some stolen bonds we have, will you?"
+
+For $10,000 to become accessory to a crime!
+
+It was an appalling proposition, and I shrank from it with an aversion I
+could not conceal any more than he and his confederates could conceal
+their chagrin over the way I took it, and over the fact that their
+secret had been imparted to another. More wine was ordered, and before
+we parted I had promised not only secrecy, but, worse still, I had also
+promised to consider the proposition and give my answer the following
+night.
+
+As my evil genus would have it, that very morning I had a visit in my
+office from the agent of my landlord, requesting arrears of rent, and
+from a tradesman whom I was owing, demanding immediate payment of an
+overdue bill.
+
+Pressed for money as I was, the $10,000 seemed a large sum and offered
+an easy way out of my difficulties. I shall never forget that day nor
+how its slow minutes dragged during the mental struggle. Time after time
+I said: "What could I not do with $10,000?" How vast the possibilities
+before me with that sum at my command! Then, after all, had not the
+owner of these bonds lost them forever, and why should not I have a
+share instead of letting these villain detectives keep all? And through
+all I kept saying to myself: "This, of course, is only speculation. I
+will never do this thing."
+
+At last the stars came out, and I started for a long walk alone up
+Broadway to Fifth avenue and into the Park. Since that Park was formed
+few men have ever passed its walks in whose bosoms raged such a tumult
+as in mine. I was young, in love with pleasure, and poverty seemed a
+fearful thing. I kept saying; "I cannot do this thing!" and then I would
+add: "How am I to keep up appearances, and how am I to pay my debts?"
+Unhappily, I had taken an enemy into the citadel. In the misery of the
+struggle I drank heavily.
+
+In my excitement I exaggerated my poverty until it seemed impersonated
+and assumed the guise of an enemy threatening to enslave me. From 8
+o'clock to 11 I paced that mall, and then left it to keep my appointment
+with Irving & Co., with one thought surging through my brain, and that
+was that I dared not be poor, the result being that before we parted, to
+their renewed question: "Will you do this for us?" "Of course I will!" I
+cried, and my feet had slipped a good many steps further down the
+Primrose Way to death.
+
+[Illustration: BURNING RETURNED BANK NOTES.]
+
+[Illustration: IN FORT LAFAYETTE, NEW YORK HARBOR.]
+
+[Illustration: IN FORT LAFAYETTE, NEW YORK HARBOR.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+FOOLS STUMBLING ON FORTUNES.
+
+
+The present generation has become tolerably familiar with defalcations
+and robberies involving enormous sums. Previous to 1861 they were
+comparatively unknown, the reason being that the currency of the country
+was strictly limited. There were absolutely no Government bonds or
+currency, while the few bonds issued by corporations were not usually
+made payable to bearer, and, therefore, were not negotiable, and were of
+no use to the robber. But in 1861, to meet the expenses of the war, the
+State banks were taxed out of existence and our present national
+currency system came into being. In addition to the enormous issue of
+greenbacks, bonds payable to bearer, amounting to hundreds of millions,
+were issued by the general Government, by the individual States,
+counties, towns and cities, all becoming popular investments.
+Patriotism, and profit as well, led banks, corporations and individuals
+all over the world to invest surplus funds in bonds, those of the
+Government being most popular of all. The various issues authorized by
+act of Congress were known as "seven-thirties," "ten-forties,"
+"five-twenties," etc., these terms denoting either the rate of interest
+or the period of years, dating from the first issue, wherein it was
+optional with the Government to redeem them. Everywhere, at home, in the
+theatres and public resorts not less than on the Exchange, were heard
+animated discussions about "seven-thirties" and "ten-forties." The
+business of the express companies of the United States took a new phase,
+and for the first time in their history they began to be the carriers of
+vast sums from city to city.
+
+Then it was that those gentlemen who work without the pale of the law
+discovered new prospects of wealth, and realized that even to crack a
+safe or vault of a private firm would be rewarded by a find of bonds
+that might amply repay all risks of robbery under police protection,
+while to execute a successful raid on a car or even an express delivery
+wagon on the street would mean wealth. To burglarize the vaults of a
+bank meant, if undetected, anything from opening a magnificent bar or
+hotel in New York to a steam yacht and Winter cruises in the tropics and
+Summer nights on the Mediterranean.
+
+The first coup in this line, which at once became famous, was startling
+in its ease and magnitude. It was known, and still is, as "The Lord Bond
+Robbery." Lord was a very wealthy man, who had inherited his millions.
+His office was in Broad street, where he managed his estates. He had
+invested $1,200,000 in seven-thirty bonds, all payable to bearer. For
+the thief, if he had any knowledge of finance, and knew how to negotiate
+them, such a sum as this in bonds was better than the same amount in
+gold, it being more portable. One million two hundred thousand dollars
+in gold would weigh upward of a ton, and would be difficult to handle,
+but that sum in bonds would hardly fill a carpet-sack. In our day, with
+safety deposit vaults everywhere, it seems strange that any sane man
+would keep so vast a sum in an old-fashioned vault in his private
+office, but Lord did so. His office was a very quiet one, with but few
+visitors, there being no business transacted in it but that of his
+estate.
+
+[Illustration: "BY HEAVEN, I WANT MONEY."--Page 33.]
+
+At this time there were three or four gangs in New York, all well known
+and friendly with the police--that is, some or all were more or less
+under "protection," and had pulls at Police Headquarters. But the pull
+could not be depended upon at all times, particularly if the robbery
+made a noise and the press took it up. Then there would be violent kicks
+at Headquarters, and a general all-around scramble to get the thieves,
+and so far as safe, stick to more or less of the plunder. The gang that
+got Mr. Lord's bonds was what in police and thieves' slang was known as
+"On the Office," so named because they went around visiting offices in
+the business part of the city, one of the gang going in on pretense of
+making some inquiry and so engaging the attention of one of the clerks.
+Then the second member would come in and endeavor to attract the
+attention of any remaining clerks, while the third would try to get in
+without attracting attention, and, if unnoticed by those now busy
+talking, would slip around behind the counter to the money drawer or
+vault and carry off any cash box or package visible which appeared to be
+of value. This gang consisted of three men, Hod Ennis, Charley Rose and
+a man by the name of Bullard, afterward made notorious by engineering
+the Boylston Bank robbery in Boston.
+
+In the absence of Lord the office was under charge of two men,
+old-fashioned fellows, who had grown gray in the service of the Lord
+estate. The bonds were all in a tin box something larger than a soap
+box. The interest on the bonds being due, the box had been taken out in
+order to cut off the coupons, and was left in the door of the open
+vault. None of these circumstances was known to these men; in fact,
+while "looking for chances," they stumbled on the prize. The night
+previous they had spent at a well-known faro game and had lost their
+last dollar. At 9 o'clock in the morning they met at a saloon on Prince
+street, where none but crooks consorted, and, borrowing a dollar from
+the barkeeper, they took a South Ferry stage and started downtown on one
+of many similar piratical expeditions. Of course, each paid his own
+fare, as from the moment of starting until their return they appeared to
+be strangers. Alighting at the ferry, they started up Front street, Rose
+in lead, he being pilot-fish. From Front they turned into Broad, and up
+Broad to No. 22, where there were a number of offices. Rose mounted the
+staircase, it now being five minutes to 10, Bullard coming close behind.
+Rose entered the first office to the left at the head of the stairs,
+which was Lord's, and at once inquired by name for a member of a
+well-known firm located a few doors down across the street. Lord was
+away. The clerk, in his desire to serve the gentleman, went to the front
+windows to point out the location of the firm. Bullard, who had lingered
+in the hall, entered, leaving the office door open behind him, and at
+once engaged the attention of the remaining clerk with a letter. Ennis,
+seeing the coast clear, slipped in, went softly to the vault, and
+perceiving the tin box, seized and carried it out, unseen by all save
+his companions. They, seeing him safely off, found a quick pretext to
+follow without any suspicion arising in the minds of the clerks. As a
+matter of fact, they did not miss the box for nearly an hour.
+
+Ennis carried it to Peck Slip, closely followed by his chums, and there
+the three boarded a Second avenue car, all unsuspecting as to what a
+prize they had. At the corner of the Bowery and Bayard street they got
+out and entered that old red brick hotel on the corner--I forget the
+name. They were acquainted and occasionally rendezvoused there, hiring
+and paying for the room. They speedily opened the box, and were amazed
+to find it packed full of bonds--five hundreds, thousands,
+five-thousands, all payable to bearer. The very magnitude of their
+plunder terrified them, and, knowing as much as I do about such men, I
+am free to affirm that if a buyer of stolen property had appeared on the
+scene and said: "Here, I'll give you $10,000 apiece," they would have
+closed the deal at once and turned over the bonds, glad to get them off
+their hands. What they did was this: Rose went out and bought a
+second-hand carpet bag and put the bonds into it, save sixty
+five-hundreds, which they divided, and Bullard resolved to leave the bag
+with a friend of his. This friend, strangely enough, was the widow of a
+policeman and sister of two others. But she knew nothing of Bullard's
+character, believing him to be a workingman. Ennis and Rose were two
+ignorant fellows, without the remotest idea of how to negotiate bonds,
+but Bullard had, and, realizing how important it was to get some cash
+before the thing was noised around, he started out to sell some,
+agreeing to meet Rose and Ennis at No. 100 Third avenue, a large beer
+saloon then, as now.
+
+Going to different brokers' offices, he disposed of ten for $5,000
+without any difficulty, and stopped at that. He met his two friends and
+divided the $5,000 with them. Then, as a natural consequence with that
+class of men, all got drunk, and before the next morning had spent,
+loaned or gambled away every dollar of the $5,000.
+
+I remember perfectly the tremendous sensation created when a rumor of
+the robbery spread in Wall street and over the city, and what mystified
+and intensified the matter was the fact that no complaint had been made
+to the police. When Mr. Lord was interviewed by them and by reporters he
+would not admit that he had been robbed, and said if he had been he
+would prefer to lose the money rather than have a fuss made about the
+affair.
+
+This was really the first of many great bond robberies, and it struck
+the popular fancy; but if it stirred Wall street greatly, who shall
+describe the frenzy of excitement that broke out at 300 Mulberry
+street--Police Headquarters--when the first vague rumors of a gigantic
+robbery were fully confirmed, and it became known that Hod Ennis and his
+gang had a million and more of plunder?
+
+All rings and pulls and gangs were smashed, combined and recombined
+again, while each and all were in an agony of fear lest the booty should
+be returned to the owner--minus a percentage divided between the gang
+and the ring, or sold to some clever fence, who would plant them away
+safely and sell them in Europe from time to time, keeping all for
+himself and they to have no share. What visions of diamond pins, of
+eight or twelve carats, all Brazilian stones; of swift, high-stepping
+horses; of the heaven of Harlem lane on Sunday afternoons, with a bottle
+or two under the vest, haunted the sleep of all the detective force. I
+say the police knew Hod Ennis and his gang had stolen the bonds, for in
+those days there was not a gang of confidence men, card sharpers, bank
+burglars, counterfeiters or forgers traveling the country but that the
+gang and every member of it was well known to the Police Department of
+each of our large cities. Whenever a job was done a score of detectives
+all over the country could say such and such a gang did the job, and
+they were almost always right.
+
+Whether there was "something in" for the force to arrest and convict or
+not, as a matter of fact the thieves were sooner or later hocus-pocussed
+out of their share, either by the police, by some untrustworthy fence,
+or by some lawyer who was pitched upon to work back the securities on a
+percentage. In case the thief succeeded in saving part of the proceeds
+he immediately lost it at faro or in revelry, and then risked his
+liberty for more.
+
+I know two men who to-day walk the streets of New York, the types of
+conservative respectability, members of many fashionable clubs, who, in
+the sixties, were known as fences, and were always ready to invest cash
+for stolen bonds. Both of these men compromised with their conscience by
+beating down the price and giving the thieves but a moiety of their
+value. Both of them have their fads; one is a connoisseur in violins,
+the other has a penchant for orchids, and has much local fame for the
+rarities in his collection.
+
+Before midnight of the day of the robbery it became known to the force
+and many of the hangers-on of the gambling saloons and barrooms of the
+Eighth Ward that Hod Ennis and his gang had money, and it was surmised
+that it must be from the Lord business. In the mean time Bullard took
+the bag of bonds up to Norwalk, Ct., and placed them for safe-keeping
+with a trusty friend, first taking out one hundred bonds of five hundred
+each and fifty of one thousand each, and, returning to the city, divided
+them with his comrades. During his absence the photographs of the three
+men had been shown at Police Headquarters to the two clerks, but they
+were unable to identify them.
+
+Within the next few days the $100,000 in bonds were completely
+dissipated; some were sold to buyers of stolen goods for a percentage of
+the value, some were lost at the gambling games--mostly at Morrissey's,
+or at Mike Murray's on Broadway, near Spring street, and probably some
+went Mulberry street way. Matters were thickening, and, fearing arrest,
+Ennis fled to Canada, Bullard to Europe and Rose went West to
+California. Eventually Ennis was convicted of a crime committed some
+time before. He was sentenced to a long imprisonment, and came out an
+old, broken-down man, without a dollar and without a friend. Rose was
+sentenced to five years for another crime, and then disappeared. Bullard
+settled down in Paris. He afterward returned and planned the Boylston
+Bank affair in Boston. With his share of the plunder he went back to
+Paris and opened an American bar at the Grand Hotel and flourished for
+some years; but, wanting money, he committed a robbery in Belgium, was
+arrested, and is now serving a long sentence for the same; no doubt, if
+he survives, he will emerge friendless, penniless, a stranger in a
+strange world.
+
+If I were inclined to indulge in reminiscences, what a catalogue could
+be given of men who had, like myself, drifted into the Primrose Way, and
+all, or nearly all, have paid a terrible penalty for their
+wrongdoing--none more terrible than myself. As for our violin virtuoso,
+he seems to have conquered fate. So, too, with the connoisseur in
+orchids; but let us wait until the end before we say all is well with
+them.
+
+Some time later on, meeting one of these detectives, now dead, who then
+ranked as the best in New York, in the confidence of the bankers, he
+said: "I am getting old and am now working for reputation, and
+consequently am not taking any more percentages. Of course, I don't
+molest any of my old friends, but those who are not under protection I
+run in and send them up the river (Sing Sing) as fast as I get them to
+rights."
+
+This need not be considered a condemnation of all detectives, for there
+were, even in my time, a few honest ones of the Pinkerton and John
+Curtin class--the latter being now one of San Francisco's most reliable,
+who, by unusually considerate judgment, has made honorable citizens of a
+very large number of clerks whom he had been called upon to detect and
+arrest. This he accomplished by extracting a confession in writing,
+filing it among his secret papers, then saying to the trembling clerk:
+"I shall have you reinstated in your position, but if you go wrong again
+this confession will be made public."
+
+The following incident will further enlighten the reader as to the way
+things were done in those good old days:
+
+When Boss Tweed was in the full zenith of his power and glory and of the
+wealth so easily acquired by certain methods, his daughter was married.
+All of the then chiefs and district officers of Tammany, city officials,
+judges and heads of departments vied with each other in the presentation
+of wedding gifts, among which was a check for $100,000 from the father.
+Seldom has any bride received a more magnificent tribute, for, coming
+from such sources, they were nothing less than a tribute. Especially was
+this the case with one much-admired gift which was contributed by us
+just after an illicit operation of $40,000 in Wall street, $4,000 of
+which was paid to Irving.
+
+In the column list of wedding gifts in the next morning's papers was:
+"One solid silver punch bowl, value $500, presented by Superintendent
+Kelso." Shortly after paying Irving the $4,000 percentage we met him one
+evening at the St. Cloud Hotel. Mentioning the approaching Tweed
+marriage, he suggested that it would be the thing, and make us more
+solid with the Superintendent of Police, for us to make a fine present
+to "the old man," one that he could use as a gift to the bride. As $500
+was not much to our party in those days, we assented, and handed over
+that amount.
+
+Tiffany's was then located down Broadway, and among other things on
+exhibition in the window was a large, handsome silver punch bowl. This
+was purchased with our money, which was known to have been obtained by
+forgery, and presented to Superintendent Kelso. A few days later the
+bowl reappeared in the window of Tiffany's thus inscribed:
+
+  +-----------------------------------------+
+  |                                         |
+  |           TO CATHERINE TWEED.           |
+  |                                         |
+  |               Presented by              |
+  |                                         |
+  |               JAMES KELSO,              |
+  |                                         |
+  |         Superintendent of Police.       |
+  |                                         |
+  |   "May loyalty and love know no end."   |
+  |                                         |
+  +-----------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+WHEN BOSS TWEED WAS NEW YORK'S OWNER AND JIM FISK, PROPRIETOR OF OUR
+JUDGES.
+
+
+What a look of relief and triumph swept over the faces of Irving,
+Stanley and White when I gave my consent to their proposal to take the
+stolen bonds to Europe and negotiate them there. We understood each
+other now, and casting aside all reserve, their tongues wagged freely,
+and they eagerly told me how confident they were of my ability to
+dispose of the bonds successfully, and also of my good faith; and,
+furthermore, told me I was the only man they would have trusted. Of
+course, they had no security save my word, for under the circumstances
+they could hardly ask me for a receipt, and even had I given one it
+would have been valueless had I chosen to retain the proceeds of the
+bonds. Thus, becoming the important member of the firm, I told them to
+produce the securities and I would sail immediately. It was finally
+settled that I should go by the steamer Russia of the Cunard line, which
+was down for sailing at 7 a.m. Wednesday, and they were to deliver the
+bonds to me on Tuesday night. Upon my demanding cash to pay expenses,
+their faces fell, but quickly brightened when I told them to give me a
+thousand-dollar bond and I would borrow that amount from a friend, using
+it for security. There was no danger of the number of the bond being
+inspected, and, of course, I would pay the note upon my return and
+receive the bond again.
+
+[Illustration: WALL STREET AND SOME OF ITS CHARACTERS IN MY TIME.--Page
+26.]
+
+They told me many amusing lies as to how the securities came into their
+possession, and as to who were the rightful owners. The truth was, as I
+afterward learned, they were a part of the stolen Lord bonds.
+
+Bonds issued by our Government and held in Europe, chiefly in Holland
+and Germany, were so enormous in volume and passed so freely from hand
+to hand, that it was easy for a well-dressed, business-appearing man to
+sell any quantity, even if stolen, as by law the innocent holder could
+not be deprived of them. One great advantage a dishonest man had at that
+date in Europe, especially an American, was that if he dressed well they
+considered he must be a gentleman, and if he had money that was a proof
+of respectability--one they never thought of questioning, nor how he
+came by it; then, again, it was an article of their creed that all
+Americans are rich.
+
+The next morning (Tuesday), Irving met me near the Exchange, and, with
+some trepidation, drew from an inner pocket an envelope containing the
+thousand-dollar bond. Without waiting to examine it, I walked off,
+saying: "I'll be back in ten minutes." He was evidently alarmed, and,
+like all rogues, suspicious of every one. He probably had some wild idea
+that I was laying a trap for him. In his ignorance of money methods he
+thought it would be a long, perhaps difficult, negotiation to borrow
+money on the bond, but, of course, I made short work of it; and "Jimmy"
+was more than delighted when within the ten minutes I walked in with ten
+one hundreds in my hand. A trifle like this made a great impression upon
+Irving, and from that time on I had his entire confidence. Tuesday
+evening I said good-bye to my mother, merely remarking in explanation of
+my journey that I had a commission given me to execute in Europe.
+
+Leaving her, I went to our rendezvous, near Broadway and Astor place,
+where I found Irving, who handed me over his "boodle" (as he termed
+it), remarking confidentially that I was to give him on my return his
+share into his own hands; and, singularly enough, each of the others did
+precisely the same thing. About 11 o'clock the other two came in, and
+after some parley White handed over his bonds, and Stanley informed me
+he would give me his on board before the steamer sailed the next
+morning. I had already paid my bill and sent my baggage over to Jersey
+City, so about midnight I set out, they accompanying me as far as the
+ferry, and there, after shaking hands a half dozen times, we said
+good-bye. Having bought my ticket and engaged my cabin, I went direct to
+the steamer and went to bed. In the morning Stanley appeared and gave me
+his bonds. Ten minutes later the hawsers were cast off and we were
+steaming down the bay. Two hours later Fire Island sank beneath the
+horizon, and we were alone on the sea.
+
+Alone on the sea! and a fitting place to tell the story of a famous New
+York bank robbery.
+
+In the good old days when Bill Tweed was New York's owner, when Jim Fisk
+was the proprietor of our judges and Kelso sat in Mulberry street, the
+king of those good men, the police, who defend our lives and property,
+this city became a spectacle to gods and men such as we thought then
+could never be equaled. We thought so then, but we were not endowed with
+second sight, nor with the gift of prophecy, or we might, perhaps, have
+reserved our judgment. Still, our masters were a unique collection, and
+if they have been equaled or surpassed since, they held with easy grasp
+the pre-eminence among all American rulers who had shone and flourished
+up to the time when those great men gave us new ideas upon the science
+of government. The average and quiet citizen, shocked as he might be and
+grumble as he did at the impudent plundering by our masters, their
+contempt of public opinion and the cynical display of their luxury,
+would doubtless have confined himself to grumbling and to calling for
+slow-arriving thunderbolts to crash the oppressors who were despoiling
+him had he felt certain that the plunder would be confined to them, that
+his property would be safe, at least, from the attacks of those
+insignificant, despicable but eminently dangerous plunderers who became
+known to the police as common criminals. This, however, was not so.
+After being flayed by iniquitous taxes, which he knew were destined to
+add to the stores of Tweed, Connolly & Company, he had every day
+abundant proof that what the big rascals left him, the little ones would
+soon try, by burglary or robbery, to ravish from him, and that they
+would do it with perfect immunity, unterrified either by the fear of
+present arrest or of later punishment. The Mulberry street office was
+divided into three or four little pools, each with its clientele of
+dependents, all of whom faithfully and immediately reported to their
+patrons the result of any little job they had been engaged in, handing
+over to the representative of the pool the 20 per cent. of the result,
+which was Headquarters' established commission. This was the ordinary
+rate when gentlemen skilled in transferring other people's watches and
+portemonnaies from the pockets of their owners to their own, or when
+others who had devoted their talents to demonstrating practically the
+enormous power of the jimmy and wedge originated and carried out by
+themselves the operations peculiar to those classes of industries.
+
+It sometimes happened that special cases offered, for which special
+terms were arranged. Such cases stood by themselves. They were confided
+only to the acknowledged heads of the profession. Standing outside of
+all recognized rules, they were treated apart. Headquarters men were
+always sent to the seat of operations to prevent interference, and, in
+case of need, to protect their partners. Many a mysterious robbery was
+perpetrated to which no clue was ever found; many an anxious search was
+undertaken by the bloodhounds of the law to find the robbers, that they
+might crack a bottle together and rejoice over the success of their
+operations, and sometimes they were joined by men the mention of whose
+names in such company would have excited incredulous and unbounded
+amazement.
+
+The gigantic heavings of the war were struggling to rest, but the men
+whose minds were unhinged and thrown off their balance by the possession
+of large sums flowing from transactions, a little irregular, perhaps,
+but which the necessities of Government permitted, were endeavoring, by
+any means, to open up new fountains of wealth in place of those which
+the close of the war had exhausted.
+
+One of the resources presenting itself most naturally to men in a
+position to profit by it was speculating with other people's money, and
+very naturally the result of such speculation was disastrous in the
+highest degree. When detection became inevitable the defaulter generally
+fled, hoping to find in a foreign land safety from the stroke of justice
+and a shelter from the reproaches of his victims.
+
+Occasionally, one more resolute, dreading flight as much as detection,
+flung himself into schemes which, if they failed, meant the most hideous
+and utter ruin, but which, if they succeeded, rendered discovery
+impossible, and made his position more solid than ever before. One day,
+late in the sixties, in the parlor of a bank in Greenwich street, a
+gentleman was anxiously scanning the books of the establishment. He
+alone in all the institution knew of a secret which would horrify his
+brother officials and carry desolation to scores of homes, the first to
+suffer being his own. Perhaps had it been possible to exempt this one
+home, the misery of the others would not have greatly affected him. But
+suffering must be kept from his own house, and all and any means to
+banish it would be and must be good.
+
+The gentleman in whose mind these thoughts were passing was the
+president of the bank, who knew himself to be a defaulter to an enormous
+amount, and who was now anxiously reflecting upon the means to cover up
+his robberies. Fortunately for him he was acquainted with the one man
+who more than any other in all America was able to help him. This was
+Capt. Irving. The president was a man of nerve. He knew, as everybody
+else knew, the relations in which the police stood to the thieves, and
+he felt that if he could arrange to have his own bank robbed, his
+difficulties would vanish, and his share in the defalcations be covered
+up.
+
+Little time was left to him before the inevitable discovery, but the
+prompt and skillful use he made of it to extricate himself from the
+fearful danger of his position makes one almost regret that a man of
+such resolution and such opportunities should prove to the world that
+high qualities may exist when the moral sense is entirely wanting.
+Irving was quickly taken into his confidence, the position explained,
+the proposition to rob the bank broached, all possible co-operation in
+the way of leaving safes unlocked and doors open, or what, of course,
+amounts to the same thing, of furnishing keys and information to open
+everything, promised, and then Irving was asked if he could find men to
+carry the job into execution. New York in those days was well supplied
+with such artists, but the right men to carry out so momentous an
+operation had to be sought. The difficulty, however, was not great, and
+Irving promptly assured the honorable president that he might
+confidently count on the right men at the right time.
+
+Among the professionals who twenty-three or four years ago were
+considered "valuable" men at Police Headquarters were Mike Hurley,
+Patsey Conroy and Max Shinburn. These were the men whom Irving instantly
+determined to employ, and whom he forthwith set about to find. That not
+being a matter of any difficulty, the same night the three men met
+Irving at his own house, and were delighted over the revelation he made
+to them.
+
+One would like to know with what sentiment a man occupying an honorable
+and responsible position, a Sunday-school superintendent, the head of a
+great financial institution, well known in the money world and respected
+in society, slunk to a midnight meeting with burglars.
+
+Did no feeling of shame crimson his face, no sinking of disgust oppress
+his heart, as he slipped into a house, where, although he kept aloof
+from actual contact with the ruffians, the details of an enormous crime
+of which he was the author were debated and settled?
+
+Prudential reasons doubtless kept him from forming a personal
+acquaintance with his agents. The risk of exposing himself to future
+blackmail must not be incurred, and one may well believe that he shrank
+from clasping the hands of these men, who were eagerly awaiting him.
+Whatever were his feelings, his desperate position suffered no halting.
+The storm was ready to break at any moment. In an instant he might be a
+wretched fugitive, with terror before him and infamy howling behind. But
+one way led out of this labyrinth. He had resolutely planted his feet in
+that way, determined to tread it to the end. He did tread it to the end,
+and he came out victorious.
+
+If the suspicions of any afterward pointed toward him, no syllable of
+the suspicions was breathed. Who dared suspect that an honorable citizen
+had ever, in the dead of night, crept like a robber to a meeting of
+outlaws, to concoct the details of an outrageous breach of trust, of a
+crime which--none knew it better than he--would carry life-long misery
+and suffering to the families of nearly every man who trusted him?
+
+[Illustration: "THE DETECTIVES SIGNALED THE BURGLARS: 'THE COAST IS
+CLEAR.'"--Page 57.]
+
+"The evil that men do lives after them," but where does the
+responsibility of its author end? Who will ever say what crimes may
+spring from the one act of wrongdoing, crimes committed, it may be,
+by persons who were directly led into them by the consequences of an act
+the perpetrator of which had never heard of those affected by it? How
+far does the responsibility of the wrongdoer extend? What weight of
+horror is he accumulating on his head?
+
+Such questions may perhaps occur afterward, when the pleasure has been
+tasted and is gone, and nothing remains of the detected crime but the
+ruin it has wrought; but in the excitement of laying the plot, in the
+glamour which the hope of success casts over the schemer, they probably
+never intrude, conscience is smothered, and he is left to carry out his
+schemes to the end.
+
+Doubtless no such thoughts disturbed the president, as he waited that
+night while Irving acted as go-between, carrying messages from him to
+the agents and from the agents back again to him. At last the
+arrangements were made. Duplicate keys of the safe were to be provided,
+and a way, to be presently explained, was to be left open to each of
+them. Whatever the robbers found in the safes was to be theirs, and the
+task of getting it was to be of the easiest. This, of course, was highly
+satisfactory to the thieves, but something more must be prepared for the
+stockholders and the public. Bank safes are not so easily emptied; there
+must be the appearance, at least, of great effort to effect the robbery,
+and marks of the effort must be left behind.
+
+It was, therefore, settled that powerful tools were to be provided,
+tools able to tear open any strong-box in the world. Such articles are
+expensive, and the burglars had no money to procure them. No man who
+knows those people will be surprised at this, for, however much money
+they may obtain, they never have anything. It melts out of their hands,
+and they would be themselves embarrassed to say what becomes of it.
+
+The president's first necessity, therefore, was to pay out about a
+thousand dollars for the jimmies, wedges and all the paraphernalia of
+the burglars' industry. This he did. Irving took charge of the money,
+and he had far too great an interest in the scheme to suffer the cash to
+be squandered. The agreement was that on the following day Conroy should
+present himself at the bank to hire a vacant basement, the roof of which
+formed the floor of the room where the safes were lodged. The president
+undertook to smooth any difficulties in the way of requiring references,
+and promised that he should be accepted as a tenant.
+
+This agreement was punctually carried out. Conroy made his application,
+the basement was granted to him, the rent paid in advance for the
+edification of the clerks, and he at once entered in possession. Hurley
+and Shinburne joined him, and the following Saturday they removed so
+much of the ceiling that but a few minutes' work was required to
+complete a hole which should serve as a doorway to the vaults above when
+the bank closed in the evening.
+
+[Illustration: MACHINE FOR WEIGHING GOLD.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+CHEATED VISIONS AND VANISHED HOPES.
+
+
+Saturday night was the time chosen to get into the bank, and the
+plunderers were to remain there until Sunday. The members of Irving's
+ring were to keep watch to prevent any officious interference from
+passers-by or from ward policemen. Carriages were to be in waiting at
+some convenient place on Sunday morning, and when the men inside
+received a signal from their police accomplices on the outside, they
+were to leave the bank, abandoning their tools, and carrying away
+nothing but the money and the securities they had stolen. So far, the
+way was plain; the keys had long before been prepared, tested and found
+to work properly; full instructions were given as to the way to use
+them, but the way inside was not yet open.
+
+A night watchman was employed on the premises, and he, of course, was to
+be got rid of. Little ceremony was to be used in treating him. He was to
+be seized, overcome by any means, bound, gagged and rendered helpless
+until Monday, and the fact that he always passed Sunday in the bank,
+prevented any remark at home upon his continued absence. The details of
+the plot were thus satisfactorily settled, and at a late hour the
+conspirators separated.
+
+In the early morning of that day the three burglars were standing in the
+cellar to which they had lowered their booty, waiting for the signal to
+come out. At last it was given, when the precious trio slipped out,
+carrying their precious bags. A covered carriage was posted in an
+adjoining street, into which the whole party entered, flurried and
+excited, and rapidly drove to Irving's residence. There the contents of
+the bags were carefully examined. The actual cash was easily disposed
+of, but what was to be done with the bonds?
+
+The arrangement finally agreed upon, to be detailed presently, shows
+that if there be circumstances in which a little learning is a dangerous
+thing, one of them is not just after the perpetration of a gigantic
+burglary.
+
+The Monday following its execution confusion and amazement reigned in
+the bank. The clerks on their arrival were astounded to find the safe
+doors wide open, torn and smashed by the tools which lay scattered over
+the floor, and the night watchman, gagged and bound, was discovered,
+nearly dead, in a neighboring room. One of the clerks jumped into a cab
+and rushed to Police Headquarters in Mulberry street to report the
+robbery. Irving was sitting in his office, busy with the night reports,
+when the messenger was introduced to tell of the bank's calamity.
+
+The excellent chief listened with breathless attention, and was
+naturally horror-struck at the perpetration of such a crime. Calling a
+couple of his trusted sleuths, he hastily communicated the surprising
+news, and the three hurried with the clerk back to Greenwich street.
+Arrived there they minutely examined the premises, and gave it as their
+opinion, judging from the style of the work and from the tools which lay
+around, that the burglary had been committed by a well-known burglar
+named Harry Penrose, and that the night watchman, whom they immediately
+placed under arrest, must have been his accomplice.
+
+The president had sent word to the bank that he was unwell, and would
+not be able to attend to business that day, but the terrible news was
+immediately telegraphed to him, and, in spite of his illness, he hurried
+to town. It is impossible to describe his astonishment and distress at
+the sight which met his eyes. In the presence of the clerks he held
+anxious consultations with the detectives, who assured him that they had
+already taken the first steps to unravel the mystery, and that every
+possible effort would be made to discover the criminals. In the privacy
+of his own office he explained to the reporters that he had left in the
+bank four hundred thousand dollars in cash and bonds, every farthing of
+which had disappeared.
+
+As soon as the news was published the excitement among the depositors
+and the stockholders of the bank was, of course, immense. A run set in,
+which the directors by the help of friends and of their own private
+resources were able to meet, but the Wall street appreciation of the
+calamity was shown in the drop in value of the bank's stock from 130 to
+40.
+
+I repeat, a little learning is a dangerous thing. Much knowledge is not
+to be looked for among men who engage in such crimes, but one would
+fancy that the everyday experience of Irving and his people would have
+given them some idea of financial business. The fact is, they were, if
+possible, more ignorant than their felonious partners. The financial
+ideas of the latter scarcely went further than "making cheap pennyworths
+of their plunder, giving to courtesans and living like lords till all be
+gone," so that negotiating the sale of bonds was a mystery far too high
+for them--something which they could never hope to attain to. But the
+company included one man who was a rare exception to the ordinary ride
+of such society. This was Max Shinburne, a German, a man of considerable
+education, who, in some inexplicable way, had fallen so far from honor
+and respectability that when he saw a thief he "consented unto him."
+
+How is it that such men are often found in the ranks of professional
+criminals? They would probably have difficulty to explain it themselves.
+A want of savoir faire, the fact that they have never been taught to
+make a practical use of their acquirements, the pressure of temptation
+at a critical moment, the absence, possibly, from harm, leading to the
+hope of immunity--all, perhaps, enter into the explanation of the secret
+promptings which have led to the first false step, to the first planting
+of the feet in the path which leads to destruction. Once the step is
+taken, to retrace it seems impossible. The line which society draws, and
+which it proclaims no man shall overstep without punishment, may be
+approached very closely, but once on the wrong side, once the fateful
+step is taken, the act is irretrievable; to attempt to retrace it is to
+attempt to undo the past; it is all but impossible.
+
+Thus probably it is that the fall of an educated man is more hopeless
+than that of one who knows no better. A carpenter or a blacksmith who
+has got himself in a tangle has only to move to another town, and if he
+shakes off perverted thoughts and perverted influences, he is not much
+worse off than before. He has kept his trade, and his trade will keep
+him.
+
+Nobody is going to inquire about a workman who can do his work. The
+employer requires nothing more than that the work be done, and if it be
+done he neither thinks nor cares anything more about either it or the
+worker.
+
+With the educated man the case is different. The sentiments of the class
+he belongs to are less yielding, the fineness of his own feelings has
+been too deeply wounded, and when he has stabbed his reputation, he is
+apt, foolishly, of course, to fling the rest of his respectability after
+it.
+
+With qualities and advantages which might have fitted him for a useful
+and honorable position in life, Shinburne was at less than 30 years of
+age the companion of outcasts. But whatever his moral failings, his
+knowledge remained, and it was for him, at least, to be valuable.
+
+To get rid of the bonds in America was impossible, except by sacrificing
+them to a stolen goods receiver, who would have given but a small
+percentage of their value.
+
+A steamer was to sail for Europe that day, and it was agreed that
+Shinburne should go by her, with one of the other robbers as company,
+sell the bonds before the news of the robbery could get across the
+ocean, then return and fairly divide the proceeds.
+
+This was the arrangement, but Shinburne had already begun to have other
+dreams and other ambitions. He saw a chance to restore himself, or, at
+least, to snatch at a position which would give him weight to crush down
+sinister reports or envious whisperings, and he determined forthwith to
+seize it. What the bank president had done to save himself from infamy,
+Shinburne would do to recover himself from infamy. It can be, therefore,
+easily understood that he accepted without hesitation the other's
+proposal.
+
+The steamer did not sail until noon. There was, therefore, plenty of
+time to make preparations, and, besides, he had a little private
+business to attend to. Leaving the securities in Irving's charge, with a
+promise to meet the party at 11, he took his share of the cash and
+departed.
+
+Some time before this, with a skill and forethought rarely to be found
+in the class he then belonged to, he had bought some building lots near
+the park. Fortunate, indeed, the speculation eventually proved to be. In
+the mean time, placing his lots in the hands of a responsible agent, and
+taking drafts on Europe for his money, he rapidly made the little
+preparation he needed, and at 11 joined his party, there to receive
+nearly $200,000 in bonds, and to set out with Mike Hurley for the
+steamer.
+
+After hurried parting injunctions from the Headquarters men, the two
+travelers, accompanied by Conroy, to see them off, were rapidly driven
+to the steamer. Punctually to the hour the hawsers were cast off, and
+with barely time to say good-bye the cronies parted. A moment after the
+screw began to turn, and the Cunarder's bow pointed toward England.
+
+Arrived in Liverpool, the pair proceeded at once to London. Hurley, who
+was as ignorant of foreign travel as of everything else, was easily
+tricked by some tale of no evening trains for the Continent. Shinburne
+plied him well with liquor, taking care to mix the bottles, and when he
+had got him helplessly drunk he took the bonds and with his little
+luggage slipped quietly off to the Continent, never to see his dupe or
+his New York friends again.
+
+He went to Germany, called himself "Count" Shinburne, bought an estate
+and began to exercise large hospitality toward his neighbors.
+
+No man on all the length of the Rhine was so popular as he. No man's
+house and table, horses and gardens were so praised as his. In the eyes
+of the beggar nobles of the Fatherland the man who could give such
+dinners and in such succession, must belong to the choice members of the
+human race. Day by day Max's position grew more solid. No breath was
+ever whispered against him, and with a little prudence he might have
+kept up his state and died in the odor of sanctity. But the taste of
+grandeur was too sweet, the incense of his little world's flattery too
+precious to run the smallest risk of losing it. His display exceeded his
+means, but for nothing in the world would he have curtailed it.
+
+Matters were in this way until he awoke one day to find his account
+overdrawn on his bankers. Then it was that he began to remember his
+operation in Greenwich street, and he seems to have thought that if he
+succeeded in New York, surely nothing could stand in his way in some
+sleepy town in Europe.
+
+[Illustration: "WITH HORROR THE SISTERS SAW THE COUNTESS AIRING THE
+HISTORIC BRACELET."--Page 68.]
+
+He went to Brussels prospecting, and soon pitched upon an establishment
+which he thought likely to reward his industry. But the result showed
+that to walk into a bank when the way was left open, with the
+authorities anxious to see him there, and to force his way in when the
+entrance was jealously barred with the guardians determined he should
+stay out, were two very different things. He made the attempt, was
+arrested and sentenced to sixteen years' imprisonment. His German
+friends heard of his mishap, and his glory faded like the early dew.
+
+Naturally, every one thought that the count's career had closed, that
+the star of his fate had declined, that the bars of his prison house
+were about him forever. They were greatly mistaken. After some twelve or
+thirteen years he succeeded in getting a pardon and managed to make his
+way to America. His first visit was to the agents in whose hands he had
+left the management of his park lots. He went into their office, not
+knowing whether or not he was a pauper. He came out knowing himself to
+be nearly a millionaire.
+
+During the almost twenty years of his absence his lots had increased
+enormously in value. Once more he was a rich man, once more he might
+emerge from his eclipse and become a power of a certain kind in the
+class of society he could get access to, but his experience had taught
+him something. His advancing years had left him but little desire for
+display. He came back to a world which knew him not: and few of those
+who notice a benevolent-looking old gentleman, who often passes an
+afternoon in upper Broadway, suspect that under an assumed name he hides
+the identity of Max Shinburne, the bank burglar.
+
+When Hurley awoke from his drunken fit in London and recognized that his
+partner had both robbed and deserted him, he felt that his mission was
+over, and that nothing remained but to return at once to America. Loud
+and long and wrathful were the complaints over Shinburne's treachery.
+Whatever he did to others, all felt that his dealings with them ought to
+have been "on the square," but there was no help for it. He had
+disappeared, and faint, indeed, was the chance that they would ever see
+him again. The success of the crime, so far as they were concerned, had,
+after all, been a failure. Vanished hopes and cheated visions were
+their share, instead of the wealth they had anticipated, and in their
+devouring rage they tried to console themselves with the thought of what
+they would do to him if they ever met Shinburne.
+
+The only man who had any real success from the scheme was the president.
+Exposure had become impossible. He had taken good care not to leave too
+much in the safes for his accomplices, and he was henceforth a wealthy
+man. The bank, desperately shaken by the robbery, fell so greatly in the
+esteem of the public that not long after it failed. The president gave
+up banking, and began to speculate in real estate. He increased in
+riches and prospered in the world. He called his lands after his own
+name. He thought his house would continue forever, and men praised him,
+because he did well to himself. He settled his children comfortably in
+life, and when he died, not so very long ago, all felt that the world
+was better because he had lived in it, and that, although their loss
+when he was taken was heavy, it was, nevertheless, his great gain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+GILDED SIRS WHO ARE NOT WISE.
+
+
+After a pleasant voyage the Russia arrived, and one May morning I walked
+into the Northwestern Railway station in Liverpool to take the train for
+London. The bonds were in a little handbag, and I was free to look
+around. Everything was novel and strange, and all things told me I was
+in a foreign land. I had, like most young people, a particularly good
+opinion of myself and something of an idea as to my own importance.
+
+We arrived in London amid a drizzling rain, and I was much impressed
+with the mighty roar of the traffic in the streets. We drove to Langham
+place, where I had a regular English tea, and liked it immensely, too.
+The next night I left Victoria Station for Dover, and crossing the
+Channel to Ostend, went through to Brussels and stopped there, having
+wanted, ever since boyhood, to visit the field of Waterloo. I looked
+through the city that day, visiting the famous City Hall and one of the
+art galleries. Retiring early I arose early and drove out to the plain
+immortalized by the giant struggle of those valiant hosts, but did not
+purchase any of the relics which were freely offered. These have been
+sold by shiploads to two generations of visitors. Returning to Brussels,
+I paid my bill at the Hotel de Paris, and was amused over the
+inventiveness of the proprietor in making charges--towels, candles,
+soap, attendance, paper, envelopes, being among them.
+
+Going to the station I bought my ticket for Frankfort--that old town I
+was destined to see so much of during the next few years. On my journey
+I would pass through Cologne, and from there the railway skirts the bank
+of the Rhine. This being my first visit to Europe, I was intensely
+curious to see everything, especially the Cathedral at Cologne, and was
+eager to linger a few days along the banks of the Rhine. But I was more
+eager to complete the bond negotiations, and wisely resolved to go
+direct to Frankfort, sell the bonds, then, with the money in my pocket
+and all anxiety over, I would be in a state of mind to enjoy a short
+holiday.
+
+I traveled through Belgium and some parts of Germany by daylight, and
+was, as most Americans are who travel on the Continent, shocked to see
+the employment of women. Soon after leaving Brussels I saw the, to me,
+novel sight of a number of women shoveling coal, handling the shovel
+like men. In other places I saw them laboring in the brick yards,
+digging and wheeling clay, and everywhere they were to be seen working
+at men's work in the fields.
+
+A traveler in my compartment proved a most entertaining companion. He
+described himself to me as one who "went about pottering over a lot of
+antiquities and fooling around generally."
+
+But my friend, the pottering old antiquary, gave me something of a
+surprise. At Chalours all of our fellow travelers in the compartment
+left us. Two of them were voluble French women, and they kept it up with
+amazing energy for the six hours from Brussels to Chalours. At every
+unusual swaying of the car there would be a volley of "Mon Dieus!" and
+ear-piercing exclamations, and it was certainly a relief when they left.
+
+Bringing out a box of cigars, and my companion producing a flask of
+wine, we soon became confidential. Presently, to my great amusement, my
+Old Antiquary, warmed by the wine, confided to me that he was a
+detective police officer and chief of the secret service at Antwerp,
+that he was then working on a famous case, and had been shadowing one of
+the ladies who had journeyed with us from Brussels. Before leaving
+Brussels, he had discovered his quarry was to quit the train, and as he
+had to go on to Mayence, he had turned the business over to a
+confederate.
+
+I was young, and no doubt he thought me innocent; certainly he did not
+withhold his confidence. This is the case he was investigating:
+
+There was a wealthy gentleman by the name of Van Tromp living in
+Antwerp, a widower, 70 years of age, the father of a grown-up family,
+and many times a grandfather. It had been his custom to go to
+Baden-Baden every Summer, spending money freely both in pleasure and in
+the famous gambling resorts there. The last time he had met a woman, the
+Countess Winzerode, one of the many adventuresses to be found there, and
+speedily became infatuated. This Van Tromp was a descendant of old
+Admiral Van Tromp, who, in the mighty life-and-death struggle between
+Holland and Spain, and in the two wars with England, the first when
+Cromwell ruled, the second when the Second Charles was on the throne,
+held up the fame and glory of Holland. In one case he swept the proud
+navies of Spain from the seas and carried the Dutch flag around the
+world. In the other, he was only vanquished after stubborn sea-fights
+lasting for days, and only ended then because the stout admiral lay on
+his deck with an English bullet in his heart. This Van Tromp was the
+heir of the fame and the wealth of all the Van Tromps, and both had gone
+on accumulating for 300 years.
+
+The self-styled Countess knew all this, and, as the sequel shows, knew
+her man. She was 40, had been beautiful, was still comely, with good
+figure, fair-haired, but with steel-blue eyes. She spoke many languages
+and had dwelt in every land from Petersburg to Paris. It is needless to
+tell how they first met or of the intimacy that sprang up between them,
+but I will merely say in passing that within five days of their first
+meeting he had given her a magnificent diamond bracelet, which had been
+in his family more than a century. This alarmed his two daughters, who
+were terrified at the mere suspicion that their father was in earnest,
+and might possibly present them with a stepmother, above all, a
+comparatively young stepmother, and, so far as physique went, a
+magnificent animal, with promise of a long life--so long that her rights
+of dower would make a cut in the Van Tromp estates and treasures, which
+might well cause the old Admiral to rouse himself from his three-century
+sleep in Dordrecht Church and once more walk these glimpses of the moon
+in protest of the sacrilege. Then the scandal of a Countess-adventuress
+becoming a Van Tromp--head of that family, too! They knew of his
+penchant for the Countess, and cared nothing for it, until, with a
+feeling akin to horror they observed at the dress ball one night the
+Countess airing the historic bracelet. It would require a volume to
+relate the scenes that followed in the Van Tromp domicile on this
+paralyzing discovery; but prayers, tears and histrionic touches were all
+met by the stolid reply of Van Tromp: "I please myself."
+
+As a last resort the daughters appealed to the Countess, offering all
+their ready cash and a pension if she would only disappear. But visions
+of the Van Tromp diamonds and of the Van Tromp bank account were in her
+head and she was deaf to every appeal. In fact, she despised these
+heavy, matter-of-fact Dutch ladies, and rather gloried to think that she
+would soon be the female head of the Van Tromp house and stepmother to
+these two highly respectable dames, who would perforce have to live in
+her shadow. But then, of course, the Countess was a woman, and it is to
+be feared that even good women love to triumph over others. She, of
+course, could have no love for this portly old gentleman of seventy.
+But it is pitiful to think he was madly infatuated. The poor old man, in
+spite of his unromantic appearance, had warm blood in his veins and
+plenty of romance in his heart. At last, in spite of gossip and
+opposition, they were married, and then, instead of settling down, as
+the happy groom had hoped, to a life of wedded bliss in one of his
+country houses at Dordrecht, Lady Van Tromp insisted on spending her
+honeymoon in Paris. There they went, and the very day of their arrival
+the bride resumed a liaison with a beggarly count, who, not being an
+actual criminal, yet was written black enough in the books of the Paris
+police, and for whom the Countess had as warm an admiration as one of
+her cold, calculating nature was capable of feeling.
+
+Van Tromp speedily found his dream of bliss blown to the winds, but he
+was not so blind as not to see that his wife not only did not love him,
+but was false to him as well. Poor old Van Tromp felt he had made his
+last throw for happiness, and hoping against hope, dreamed she in time
+would learn to appreciate his devotion and would love him, and so tried
+to persuade himself of her truth. The first anniversary of the marriage
+found them at Baden-Baden, and there the unhappy husband, thinking to
+give his wife a pleasant surprise, entered her chamber at an unusual
+hour bearing a diamond necklace for a present, and found her in a
+position which could no longer leave any doubt as to her faithlessness.
+Seizing a chair he felled her companion, who never stirred again; but
+the shock was too great for the husband, who himself fell to the floor
+and instantly expired--the doctors said of heart disease, and I think
+they were right. This event was only a few weeks old. The will had been
+read, and it was found that he had literally left everything "to my
+wife, Elizabeth."
+
+Here my friend, the chief of police and a distant relative of Van Tromp,
+came to the front, determined quietly on his own account to investigate
+Lady Van Tromp. He found this last was at least her third venture on
+the stormy sea of matrimony. He had a fancy that some one of her
+husbands might still be living and undiscovered. If this could be
+proved, then her marriage to Van Tromp was no marriage, and the ducats,
+dollars and diamonds bequeathed by Van Tromp to "my wife, Elizabeth,"
+would instantly melt into air--into very thin air, so far as the
+Countess was concerned; provided, of course, they had not actually
+passed into her clutches. In fact, they were legally hers, for the will
+had been admitted to probate. Those of the family objecting could offer
+no valid opposition, and she had been put in possession, but, by a
+strange neglect on her part, left everything intact, save a deposit of
+300,000 gulden in the Bank of Amsterdam, which she secured and set out
+for Naples with a new lover.
+
+The detective--whom I will call Amstel--discovered that she had first
+been married when only 15 years old to a young Swiss in Geneva, who soon
+left her and fled to America. He had subsequently returned to Europe,
+but Amstel was unable to discover his whereabouts or if he was living.
+He suspected that the Swiss was not only alive but in communication with
+the Countess, and that she, in fact, might be his legal wife. He had
+followed the Countess from Naples to Paris. There she left her lover and
+was now on her way to Nuremberg, as Amstel believed, to meet her first
+husband, but she had arranged to remain a few days with some old friends
+of hers. Every movement she made there would be watched, while Amstel,
+going on to Cologne to look up some clues, intended to wait there until
+informed that she had departed, and when the train arrived at Cologne he
+proposed to enter it and follow my lady on, hoping to witness a meeting
+between her and the much hoped-for husband. Happily we had arrived at
+Cologne at this point in the story, and as Amstel was to remain here we
+had to say good-bye; but for the whole twenty minutes of my stay we
+walked up and down the platform talking eagerly of the case. I had
+become much interested, so deeply, indeed, that had I had leisure I
+certainly should have turned amateur detective and joined Amstel.
+
+[Illustration: LONDON POLICEMAN.--ST. PAUL'S IN DISTANCE.]
+
+The train started, and, promising to write me in New York the outcome of
+the case, we shook hands warmly and parted. He wrote me twice, and the
+following year I returned to Europe and met Amstel at Brussels. We had a
+very delightful time together, during which he told me the sequel of the
+Van Tromp episode. Instead of one, the Countess had two husbands living;
+but the Van Tromps preferred to buy off the woman at a good round sum
+rather than have a public scandal.
+
+Amstel interviewed the Countess, and gave her the choice between arrest
+and a full release of all claims on the Van Tromp property for the sum
+of 100,000 gulden. She made a hard fight, but at last gave in
+gracefully. But my chapter has grown too long already, and I will close
+it with the remark that I myself met the lady at Wiesbaden in 1871, and
+became acquainted with the brilliant adventuress. She will appear again
+in the sequel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE MERRY SUMMER OVER AND NO HARVEST STORED.
+
+
+From Cologne to Frankfort is about 140 miles, and swiftly our train sped
+along up the Rhine--the lovely stream about which poets have raved for
+twenty generations. What classic ground! What scenes have its waters
+reflected, its mountains looked upon! In the old days its rolling floods
+made a deep impression on the stout Roman heart. More than one army,
+carrying with it the hearts of the Roman world, had crossed that river
+and plunged into the unknown forests beyond, only to go down in the
+shock of conflict with the brave but barbarian foe, leaving not one
+solitary survivor to carry back tidings to Rome of the fate of her army.
+And down through all the linked centuries the history of the Rhine has
+been the history of giant armies marching against each other, and of
+brothers slaughtering brothers. To-day the plains of Germany and France
+bear a million of armed men, ranged face to face, with only the Rhine
+between, eagerly awaiting the signal to pour a deadly rain on each
+other. And for what?
+
+The last face that I saw at the Cologne station was that of Amstel, lit
+up with smiles as he waved his hand in adieu. Sitting cozily in the
+corner of the carriage, eager to see all that was to be seen, I found,
+as all tourists do, much to charm and delight. But my thoughts were on
+the bonds I had to sell, and I was glad enough when at 5 o'clock our
+train drew into the depot at Frankfort.
+
+Alighting I took a cab and drove to the Hotel Landsberg, and, although
+tired, the scenes and surroundings were too novel for me to think of
+sleep. So I dined and went out to view the city, but as I will have
+occasion to refer to the place again, I will leave any description of it
+until another chapter.
+
+In London there was an American banking house that has since failed, but
+which at this time was doing a large business in the way of issuing
+letters of credit. The firm was patronized chiefly by Americans. It
+issued credits, or letters of credit, without inquiry, to any one
+applying for them. While in London I called at their office, 449 Strand,
+and paying $750 was given a credit for L150, which I took under an
+assumed name. I wanted this letter to serve as an introduction to some
+of the bankers at Frankfort, and to open the way for the negotiation of
+the bonds. The Frankfort correspondents of the London firm were Kraut,
+Lautner & Co., on the Gallowsgasse. The next morning I repaired to the
+office of this firm, and producing my letter was very cordially
+received, and invited to make my headquarters in their office during my
+stay at Frankfort, which for the next day or two I did. However, I
+called on several other bankers, also feeling the way, and finally
+selected the firm of Murpurgo & Wiesweller, bankers widely known and of
+enormous wealth. I had several talks with Murpurgo, and told him I was
+arranging to purchase a number of copper mines in Austria, and if the
+deal was closed I should sell a large block of American bonds and use
+the cash I realized to pay for the purchase of the mines. I suppose he
+thought to make a good thing out of it, and was eager to purchase.
+
+My reader will recall that payment upon all United States bonds payable
+to bearer, as mine were, could not be stopped, and so far as the
+innocent holder was concerned he was perfectly secure. But the custom
+among bankers was, whenever any bonds were lost by theft or fraud, to
+send out circulars containing the numbers, asking that the parties
+offering them might be questioned and held. But as American bonds were
+sold in millions all over the Continent, and were passing freely from
+hand to hand, as a matter of fact, little or no attention was paid to
+such circulars, but, of course, had strangers of disreputable appearance
+offered bonds in large sums, the lists might have been scrutinized and
+awkward questions asked. Therefore I felt a trifle nervous, and
+determined to run no chance of losing my bonds--at least not all of
+them. So I resolved to go to Wiesbaden, some fifteen miles away, stop at
+some hotel under a different name, leave the bonds there, and take the
+morning train for Frankfort, conduct my negotiations, and return to
+Wiesbaden every evening. It was at this time easy to lose one's identity
+in Wiesbaden, for the town then was, along with Baden-Baden, the Monte
+Carlo of the Continent, and adventurers, men and women, from all over
+Europe flocked there in thousands to chance their fortune in the
+gambling halls. Although a little in advance of this portion of my
+history, I will here relate an adventure of mine there, some years after
+the period of which I am speaking.
+
+I will, however, preface my narrative with a brief account of the
+history of the place. The city of Wiesbaden, previous to the
+Franco-German war of 1870, was the chief town of one of those petty
+principalities which were plentifully sprinkled over the face of Europe.
+Since the old Roman days the town had been famous for its hot springs,
+and consequently for its hot baths, and a good many people--during the
+Winter particularly--resorted there to bathe and to drink the waters. As
+a matter of course, the townspeople, as the custom of such places is,
+have recorded many a marvelous cure, ranging all the way from headache
+to hydrophobia. But still the town was of little importance save
+locally. The petty ruler, with a title longer than his income, lived in
+the pretentious castle, beguiling the time by smoking cheap cigars or
+ordering on banquets whose piece de resistance consisted of Gebratene
+Gans und Kartoffeln, the unlucky bird being tribute in kind from the
+farmyard of some peasant subject living in a miserable hut on black
+bread.
+
+But a change was impending. A mighty wizard had visited the place, with
+an eye quick to see the possibilities of the situation, with a brain to
+plan and a hand to execute. His name was Francois Blanc, the head of the
+great gambling establishment at Homburg. Vast as were his ambition and
+achievements, he was a man of the simplest tastes.
+
+To see him--as I often have--in his seedy coat, his old-fashioned
+spectacles on the tip of his nose, one would have taken him for a
+country advocate whose wildest dreams were of a practice of two thousand
+thalers a year, with an old gig and wheezy mare to haul him around the
+country side from client to client. Before his Wiesbaden days he had
+been the guiding spirit in the direction of the splendid gambling halls,
+the Casino at Homburg. Blanc was impervious to flattery; a hard-headed,
+silent man, a man without enthusiasm and without weaknesses, who kept a
+lavish table and ate sparingly himself, who had a wine cellar rivaling
+that of the Autocrat of All the Russias and yet contented himself with
+sipping a harmless mineral water; who kept and directed a huge gambling
+machine--a mighty conglomeration of gorgeously decorated halls, wine
+parlors and music rooms, crammed day and night by giddy and excited
+throngs, but himself never indulging in anything more exciting than an
+after-dinner game of dominoes or a quiet drive with his wife through the
+country lanes.
+
+Thus this Francois Blanc, with perfect equanimity, watched the thousand
+thousands of butterflies and moths of society scorch their wings in the
+terrific flame that glowed in his Casino, while he looked on, a cynical
+observer, despising the fools enraptured with roulette and fascinated
+with rouge-et-noir.
+
+But one thing he was not afraid of, and that was spending money. To
+compass his business ends he laid it out lavishly, and in the end he
+drew all Europe to Wiesbaden. Still broader and still deeper he laid the
+foundations of the fortune that ultimately grew to colossal proportions.
+But he did not make Wiesbaden famous without keen opposition. He made
+the fortune of the beggarly Prince Karl and the whole hungry crowd of
+royal highnesses in spite of themselves. At every fresh opposition he
+simply opened his purse and a golden shower fell on them.
+
+It required a hard head to withstand the attacks made on him when it
+became known that he had bought up both prince and municipality, and
+proposed to make Wiesbaden par excellence the gambling city of the
+Continent. But, despite of all, he pushed on his plans to wonderful
+success. A great park was laid out and stately buildings arose, all
+dedicated to the goddess of chance. Slim was the chance the votaries of
+the game had in his gorgeous halls. He threw out his money in millions,
+but he knew the weak, foolish heart of man, the egotism of each and
+every one of us, that leads us to ignore for ourselves the immutable law
+of numbers. So he counted upon his returns, and never counted in vain.
+
+As I say, he had a hard head to withstand the attacks made upon him.
+Every day the post brought hundreds of letters containing propositions
+of threats from people who had lost their money and demanded its return
+with fierce threats, pitiful supplications and warnings of intended
+suicide, place, date and hour carefully specified, so there could be no
+mistake, and more than one attempt was made upon his life. But the
+equanimity of Francois Blanc was equal to all adventures. Threats,
+prayers, temptations, left him untouched. This man of ice,
+self-possessed, cold, indifferent to the ruin of the thousands of
+victims of his will, had a fad or fancy. It was for raising red and
+white roses, and while the mad throngs were fluttering in frenzy around
+the tables in his halls at Homburg, Wiesbaden and Monte Carlo, he, hoe
+or trowel in hand, would be training and transplanting his roses,
+solicitous over an opening bud or deploring the ravages of an insect;
+or, again, refusing all invitations, would sit down with his wife to a
+dinner of boiled turnips and bacon, washed down with a glass of Vichy
+water and milk. This was the town and these the scenes constantly
+occurring there.
+
+Now for my adventure. In 1870, just before the war cloud burst, covering
+all that part of the world, I was stopping for some weeks at the Hotel
+Nassau. It stands in the main street, opposite the park gate leading to
+the Casino. All the world went to Wiesbaden to be amused. However
+fashionable frivolity and vice may be elsewhere, here it was strictly de
+rigueur, and to pretend to decency and sobriety would be to stamp one's
+self a heathen and barbarian, all unversed in the glorious
+flower-wreathed Primrose Way of our orb.
+
+The daily routine for the throng began with coffee in bed at 8 a.m.,
+then dressing gowns were donned, and the bath in underground floors of
+the hotel were sought and a bath had in the hot mineral waters, which
+were conducted to all the hotels direct from the hot springs of the
+town. Half an hour in the bath, then a light breakfast, preparatory to
+sallying out for an hour on the Spaziergang around the Quellen to drink
+the water, listen to the band, see and be seen, but, above all, to
+gossip and tell lies. At 11 a.m. the gambling began in the Casino, and
+with a rush the seats around the tables would be filled. Then speedily
+there would be rows behind rows of eager players or spectators, and what
+a sight it all was to the cool-headed observer.
+
+With what keen interest all watched the result of the first turn of the
+card at the card tables and the color of the first hit at roulette. For
+all gamblers are superstitious, and are devout believers in omens. Those
+whose luck or pocketbooks held out gambled steadily on, or, if luck
+turned against them, would leave the table, go to do some fantastic
+thing to change their luck and then return. At 2 p.m. the band (a very
+fine one) played in the Musik Saal, and most of the idlers and morning
+players gathered there to listen to the music and to drink and dine.
+Here in this hall the intrigues begun on the promenade or in the
+gambling-rooms were helped along by the ample opportunities of meeting,
+with the passions stimulated by the music and the wine. At 4 o'clock
+many took an afternoon nap. Then came the chief event of the day, the
+ponderous table d'hote. At 9 p.m. every one flocked to the Casino, and
+the game went merrily on until midnight. Then to bed, each and all with
+more or less Rudesheimer or Hochheimer stowed away.
+
+At the time of which I speak many were my idle days, in which I was free
+to seek pleasure. I used to find much enjoyment in frequenting the
+Casino to watch the people and to play the role of "looker-on in
+Vienna," which, by the way, is a star role and therefore rather
+agreeable. One evening while watching the rouge-et-noir I noticed a lady
+just in front of me, magnificently dressed in all, save that there was
+an entire absence of jewelry. She was literally dressed to kill, and,
+although near 50, yet to the casual observer she seemed no more than 40,
+or even less. She was a well-preserved woman of the world, and was known
+as the Countess de Winzerole. This was the adventuress who had married
+Van Tromp some two years before. What a career had been that of this
+woman!
+
+She had been mistress from first to last of a dozen men, noblemen,
+diplomats, soldiers, but being an inveterate gambler, one after another
+saw, with dismay, the cash, estates, diamonds, carriages, costly furs
+and laces he showered upon her all go whirling into the ever-open maw of
+the Casino, or in the drawing-room games of the bon-ton in Paris or
+Petersburg. One brave youth, an officer in the Prussian Guards, had, in
+his infatuation for the Countess, and impregnable, as he thought,
+against bankruptcy by reason of his great fortune, tried to satisfy her
+cravings for splendor of entourage and her infatuation for gambling. The
+result was that one day the crack of a pistol-shot was heard in the
+Countess' chamber, and the servants rushing in found the young bankrupt
+dead, lying across the bed, with a bullet through the heart. The next
+day a horde of clamorous creditors besieged the house, where the
+Countess calmly told them she had sent for her bankers and on the morrow
+they would be paid. That night his comrades buried their dead friend
+with military honors. At midnight the cortege passed the hotel, and all
+eyes watched the lovely Countess robed in white as she appeared, her
+bosom heaving with emotion, while she waved a farewell to her dead
+lover. Ten minutes later she fled through the back door and over the
+garden wall, falling into the arms of another lover waiting there. He
+himself did not go the way of the last, but half of his fortune did; so
+one morning, leaving a polite note of farewell, he, taking for companion
+the dressing maid of his mistress, embarked for America.
+
+At the time I met her the Countess' reputation was too well known and
+her beauty too much fallen off for her to make any more grand catches. A
+local banker at Wiesbaden became very friendly. However, the friendship
+lost all its warmth when the banker's stout wife one day caught them
+together, and having already provided herself with a whip in
+anticipation, visited them both with a jealous woman's rage and a sound
+thrashing.
+
+Now, the Countess spent her time around the tables, following the
+winners and getting douceurs from them. These were by no means
+small--most of them being gifts pure and simple, given from mere
+goodness of heart or sheer prodigality for there were too many gay and
+beautiful women flocking around ready to smile on winners in the game
+for the Countess now to make even a temporary conquest. However, at
+this period she lived well--even extravagantly--but, of course, saved
+nothing. As related, I first met the Countess here at the table where
+the game was going on. She had just staked and lost her last gulden. She
+was betting on the black, and four times in succession the red had won.
+She turned, and looking in my face, implored me to bet a double
+Frederick on the red. I instantly placed the money on the red and won.
+She begged me to transfer the stake to the black. I did so, and black
+won. Placing her hand on the stake, she said: "Sir, leave it; black will
+win again." Sure enough, it did. She seized the cash, $80, and handing
+me a double Frederick, said in her most bewitching manner: "Oh, sir; be
+generous and let me keep this!" I said: "Certainly, madame." She
+promptly staked it, and in two turns of the cards it was gone.
+
+We met several times the next few days, but merely bowed without
+speaking.
+
+One afternoon, entering the Musik Saal, I took a small table, and,
+ordering a bottle of wine, sat down to listen to the music and watch the
+throng. The Countess came in, and seeing me alone, came straight to me,
+shook hands warmly and sat down. I, of course, invited her to have a
+glass of wine. We soon finished that bottle and ordered another. We had
+what was to me a most amusing talk. She was a character--had been
+everywhere and spoke all the modern languages. She assured me that I was
+a very charming gentleman. In paying my bill I incautiously displayed a
+gold piece or two, and, seeing she was going to ask me to give her one,
+I saved her the trouble by placing one in her hand. In time we became
+quite good friends. Twice I paid her board bill in order to rescue her
+wardrobe from the clutches of her landlord, and once I saved her from
+the hands of an irate washerwoman. When, after a time, I left Wiesbaden,
+I left her as gay, as prosperous and as extravagant as ever.
+
+I did not see Wiesbaden again for over two years, but the second week
+of January, 1873, found me there. The Prussian Government now ruled in
+the town, and refused to renew the license of M. Blanc. It had expired
+fourteen days before my arrival. What a change had fallen on the town!
+The Casino was gloomy and cold, the gay crowds had fled. All the life
+and movement of the street and promenade was forever a thing of the
+past. I had located there simply as a precaution, disposing of large
+amounts of bonds in Frankfort, fifteen miles away, and returning to
+Wiesbaden each night. At this time I put up at the Hotel Victoria, near
+the railroad station. One Saturday, going up to Frankfort rather late,
+my business detained me until after dark. On reaching the station I
+happened to look into the third-class waiting-room, and there I spied a
+figure alone that looked familiar. I soon recognized the Countess. From
+her appearance and surroundings it was plain that there was now no
+wealthy lover at her beck and call. Because she looked so unhappy I gave
+her a cordial greeting, which she returned rather wearily. It was very
+cold, and I was clad in furs from head to foot; besides, I was,
+apparently, on the full floodtide of fortune, having with me then a very
+large sum of money, some of which she could have had for the asking.
+
+I said: "Come, Countess; let us go together first class to Wiesbaden."
+She replied that she lived at Bieberich, a small town on the Rhine, four
+miles below Mayence, and four miles from Wiesbaden. As the train was
+starting I bade her good-bye, but asked permission to call on her the
+next day. She consented, giving her address as Hotel Bellevue.
+
+The next morning was very cold, but I enjoyed that, so, after a light
+breakfast, I started over the hills for a walk to the town, arriving
+there soon after noon. I found the hotel, a fifth-rate one, and
+entering, was shown to the room of the Countess. What a change for her
+from the past! Her room was a small one, plastered, but unpapered, and
+with a few articles of furniture of the cheapest. The poor woman was
+too evidently in a state of frightful depression, and well she might be.
+Hers had been a butterfly existence, life all one Summer holiday, no
+hostages given to fortune, no bond taken against future wreck or change.
+Like the butterfly, she had roamed from flower to flower, sipping the
+sweet only, or, like the cricket, had merrily piped all the Summer
+through, thinking sunshine and bloom eternal. Even when youth and beauty
+had fled, and lovers no longer stood ready to attend and serve, she
+still found a good aftermath in her happy harvest field on the floors of
+the Casino, but when the Casino lights at Wiesbaden went out, then, for
+the Countess, had the Winter indeed come.
+
+My walk had given me something of an appetite, and it now being 2
+o'clock I at once proposed to have dinner. To my surprise she said she
+had already dined, and upon my remarking that it was early for dinner,
+she replied that it was, but as she was owing quite a hotel bill she
+feared to give any trouble lest the landlord might present his bill, and
+in default of payment she was liable to arrest and a very considerable
+imprisonment. I need hardly tell my readers that they do these things
+differently in Germany than with us. I could easily afford to be
+generous with other people's money, and did not mean to see the Countess
+suffer for a hotel bill. Ringing the bell, I told the waiter to bring me
+some dinner and a bottle of wine. The Countess looked very uneasy over
+my order. Of late years she had seen life from the seamy side and had
+observed so much of the falseness and cruelty of men that she had
+apparently lost all faith in them, and no doubt thought me an
+adventurer, one who might possibly dine and order expensive wines,
+leaving her to face an angry landlord. While dinner was being prepared
+she told me she was in the greatest distress; had not even a single
+kreutzer to pay postage, and, worst of all, was owing for two weeks'
+board. She had no means to fly, no place to fly to, and if she remained
+incarceration awaited her. She had for weeks been writing everywhere to
+every one she had known, former lovers, distant, but long-neglected
+relatives. The result--dead silence; no response from anywhere. She at
+last was alone, caught in the world's great snare, with no friendly hand
+to shelter or save. It was a sight to read this woman's face. There
+swept over it all the conflicting waves of regrets over might-have-beens
+and the gloomy shades of despair. Both proprietor and waiter appeared to
+set the table; it was for one, but wineglasses for two were brought
+unsolicited. They were officiously anxious to please "Your Highness," as
+they christened me. The Countess sat looking gloomily out of the window
+across the Rhine, while I watched her face until an infinite pity for
+the shipwrecked soul filled my mind. Dismissing the waiter I went to the
+window, and standing by her chair I said: "Don't worry any more,
+Countess; I will pay your bill." At the same time drawing from an inner
+pocket a book crammed with notes, I placed seven 100-thaler notes in her
+lap, saying: "This one is for your board bill, and the other six are for
+your pocket money." I need not attempt to picture her amazement and
+delight. Certainly she appeared very grateful. We had a long
+conversation and I was talking to her like a brother. Perhaps had she
+still been beautiful and young my manner and language might have been
+less brotherly. I told her she had danced and sung, but at last the time
+had come for toil, and suggested she should go to Brussels, which is
+ever thronged with tourists, where her knowledge of languages and her
+savoir faire could be made available in one of the many shops where
+gimcracks are sold to travelers. I advised her to offer a small premium
+for a position. This she said she would do.
+
+In saying good-bye I promised to see her again the next night, but I
+found a telegram awaiting me on my arrival at my hotel which called me
+to meet two of my companions at Calais, and I was forced to leave by an
+early train. The next time I saw the Countess was at Newgate. She
+visited me there, and was in perfect despair over my position and her
+inability to serve me. For those who may care to know more of her, I
+will say that, following my advice, she went to Brussels and obtained a
+position in a Tourist Exchange and within a year married the proprietor,
+who was a Councilman and a man of considerable local importance. She
+made him a good wife and became a true mother to his five daughters.
+When he died he made her guardian to both of them and his wealth. She
+became very religious, and to the last was a devout member of the Roman
+Church. She died in 1886, thirteen years after the episode at Rieberich.
+Her ashes rest in the little graveyard of the Convent des Soeurs de Ste.
+Agnes, on the Charleroi road, two miles from the city, and on her
+monument is engraved:
+
+     TO ELIZABETH, The Beloved Wife, Pious and True. She Served God and
+     Has Gone to Live with the Angels
+
+[Illustration: "THE LOVELY COUNTESS WAVED A FAREWELL TO HER DEAD
+LOVER."--Page 81.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+"WE HAVE ANOTHER JOB FOR YOU."
+
+
+About every second day I called on Murpurgo & Weissweller in Frankfort,
+and talked over matters, and easily saw that everything would go right.
+All that was necessary was to produce the bonds, and they would hand
+over the cash. Here in America, though we scrutinized a man's garments,
+the quality and fit of the same having a certain value, we never take
+much stock in a stranger because an artist tailor has decorated him, or
+because he has plenty of money. But in the seventies, all over Europe,
+from the mere fact that a man was an American and had the appearance,
+dress and manner of a gentleman, they always took it for granted that he
+must be a gentleman.
+
+Therefore, seeing that I was taken for a capitalist, and that no
+question would be asked, I told the firm my deal in Austrian copper
+mines appeared so certain to be completed that I had ordered the
+securities I intended to dispose of to be forwarded from London. Giving
+them a list, they gave me a memorandum offer for the lot. I accepted
+their offer. The next hour was a very bad sixty minutes for me. There
+was considerable delay, and my suspicions were fully aroused, and at one
+time I thought they had made some discovery; but, as a fact, my
+suspicions were wholly unfounded.
+
+The banker and clerks were simply hurrying around, anxious to oblige me
+and have the money out of the bank before it closed. At last the amounts
+were figured up and verified by myself. One of the partners hastened
+off to the bank and in five minutes returned with a very pretty parcel
+of 200,000 gulden; but, in spite of the evident safety of the business,
+I was nervous, and resolved to put a good distance between me and the
+town as speedily as possible. Before 5 o'clock I was in Weisbaden, and,
+going directly to the Casino, where they kept at all times a million
+francs, in addition to German money, and where the possession of large
+sums attract no attention, I readily exchanged my money for 350
+one-thousand-franc notes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Going to Rothschild's, I bought exchange on New York for $80,000, and
+left the same night for London. Very many times I journeyed over that
+route in after years, but never with so light a heart. I was young and
+enthusiastic; all the glamour and poetry of life hung around me, while I
+was too inexperienced to notice whither I was drifting, or to understand
+the powerful current upon which I had embarked. In fact, I had sold
+myself to do the devil's work, and day by day the chain would tighten,
+while all the time I thought I could when I pleased stop short on the
+downward grade and take the back track. More experience would have
+taught me that every one who forsook the path of honor not only thought
+the same, but had a purpose to even everything up some day and make
+restitution. And to-day there is not a criminal but who, at the start,
+looks forward to the time when he will no longer war against society,
+but will go out and come in at peace with all men. But when one comes to
+think of it, what a fool's game is that of a man who fights against
+society!
+
+[Illustration: "THEY FOUND A BODY, RAGGED, EMACIATED, FORLORN. IT WAS
+BREA."--Page 120.]
+
+The criminal has but two arms, very short and weak they are, and of
+flesh, too. He has but two eyes that cannot possibly see around the
+nearest corner, while society has a million arms of steel that can reach
+around the world, and a million eyes which are never closed, that can
+pierce the thickest gloom with sleepless vigilance. The poor, unhappy
+criminal, by fortunate dexterity, may escape for a little, but at last
+society lays her iron grasp on him, and with giant force hurls him into
+a dungeon. As for the short-lived, tempestuous success that some few
+criminals have, is there any sweetness in it? I say no; success won in
+honest fight is sweet, but I know from my own experience that the
+success of crime brings no sweetness, no blessing with it, but leaves
+the mind a prey to a thousand haunting fears that make shipwreck of
+peace.
+
+There were no sleeping cars in all Europe then, so I sat up in a
+compartment and really enjoyed the ride, viewing the country by
+moonlight. At midnight we arrived at Calais, and took the boat for
+Dover. Then the express for London. Arriving at Victoria Station I took
+a cab to Mrs. Green's, where I had breakfast a l'anglaise.
+
+I had a little adventure that night going down the Strand. At Bow
+street, on the corner, is the "Gaiety," a famous drinking saloon,
+flooded with light inside and out, with more than a half-dozen handsome
+barmaids. Barmaids are a great institution in England--that is, they
+have never more than one man behind a bar, none at all in the railway
+bars. And a fearful source of ruin to the girls, as they are to
+thousands of young men--I might say tens of thousands every year. These
+girls are chosen for their beauty and attractiveness. Yearly, in London
+and in other large cities of England, a "Beautiful Barmaid Show" is one
+of the stated features, and is held in some public garden or monster
+hall. These exhibitions are wonderfully popular, and thousands flock to
+them. Various beauty contests are got up, and all the popular features
+of voting, etc., are in vogue. Those of the young women who win the
+prizes make their fortunes, for they are at once engaged at high
+salaries for the more aristocratic barrooms. Fancy what an attraction
+and even fascination the gin palace with lovely girls behind the bar
+must have to the youth of a great city. Many of them strangers, busy
+during the day, but with nothing to do at night, with the choice of the
+street or a sombre room, but sure of a sweet smile of welcome from a
+fascinating woman in the barrooms. How easily and how naturally, too,
+does a young man become ensnared. But how if he has no money? No smiles
+and no welcome for him! And then what a temptation to help himself to
+his master's cash!
+
+Happy for our country that our laws forbid women entering that
+occupation!
+
+While standing in the brilliant light of the Gaiety, watching the
+thronging crowd of passers-by, with its sprinkling of unfortunates, I
+saw one poor, bedraggled creature, wan-faced and hollowed-eyed, with
+hunger and despair imprinted on every feature. Looking sharply at her
+she caught my eye, and, crossing the street, she spoke to me. The poor
+thing looked as if she had been dragged through all the gutters of
+London. She said that herself and her baby were actually starving--that
+her husband had been out of work thirteen weeks and had then deserted
+her, owing twelve weeks' rent, and the landlady had just told her that
+unless she paid her some rent before 9 o'clock that night she would be
+turned out with her baby into the streets.
+
+Those of my readers who have been in London know something of what it
+would mean for this woman to be turned out into the streets of that
+fearful Babylon. No wonder, then, the poor soul was frantic with
+despair. In her poverty a shilling looked as big as a cartwheel, and
+when I said to her: "Will you promise to go direct home if I give you a
+sovereign?" she cried out: "Oh, sir, God forever bless you if you will!"
+I gave her the $5, and as she started to run I caught her by the sleeve
+and said: "I will go home with you to see if you have told me the
+truth." She lived close by, in one of those teeming courts that run off
+from the Strand. We found her baby naked on a heap of rags, in a small,
+dirty room, containing two broken chairs for furniture. I felt that
+there were in the large city thousands of similar cases, but this one
+was brought home to me. I was young and impressionable--more than that,
+I had other people's money to be liberal with; so I called up the
+landlady, who, almost dumb with surprise, received the arrears of rent,
+along with a month in advance. Eliza, for that was her name, told me she
+could get work if she had clean clothes for herself and baby, which she
+could buy for L2. I gave her five, and giving her my address in New
+York, told her to find work and let me know how she got on. She did find
+work in an eel-pie shop in Red Lion Square, High Holborn. I saw her two
+years later in London, and possibly may refer to her again in this
+story.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I went down to Liverpool and embarked on the good ship Java. Ten days
+later we sailed through the Narrows.
+
+During my last day in London I went to Westminster Abbey, and spent
+three hours in that Valhalla of the Anglo-Saxon race. It made a
+tremendous impression upon my mind. In no other work of human hands do
+the spirits of so many departed heroes linger, certainly in no other
+does the dust of so many of the great dead rest, and as I read memorial
+upon memorial to departed greatness I realized that the path of honor
+and of truth was the only one for men to tread. All through the voyage
+the influences of the Abbey were upon me; I felt I was treading on
+dangerous ground, and resolved I would have no more of it. Would I had
+then resolved, when I met Irving & Co., to throw all the plunder in
+their faces and say: "I'll have none of it, and here we part!" I felt
+that I ought to do that, but weakly said: "I need the $10,000, and I'll
+give the rogues their share and then see them no more." I had fully made
+up my mind to that, knowing Irving would be on the wharf, eager to meet
+me.
+
+In sailing through the Narrows and past Staten Island I was making up my
+mind as to the little speech I would make. We rapidly neared the wharf
+in Jersey City, and I quickly recognized Irving standing on the edge of
+the closely packed crowd, watching the steamer with a nervous look on
+his face. A rogue suspects every one, and although by this time he had
+become pretty well satisfied as to my good faith, no doubt he would be
+happier when he had his share of the plunder safe in his pocket. I was
+standing close to the rail between two ladies, and saw Irving before he
+saw me. Waving my handkerchief, his eye suddenly fell on me. With a
+smile and pointing significantly to my pocket, I gave him a salute. An
+eager look came into his face, and waving his hand he cried out: "I am
+glad to see you!" and no doubt he spoke the truth. When the gangplank
+was thrown ashore, and I saw him making his way toward it, evidently
+intending to board the steamer, I thought how surprised he would be when
+I told him I would have no more of his game. He sprang on board, rushed
+to me with a beaming face, grasped my hand, and putting the other on my
+shoulder, led me toward the gangway. He had not spoken yet, but as we
+were going down the gangplank he said: "My boy, you have done
+splendidly," and then, putting his mouth close to my ear, whispered: "We
+have got another job for you, and it's a beauty!"
+
+I don't mean to pester my reader with a moral, or by too much
+moralizing, although I am tempted to do so. There is ample material for
+a course of sermons in that "we have another job for you" coming to me
+just then. But, leaving my reader to draw his own moral, I must go on
+with my narrative.
+
+Going up the wharf with Irving, I was on the point of telling him I
+wanted no more jobs, but weakly put it off, and by so doing, of course,
+made it more difficult. He told me Stanley and White were waiting at
+Taylor's Hotel on Montgomery street, a few doors up from the wharf. We
+soon were there, and they gave me a warm and even enthusiastic
+reception. Then I began to tell some of my adventures on the journey, to
+which they listened with unfeigned admiration, and, opening my bag, I
+produced the sixteen bills of exchange for $5,000 each, informing them
+they should have their cash in ninety minutes. It was curious to see
+these men handle the bills of exchange, passing them from one to
+another, examining them with anxious care. But where were my good
+resolutions, and what had become of them? Why, they, under the effect of
+the wine and the magnetic influence of these three minds, had gone
+flying down the bay, and under a favorable gale were fast speeding
+seaward beyond the ken of mortal eye, not to be found by me again until
+years after, when, with the toils about me, I found myself in Newgate.
+Then the fugitives all came back, this time to stay.
+
+My three graces who adorned the Police Department of New York were full
+of matter of a new enterprise, which by my co-operation was to make the
+fortunes of us all. But they were too evidently anxious, too eagerly
+desirous to handle the greenbacks my bills of exchange represented, to
+fix their minds upon anything else.
+
+Stanley and White went away together, but first each once more told me
+privately that he depended upon me to put in his own hands his share,
+showing how these rogues suspected each other, and, indeed, were full of
+suspicions of every one and every thing. Irving crossed the ferry with
+me, but on the New York side dropped behind, and, although I paid no
+more attention to him, no doubt he followed me. The excitement of
+success and of being at home again banished any possible regrets or
+fears over the course I had entered, and with a light heart and buoyant
+step I quickly made my way to a friend of mine, a well-known broker in
+New street, shook hands with him, and, telling him, very much to his
+surprise, that I had just returned from Europe, asked him to step around
+the corner to the office of the bankers and identify me. In a minute we
+were there. Indorsing the drafts, I told them to make it in
+five-hundreds; they sent out to the bank for them, and I was speedily on
+my way to our rendezvous with 160 $500 greenbacks in a roll, and meeting
+the three at the wineroom I made their eyes grow big when I flashed the
+roll on their delighted orbs. The division was speedily made, I
+retaining $10,000 for my share, and each promptly threw out a thousand,
+and we shook hands all around and parted.
+
+Here were four conspirators of us, and it was comical to see how anxious
+we all were to get away so that each could stow his plunder in a safe
+place. For my part I went home, but I shall say nothing of the meeting
+with the members of my family. I told them I had made a lot of money in
+a speculation, and not knowing the inside history, or suspecting
+anything, they rejoiced with me and were proud and happy for their boy.
+I spent about a thousand dollars making things comfortable for them, but
+to their grief I told them that circumstances required me to take up my
+former quarters at the St. Nicholas.
+
+It would be interesting to tell of my reception among my acquaintances
+on Wall street and other parts of the city. Rumor magnified my
+resources, and it was reported I had cleared a hundred thousand dollars
+in some fortunate deal. It was strange to see the new-found deference
+all around, from my former employers down to my old waiter at downtown
+Delmonico's, where I dined; but I will pass over all these matters and
+proceed with my history of the Primrose Way.
+
+The next few days I went about engaged in the to me very agreeable task
+of paying all my debts. The largest debt I was owing was one of $1,300,
+partly borrowed money and partly a long-standing balance due on a
+speculation negotiated on my account, and which did not pan out, but
+entailed a loss. Then I indulged pretty freely in many little
+extravagances in the way of tailor bills, etc. Two friends struck me for
+a loan, and, strange to say, both remain unpaid to this hour, along with
+some twenty-five years' interest. So, within a fortnight of my landing I
+found my $13,000 reduced quite one-half, and as I was cherishing visions
+of unbounded wealth, I began to feel quite poor, and anxious to see some
+outcome to this "other job" my friends said they had ready for me. It
+was at the very door.
+
+[Illustration: MANSION HOUSE, ILLUMINATED.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+A NINETEENTH CENTURY PRODIGAL.
+
+
+Let no man who may be tempted to commit a crime ever fancy that if he
+takes the first step down hill he will stop until he reaches the bottom.
+If one of my readers flatters himself he can go one step, with no more
+to follow, on the downward road, let such an one read this story to the
+end and then forever abandon such an idea as a fancy born of
+inexperience. For this history is as a handwriting on the wall, full of
+warning to all and every one who may be tempted to take one step in any
+other path than the path of honor.
+
+In 1865 there lived in London a famous Queen's Counsel, Edwin James.
+Fame and fortune were his. A born orator, a talented scholar, he rapidly
+pushed his way from the very bottom of the legal profession to all but
+its topmost height. At 40 he found himself facile princeps of the
+English Bar, and public opinion, that potent factor in popular
+government, had already singled him out for the high position of
+Attorney-General. That secured, only one step remained to place him in
+the seat of the Lord Chancellor. Truly, an imperial position--one that
+satisfied the proud ambition of a Wolsey and fitted the genius of a
+Thomas a Becket. It carries with it the position of keeper of the
+conscience of Her Majesty, giving the possessor precedence in all
+official functions over the English aristocracy, next to royalty itself.
+
+But about this time dark whispers began to fly about through the clubs
+of London. Soon it became known that Edwin James, the Lord Chancellor
+to be, was in the toils, and it shortly transpired that, in spite of the
+fact that his income from his profession was nearer twenty than ten
+thousand pounds per annum, it had proved insufficient and he was heavily
+in debt, and worse.
+
+It would seem he was keeping up what in the polite language of society
+are known as dual houses. A woman of brilliant beauty presided over one,
+and the marvelous beauty of its mistress was only equaled by her
+extravagance. He also had a fondness for associating with younger men
+than himself, and had got into a particularly fast set of young lords
+and army men. At his club he had lost large sums at baccarat and loo,
+and, in an unhappy hour for himself and his, he stooped from his high
+position and--miserable to think of--committed a crime. This, in the
+expectation that he would relieve himself from some of the more crushing
+obligations he had heaped upon himself, either through the extravagant
+vagaries of his imperious mistress, or by his own rashness in trying his
+luck among a lot of titled sharpers. He had among his clients one fast,
+even madly extravagant youth, heir of an historic name and of a lordly
+estate. To supply his extravagance "my lord" had applied to the money
+lenders--those sharks that in London, as elsewhere, fatten on such game.
+These gentry were eager to lend the young blood money upon what are
+known in English law as post-obits, which loans in this particular case
+carried the trifling interest of about 100 per cent. per annum. James
+was cognizant of his friend's excursions among the money lenders, and no
+doubt he thought the young spendthrift, when he came into his fortune,
+would never know within a good many thousands how much he had borrowed,
+nor even the number of post-obits he had given.
+
+I will just explain that a post-obit is a form of note or due bill given
+by the heir of an estate (usually of an entailed estate), which matures
+the moment the drawer of the document enters into that estate. That is
+to say, the tender-hearted son discounts his father's death to provide
+fuel to feed his flame. So Edwin James, driven to his own destruction,
+stooped from his imperial position into what one might call ankle-depth
+of crime.
+
+How little he dreamed there was a beyond--a huge, seething sea of crime;
+an ocean whose billows are of ink, and which would soon sweep him from
+his high place into the black waters, there to be buffeted until, honor
+and hope all gone, he would, throwing his hands to heaven, with one
+despairing cry, sink into its inky depths, adding one more ruined life
+to the millions already engulfed. In that long, sad catalogue of the
+dead there is probably not one, who, when taking the first step into
+crime, ever thought a second would follow the first.
+
+But to come back to our gilded sir. He made out two post-obits for
+L5,000, wrote his client's name at the bottom of each, gave them to the
+money lenders, who, never doubting that the prodigal son had signed and
+given them to his counsel, made no question, but gave James the money
+for them at once. But James had reckoned without his host, for this
+nineteenth century prodigal was made of keener metal than he of the
+first. Strange to say, and utterly unexpected as it was to all who knew
+him and had looked upon his riotous living, he kept his books straight,
+and knew to a single guinea how much and to whom he was owing.
+
+His discovery of the forgery was accelerated by the sudden and most
+unexpected death of his father, his return home and stepping into his
+estate.
+
+The various post-obits were presented and placed before him. He
+instantly pronounced the two for five thousand pounds each to be
+forgeries, and the crime was easily laid at the door of the Queen's
+Counsel. The heir indignantly refused to condone the offense, and,
+revealing the fatal secret to a few, within a month it was known in
+every clubroom in London. From there it got into the newspapers, and
+they, under a thinly disguised alias of a "distinguished member of the
+Bar," gave more or less accurate details of the damning truth. His
+former client eventually said he would not prosecute the forgery if the
+criminal left England; if not, he would immediately go before the Grand
+Jury, procure an indictment, and have this man, who had moved a prince
+among men, arraigned in the dock at the Old Bailey, there to plead and
+stand trial like any common criminal.
+
+And he fled. Of course, like all fugitives from justice throughout the
+Old World, he looked to America for a city of refuge, and here he came.
+Not to keep my readers too long from the main narrative, it will suffice
+to say that soon after his arrival he applied for admission to the Bar
+of New York, but first he won to his cause the high-souled Richard
+O'Gorman, then a leader of his profession.
+
+It was for Edwin James a lucky stroke, for at this time O'Gorman was in
+full possession of his magnificent powers. Few could resist his magic.
+His great heart was stirred, and he took up the cause of his friend as
+if he had been his brother. The English lawyer's reputation was known to
+every member of the Bar of New York, and there had been and still was a
+bitter opposition to his admission; but when it became known that their
+eloquent leader was his champion, many began to feel that after all "the
+poor fellow ought to be given another chance," and when at the next
+meeting of the Bar Association O'Gorman in a set oration brought all his
+splendid eloquence into play the cause was won.
+
+Great-hearted O'Gorman had helped this lame dog over the stile, but the
+dog's heart was not in the right place, and, as my reader will see in
+the sequel, he soon went lame again. * * *
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the rear room of a somewhat luxurious range of offices in a building
+on Broadway, facing the City Hall, four men were engaged in discussing
+what was evidently an exciting topic. The door of the main office bore
+the sign "Edwin James, Counselor-at-Law and Register in Bankruptcy." He
+was one of the four. He had failed lamentably in his efforts to secure a
+practice. The effects of O'Gorman's eloquence had in the gray light of
+commonplace day faded away, the more so when the ideal his magic had
+created in the minds of men was in hourly contrast with the man himself
+and his history. His professional brethren looked upon him with
+suspicion, and there was a general impression abroad that his escapades
+were not over yet.
+
+He had launched out in his office and home somewhat extravagantly, and
+now, once again pressed by clamorous creditors, he had once more drifted
+upon the borderlands of crime, and was here with his companions planning
+a criminal transaction in order to pay his more pressing debts.
+
+One of these four was Brea, who, with a keen eye to business, had
+married the discarded daughter of a wealthy but not over-respectable New
+York family, and he had, unsuspected, pulled the wires so that James had
+been employed as the family lawyer, and in that capacity had drawn the
+will of the mother. She was an imperious, hot-tempered body, one who,
+when aroused, was accustomed to use language more vigorous than polite,
+and who not infrequently went to fisticuffs with her daughters. The
+husband and father, the creator of the fortune, was dead and the vast
+family property, in securities, stocks and lands, was vested absolutely
+in the mother. In the old lady's will Brea's wife, the second daughter
+of the house (there were no sons), was down in the very first paragraph
+for the magnificent sum of "one dollar lawful currency," and her name
+nowhere else appeared in the lengthy document. The old lady was such a
+termagant and so implacable in her hatreds that it was a moral certainty
+she would never relent and change her purpose toward her daughter. But
+James had also drawn up a second will of his own and Brea's
+concoction, and a precious piece of villainy it was, in which the wife
+was down for legacies amounting; to $750,000. The genuine will James
+kept in his own possession, ready to destroy the very moment word came
+that the old lady was an immortal, while the spurious will was kept in
+the vaults of the Safety Deposit Company, there to remain until the
+death of the testatrix, when, of course, it would in due time be
+produced.
+
+[Illustration: BANK OF ENGLAND PARLOR.]
+
+Brea had been introduced to the other three men, and cultivated their
+acquaintance in the belief that they would some day be useful to him. He
+had a few days before introduced them to James. As a matter of
+precaution he had concealed from them all knowledge of the will. At the
+same time he gave them a hint that there was something in the wind, but
+that some way must be found to secure at once a few thousands, enough
+for a year or two, until the good time came when fortune was to lavish
+her favors on them all with a liberal hand. But money must be had at
+once, for Brea and James were in sore straits, particularly James, who
+had been threatened with arrest, and was so far involved that he always
+entered and left his house at night in order to escape importunate
+creditors. This was James' second interview with the men, and the first
+time he had been alone with them. He saw at once that he had to do with
+able, clear-headed men, took them into his confidence, and, in order to
+excite their hopes and to bind them to him as well, he confided to them
+the plot of the forged will, producing the genuine for their inspection.
+He assured them that it was a sure and speedy fortune, as the lady was
+old and frail in health, and he also promised they should share between
+them $100,000, provided they would stand by to give a hand in the
+somewhat improbable event of the other heirs disputing the will, but
+above all, if they would devise some means to furnish him at once
+$10,000, or at least $5,000. Money he must have, and he could no longer
+do without it.
+
+The result of our conference in James' office was that the very next day
+an office downtown was engaged under a fictitious name, and a simple,
+unsuspicious fellow hired as porter and messenger. After some little
+negotiation, we obtained particulars of parties banking with the then
+great firm of Jay Cooke & Company, corner of Wall and Nassau streets.
+Briefly told, the result was that four days later a messenger walked
+into their banking house with a check for $20,000, purporting to be
+signed by another firm, who banked with them. Along with the check went
+a letter bearing a signature well known to the cashier, asking him to
+pay the check to bearer. The result of all being that five minutes
+thereafter we were walking unconcernedly up Broadway, and sending a
+message to James to meet us at Delmonico's, corner of Broadway and
+Chambers street, we sat down awaiting his arrival. He had anxiously been
+looking for news, and almost before we had seated ourselves he entered,
+eager and anxious-looking; but, when he glanced at our faces, a happy
+expression came over his own, and without a word he put out his hand.
+After a warm greeting, I produced the roll, and, to his delight, I
+handed over to James ten five hundreds. On the morrow I went to the
+office, and, paying my messenger a week's wages, besides making a small
+gift, told him he need not come any more.
+
+With this twenty thousand coup we fondly thought all our troubles and
+all our unlawful acts were ended. We now had a few thousands, sufficient
+to last until the $5,000 we had invested in the will case should bring
+in a dividend that would mean a fortune for us all. So we took things
+easy about town, and altogether thought ourselves pretty good fellows,
+and this world a very good sort of place to be in.
+
+Thus the Winter passed by and the Summer was at hand. Our thousands of
+the year before had dwindled to hundreds, and the old lady whose heirs
+we had constituted ourselves seemed to have renewed her youth, and
+threatened to outlive us all.
+
+Besides this there had grown up a repugnance in our minds to the
+business, and when one day my friend Mac remarked it was a scoundrelly
+business to rob the heirs of an estate, and they women, George and I
+heartily acquiesced; and we vowed we would take no part in the matter,
+and then and there resolved we would throw both James and Brea over, but
+first to use Brea and James for our own purposes. Once more we found
+ourselves planning a coup in Wall street. Talking the matter over, we
+three soon had a plan, and, being dowered with intense energy, it
+promised a successful termination. Audaciously enough we determined the
+lightning should strike once more in the same place--that is, to make
+Jay Cooke & Company again the victims. Irving and his honest fellows
+were to co-operate by watching everything, and, if any arrest
+threatened, to be on hand to make it themselves; and then let the
+prisoner escape. Most important of all, when the bankers drove up in hot
+haste to Police Headquarters to give information, James, Honest James,
+would be on hand to receive them, would call in his two trustys to get
+with him full particulars of the robbery and a description of the men.
+Then the bankers would be sent away with assurances that "we know the
+men and will have them," but at the same time warning them to keep the
+matter a secret in order better to enable them to catch the villains.
+
+If successful, the detectives were to receive 25 per cent. between them.
+Our plan required James to play an important part, and, although no
+confederacy could be fixed on him, yet he would hardly escape
+questioning and a very considerable degree of suspicion, so much so that
+it probably would put an end to any lingering remnants of character he
+had on hand or in stock. But he was tired of America, and determined to
+go to Paris with his share of the plunder. Our visits to James had
+always been in his private office, and his clerks had never seen either
+of us or Brea.
+
+Our plan was to make use of James' office in a way that will appear
+later. As related, he was suspected by his profession, but the general
+public thought him a very great man. He had appeared as (volunteer)
+counsel in two or three murder cases and had delivered powerful
+addresses which had attracted considerable notice in the papers.
+
+One day, soon after our plan was matured, Brea went to Philadelphia,
+and, by a mixture of audacity and finesse, procured from Jay Cooke
+himself (the parent house of the New York firm of Jay Cooke & Co. was in
+Philadelphia) a letter of introduction to the manager of the New York
+firm. He wanted the letter ostensibly in order to consult the manager
+about certain investments which he, as executor of an estate, desired to
+make for his wards.
+
+The transaction was made to appear as one of considerable magnitude, in
+which there would be large commissions paid. With the grand send-off of
+a letter from Jay Cooke to his subordinate in New York, the speculation
+opened well--so well that we at once decided what we would do with the
+money when we got it--a case in point for the old proverb. We had
+ascertained the name of a Newark manufacturer who had recently failed in
+business. I will call him Newman. On the morning after his return from
+Philadelphia, Brea presented himself at James' office--it being arranged
+that James himself be out, so Brea told the clerk that his name was
+Newman, that he had lately failed in business, and intended to employ
+Mr. James to put him through the bankruptcy court. The clerk told him to
+come again at 12, and he would find Mr. James in. At 12 he came; the
+clerk introduced him. James kept the clerk conveniently near, that he
+could hear the conversation. Brea, as Newman, told James he had used in
+his business $240,000 belonging to his wife and her mother, and that in
+scheduling his assets he proposed to use enough to make those amounts
+good, intending to conceal the fact from his creditors. He determined to
+invest the amount in bonds--so ran his story--and was going to deposit
+the money in the bank that very afternoon, at the same time producing
+his letter of introduction from Jay Cooke. All of this, of course, being
+for the eye and ear of the clerk, who might be required as a witness of
+his employer's good faith.
+
+[Illustration: "MAC AND GEORGE WERE WITHOUT, AND WERE STRICKEN WITH
+CONSTERNATION, FOR A MINUTE'S OBSERVATION OF THE GATHERING CROWD AND THE
+RUSHING INTO THE BANK OF EXCITED PEOPLE CONVINCED THEM SOMETHING UNUSUAL
+WAS IN THE WIND, AND THEY KNEW NOYES MUST BE IN DEADLY PERIL. MAC RUSHED
+INTO THE BANK IN HOPE "TO WARN OR TO BE OF HELP."--Page 236.]
+
+Brea-Newman also paid James, in presence of the clerk, a retaining fee
+of $250, which was privately returned. James banked in Jersey City, and
+when Newman said, "Introduce me at your bank, as I want a small credit
+handy," James said, "My bank is in Jersey City." The clerk's brother was
+paying teller at the Chemical Bank, and, as was expected, he at once
+spoke up, saying: "Let me introduce Mr. Newman in the Chemical Bank," so
+down went Newman and the clerk, and in ten minutes our man had the
+Chemical Bank checkbook in his pocket and $5,000 to his credit in the
+bank. The same afternoon he presented his letter of introduction at Jay
+Cooke & Co.'s, and was cordially received. He, of course, told a totally
+different story there. In this case a relative, lately deceased, had
+left him an estate of great value. He was, he said, realizing on his
+real estate, and buying bonds as fast as his money came in, and he
+wanted to invest a million in various railway bonds. At present he had
+$240,000 on hand, which he wanted to invest in Government bonds. He then
+left for the time being, leaving a good impression, which his refined
+manner and appearance confirmed.
+
+So far all was well; that is, all was well from our point of view. The
+next two or three days Brea paid several visits to the Chemical Bank,
+getting small checks for $500 and $1,000 certified, and now had his
+account drawn down to $1,000. The day before he had called on Jay Cooke
+& Co. and told them he would take $240,000 in seven thirties, "Bearer"
+bonds, and that he would call the next day and pay for them. At the
+same time he got them to give him a proforma bill for them.
+
+The eventful day had come, and James, to get his head clerk out of the
+way, sent him to the Admiralty Court to take notes of the evidence in a
+case going on there.
+
+At 10 o'clock Brea sent a messenger with a note to the bankers,
+requesting them to send the bonds to Edwin James' office, and he would
+pay for them on delivery. He could not come himself, as he was in
+consultation with the executors of the estate.
+
+In the mean time a check for the full value of the bonds, $240,000, had
+been made out. It was drawn on the Chemical Bank, and was, in fact,
+similar to those always given between bankers on bond transactions.
+
+Brea had drawn his own check for $240, and had it in his hatband with
+the $240,000 dummy check. The plan is palpable enough. When the
+messenger brought the bonds Brea, or Newman, was going to say: "All
+right, I have the check here; bring the bonds and we will go to the
+Chemical Bank and get them to certify my check." Then when at the bank
+he would take out both checks, letting the messenger only get a glimpse
+of one, and that would be the small $240 one, which Brea would pass in
+through the window with a request to have it certified. This would be
+done, and when handed out, of course, Brea was to change it and hand the
+messenger the big one of home manufacture.
+
+It seemed impossible for the scheme to fail, and success in it meant on
+the surface comparative wealth for us all, with, perhaps, in the not
+distant future an entrance through the McAllister-guarded portals of the
+Four Hundred.
+
+But here we have a vivid instance of how easily an elaborate scheme can
+by the merest accident fall to pieces.
+
+The night before the expected coup we met James for a final full-dress
+rehearsal for the morrow, and after everything was settled adjourned to
+the uptown Delmonico's for supper. It so happened that Detective George
+Elder was there. This Elder was a bright fellow, was in a ring--but not
+in our ring--and, of course, had his bank account, diamond pin and
+turnout for the road. He had had some acquaintance with me, but the rest
+of the party were strangers. I did not see him at the time, but it would
+seem he was curious, even suspicious, from some scraps of conversation
+he overheard. However, neither his curiosity nor suspicion would have
+been of any consequence or concern to us had it not been that, in going
+out, Brea left on the table with some papers the memorandum or pro forma
+bill of the bonds given him the day before by the bankers. Strangely
+enough, the body of the bill alone was intact. The heading bearing the
+name of the firm and purchaser had been torn off and destroyed.
+
+Elder picked it up and, having some vague suspicions of a plot
+somewhere, he determined to go around among the hundred or more bankers
+and brokers in and around Wall street and investigate quietly, without
+making any report to his superiors, his immediate superior being, of
+course, our honest friend, the worthy chief of the detective force, who
+was anxiously looking for his percentage of the deal. The whole force
+was split up into cliques, each intensely jealous of every other, each
+with its own stamping grounds, and each strictly protected his own
+preserves.
+
+At 9:30 the next morning Elder started around carrying the fragment of
+the memorandum he had picked up from bank to bank and from one broker to
+the other. He had spent over an hour making inquiries, and walked into
+Jay Cooke & Co.'s office just as the messenger was leaving with the
+bonds for James' office. Fifteen minutes more and the game was ours!
+Elder produced the memorandum, and they at once recognized it as their
+own. Elder asked them if they knew their man and were sure it was all
+right. They said it was perfectly right, that Mr. "Newman" had been
+introduced by the head of the firm in Philadelphia, and was also a
+client of Edwin James; but then it was strange the bill should be
+mutilated. Elder averred his belief that a fraud was intended, and
+suggested that he and the manager should accompany the messenger with
+the bonds. This alarmed the manager, and he directed Elder and the
+messenger to await his return. Seizing his hat, he started for James'
+office to investigate. James was there, and Brea (the pseudo Newman) was
+in the private office with the two checks ready, anxiously awaiting the
+arrival of the messenger with the bonds.
+
+Myself and all the other members of our party were nearby, watching and
+awaiting developments. The manager, considerably perturbed, entered the
+office, and James saw at once the business was a failure, for he knew,
+of course, that any suspicion as to good faith would be fatal to the
+success of the plot. Brea, hearing the voices and supposing it was the
+messenger with the bonds, opened the door of the private office and was
+vexed to see the manager, who, shaking him by the hand, told him the
+bonds would arrive soon, at the same time saying: "I suppose you will
+pay currency for the bonds?" To which Brea replied: "I will go to my
+bank with you now and get my check certified for the amount and give it
+to you, or leave it until the messenger comes with the bonds."
+
+This offer, along with Brea's coolness, apparently disarmed all
+suspicions, and he said: "Oh, all right, the messenger will go to the
+bank with you." He left the office, but stopped in the hall for a
+moment, then turned and hastily re-entering, said: "By the way, Mr.
+Newman, please draw the currency from the bank, and pay the notes to the
+messenger upon delivery of the bonds."
+
+So the grand coup had failed, ignominiously failed, and through what
+appeared a trivial accident. More such "accidents" at critical periods
+will appear before this history is ended.
+
+The dummy check was still in our hands, and was at once destroyed, so,
+with nothing to fear, we coolly walked up Broadway to dinner, and talked
+of the future over a bottle of wine. At last we fixed upon a definite
+plan. Clinking our glasses, we drank to "Eastward, Ho!"
+
+[Illustration: MERCHANTS EXCHANGE, ILLUMINATED.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+"CRACK THE LAWYER'S VOICE THAT HE MAY NEVER MORE FALSE TITLES PLEAD, NOR
+SOUND HIS QUILLETS SHRILLY."
+
+
+The Eastward Ho was a hint of a project we had frequently talked over as
+a possible speculation. Here we see how men are led on step by step from
+bad to worse when once they set out on the Primrose Way.
+
+In returning from Europe with the $10,000 commission in my pocket, I
+vowed never again to engage in any unlawful speculation. I was through!
+No criminal life for me! Then came the day when we struck for the
+$20,000 and won, and we were all happy in the thought that our last
+unlawful deed was over.
+
+Then we took the third step we had vowed never to take, and had
+discussed the $240,000 project. We had spent money on it, had laid our
+plans cunningly and deep, and were confident of success. We had even
+planned how to invest our thousands in an honest business, and so win
+the esteem of all good men, and, of course, in some happy future would
+make restitution. But that is a future which never comes in the history
+of crime. These three wrong steps had been taken only after convincing
+ourselves that the circumstances justified each separate act.
+
+Such is the contradiction of human nature that even when planning crime
+we not only intended to make restitution, but despised all other
+wrongdoers and reprobated their crimes. Each wrongful act of ours was
+to be the last, and it was with something like despair that we began to
+realize that there was no stopping place on the dangerous road we were
+treading.
+
+My $13,000 commission from the European trip had melted away. Our share
+of the $20,000 got from Jay Cooke & Co. was fast going. Our deep-laid
+plot to win $240,000 had miscarried, and now the necessity was upon us
+of engaging in another illegitimate operation if we would continue in
+our life of ease and luxury.
+
+For the next few days we did little but dine and plan. Discussion
+followed discussion, and through them all we clung to the general
+proposition that we would not do any more in our particular line in
+America. At last we resolved to go to Europe and realize the fortune
+that seemed to elude our grasp at home.
+
+We resolved to tell Irving in a general way that we were going to Europe
+to make some money, and would pay him and his two fellows their
+percentage. Then we could (apparently) work with impunity; for, of
+course, if we committed a forgery in Europe and were recognised as
+Americans--as probably we would be--the foreign police would report the
+case to the New York police--that is, to Irving--and we should be safe
+in New York.
+
+Edwin James and Brea had dropped out of our lives for good, but as my
+readers will be curious to know of their fate in after times, I will
+relate it in this chapter.
+
+The morning our scheme on Jay Cooke & Co. fell to pieces, as soon as the
+manager left the office, telling Brea he was to pay cash for the bonds
+in place of the check, it was recognized at once that the game was up,
+and the only thing remaining was to shield James as much as possible. So
+Brea left the office, but first instructed the clerk to tell the
+messenger when he came that he had gone for the money, and would call
+for the bonds. This was done, the messenger arrived, being accompanied
+by Detective Elder all the time, and took the bonds back again.
+
+At 2 o'clock James went down to the bankers, where he was well known,
+and inquired for Mr. Newman. Being told he was not in, he said he had
+made an appointment to meet him there. Invited into the inner office,
+the manager asked him if he had any personal knowledge of this Mr.
+Newman, and James said no further than that he had called and given him
+a retaining fee of $250, and had engaged him as legal adviser, etc. Then
+the manager produced a telegram he had received in answer to one he had
+sent to the Philadelphia house, inquiring about Newman, and asking if
+his letter of introduction was genuine or not. James read the reply; it
+said the letter was genuine, but that they knew absolutely nothing about
+the man, and warned him to be cautious. James pretended astonishment,
+and feigned to be very indignant, declaring that if Mr. Newman did not
+put in an appearance within half an hour he should begin to fear a fraud
+had been attempted. When the closing hour came at 3 o'clock, the manager
+announced to James that he should give the whole matter to the press,
+but would keep his name out of it.
+
+So they parted with warm congratulations over their escape, the manager
+pretending to believe James was an innocent tool, but no doubt with a
+shrewd suspicion that he intended to have a finger in this pie, had the
+pie ever been baked and divided. Had the bankers been victimized they
+would have striven with all their power to keep the fact a secret and
+forbidden their employees to breathe a word about it to any one. But now
+the case was different. All the morning papers had long accounts of the
+transaction. They were absurdly inaccurate, but all agreed as to the
+extreme cleverness of the manager, and noticed how he had suspected,
+etc., while poor Elder, who both expected and really deserved all the
+glory, was not even mentioned in the newspaper accounts. However, his
+feelings were soon after solaced, as Irving informed us that Elder had
+stood in on a deal that paid him well.
+
+The $5,000 we gave James eased up matters for a time. Practice he had
+none, but managed to hold on in the hope of realizing on the Brea will
+matter, but getting deeper and deeper in debt. One night, four years
+later, the old lady, Brea's mother-in-law, had a more than usually
+furious outbreak of temper, and fell to beating the three daughters
+still living with her. Before it was over she had attacked and seriously
+injured the eldest, and then flew to her room in a passion. Not
+appearing at breakfast the next morning her daughter went to her room,
+but she was not there, and the bed was undisturbed. Going to the room
+that served for office and library, they found the door, as usual,
+locked. Bursting it open the poor old maids found their mother huddled
+in a corner of the room dead.
+
+Truly a happy relief for the daughters. Poor girls, theirs had been a
+hard life. Every suitor who tried to cultivate their acquaintance had
+been driven from the door by the mother, who never spent a dollar on
+their education, and her death found them all unused to the ways of the
+world. The result was that all became victims of fortune-hunters, and
+the unhappy ladies only changed the tyranny of an unnatural mother for
+the tyranny of a husband, who in each case wedded for wealth alone, and
+all three husbands were uncultured men. What an experience! Two of the
+three still live. How sweet the rest of the grave will be to them!
+
+The genuine will was destroyed and the "family lawyer," James,
+immediately after the funeral, produced and read "the last will and
+testament" of the dead woman. The four sisters and a host of poor
+relations were present at the reading. When Sarah, Brea's wife, heard
+her name read as chief heir of the vast estate, she was stunned, but if
+she was stunned, the rest of the family were paralyzed. Legacies were
+left to many, small in amount, save in the case of the other three
+sisters, who were to have a certain tenement and land in Harlem and
+three thousand a year for life out of the estate. None of those present
+thought for a moment of questioning either the genuineness of the will
+or the validity of the testaments, save only a poor relation, a nephew,
+whose name was down for $500. He was indignant with the old lady and
+loudly declared that he would not put up with it. The next day he
+employed a briefless lawyer, one that had wit and brass enough and who
+had his way to make in the world, and was determined to make it.
+
+Without waiting for the will to be probated or having legal authority to
+do so, Brea and his wife, the very day of the funeral, moved into the
+house and took possession. But before the week was out he had persuaded
+the three old maids that they would be happier if away from the scene of
+their parent's death, so he had them installed in their own house at
+Harlem, he remaining in undisturbed possession, waiting only for the
+will to be probated in order to take possession of upward of $200,000 in
+cash and bonds still in the custody of the old lady's bank. He had full
+possession of the house, and with entire confidence waited to be put in
+legal possession of all. But little did he dream that at that moment
+there was one poor torn sheet of foolscap in the library, casually
+thrust in a book, lying completely at his mercy to destroy, if he could
+only have known it, which was going to tear all his wealth from his
+grasp and drive him forth a foiled plotter, to become an adventurer and
+ultimately to perish a miserable outcast.
+
+The executors of the will (the same in the forged will as in the
+genuine) were two simple shopkeepers living near. Eagan was the name of
+the nephew, and to the surprise of the executors his attorney notified
+them he should contest the will on behalf of his client, and warned them
+to dispossess Brea of the house until such time as the law decreed it
+to be his wife's property. The attorney knew the standing of James in
+his profession, and, being capable of pretty sharp practice himself, he,
+by some extraordinary intuition, boldly asserted his belief that the
+will was a forgery. The three sisters declared they would not contest
+the will, and had Brea acted wisely by fixing it up to give the attorney
+a liberal fee, and Eagan a paltry thousand dollars, it would have ended
+there. But, feeling perfectly secure, no doubt he thought an appearance
+of firmness would strengthen his position still more, and he was so rash
+as to denounce the attorney as a shyster and blackmailer.
+
+The attorney's blood was up; he frightened the sisters into supporting
+him in disputing the will, and had Brea and his wife ousted from the
+house and the sisters reinstalled. Brea then attempted negotiations with
+the attorney. Cautious as he was, he said enough to convince the lawyer
+that for some reason he did not want the case to come before the courts;
+still the attorney was half inclined to join hands with Brea. In the
+mean time Ezra (this was the name of the man of law) had acquired great
+power over the sisters, and they all looked to him both as champion and
+protector. He resolved to be protector to one, at least, paying
+assiduous court to Jane, the youngest. Although past 30 and without
+education or accomplishments, she was warm-hearted and extremely
+sentimental, and a thrill went through her tender heart when it became
+evident that Ezra's attention pointed at her. She quickly made him a
+hero, and invested the thin-shanked, narrow-chested, waspish attorney
+with a thousand tender attributes, and when, after one month's
+acquaintance, she found herself alone with him in the poky little parlor
+and he asking her to be his wife, her woman's heart overflowed, and
+telling him she had loved him from the first hour they met she threw
+herself into his arms, crying she was the happiest and most favored
+woman in the world. In the midst of the happy lovers' talk she ran to
+the shelf, took down a book, and, opening it, revealed a soiled sheet
+of paper and asked her lover what it was. His love had given him a gift,
+indeed. His trained eye recognized it at once as a draft of a new will,
+in the handwriting of the deceased mother, and dated the very night of
+her death. It was a rough draft, but across the bottom was drawn the
+bold, masculine signature of the old lady. There were no signatures of
+witnesses, but Ezra was lawyer enough to know it would stand and that it
+revoked all previous wills. Calling in the two elder sisters he read the
+will to their amazed ears, and then and there wrote out a full statement
+as to the circumstance under which it was found. All four attached their
+signatures to the document, and when Ezra kissed his love a tender good
+night and went home, he hardly felt the paving stones under his feet,
+for he had carefully tucked away in the inside pocket of his vest, just
+over his heart, the little soiled piece of paper which told him in
+unmistakable terms that his fortune was made, and the wedding ceremony
+once over, that it was beyond all chance of change.
+
+It would seem that the old lady, after her quarrel with her daughters,
+went to the library in a rage and made the draft of a new will. The
+chief change in it, as compared with the old genuine will which the
+conspirators had destroyed, was that it was more favorable to Jane,
+Ezra's wife to be. But what gave Ezra the greatest satisfaction was the
+fact that Brea's wife was down by name in the new will for one dollar
+lawful currency. The will was promptly filed and probated. Ezra gave
+bonds and was appointed one of the executors, and he had what to him was
+the immense satisfaction of denouncing Brea to his face as a forger and
+villain.
+
+Before the discovery of the new will, while it was believed that Mrs.
+Brea was an heiress and her credit good, she and her husband had made
+use of the fact, and had incurred debts to a large amount. Brea got his
+wife to indorse his note for $10,000, and he borrowed that sum from the
+bankers, but as soon as the true state of the case was known, his
+creditors became clamorous and had him arrested on civil suits. Unable
+to give bonds, he was locked up in Ludlow Street Jail, and there he
+remained six months, until, acting upon Ezra's advice, the sisters
+agreed to pay all his debts and give him and his wife $1,000 each if
+they would live west of Chicago. This they were forced to accept, and
+went to Montana. Brea opened a saloon at Butte City, but he never
+recovered his spirits again. He became his own best customer, and that,
+of course, meant ruin, but what, after all, killed him was the knowledge
+that he had been for more than a score of days in full possession of
+that old house and had spent scores of hours alone in the old library,
+and yet had not discovered and destroyed the new will lying there at his
+mercy.
+
+The Sheriff soon sold out his saloon, while his wife eloped with his
+best friend. Ruined in pocket, health and character, poor old Brea was
+left bare to every storm that blew. One morning, as the sun was rising
+over the town, surprising half a dozen belated gamblers in Ned Wright's
+saloon as they were getting up to leave, they found lying across the
+threshold the body of a man, ragged, emaciated, forlorn. It was Brea.
+
+As soon as James had read the will he insisted upon having $5,000 from
+Brea at once, and he got the money. But when that thunderbolt of the new
+will fell on the two men, James sadly recognized that fortune and he
+would shake hands no more, so far as this world is concerned, and he
+resolved to chance returning to London before the whole of the $5,000 he
+had from Brea was gone. To London he went; he lived a few years in
+extreme poverty, driven to all manner of miserable shifts, and at last
+died. This man died who ought to have been buried in Westminster Abbey,
+so adding one more brilliant name to the long line of illustrious Lord
+Chancellors from Thomas a Becket and Cardinal Wolsey down; but he,
+hating his own soul, took the first step in wrongdoing, and, instead of
+resting in the mighty Abbey and bequeathing his dust as a precious
+legacy to succeeding generations, perished forlorn and alone, and was
+buried in a pauper's grave.
+
+[Illustration: GARRAWAY'S.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+RESTEZ ICI, MES ENFANTS.
+
+
+We all landed in Liverpool in the highest spirits, and at once took the
+train for London, enjoying the novelty of everything.
+
+It was settled that George should pursue the venture alone in France,
+while I should go with Mac to Germany to act as his second there. To
+keep entirely clear myself, but at the same time to watch everything, to
+exchange the German notes he obtained and to be ready to help if any one
+should attempt to detain him.
+
+Therefore, after completing certain preparations which required skill
+and considerable business knowledge, we departed to execute this new
+and, of course, last shuffle for fortune.
+
+We had selected Berlin, Munich, Leipsic and Frankfort as the scenes of
+our operations in Germany. In France we sought to operate in Bordeaux,
+Marseilles and Lyons. At 8 p.m. Saturday we all crossed to Calais
+together, where George said good-bye, and, leaving us to take the train
+eastward to Berlin, he started west to Bordeaux. We were not to meet
+again until after our hurried rush through the Continent and our return
+to London with the proceeds. Before I give an account of Mac's adventure
+and my own for the next three days I will here give George's narrative
+in his own language, as related to us when we all met again in London:
+
+After saying good-bye to you I arrived in Paris in due time, and
+sauntered about for two hours until the train left for Bordeaux, where I
+arrived at 8 o'clock Monday morning, and went at once to the Hotel
+d'Orient, and after a bath and breakfast repaired to the bankers. As
+soon as I presented my letters of introduction they received me with the
+greatest consideration, lavishing every attention upon me, inviting me
+to dinner and to a drive through the city afterward. I thanked them, and
+explained that I was obliged to decline, as my agent was waiting for me
+at Bayonne, where I had purchased some real estate, and, having been
+recommended to their firm, I should feel obliged if they would cash my
+draft for L2,000 and indorse it on my letter of credit. The manager
+replied that it was the custom of the French bankers to require
+twenty-four hours' notice before drawing a check, and asked me if the
+next day would not answer. "We shall be happy to assist you," said he,
+"in passing the time pleasantly." This was a new custom to me, but I
+answered instantly, expressing regret that the nature of my business
+precluded delay, it being necessary that I should reach Bayonne that
+night. "I suppose," continued I, "that your bankers will not mind your
+checking out a small sum without the usual notice. However, if it
+occasions any embarrassment or inconvenience, I can easily procure the
+money elsewhere." One of the partners replied that their bank would
+without doubt honor their check, and the matter should be attended to at
+once. I sat down for a half hour, conversing on a variety of topics. Of
+course, this was a most trying period to me; the least show of haste or
+anxiety might have betrayed me to those lynx-eyed, experienced men of
+business. In the midst of our conversation an undercurrent of thought
+kept running through my mind thus: "Who knows but they have sent a
+dispatch to the Union Bank of London, merely as a matter of business
+precaution, and that they are delaying me to get a reply? In that case I
+shall have a good opportunity to learn the pure French accent while
+passing my days in the Bagnio at Toulon." At last, however, the amount
+was paid over to me in French bank notes. I deliberately counted them
+and took leave, lighter in mind and heavier in purse by 50,000 francs.
+
+[Illustration: THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR SIDNEY WATERLOW, Lord Mayor of
+London in 1873, in official costume.]
+
+I had arranged that I would send all the money I obtained to the Queen's
+Hotel, London, by post at the earliest possible moment after receiving
+it, that in the event of any accident to myself the money should be
+safe.
+
+After receiving the money I inclosed it in a large envelope, addressing
+it to the hotel in London. I also wrote on the envelope: "Echantillons
+de papier" (i. e., samples of paper), after which I threw it into the
+postoffice.
+
+As I wished to reduce the risk as much as possible (the train for
+Marseilles not leaving for three hours), I took a carriage and told the
+driver to take me toward the next station on the way to that city. After
+we were fairly out in the country I got outside and sat with the driver,
+chatting with him about the country we were driving through, arriving in
+the village about half an hour before the train from Bordeaux was due. I
+dismissed my driver at a small village cabaret (tavern), walked to the
+station, got aboard the train, and early the next morning was in
+Marseilles. I breakfasted at the Hotel d'Europe, and looked over the
+papers to see if the Bordeaux fraud had been discovered. As I could see
+no indication of it, about 10 a.m. I took a carriage and went to call on
+Messrs. Brune & Co.
+
+On making myself known I was, as usual, received with the utmost
+courtesy, began to talk business, and one of the firm got into my
+carriage and rode with me to his bank to effect the sale of my draft on
+London for the sum of L2,500. Arriving at the bank I took a seat in the
+front office, while Mr. Brune went into the manager's room to introduce
+the transaction; the clerks eyed me, as I thought, suspiciously, but
+doubtless only curiously, because they perceived I was a foreigner.
+Another thing which I noticed sent a shiver through me. After Mr. Brune
+had been a few minutes in the manager's room, the bank porter stepped to
+the outer door, closed and locked it. It being but 12 o'clock, I
+imagined the precautionary measure must be due to my presence. "The
+Bordeaux affair is discovered and has been telegraphed all over France,"
+was my first thought; "all is over with me. I am a candidate for a
+French prison, sure."
+
+These and a thousand other thoughts flashed through my mind during the
+quarter of an hour preceding Mr. Brune's reappearance with his hands
+full of bank notes. I could hardly believe my eyes. I had suppressed all
+signs of the internal hurricane which raged during those prolonged
+moments of suspense.
+
+Now the revulsion of feeling was so great that I nearly fainted.
+However, by a mental effort, I recovered my self-possession and
+effectually masked all inward convulsions.
+
+Mr. Brune placed in my hands 62,000 francs, in notes of the Bank of
+France, and we then descended to the carriage and drove to my hotel,
+where we parted. I paid my bill, and at once made preparations to start
+for Lyons, which was to be the next and last scene of my operations in
+France.
+
+As my train did not leave for three hours, I got into a carriage at some
+distance from the hotel and was driven toward the next station, located
+on the beautiful bay a few miles from Marseilles.
+
+After driving along the shore of the bay for some miles I remember we
+met two women, dressed in the quaint costume common to that part of the
+country, each carrying a basket of eggs. I stopped the carriage and
+endeavored to enter into conversation with the pair, but could not
+understand a word of their patois. I then took a couple of eggs, handed
+out a silver franc piece, and drove on, leaving two astonished women
+standing in the road, gazing alternately at the piece of money and at
+the back of my carriage. Arriving at the station I found it would be an
+hour and a half to train time, and driving to a hotel on the shore I
+ordered dinner to be served in the upper room of a two-story tower
+overlooking the bay, with Marseilles in the distance. After dining I
+strolled along the beach, looking at some queer fish not found north of
+the Mediterranean, their colors vying in brilliancy with the plumage of
+tropical birds. Returning to the station I took a ticket for Lyons,
+stopping off at Arles about sunset, as I wished to see the amphitheatre
+and other relics of the Roman occupation.
+
+I remained in Arles till midnight, then took the train, arriving in
+Lyons at 9 the next morning. Repairing to the Hotel de Lyons I had
+breakfast, and on looking over the papers became satisfied that as yet
+no discovery had been made. Therefore, I resolved to carry out my third
+and last financial enterprise and then return to London with all speed.
+
+I called a carriage and drove at once to the establishment of Messrs.
+Coudert & Co. I sat near the desk, conversing with the head of the firm,
+and opened a dispatch I sent from Arles, and, after reading, handed it
+to him, saying: "I see that I shall have use for 60,000 francs, and must
+ask you to cash a draft on my letter of credit for that amount." He
+immediately stepped to the safe, took out a bundle of 1,000 franc notes,
+and counting out sixty, gave them to me.
+
+As it was almost certain that the Bordeaux fraud would soon be
+discovered, I determined, now that my risky work was completed, to
+attempt an immediate escape from France by way of Paris and Calais. I
+did not, therefore, take the train direct from Lyons to Paris, but
+engaged a carriage and drove back to a junction toward Marseilles. Here
+I took a train which intersects further to the northward with another
+road leading through Lyons to Paris. After going the roundabout route
+above described, I was back at the Lyons station at 9 p.m. in a train
+bound for Paris, where I arrived without further incident.
+
+The next morning (Sunday) as I left the railway station I thought
+detectives were watching me, but, in all probability, it was only the
+imagination of a guilty conscience. I was then wearing a full beard, and
+as a precautionary measure I, that morning, had all shaved off save the
+mustache. Not daring to leave Paris on the through express, which
+started at 3 o'clock p.m., nor to purchase a ticket to either Calais or
+London direct, I went to the station and took the noon accommodation
+train, which went no further toward Calais than Arras, a town some
+thirty miles from Paris. I arrived there about 1 p.m.
+
+As it would be a couple of hours before the express train was due, I
+went to a small hotel and ordered dinner. To while away the time I took
+a stroll through the main street, where were many mothers and nurses
+with children, nice black-eyed French babies. As I was always a devoted
+lover of children and other small creatures, I stepped into a shop and
+bought a package of confectionery, which I distributed among the little
+ones and their smiling nurses, receiving therefor, almost invariably,
+the grateful exclamation, "Merci, Monsieur!" I gave some to children 8
+and 10 years old, a crowd of whom soon gathered about me. Perceiving
+that I was attracting too much attention, it was clear that I must get
+rid of my young friends as soon as possible, or the police might also be
+attracted, and their presence would lead to unpleasant results in case
+the frauds had been discovered and inquiry was being made for an
+Englishman. Purchasing a second supply of candies I hastily gave them
+out, and with a "Restez ici, mes enfants," I passed through them and
+continued my walk up the street. Quite a number followed at a
+respectable distance, and I was cogitating how to double on them when I
+came to the gateway of the town cemetery, through which I hastily
+entered. The children remained outside and watched me as I walked up the
+slope and disappeared. At the rear of the cemetery I observed an old
+man at work in the adjoining field. I climbed upon the stone wall, which
+instantly crumbled away, and I was landed on the old Frenchman's domain
+without leave, amidst a pile of stones. Startled by the racket, he
+looked up from his digging, and, seeing a stranger uprising from the
+ruins of the fence, began consigning him to "le diable," with a volley
+of vigorous French expletives delivered in peasant patois. I listened to
+him, much amused for a moment, and then held up a five-franc piece. As
+soon as he beheld it a wondrous change came over him. He eagerly seized
+the silver and straightway showed me to a lane which led almost directly
+to the railway station. I purchased a ticket for Calais and took the
+Sunday afternoon express, and here I am.
+
+[Illustration: OLD EDINBURGH STREET.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+WE TALK OF THE STARS AND DO THE OTHER THING.
+
+
+After we saw George off to Paris on the train Mac and I walked up and
+down the platform outside of the station, star-gazing. Mac, with his
+brilliant scholarship, elegant speech, logical force and fiery
+enthusiasm, made a most fascinating companion.
+
+The study of mankind is man, the old proverb says, but like many other
+proverbs there is a full measure of unreality in it. It takes a good
+amount of arrogance and conceit for one to fancy he is going to study
+and understand men. No man can understand himself, and by no amount of
+experience or study will he ever come to understand that subtle thing he
+calls his mind or understand the motives that sway him.
+
+I only wish one of those scientists who amuse themselves by pretending
+to study and understand human minds and motives could have sat in Mac's
+brain that night, have thought his thoughts and heard his speech, while
+remaining ignorant of our history and mission. Mac's mind was a
+storehouse of erudition, his memory a picture gallery, whose chambers
+were gilded and decorated with many a glowing canvas. As a child he was
+familiar with the Bible, the Old Testament particularly, and, improbable
+as it seems, was still a diligent student of Holy Writ. His mind was
+completely saturated with Bible imagery, yet there we were with our
+pockets full of forged documents walking up and down that platform
+star-gazing, while he talked with intelligent enthusiasm of those silver
+flowers in the darkened sky, of stellar space, how in its infinity it
+proved the presence of Deity. That with him there was no great and no
+little. That a thought sweeping across the God-given mind of an infant
+was as wonderful and as much an evidence of power as the millioned arch
+of radiant suns in the milky way. While speeding through Belgium on our
+way to the Rhine, he continued until the sun shone upon the horizon. It
+was something to stir one's enthusiasm to see his sublime faith in the
+mighty destiny of man, and to listen to him tell of the dignity and
+grace of every human soul and his sure faith that all would be garnered
+in the mighty plains of heaven, and he meant and felt it all; yes, meant
+all he said, believed all he said, believed that he himself was a potent
+factor in the Divine economy, and, furthermore, believed it behooved
+every man to do all things, to be all things good and true, yet on this
+Sunday morning we were fast speeding to the scene of our contemplated
+schemes, and with light hearts looked forward to a speedy return to
+London, fairly well laden with plunder.
+
+We talked the whole night through, or rather Mac talked and I listened,
+and it was a treat to be a listener, he being the speaker.
+
+A period was put to his oration by the train stopping at Luxemburg, we
+being summoned to breakfast.
+
+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.
+In order to have my anxiety shortened by even a half minute we had
+arranged that when he came out if he had the money he was to stroke his
+beard as a signal. If it was all right, but delayed, he was to put his
+handkerchief to his face, but if everything was wrong he was to clasp
+his hands across his breast for a moment.
+
+[Illustration: "BOYS, THAT IS THE SOFTEST MARK IN THE WORLD."--Page
+145.]
+
+In that event I was to keep a lookout to see if he was followed; if so,
+I was to give him a signal, when he would go straight to his hotel--in
+passing through would dispose of his tall hat, and put on the soft hat
+he had in his pocket--then pass out the back entrance and hasten to a
+certain hat shop, where I would meet him, and take a cab to a little
+town six miles away, called Juterbock, where all trains going south,
+west and east stopped. While driving out, we would settle on some plan;
+but this emergency did not arise. I had stationed myself in a little
+shop across the street, and from that vantage ground was watching for
+Mac's reappearance, and just as I had settled myself for a weary watch
+out he came, smiling and stroking his beard. A moment's glance satisfied
+me he was not followed. I hastened after, and, coming up with him as he
+turned the corner, he merely said 2,600 pounds ($13,000). It seemed too
+good to be true, and I said: "I don't believe you." He replied: "It is
+all right, my boy; here it is," at the same time thrusting a big package
+containing gulden notes into my hand. We instantly separated, I
+hastening to different but near-by brokers' offices, buying for nearly
+the full amount French bank notes and gold. We went straight to the
+hatter's and bought one of those broad-brimmed German student hats,
+which, when he had placed it on his head, put on a pair of spectacles
+and parted his flowing beard in the middle, made such a transformation
+in his appearance that I myself would have passed him unrecognized. In
+the mean time I had picked out a cabdriver, a stupid-looking,
+conservative-appearing old fellow, and engaged him to drive "mich und
+meinen freund nach Juterbock." So we entered the cab, an open one-horse
+affair, and started for that town. Our next objective point was Munich,
+but as the train did not leave until noon we preferred to spend the time
+in a pleasant drive, and at the same time make assurance of our escape
+doubly sure. Around Berlin the country is flat and uninteresting. Our
+driver was a crabbed old fellow, but we managed to extract some
+amusement out of him.
+
+What pleased us greatly was to see him from time to time take out from
+under his seat a loaf of black bread and cut off a slice for himself and
+one for his horse, and then, seeing we were in no hurry, he would get
+down, and, walking beside the horse, would feed him and himself at the
+same time. When we arrived at Juterbock we had an hour to spare, so we
+drove to an inn, and ordering a bottle of Hochheimer for ourselves and
+beer and pretzels for our driver, we passed the time pleasantly. In the
+mean time we had touched a match to the letter of credit, and at train
+time we went by separate routes to the depot. Each purchased his own
+ticket; to Nuremberg mine was, his to some near-by city, and at 12.30 we
+boarded the train and were off for Munich and more profit there on the
+morrow.
+
+Late at night we arrived, and after locating the bank we went to a
+theatre, where a variety show was going on, and found the performances
+good; quite up, in fact, to similar exhibitions here. When the house
+closed we separated for the night, each going to a different hotel. Our
+plan was to secure all the cash we could in Munich in time to take a
+train that left for Leipsic a little before 10 o'clock, arriving there
+soon after 1, in time to visit the Leipsic bank the same day; then
+leaving the city that night we would be in Frankfort early on Wednesday.
+We would then make all haste to escape from Germany to the shelter of
+mighty London.
+
+Tuesday morning at 7 we met at a restaurant, as agreed, and soon had
+over again our Berlin experience; but the amount we obtained here was
+only 12,000 gulden (L1,000), Mac thinking it best to ask for a small
+sum, Munich not being much of a commercial city. In cashing his credit,
+although the amount was in gulden, the bank paid him in New Saxon
+thalers, the thaler being 70 cents. We did not like the new thaler
+notes, and wanted to change them there, but there was no time if we were
+to catch the 10 o'clock train. I had Mac's derby hat in a box, and in
+three minutes he had the hat and spectacles on, and, with his beard
+again parted, the transformation was complete, and he, a perfect picture
+of the dreamy German student, sauntered down to the depot and bought his
+ticket for Leipsic. I followed him, carrying all the cash and documents
+in my bag. We arrived at Leipsic soon after dinner. Times were brisk,
+with plenty of bustle there, for the great Leipsic fair was in full
+blast. Here was an opportunity missed; we ought to have had three or
+four letters to as many banks. The place was thronged and the banks were
+paying out and receiving money in thousands. On the train I had sat
+apart from Mac, but in the same compartment, which was filled. Arriving
+at Leipsic he left the train, and, walking up the street, entered a wine
+room, where I joined him. He scrutinized his letters carefully, and,
+placing them in his pocket, in five minutes was in the bank. Seeing the
+bank was full of customers, instead of remaining outside to watch, I
+entered and stood among the crowd, anxious, of course, but letting
+nothing escape.
+
+Instead of waiting or trying to transact his business with a
+subordinate, Mac demanded to see the head of the firm. He was received
+at once, and upon the production of his letters was treated with the
+utmost consideration. He asked for 50,000 gulden ($20,000), which was
+given him at once. The amount for fair time at Leipsic was not large. In
+a very short time the business was done. The money being paid in gulden
+notes, it made a pretty big bundle. As agreed upon, he went direct to
+the cafe, carrying the money, while I stopped at a broker's office and
+bought French money, notes and gold, for my new Saxon thalers. There the
+transformation scene was re-enacted, but we could not leave town until 5
+o'clock. We spent the time visiting the famous fair. Leipsic overflowed
+with the fair. It was fair on the brain with every one. This annual fair
+has been a yearly feature of the old city for four centuries, and draws
+to it people from all over the European world, even from furthest
+Russia. Soon after 5 o'clock we were on the train, but, for some reason
+which I now forget, we did not arrive until 10 o'clock the next day at
+Frankfort.
+
+Frankfort, the home and still the fortress of the Rothschilds.
+
+In Frankfort the Bourse opens at 10 a.m., and closes at 2. During those
+hours the bankers are to be found on the Exchange only, and not at their
+offices. Many of the offices are then deserted and fast locked. It
+proved to be the case with the firm to which our letters were addressed,
+and if we were to do any business in Frankfort we had of necessity to
+wait until 2 p.m., but as it was now Wednesday and the third day since
+our affair in Berlin, the first draft drawn on London, if promptly
+mailed, would probably have been delivered at the Union Bank this
+morning. Of course, as soon as the manager of the foreign department
+found a draft for a large sum drawn by a stranger and made payable to
+their correspondent in Berlin, he would at once surmise that a fraud had
+been committed and undoubtedly would send a telegram to Germany to that
+effect. The forgery once known in Berlin, the rumor of it, with a
+thousand exaggerations, might easily fly to every Bourse in Europe, and
+I feared that by 2 o'clock the story might possibly become known on the
+Frankfort Exchange. So far we had $43,000, the result of our two days'
+operations, but we had from the first great hopes of Frankfort, chiefly
+because it was the money centre of the Continent, therefore the bankers
+were used to handling large sums of money, and so long as everything was
+all right they would hand out any sum, however large. We really ought to
+have taken in Frankfort first. Had we done so, we probably would have
+left the town with $50,000.
+
+Soon as we arrived we went to a cafe, and, leaving Mac there and all the
+money and papers in the bag, I hastened to the bankers, hoping to find
+them open and ready for business. In that case I should have talked
+business--that is, about having letters of credit, etc.--and I could
+probably have told by their actions if any rumors of our transaction of
+the two preceding days had reached the city. Had this been so the
+bankers would have betrayed it by their looks and questions, and would
+have been anxious to see my credits. Had such questions been asked, I
+would have simply said that my letters of credit had not yet arrived
+from Paris. This would have, of course, thrown them off the track, and
+given us time to move off.
+
+But when I arrived I found the doors locked. I at once returned to Mac
+and said: "We are through; let us catch the train for Cologne at once."
+He was anxious to wait until 4 o'clock and make a dash. We both knew the
+Germans were slow, and might not think of using the telegraph, and we
+agreed that we had more than an even chance of success; but Mac said:
+"My boy, you are my manager, and I leave it for you to decide." Then I
+said we were through, and that he should take no more chances; so we
+settled it right there, in the little French-German cafe, and taking
+out all the letters and every scrap of paper we destroyed them.
+
+This decision, of course, brought a great relief--for the strain had
+been greater than either of us had been willing to confess to the other.
+So, easy in mind, we ordered lunch. Of course, we would have no news of
+George until we met in London. We had no anxiety about him; we felt
+certain he would come out all right. While waiting for the train we
+discussed the future, and took it for granted that he would secure as
+much as we had done. We counted ourselves possessors of $90,000. Of
+this, fully $10,000 would go to our three honest detectives in New York;
+we would spend about another $10,000, leaving us about $23,000 each.
+Making this calculation, we sat down, and with the cash safe in our
+hands we began planning for the future. Did we say: "Now we have a sum
+of money ample to start us in an honest business, and, as we have
+promised, we will quit?" Nothing of the kind; we simply ignored our many
+promises and resolutions. Our ideas had grown with our success, and we
+felt poor; so we quickly came to the conclusion that it was the part of
+wisdom, since we were already so far in, to secure $100,000 each, and
+then to call a halt; so there in Frankfort, in the very hour of our
+success, we found ourselves planning new schemes, and further down the
+Primrose Way.
+
+Soon after the noon hour the train started, but first I took Mac's tall
+hat to the hatter's and left it to be ironed, this, of course, to get
+rid of it, and leave no trace behind; then, returning to the cafe, we
+started. I fell behind and we made our way separately to the depot. Mac
+had absolutely nothing about him save $2,000 in French paper and gold. I
+had over $40,000 in notes and some gold in my bag. He bought a ticket
+for Amsterdam, and I one for Belgium, both taking us through Cologne. I
+saw him safe into a car, while I sauntered carelessly up and down the
+station, swinging my bag and staring at everything; as the train was
+about to start I entered another carriage. The railway from Frankfort
+to Cologne follows the river bank for the entire distance. We quickly
+passed Bingen, Mayence, Coblenz, and about dusk reached Cologne. This is
+an important junction, and here we had to change cars, having twenty
+minutes to wait. Both of us went direct to the cathedral. It is close to
+the station, and there we had a few minutes' talk. Here Mac threw away
+his ticket to Amsterdam and I gave him mine to Brussels. We agreed to
+take separate cars at the station, but at the first stopping place I was
+to join him in his compartment, for we had before us an all-night ride
+to Ostend (the rival port to Calais), where we would embark for Dover.
+At the depot I purchased a ticket to London via Ostend. We left Cologne
+all right, and at the first station out I alighted and joined him.
+
+We had a pleasant all-night journey, arriving very early the next
+morning at Ostend. How lovely the sea looked, with the morning sun
+shining on its restless waves!
+
+We got to Dover without accident, and two hours after the express landed
+us in London, and we drove at once to our appointed rendezvous, the
+Terminus Hotel, London Bridge. We had no news of George, but that
+evening, opening the door in response to a loud knock, he walked in,
+receiving a boisterous welcome.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+I PLAY THE SILVER KING.
+
+
+The next morning we all drove to Hampton Court, the creation of Wolsey,
+and when tired we went to the Star and Garter. There we talked over
+matters, and came to the conclusion we must have a hundred thousand
+apiece before we could afford to settle down at home.
+
+We resolved to send off the "percentage" to Irving & Company, and to pay
+all debts we were owing at home.
+
+Mac's heart went out to his father. He longed for a reconciliation, and
+he determined to send him $10,000 and so make good the money his father
+had given him to establish himself in New York, at the same time write
+the old gentleman he had made a big strike in a cotton speculation, in
+order to explain his having so large a sum to spare.
+
+Our accounts were pretty well mixed up, and I hit upon a novel way to
+settle them and give each of us an equal start. My proposal was that we
+should pool everything. To put every dollar we had in the world on the
+table then and there, and let the firm assume all obligations, purely
+personal as they were, save only the Irving "percentage," and pay them
+from the general fund, then divide the balance. This was agreed to, and
+the queerest balance sheet ever made out was soon ready.
+
+[Illustration: "THREE OR FOUR SHOTS RANG OUT, OUR TRAIN WAS OFF THE
+TRACK."--Page 281.]
+
+We all had planned certain gifts and presents to friends in America, a
+considerable sum in the aggregate; all the cost of this was assumed by
+the firm. The main item was $10,000 to the New York police. When the
+balances were finally struck nearly $30,000 had disappeared from our
+cash capital, but on the whole it was a good plan. It drew us all closer
+together, consequently increased our faith in each other and at the same
+time prevented all chances of future dispute. This matter settled, we
+determined to have a little recreation by taking a tour in Italy. After
+studying guide books and routes we resolved to take a steamer from
+Southampton to Naples, spend a few days there in seeing the town and
+visiting Pompeii, etc., then north to Rome.
+
+We had made considerable preparation for our tour, when a circumstance
+arose that not only changed our plans, but in the sequel changed our
+lives as well.
+
+We had been paying another visit to Hampton Court, and in place of
+dining at the Star and Garter we returned by boat on the Thames and
+dined at Cannon Street Hotel. Before going to the hotel we took a stroll
+down Lombard street, and, arriving at the intersection of streets
+opposite the Bank of England, we came to a halt. While watching the
+human whirlpool in that centre of throbbing life, I turned to my
+friends, and, pointing to the Bank of England, said: "Boys, you may
+depend upon it, there is the softest spot in the world, and we could hit
+the bank for a million as easy as rolling off a log." No response was
+made at the time, and the casual remark was apparently forgotten. Well
+for us if it had been.
+
+The next day we went for a drive to Windsor, and were to dine at a
+famous old roadside inn. On arriving we, of course, visited the castle,
+and, while viewing the decorations in the stately throne room, Mac
+stopped us with the remark that something I had said the day before had
+been sticking in his mind. He went on to say that we wanted a hundred
+thousand apiece in order to return home in good shape; that the Bank of
+England had plenty to spare, and it was well for the lightning to strike
+where the balances were heavy. The bank would never miss the money, and
+he firmly believed the whole directorate of the fossil institution was
+permeated with the dry rot of centuries. The managers were convinced
+that their banking system was impregnable, and, as a consequence, it
+would fall an easy victim, provided, as we suspected, the bank was
+really managed by hereditary officials.
+
+Here was a picture, indeed. Three American adventurers, two of them
+barely past their majority, standing in the throne room of Windsor
+Castle, and plotting to strike a blow at the money bags of the Bank of
+England!
+
+The idea grew on us rapidly. After dinner we sat in the twilight of that
+old inn and discussed the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street from a point
+of view from which she had probably never been discussed before. I can
+imagine with what scorn the idiotically puffed and bepuffed magnates of
+the bank would have regarded us had they known of our discussion.
+
+They afterwards boasted to me, as they had boasted for a century, that
+their system was perfect, and as a proof that it was so they widely
+proclaimed they had not changed it in a hundred years. They had
+proclaimed so loudly and so long its absolute invulnerability that they
+not only believed it themselves, but all the world had come to believe
+it as well. "Safe as the bank" was a proverb everywhere underlying the
+English tongue.
+
+In our discussion we speedily came to the conclusion that any system of
+finance unchanged in detail for a century, belief in the perfection of
+which was an article of faith not alone with the officials charged with
+its management, but with the people of England at large, must, in the
+very nature of the case, lie wide open to the attack of any man bold
+enough to doubt its impregnability and resolute to attack.
+
+What a figment of the imagination this boasted impregnability of the
+Bank of England was the sequel will show. And as for those masters of
+finance, those earthly Joves of the financial world who sat serene above
+the clouds, "the Governor and Company of the Bank of England," they
+soon had the whole money world shaking with laughter when they stood
+revealed the Simple Simons they proved to be.
+
+We wanted a hundred thousand apiece now, and had resolved to get it from
+the Bank of England. Such was our confidence that we never thought
+failure possible. Truly, if there ever was a plan laid in ignorant
+enthusiasm this was one. Here we were, absolutely without any knowledge
+of the inner workings of the institution, strangers in London, being
+under assumed names, without business of any kind, and not only unable
+to give any references, but unable to stand any investigation.
+
+Exactly how we were to manipulate the bank we did not know. We were
+inclined, now we had some fifty thousand dollars capital, to avoid so
+serious a thing as forgery, but had an idea for one of us to obtain in
+some way an introduction to the bank and to use all the money of the
+party to establish a credit. In the mean time all were to get in the
+swim in or around the exchange, and use the one who had the account in
+the bank for reference for the others. If some good chance offered to go
+into a straightforward business we could drop forever all thoughts of
+breaking the law again. This was the theory; in practice, we were almost
+certain to try on the game we had of late played so successfully.
+
+In conference it was determined an account should be opened with the
+bank, anyway; after that was done we could decide what use to put it to.
+
+As I had not yet shown up in the previous transactions, I volunteered to
+go to the front in this; so, telling my two friends to go to the
+Continent--Italy, if they liked--I would remain in London and manage to
+get the account started. They took me at my word, and a day or two after
+sailed from Liverpool to Lisbon, and passed through Portugal to Spain,
+visiting the chief cities of that country.
+
+I was left alone in London and began prospecting at once, setting all
+my wits at work to see how I could manage to get an introduction to the
+bank. I had only $20,000 to start the thing with, as we did not think it
+policy to risk our entire capital in one place. My first idea was to
+find some solicitor of standing who kept his account at the Bank of
+England, to give him a retaining fee of L100 to act as my legal adviser,
+telling him some fairy tales about establishing a branch firm in London,
+and engage him, as soon as we started, to devote all his time to our
+business at a fat salary. But there were many objections to having a
+lawyer to introduce me, they being wide awake and liable to scrutinize
+too closely. If one should depart so far from his policy of caution as
+to introduce a new client he might after the introduction easily notify
+the bank that I was a stranger to him and perhaps advise them to
+investigate, and investigation was the one thing I must avoid. Of
+course, one is supposed to give reference, even if introduced. Although
+I had no acquaintance with this bank's methods, yet I was confident that
+all those at the top must be a stupid lot of red-tape sticklers, and I
+resolved to do my business with them alone. I was pretty sure that the
+routine of an introduction once well over, so as to give me access to
+the officials, they could be easily satisfied and made to help on the
+fraud, in place of being obstacles. The result proved my surmise
+correct, for such a lot of self-sufficient barnacles no institution in
+the world was ever burdened with.
+
+The dry rot of officialism permeated the bank through and through; even
+the bank solicitors, the Messrs. Freshfields, were merely "highly
+respectable," and sometimes when that term is applied in England it
+indicates mediocrity. The Freshfields managed to spend four hundred and
+fifty thousand dollars of the bank's money in our prosecution. That fact
+alone would have ruined the reputation of any law firm in America, but
+the ring of toadies who control that close corporation called the
+Benchers of the Inn was loud in its praise of this firm for the extreme
+ability shown in working up the case for the bank.
+
+I finally made up my mind to find some old established shopkeeper who
+kept an account at the bank, and secure an introduction through him.
+
+I determined to carry out the plan at once. The thing was first of all
+to find my man; so at 2 o'clock that afternoon I stationed myself near
+the bank to watch depositors coming out and then follow them. Four out
+of five depositors when they take money to the bank come out examining
+their passbooks. That afternoon I followed several; of these I selected
+three; one was an optician and electrician, an old-established firm,
+doing a large business. Another was an East India importing house. The
+third was Green & Son, tailors.
+
+The next day I went to the optician and purchased an expensive opera
+glass, and had him engrave on it "To Lady Mary, from Her Friend," and
+paid him for it with a L100 note; then I went to the East India firm and
+bought a costly white silk shawl and a lap robe fit for a prince, and
+looked at a camel's hair shawl at one hundred guineas.
+
+I had brought from America with me a Western hat, and as I had resolved
+to play the Silver King, I wore it when going around among the
+tradesmen. The English had, and still have, absurd ideas concerning that
+desirable article, "The American Silver King." The stage article they
+take for the genuine, and devoutly believe that the pavements are thick
+with them in America, all marching around with rolls of thousand-dollar
+bills in their pockets, which they throw out to bootblacks and
+bartenders.
+
+Therefore, I resolved to play this role. After my purchase of the shawl
+and robe, I drove in my brougham up to Green & Son, and entered, smoking
+a cigar, and with my big hat pulled well down over my eyes. Soon as I
+saw the elder Green I felt I had my man. Certainly I had hit well, for
+the firm (fathers and sons) had been depositors in the Bank of England
+for near a century, and had considerable wealth; but, English fashion,
+stuck steadily to business. This is a firm of ultra-fashionable tailors,
+that, like the historic Poole next door, charge for their reputation
+more than for the fit of their garments.
+
+One of the firm and an attendant flew to wait upon me, but, paying no
+attention to them, I started on a slow march around the establishment,
+examining the array of cloths, they following at my heels. I went down
+one side and returned on the other to the door. Arriving there I halted
+and, pointing first at one roll of cloth and then another, said: "One
+suit from this, three suits from that, two from that, a topcoat from
+that, another from that, another suit from that, one from that. Now,
+show me some dressing gowns." The first shown was twenty guineas. I
+instantly said that would do. One may be certain the tailor and his
+assistant flew around, one to measure and the other to write the
+measurements of this American sheep that Providence had led astray into
+their shop. When asked my name and address, I gave F. A. Warren, Golden
+Cross Hotel, and then, for fear I might forget my name, I made a
+memorandum of it and placed it in my vest pocket. They bowed me out,
+evidently greatly impressed with my taciturnity, and especially my big
+hat, confident also that they had hooked a fortune in a genuine American
+silver king. I entered the brougham and drove directly to the Golden
+Cross Hotel, Charing Cross, and there registering "F. A. Warren" and
+securing a room I left for my hotel. This room at the Golden Cross I
+kept for a whole year, but never slept there. It was the only address
+the Bank of England ever had of their distinguished customer, Mr.
+Frederic Albert Warren.
+
+I did not trouble any more about the other two store people, but looked
+about the town, amusing myself. In due time I called and tried the
+garments on, and, when ready to deliver, I left the cash with the hotel
+people with orders to pay the bill, which was done. There the matter
+rested for ten days, when I drove up again, and, remaining in my
+carriage, the head of the firm came out to me and I remarked: "I must
+have more garments; duplicate that order," and drove off.
+
+A week after I called to have them tried on, and then said that as I was
+going to Ireland for a few days' shooting with Lord Clancarty, I would
+send down a portmanteau for the garments and call for it on my way from
+the hotel to the station. So I bought the most expensive trunk I could
+find and sent it to the tailor. When the day came for me to call I
+provided myself with six L500 bank notes, five L100 and about fifty L5
+notes to go on the bottom of the roll. Before leaving my hotel I had a
+large trunk put on the cab, and then taking inside of it all the
+dressing bags, rugs, silk umbrellas and canes in the whole party, I
+drove to the tailor's, paid my bill with a L500 note and had the
+portmanteau put on the cab. I turned to go, but, halting at the door, I
+remarked quite in a casual manner: "By the way, Mr. Green, I have more
+money than I care to carry loose in my vest pocket to Ireland; I think I
+will leave it with you." He replied, "Certainly, sir," and as I was
+pulling the roll out of my vest pocket he said: "How much is it, sir?"
+"Only L4,000; it may be L5,000;" to which he replied: "Oh, sir, I would
+be afraid to take charge of so much; let me introduce you to my bank."
+He ran for his hat, accompanied me to the Bank of England, and, calling
+one of the sub-managers, introduced me as an American gentleman, Mr. F.
+A. Warren, who desired to open an account. A check and a pass book were
+brought and the signature book laid before me for my autograph, and I
+was requested to sign my name in full, so I christened myself Frederic
+Albert. I drove to the North Eastern station and telegraphed the boys at
+Barcelona that the thing was done and they could, if they liked, curtail
+their excursion and return to England at once.
+
+So the first step had been taken and successfully. We talked of now
+giving up all further idea of breaking the law, and starting in London
+as brokers and promoters of stock companies. The plan was for me to take
+the money of the firm, L10,000, place it all in the Bank of England, and
+begin to buy and sell stock and keep my money moving in and out of the
+bank. Then George and Mac were to start an office and launch out as
+promoters and refer to Mr. Warren of the Bank of England. This would
+place them on a footing at once, and I would gradually drop out of the
+Bank of England after introducing George and Mac in their right names.
+This was a grand plan, and had we only carried it out fortune would have
+been ours, and honor as well, but we were too impatient of any delay in
+securing wealth and overconfident of our success and cleverness. Above
+all, we were anxious to get home again. But I have got somewhat ahead of
+my story.
+
+Soon after I had a telegram from George and Mac saying that they would
+arrive in time for a late dinner, and for me to wait and dine with them.
+At the time I was living at the Grosvenor Hotel, Victoria Station. We
+had a pleasant meeting and a good dinner to celebrate it. I exhibited my
+check book, and they were eager to know all details of my interviews,
+not only at the bank, but with the tailor, and over the wine I related
+with great spirit the details of the little comedy. I have to this very
+day a vivid recollection of the shouts of laughter that arose from my
+companions during the recital. We laughed then, but we did not laugh for
+the next twenty years, neither did we partake of any sumptuous banquets.
+In the world of crime success is failure, and perhaps never had the
+absolute accuracy of that statement been so fully confirmed as in our
+own lives.
+
+That merriment of ours ended in anguish too deep for words. For twenty
+years I never looked upon a star, nor saw the face of a woman or of a
+child; that is to say, from my early years when the heart beats fast
+and the blood runs warmly in the veins. That fearful gap of time was
+filled to the brim with the peltings of a pitiless storm, hungry,
+driven, toiling like a galley slave under the Summer's burning sun, or
+thinly clad exposed to every blizzard and all the whirling storms of
+Winter, until my early manhood had vanished and the best years of my
+prime were all melted away, and at last I came forth from my dungeon,
+but with the mark of suffering and desolation burned deep upon me, to
+face a world of which I could not but be ignorant.
+
+[Illustration: THE "SUGAR-LOAF" IN THE BAY OF RIO.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+PIRATICAL CRUISE IN TROPICAL SEAS.
+
+
+The way to the bank vaults with their treasures had been laid open, but
+there remained many matters of detail to be carried out before we could
+enter them. There promised to be a delay of several months, but we were
+impatient over the prospect of delay of even six months in securing the
+fortunes we wanted, and which we had come to consider essential to our
+happiness.
+
+Our plan to ease the bank of a million or two of her forty million
+sterling was, roughly stated, to borrow from day to day large sums upon
+forged securities, the bad feature of the plan, from our point of view,
+being the fact that the bank, as a matter of course, would retain these
+documents, which could be produced at any future time to found a
+criminal charge against us, provided justice ever had the opportunity to
+weigh us in her balances.
+
+Protected as we were by the police in New York, we felt that the chance
+of our identity ever becoming known was remote. Still, there was an
+element of chance we wanted to eliminate entirely. In our recent raid on
+the bankers of France and Germany we never exhausted our letter of
+credit, but had the amount of cash we drew indorsed upon it, and brought
+the actual forged document away and instantly destroyed it. Had we been
+arrested in Europe, no doubt, under the laws prevailing there, they
+would have made us suffer upon the verbal statement of the banker; but
+in America to convict one of forgery the document itself must be
+produced in court.
+
+I paid several visits to the bank, depositing and drawing out various
+sums of money. I had talks with the sub-manager, and, on various
+pretexts to get information, I interviewed bankers and money men in the
+city. Finally, after many conferences, we came to the conclusion that
+the boasted impregnability of the bank was imaginary, and that the
+vanity and self-sufficiency of the officials would some day prove a
+snare to the institution they ruled over.
+
+The next conclusion we arrived at was that, easy as it might be to
+defraud the bank, yet there was an infinity of detail which would
+require six months of preparations to carry out. Then, again, the word
+forgery began to look black in our vocabulary. We knew John Bull was an
+obstinate fellow when he once got his back up, and we began to think it
+wise to keep beyond his dull weather eye.
+
+Finally, as the result of many debates, we resolved to abandon the Bank
+of England matter temporarily, possibly forever, because it was too
+dangerous, and the delay would be too great. Our new plan was to go to
+South America on a buccaneering expedition. There being no cable in
+1872, and it took, as we ascertained, forty days to send a letter from
+Rio de Janeiro to Europe and get a reply; so that, if we executed an
+operation boldly and well, we might hope for anything. We resolved to go
+to South America, but to leave my account stand in the bank, and if our
+success was as great as expected, we would let the Bank of England keep
+the million or two we wanted, and continue her century-long slumber
+until the time came when some adventurous but unscrupulous mind should
+accept the temptation she held out to seize some of her bags of
+sovereigns.
+
+Our plan was, in the main, similar to the one we had lately used with so
+much success in Germany and France. Only in this case we proposed to use
+the credit of the London and Westminster Bank, and, therefore, obtained
+the documents required to carry through such an operation successfully.
+
+The steamer Lusitania of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company was
+advertised to sail on the 12th, and we determined to go by her. Our plan
+was to go on the same steamer, to be ever within supporting distance of
+each other, and yet pretend to be strangers, or if associating together,
+to act so as to make all observers think our acquaintance merely casual.
+
+Mac had his tickets in the name of Gregory Morrison. He carried letters
+of introduction to Maua & Co., who had branches in all the coast cities
+down the coast, including Montevideo and Buenos Ayres on the east coast,
+and Lima, Valparaiso and Callao on the west.
+
+The steamers of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, leaving Liverpool,
+touch at Bordeaux, Santander and Lisbon, then are off 6,000 miles away
+to Rio, never slowing the engines for a moment during the voyage. Two
+days at Rio to discharge cargo and take in coal, then off again to
+Montevideo, discharge cargo, and coal again, then away round the Horn,
+and thousands of miles up the west coast, touching everywhere to land
+mails and passengers; finally after 14,000 miles of sea travel they
+reach Callao, then take the home track for Liverpool.
+
+Modern buccaneers, indeed, were we, engaged in a nineteenth century
+piratical descent upon the shores of South America. Instead of the
+burly, much-beweaponed pirate of other years, we were mild-mannered,
+soft-spoken, courteous youngsters, yet our steel pen and bottle of ink
+were more deadly instruments or at least of surer fire and of better
+aim, than the long toms and horse pistols of the piratical braves of the
+seventeenth century. Our hopes of gain were high, and we counted on an
+ample return for the trouble of our adventure. I say trouble, for danger
+we feared none, so confident were we of our ability to carry off
+everything with a high hand, and so complete was our faith in each
+other that we had no anxiety as to the result, but simply regarded our
+trip as a pleasant voyage into tropic seas--a happy change from the
+March wind and sombre skies of England to the bright skies and balmy air
+of the tropical world in the Winter months.
+
+I had a balance in the bank of L2,335, and we, as a matter of policy,
+wanted to have our capital ready at hand. The bank has a rule that a
+depositor must never have less than L300 to his credit. My friends were
+somewhat skeptical as to whether the bank did not regard their new
+customer, F. A. Warren, with some suspicion and as a depositor to be
+watched. My personal relations with the bank people convinced me
+everything was all right, but to convince my friends I determined to
+give them a proof that the bank would break their rule on my account.
+
+The Monday before we sailed for Brazil I called at the bank and told the
+sub-manager that I was going to St. Petersburg and on to Southern Russia
+for a time to inspect some work I was doing there, and I purposed to
+withdraw my account. He begged me not to do so, said many flattering
+things to me, and urged that it would be convenient to have an open
+account in London.
+
+"Well," I said, looking at my passbook, "I see I have L2,335 to my
+credit. I will leave the odd L35 with you." He instantly acquiesced. Had
+he said: "No, you must leave at least L300, as our rules require," I
+should have said "All right," and made it five hundred. I drew out the
+L2,300 at once, intending to deposit L300 before leaving London, but in
+the haste of our preparations I neglected it, and my balance at the bank
+stood L35 for all the weeks I was on our piratical cruise to the Spanish
+Main.
+
+Storing most of our baggage in London, we took the train to Liverpool,
+and, purchasing tickets for Rio, we went on board the good ship
+Lusitania, but not the "good" ship, for her first trip, this being her
+second, had won for her the name of being unlucky, and Liverpool
+insurance men, no less than Liverpool sailors, do not bank on an unlucky
+ship--their faith of ill luck following an unlucky ship has been
+justified in thousands of instances, as it was in the case of the
+Lusitania. But I am not going to relate the after history of the ship.
+
+From the hour of our arrival in Liverpool we were outwardly strangers,
+and during the voyage no one ever suspected that we were anything else.
+We soon discovered we had a pleasant company of fellow voyagers, and as
+we steamed out of the Mersey and headed southward we settled down to
+have a good time. Boreas was friendly, and away we sped across the Bay
+of Biscay, rapidly neared the mouth of the Garonne, on an estuary of
+which is situated the old city of Bordeaux. Arriving there, the ship lay
+at anchor for some hours, taking in and discharging freight, and
+receiving emigrants for various parts of South America. When the steamer
+was about to leave, it was a strange and rather comical sight to witness
+the farewells and leave-takings from the crowds of friends who had come
+to see them off. The customary performance appeared to me so peculiar
+that I will describe it as well as I can after so many years: Two men
+standing face to face, one clasps the other round the body, the other
+passive, then leaning back lifts the party clear off the ground once,
+twice or thrice, probably according to the degree of relationship or
+amount of affection; then the operation is reversed, the embraced
+becoming the embracer. In some cases the ceremonial is repeated the
+second or third time, neither kissing nor crying being the fashion
+there.
+
+The next morning we were off the coast of Spain, watching the silvery
+gleam from the ice-clad peaks of the Pyrenees--at least those of us who
+were not engaged in the more disagreeable employment of discharging
+their debt to Father Neptune. However, by the time the ship arrived at
+the small port of Santander the passengers were mostly recovering from
+the mal de mer occasioned by the rough water in the Bay of Biscay. While
+leaving this tiny landlocked harbor, one of the propeller blades touched
+the rocky bottom, and broke short off, but our ship continued her voyage
+with undiminished speed, and within three days was steaming up the Tagus
+to Lisbon. Here the passengers who wished to avail themselves of the
+opportunity had a few hours on shore; then we were off for the long
+diagonal run across the Atlantic.
+
+"The Lady of the Lusitania," as she was called, because there was no
+other lady among the saloon passengers, was the wife of a captain in the
+British army, who was going out for a few months' hunting on the pampas
+of Buenos Ayres, and, of course, accompanied by many dogs, with an
+assortment of guns. There was also a chaplain in the British navy who
+was going out to join his ship at Valparaiso. A strange character was
+he; a big, burly man, about 28 years of age, the most inveterate
+champagne drinker on board, and that is saying a good deal. Whenever he
+met any of the "jolly" ones of the saloon passengers it was "Come, old
+fellow, will you toss me for a bottle of fizz?" as he called his
+favorite wine, and he had no lack of accepters. The majority in the
+saloon consisted of a party of fifteen young Englishmen, civil
+engineers, who were going under the leadership of a Swedish colonel to
+survey, for the Brazilian Government, a railway line across the southern
+part of Brazil, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In all there were
+twenty-five young men, full of frolic and fun, who made things rather
+lively about the ship. They went in for everything from which any fun
+could be extracted. At the equinoctial line they roped in the
+"greenhorns" to look through the field glasses at the line, and having
+fastened a hair across the field of view, of course, we could all see it
+plainly. Father Neptune came on board and those of the crew who had
+never crossed the Equator were hunted out of their hiding places,
+dragged on deck, lathered with a whitewash brush dipped in old grease,
+shaved with a lath-razor, and then tumbled unceremoniously backward into
+a cask of water.
+
+After a prosperous voyage of three weeks we arrived within sight of the
+famous "Sugar Loaf," and were duly disembarked at the Custom House, our
+baggage passed, and were off to our hotels, each going to a different
+one, and each registering the name our letters of credit and
+introduction bore. While in Rio we went by day in the parks or cafes,
+and spent our evenings together, having a most enjoyable time.
+
+This was our first experience of the tropics, and life under the Equator
+proved as novel and as fascinating as it ever does to the inhabitant of
+a cold climate. The show of tropical fruits in the markets was
+magnificent, and, although strangers are warned not to partake of it,
+yet our health was so good and our digestion so perfect that we
+disregarded all warnings and gratified our palates without stint, with
+no bad results following.
+
+However, we felt after all that we were there on business; we wanted
+plunder, in fact, and not pleasure, in Rio. Our pleasure lay in Europe
+or America, there in the good time just ahead, when, as moneyed men, we
+returned, and, surrounded by those nearest and dearest, we would enjoy
+life to the full.
+
+Mac was the grand swell of our party, and, wanting to excel us all in
+his financial successes, was eager to go to the front. Accordingly, we
+fixed everything so that he could everywhere strike the first and the
+heaviest blow.
+
+Of course, on our twenty-two days' voyage we had ample time for
+discussion, and before we passed the Equator had settled on our plan.
+First of all, it was agreed that one of the party should keep his neck
+out of the noose, to stand by if either of the others came to grief.
+Very much to my satisfaction, it was again decided that I was the man to
+stand from under.
+
+[Illustration: "AT 5 O'CLOCK ALL HANDS UP AND BREAKFAST READY."--Page
+290.]
+
+The firm of Maua in Rio was the most considerable in all South America,
+and Mac's introductions were to this firm. The plan was for Mac to
+present himself to Maua & Co., and to draw within twenty-four hours, at
+least L10,000, so as to make sure of our expenses, and a day or two
+before steamer day to arrange for a very large sum, twenty or thirty
+thousand pounds. As soon as that was obtained, George was to go to the
+Bank of London and Rio de Janeiro, and secure as much as he thought it
+safe to ask for, five or ten thousand pounds. This would be paid in
+Brazilian paper money, which I was to exchange for sovereigns. Then I
+was to buy a ticket for myself on the steamer going south, take the gold
+off and stow it away in my stateroom. At the last moment, in the bustle
+and confusion of sailing, Mac and George were to slip into my stateroom,
+conceal themselves and sail with the steamer, and when once out of the
+harbor, to see the purser, explain that they had arranged with a friend
+to purchase tickets; but, as he had not put in an appearance, they would
+be obliged to pay a second time. We purposed to go down the east coast
+and up the west to Lima. Visiting the cities as we went from Lima, we
+would go to Panama, there catch the steamer to San Francisco, and after
+a pleasant sojourn in California go overland to New York with a million.
+
+This was our plan, but, as all the world knows, there is a vast
+difference between making plans and carrying them into successful
+execution.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+"SHOW ME YOUR LETTERS OF CREDIT."
+
+
+Fate, Providence, call it what you will, seldom fails to upset
+wrongdoing, making it rocky for the wrongdoer.
+
+By an irony of fortune we carried with us that which was going to balk
+all, or nearly all, our fine scheme.
+
+In our letters of credit in some mysterious way the name of the
+sub-manager of the London and Westminster Bank had been omitted,
+although this was absolutely essential to the validity of the letters.
+There was also another error, an error of such an extraordinary
+nature--that of spelling "endorse" with a "c"--that it is enough to make
+any man contemplating an unlawful act despair of success, since we could
+be defeated by such mysterious and unforeseen accidents.
+
+A few hours after our arrival Mac called at the bankers' and was well
+received by the manager.
+
+He told the manager his letters of credit ran from L5,000 to L20,000
+each, and that he should want L10,000 the next day. Would they have it
+ready?
+
+The next day he went to the bank, George and myself being posted
+outside. In ten minutes he reappeared with a square bundle under his
+arm. He smiled as he passed us, and, turning a corner, entered a cafe,
+where he joined us. His bundle contained L10,000 in Brazilian bank
+notes. He assured us that everything was serene at the bank, that he
+could have L100,000 if he wanted to ask for it.
+
+I had already been to the three largest money brokers and arranged to
+buy gold. So, leaving Mac and George, I got a sole leather bag we had
+for the purpose, and, hiring a stalwart black porter, went to the
+brokers. I bought sovereigns for the whole L10,000. It was ten bags with
+one thousand pounds in each. The weight was 168 pounds. The black fellow
+put it on his head, and followed me to my hotel, and found it a pretty
+good load, too. So here we had one big fish landed, and confidently
+counted on several more.
+
+I related above how we had in some incomprehensible way omitted putting
+on the letter of credit the sub-manager's name. How could we have
+committed such a blunder? My answer is that this is only another example
+of the unforeseen "something" ever happening to defeat any anticipated
+benefit from ill-gotten gains.
+
+The next day Mac went to the bankers again, and was requested by the
+manager to show the letter of credit on which was indorsed the ten
+thousand pounds he had drawn against it. Looking at the letter, the
+manager said: "This is singular; there is only the name of Mr. Bradshaw,
+the manager, on this letter; J. P. Shipp, the sub-manager's name, should
+be on the credit as well." And then he went on to say that some time
+since they had been notified by the London Bank that all letters issued
+by them would bear two signatures.
+
+Mac was a man of nerve, but it required all he had not to betray his
+uneasiness. He said he really could not say how the omission had
+occurred; he supposed it must have been accidental, but he would examine
+his other letters as soon as he went back to the hotel.
+
+The look of chagrin and vexation on Mac's face when he came out was a
+sight to see, and one that is as vivid in my memory now as in that far
+off day in 1872.
+
+He went direct to the hotel, and there George and I soon joined him. We
+sat down and looked at each other. The game apparently was up, and we
+were a sorely disgusted party. We did not fall out with or reproach
+each other, but felt we deserved a kicking. We did not ask each other
+any questions, but I know our faces all wore a sadly puzzled look as we
+repeated mentally, "How could we have made such an oversight?" But soon
+another blunder--the misspelled word--was to crop up, that made this one
+of the omitted name seem as a fly to an eagle.
+
+Mac and I thought the game up, and were mentally planning for flight.
+But George, being a man of extraordinary courage and resource as well,
+declared we could and would retrieve the blunder. He declared a bold
+step must be taken, that, as the bankers had only seen the one credit,
+the name of Shipp, the sub-manager, must be instantly put on the others.
+We had the genuine signature of J. P. Shipp on a draft, and Mac at once
+sat down to write it on all the letters. It was a trying ordeal for him,
+Mac's nerves having had a wrench. He was a temperate man, but under the
+circumstances we advised him to take a glass of brandy to steady his
+nerves. Then placing the genuine signature before him and the forged
+letters, he began to put in the name. The signatures were not well
+written, but under the trying circumstances they were wonderfully well
+done. All this had taken place within half an hour after he had left the
+bank.
+
+It was a trying ordeal, but Mac was quite willing to do as George
+advised. That was that he should take several of the letters and march
+boldly into the bank and say: "Here are my letters; they are all right.
+Both signatures are on all my letters but the one, and from that the
+second signature has been in some way omitted." George's last word to
+Mac was: "Rely upon us to extricate you from anything. Keep cool. Act up
+to the character you have assumed. They can never fathom that the names
+could have been written in so short a time. Boldly offer them more
+exchange on London, and if there is any hesitation say you will transfer
+your business to the English Bank of Rio at once."
+
+[Illustration: "SURELY THE CLERKS IN THE BANK KNOW HOW TO SPELL."--Page
+172.]
+
+He started on his decisive errand, followed by us, in a miserable state
+of anxiety. He was not long in the bank, but returned empty-handed. Upon
+meeting at the designated place, he informed us the manager was
+evidently agreeably surprised when shown the letters with both
+signatures, and transferred the indorsement from the letter that had but
+one signature to one with two. Once more we had matters all right, and
+the broken place patched up again, but it behooved us not to do so any
+more. But we did.
+
+During our stay in Rio we saw much to interest us. The negro was very
+much in evidence. Slavery was still the law of the land; all the toil
+and burden-bearing falls to the poor slave's lot. One day we all three
+took an early train and alighted at a small hamlet on the border of a
+stream about thirty miles from Rio, beyond the ranges of mountains that
+hem in the city. We managed to find some saddle mules and started to see
+the country. We rode for some miles through a land covered with
+moundlike hills, no sooner coming to the bottom of one than we were
+ascending another. These hills are covered with coffee bushes filled
+with red fruit, about the size of a cherry, each containing two kernels.
+The coffee was being picked into large flat baskets by slaves, which,
+when filled, they carried away on their heads to the drying grounds.
+
+The roads were bordered with orange trees loaded with luscious fruit, to
+which we helped ourselves. After a time we turned into a bridle path and
+rode some miles through a dense forest. We emerged upon the outskirts of
+a coffee plantation, where the slaves were just on their way to dinner,
+and another half mile brought us to the planter's residence. Thirty or
+forty slaves of both sexes and all ages were grouped upon the grass,
+engaged in eating a black-looking stew out of metal dishes, their
+fingers serving for knives, forks and spoons. Seeing three horsemen ride
+out of the forest, they stared in stupid wonder, until one more
+intelligent than the others went in search of the overseer. Presently a
+white man appeared, and, in response to Mac's "Parlate Italiano," came
+the smiling answer, "Si, Signor," proving, as we wagered he would be, a
+native of beggarly, sunny Italy.
+
+The overseer showed us over the place, and explained all the processes
+of preparing coffee for the market. In one corner of a large, unpainted
+building was what he called the infirmary, and a comfortless looking
+place it was. He said there was no doctor employed, and that he dealt
+out medicine to the slaves himself. After being served with coffee we
+thanked him for our entertainment and returned to Rio by an evening
+train.
+
+The mail steamer Ebro was advertised to leave Rio for Liverpool on
+Wednesday of the week following the exciting events narrated in the last
+chapter. This was the mail that would carry the draft for L10,000 on the
+London and Westminster Bank, along with a letter from the Rio bank,
+stating that they had cashed Mr. Gregory Morrison's draft upon the
+letter issued by them.
+
+Twenty-two or three days after the steamer left Rio the London bank
+would know their correspondents in Rio had been victimized, but 8,000
+miles of blue water was between them, with no way to bridge it but by
+steam; so we had at least forty-four days more to gather in our harvest.
+I ought to say, apparently forty-four more days, for by an amazing
+blunder we were about to bring a storm upon our heads.
+
+The steamer we purposed to load our money on and ourselves, too, was the
+Chimborazo, advertised to arrive on Tuesday and to leave for the River
+Plate and the west coast the next day. So it was agreed that on Monday
+Mac should go to the bank and arrange to cash his letters for twenty or
+thirty thousand pounds, and go the next day for the money. As soon as
+Mac came from the bank and announced that all was well, another of us
+was to call at the Bank of London and Rio and the River Plate Bank,
+present his letters of introduction and ask in each bank to have the
+five thousand pounds or ten thousand pounds ready the next day. They
+purposed to call about 11 o'clock, so as to give me time to exchange the
+Brazilian bank notes for sovereigns, and to buy my ticket by the
+Chimborazo, to secure my stateroom and to take the gold to the steamer,
+and, above all, to get my passport vised by the police.
+
+Monday came. We expected a nervous day, not such a paralyzingly nervous
+one as it proved to be. In fact, a nervous Tuesday followed a nervous
+Monday. My reader must remember that we were in the tropics, with a
+blazing sun looking down on us with an intensity that made one long for
+Greenland's icy mountains to cool us.
+
+We went into the public park for our last consultation before our
+fortune, which never came, was to come.
+
+Mac had in the little morocco case in his pocket two letters each for
+L20,000. Certainly no man in the world, save him, could have carried off
+such a game played for such high stakes. Handsome in person, faultless
+in address, cool in nerve, a master of all the languages spoken in
+Rio--Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and French. Above all, he had a
+boundless confidence in himself. What an honorable future might have
+been his but for his youthful follies! Truly he could have achieved a
+wonderful success in any honorable career. Unhappily for him, he, like
+thousands of our brainiest youth, had entered the Primrose Way. In our
+youthful fire and thoughtlessness we saw only the flowers and heard the
+siren's song, but at last the Primrose Way led us down into a gloom
+where all the flowers withered and the gay songs turned into dirges.
+
+Looking at his watch Mac jumped up, saying: "It is 10.45 and time to be
+off." So he started for the bank, we following at some distance, our
+nerves all on the stretch. We felt that our lives and fortunes were
+trembling in the balance. The minutes dragged like hours. While watching
+we saw several persons enter or leave the bank, and still our friend
+delayed his appearance.
+
+To our suspicious minds there appeared to be strange movements about the
+bank that boded ill for us. A thousand suspicions born of our fears came
+and went through our minds, until at last, unable to endure the
+suspense, I entered the bank myself, and stood there, pretending I was
+waiting for some one. I sharply scrutinized every one and everything.
+Mac was somewhere out of sight in the private offices. The clerks were
+gossiping together, and that fact to me was suspicious. Then, to my
+alarm, a bank clerk entered from the street with an eagle-eyed man, a
+Hebrew, evidently, of about 45 years of age. Both passed hurriedly into
+the private office, leaving me in an agony of suspense. My only relief
+at that moment was the thought that George and myself had not as yet
+compromised ourselves, and could, in the event of Mac's arrest, manage
+to save him, either by bribery or a rescue.
+
+Without appearing to do so, I watched that dingy, mottled door leading
+into the private office until every crack and seam in it was
+photographed indelibly on my brain.
+
+In the trying periods of one's life, when the heart and soul are on the
+rack, how strangely trifling details of the objects about one will be
+noticed and remembered. It seems some cell of the brain, quite separate
+from the cell of feeling and sensation, works calmly and steadily on,
+photographing the material of one's surroundings.
+
+I can never forget a flower worn by a lady guest at my table, when, in
+the midst of enjoyment and surrounded by friends, the hand of the law in
+the form of a burly detective was laid on me in Cuba. In all the misery
+and humiliation of that scene I remember the peculiar color of the wood
+of a cigar box standing on the sideboard. Doubtless each of my readers
+will recall some similar phenomenon in his own life.
+
+At last, unable to endure the suspense, above all, the uncertainty, I
+went to the little door, and, opening it, looked in. To my intense
+relief I saw Mac sitting there apparently talking unconcernedly with
+Braga, the manager, and the Hebrew. As I had not attracted attention I
+closed the door, went out in the street and gave George the pre-arranged
+signal that all was well. Just then our partner appeared but with
+telltale face. It was flushed with chagrin and vexation, and there was
+gone from the contour of his body that indescribable port that tells,
+better than words, of confidence and victory.
+
+We went by different routes to our rendezvous, and I will leave it to
+the imagination of my readers to picture our state of mind as we
+listened to his recital of woe--the tale of Priam's Troy over again.
+
+Mac had been cordially received by the manager, and had told him he
+would require L20,000 the next day; would he please have it ready? The
+manager replied that he did not require any more exchange on London, but
+that he would send out for his broker, who would sell his bills on the
+exchange. He (the manager) would indorse the bills of exchange and
+indorse the amounts on his letters of credit. Of course, Mac could only
+acquiesce, and Mr. Braga sent a clerk to his broker, Mr. Meyers, to come
+around. This was the sharp-eyed Hebrew whom I saw enter.
+
+The manager introduced Meyers to "Mr. Gregory Morrison," and explained
+that he was to sell exchange for L20,000 on Morrison's credit, which the
+bank would indorse. Meyers said: "Please show me your letters." Putting
+his hand into his breast pocket and pulling out the little morocco case
+containing the two letters, he handed the case and contents to Meyers,
+who, probably without suspicion of anything being wrong, unrolled both
+letters, and holding them in his hands, ran his sharp eyes down one of
+them and read right through the body of the letter. They came to the
+"note," which read: "All sums drawn against this credit please endorce
+on the back, and notify the London and Westminster Bank at once." Here
+he suddenly halted, turned his hawk's eye on Mac and said: "Why, sir,
+here's the word indorse misspelled. Surely the clerks in the London
+banks know how to spell!"
+
+Here was a thunderbolt, indeed, that pierced poor Mr. Gregory Morrison
+through and through, but he showed no sign. He coolly remarked that he
+did not care to have his bills sold on the exchange, but would go and
+see the people of the London and Rio and River Plate Banks, as they
+probably would want exchange and would doubtless let him have what money
+he required. Meyers said very sharply, "Have you letters to those
+banks?" "I have," said Mac, at the same time producing two, one to each
+bank, and each bearing the stamp of their respective banks.
+
+That he had these letters was a happy thing, and no one under forty
+days' time could say for a fact that they were not genuine. The dramatic
+production of these letters lulled the fast gathering suspicions, and
+would have called a halt had they purposed any serious action, for the
+reason that during the forty days it would take to communicate with
+London the credits could not be proved to be forgeries. That such
+letters existed at all was due entirely to the foresight which had
+provided to meet just such a contingency.
+
+We all were for a brief few seconds utterly dumfounded, but quickly
+aroused ourselves to the necessity of instant action to protect our
+comrade. We saw that we must at once give over all thought of trying to
+do any more business in Rio, and set all our inventions and energy at
+work to save the L10,000 and to smuggle our companion safely out of Rio.
+But how?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+ONCE MORE WE SAIL THE SEAS OVER.
+
+
+Here in our country we know nothing of the annoyances and humbuggery of
+the passport system, but now, as in 1872, every person desiring to leave
+Brazil must be provided with a passport--if a foreigner, from his own
+Government; if a native, one from the government of Brazil. When ready
+to leave the country he must take his passport to police headquarters
+and get it vised, at the same time notifying the police of the steamer
+he proposes to sail on. Leaving the passport with the agent from whom he
+buys his ticket, the latter, after ascertaining from the police that the
+intending passenger is not wanted by the authorities, transmits the
+passport to the purser of the steamer, who, in turn, hands it to the
+passenger after the vessel is at sea.
+
+It will be seen that these regulations make it difficult for a suspected
+person to leave Brazil by the regular channels of communication, and
+there are no back doors of escape in that country. Once in any seaport
+town you must, if you leave at all, sail out of the harbor mouth, for in
+the other direction, that is, inland, one is confronted by the mighty
+tropical forests, the greater portion of which has never been looked
+upon by the eye of man; and between all the seaports the same
+impenetrable forest stretches.
+
+So, straight out of the harbor between the Sugar Loaf and Fort Santa
+Cruz Mac had to sail. How he should do so with safety was the problem we
+had to solve. In this venture it would not do to have any blunders.
+Without doubt the steamers would be watched for him, and instant arrest
+and incarceration in the deadly tropical prison would be his lot if
+discovered in the attempt to slip out of the country.
+
+To complicate the matter here it was Monday, and no steamer to sail
+until Wednesday, so there were forty-eight hours of frightful anxiety
+ahead of us.
+
+The Ebro, going to Europe, was in the harbor taking in cargo and coal.
+The Chimborazo, going South, was not yet signaled, and we determined at
+all hazards to get him off by the Ebro. We all had American passports,
+and by the use of chemicals could alter the names and descriptions on
+them at will.
+
+Of course, the names in our passports were the same as we had in our
+letters. George went to police headquarters, and giving a douceur to an
+attendant, had the "vise" put on his passport at once. Then going to the
+passenger agent he bought a ticket to Liverpool by the Ebro, and by
+paying ten guineas extra had a stateroom assigned to him alone. After
+this he took a boat and went out to the steamer, carrying with him two
+bags of oranges and stowed them away under the bottom berths.
+
+To make the escape a success it was decided prudent for George as Wilson
+to get the agent well acquainted with his face and appearance, so if the
+question was asked, "Who is this Wilson?" the police would see by the
+description it was not the man they were looking for. For the next forty
+hours George made the agent very tired. At one time he would want to
+know if he could not get some reduction in the passenger rate, or if the
+Ebro was seaworthy, or if there was any danger of her engines breaking
+down, etc., until the agent got not only to know "Mr Wilson," but wished
+him at the bottom of the sea.
+
+When George started for the police office he left Mac and me alone in
+the park.
+
+[Illustration: "POINTING TO THE GOLD, MAC SAID: BOYS HELP
+YOURSELVES."--Page 244.]
+
+It was absolutely essential that Mac should put in one more appearance
+at the bank. It was an ordeal, but one he had to undergo. He even
+dreaded to return to his hotel, but go he must; so, just before the bank
+closed, he called in and casually informed the manager that he should
+start the next morning for S. Romao, a town in the interior of Brazil,
+to be absent a week. He was then to go to the Hotel d'Europe, pay his
+bill, at the same time stating that he was to leave Rio by the 4 o'clock
+train the next morning, for San Paulo. As Mac had two trunks and other
+impedimenta befitting a man of his importance, it was necessary to take
+a carriage to the station, which was nearly a mile distant. It would be
+unsafe to go in a carriage belonging to the hotel; therefore, he was to
+say that a friend would call for him. As it was still two hours to
+sunset, I suggested that after he had arranged matters he should saunter
+out, walk about the streets until dark, then return to the hotel and be
+ready when George should call for him at 3 o'clock the next morning.
+
+After these arrangements we separated, George and I following to
+ascertain if he was being watched or shadowed by detectives. When he
+entered the hotel we remained in view of the entrance. It was not long
+before he reappeared and walked leisurely along the street. A few
+seconds after we saw another man come out, cross the street, and go in
+the same direction. I followed him, and was soon satisfied that he was
+keeping Mac in view. This sort of double hunt was kept up until dusk,
+when Mac returned to his hotel, unconscious that a moment later his
+"shadow" entered the place also. Here was a complication, indeed, though
+it was no more than we had anticipated among the possibilities; still, I
+had indulged in the hope that the bank would rely entirely upon the
+passport system, and take no further steps for a day or two, which was
+all the time required to carry out our plan. Though Mac had good nerve,
+it was already somewhat shaken, and surely the situation would have
+unnerved most men. Therefore, fearing that the certain knowledge of
+imminent danger might still further confuse him and cause some false
+move, we determined to keep our discovery to ourselves.
+
+George next proceeded to an obscure part of the town, and stopping at a
+small but respectable looking tavern, he engaged a room for the next
+day, also a carriage, with an English-speaking driver, to be in
+readiness at 3 o'clock the next morning. Promptly at the hour he was at
+the livery stable, where he found the carriage ready, and was driven to
+the Hotel d'Europe. Sending the driver up to the office on the second
+floor, Mac soon appeared and informed him that he had promised to take
+to the station a man who was stopping at the hotel. "He is going to S.
+Romao by the same train," continued Mac, "and seems a good fellow, for I
+had a long talk with him last night." Upon seeing signs of disapproval
+in my face, he explained: "Well, you know, he said he could not get a
+carriage at so early an hour in the morning, and I thought it could do
+no harm to take him in, and he is waiting upstairs."
+
+Here I joined them, and it would be difficult for the reader to imagine
+the effect of this surprising communication upon our minds, for it was
+clear enough that this was the very person who had been "shadowing" Mac
+the day before, and had skillfully ingratiated himself into his new
+friend's confidence. I could but admire his nerve in asking a
+contemplated victim for a ride to the station. I said to Mac: "What in
+the world can you be thinking of? Don't you see you are blocking our
+whole plan? Go up and tell him your carriage is loaded down with
+luggage, and express your regrets that you cannot accommodate him."
+
+During this time the baggage was being placed in the carriage, and as
+soon as Mac had dismissed his "passenger," who for some reason did not
+show himself, we started rapidly for the station. On the way I requested
+him to avoid making any new friends until he should find himself well
+out at sea. I said:
+
+"It might be fatal to attract the attention of any one, or to let any
+one see you leave the train. Of course, this new acquaintance of yours
+is only a countryman, but it is not possible to foresee what disaster
+the least mistake or want of caution might originate. These cars are on
+the English system, divided into compartments. You must go into the
+station, stand near the ticket office until your new acquaintance comes,
+then observe if he buys a first-class; if so, you take a second, and
+vice versa. Pay no attention to him, and let him see you get into your
+compartment, but keep an eye on his movements. In case he comes to get
+in where you are, despite the different class of the tickets, tell him
+the compartment is engaged. Everything depends on how you carry yourself
+through the next twenty minutes. A single false step, a word too little
+or too much, will surely prove fatal to all, for if anything happens to
+you, we remain in Brazil."
+
+In accordance with our pre-arranged plan, I stopped the carriage
+opposite the station, it being still dark. Mac alighted, went straight
+inside, and in a few minutes saw his "passenger" come puffing in, nearly
+out of breath. Unquestionably supposing Mac's baggage to be already on
+the train, he purchased a ticket, and after seeing his intended victim
+enter a compartment, got into another himself just as the train began to
+move. This was the vital moment for which Mac had been waiting, and,
+quickly opening the door on the opposite side, he stepped off on that
+side, hastily crossed to the other platform of the dimly lighted
+station, and made his way unnoticed into the street. While this was
+passing, I sat in the carriage, and it was not many minutes before I had
+the satisfaction of seeing Mac coming back. But for the benefit of the
+driver we then had a dialogue somewhat as follows:
+
+"It is too bad. Our friends have not arrived. What shall we do?"
+
+"Well, I suppose we must go back to the hotel and wait for the afternoon
+train," I answered.
+
+"But I have paid my bill there," said Mac, "and do not care to go back."
+
+"Then," I replied, "meet me at the station, and I will look after the
+luggage."
+
+In case they recovered the trail, the information obtained from the
+driver would cause confusion and delay sufficient, I hoped, to enable us
+to get Mac out of Rio.
+
+I then told the coachman to drive me into the city. It was not yet
+daylight, but after a while I saw a sort of eating house and tavern
+combined, and had the carriage halted there. Alighting, I entered and
+said to the person in charge that I did not wish to disturb my friends
+at so early an hour, and would pay him for taking care of my baggage, as
+I wished to discharge the carriage. The offer was, of course, accepted,
+the baggage housed and the carriage dismissed. In the mean time Mac was
+waiting for us in an appointed place not far away, where I joined him,
+and we went to the obscure tavern where the room had been engaged.
+George was awaiting us.
+
+So far our plan was successful. Mac was safely hidden away, while his
+clever friend was speeding miles away on a wild goose chase. There was
+only one train a day each way, and we knew the detective could not get
+back to Rio until late. We felt certain that when he found Mac was not
+on the train he would think his intended victim had slipped off at some
+way station--possibly with a view of making his escape into the
+interior; even if he sent a dispatch to the bank--an unlikely thing for
+a Brazilian to do--it would doubtless be to the effect that his quarry
+had left Rio on the early train that morning with him.
+
+[Illustration: VIEW OF MONTEVIDEO.]
+
+We passed some trying hours together. Then George left to take Mac's
+baggage off to the steamer. He engaged two stalwart porters; they stand
+on every corner busily engaged in plaiting straw for hats while
+waiting for a job. Dividing the baggage between the two he had it
+carried to the wharf, and, taking a small boat, quickly had it stowed in
+the hold and the small articles carried to the stateroom. Soon after he
+joined us on shore.
+
+It was but 10 o'clock when he came, and it was with something like
+dismay that we realized that the whole day was before us. Until the day
+before, when Mac was in the bank, I had never known how long an hour
+was, but this day we all came to know how long a day could be.
+
+The Ebro was anchored out in the bay. Her coal was all stowed, but
+strings of barges laden with sacks of coffee were alongside. She was
+advertised to sail sharp at noon.
+
+I went out once or twice to the bank and police headquarters, hanging
+about for a few minutes to see if there was anything suspicious, but
+there was nothing, and each time I hastened back to Mac.
+
+Our presence cheered him up, and he could not brook our absence. At last
+the long day drew to an end and the shadows, to our intense relief,
+began to darken in our little room, where we were holding our watch. The
+tropic night closes quickly in. Soon the city was shrouded in darkness,
+and we sallied out to the beach at the head of the bay to find relief in
+movement. The time passed quicker then, and at last we sat down on some
+wreckage there and watched the tropic night as it revealed its wealth of
+stars, and sitting there we began to philosophize, moralizing upon the
+destiny of man and his relations to things seen and unseen, upon
+spiritual force; most of all upon divine justice, which in the end evens
+up all things. But like so many other philosophers who write the style
+of the gods and make a pish at fortune, we failed to make a personal
+application of our philosophy.
+
+Near by there was a boat stand from which we had resolved to embark for
+the steamer about two miles away. The night was lovely as a dream, and
+we knew that midnight would find a large number of passengers on deck,
+many of whom would pass the night there. Forward was all the bustle and
+confusion inseparable from receiving and stowing cargo.
+
+At 9 o'clock I left them to go and get the remainder of the gold not yet
+on board--some four thousand pounds. The street cars passed near by, and
+within half an hour I returned with the gold in a bag swung from my
+shoulder by a heavy strap. I also had with me a woman's wrap and a silk
+shawl. We sat for an hour longer, and then securing a boat with two
+negro rowers, we pulled for the ship. Three or four small boats were
+fastened to the companion ladder, and our arrival attracted no
+attention. Two officials in uniform--probably custom officers--stood at
+the companion way. It was an anxious moment, but we slipped through the
+dimly lighted cabins and passages, and were soon safely in the
+stateroom. Bidding both good-bye, and promising to be on board again at
+8 in the morning, I went ashore and straight to bed, and soon was
+dreaming of starlit seas, of tropic woods and Summer bowers, white and
+sweet with May blossoms. My health then, as now, was perfect, and I
+awoke fresh and hopeful. After breakfasting on a dish of prawns and
+another of soft-shelled crabs, I was off across the bay. Soon after 8 I
+knocked softly at the stateroom door, was admitted and presented the
+lunch I had brought. They gave me a warm greeting, but neither had
+slept. The room had been hot and stuffy, and the noise of stowing cargo
+had helped to banish sleep. Both were unnerved somewhat, but I had just
+come off shore confident and cheerful, and my confidence and spirits
+proved infectious.
+
+I knew by sight the chief of police and those just under him. I also
+knew Braga, the bank manager, by sight. They, of course, did not know
+me, and I could, unsuspected, be a looker-on in Vienna. Soon the
+passengers, their friends and many idle visitors came off in boatloads,
+while I, of course, scrutinized every boatload as it came up the side of
+the ship.
+
+At 9.30 I saw a boat coming, which, when half a mile away, I recognized
+as containing the chief of police and several of his subordinates; ten
+minutes after Braga and one of the bank officials came, the only
+passengers in their boat, and at once joined the police on the after
+deck and stood with them waiting and watching the boats as they arrived.
+In the mean time babel reigned around the ship. About three score boats
+surrounded her, the owners selling to the passengers everything from
+oranges to monkeys, snakes and parrots.
+
+I determined to conceal from George and Mac that Braga and the police
+were on the ship, and about every twenty minutes I would slip down and
+report "All's well;" but soon after 10 o'clock the enemy were joined by
+the ticket agent from shore, and I could see they were contemplating
+some movement. Slipping down to the cabin, I said: "Boys, everything is
+all right; keep perfectly cool. Braga and the police are pulling to the
+ship and may search it; if so, it will take half an hour to get here. I
+will keep everything in my eye and give you ample notice." I then
+returned on deck and stood among the officials. They conversed in
+Portuguese, which was Greek to me; soon the agent dived below and
+reappeared with the manifest of the passengers, and an enormous heap of
+passports. After some conversation they sent the passports back; then,
+headed by the agent and purser, manifest in hand, they began to verify
+the list and scrutinize the passengers in the staterooms. Once more I
+hurried below and reported.
+
+Mac was naturally very dignified, but divesting himself of coat, vest
+and dignity at the same time, he planted himself under the berth. Very
+close and very hot quarters he found it, and we put the bags of oranges
+in front, disposing of them so as to make it appear as if they filled
+the whole space, when in reality they were a mere screen.
+
+Then we opened the door to the fullest extent. We had taken off our
+coats--it being frightfully hot--and with a bottle of claret and a bowl
+of ice standing on the little washstand and two glasses all in full
+view, we awaited the arrival of our friends, the enemy.
+
+Our door was flat against the partition, giving a full sweep of the room
+to the eye of the passerby, and George and I waited confidently for the
+inspection we knew was inevitable. I sat on the foot of the lower berth,
+smoking and swinging my feet. George sat on a folding camp-stool, with
+his face toward the door, but not obstructing the view. Soon the
+procession arrived, with the ticket agent in front. When he saw George
+he at once recognized him as the Mr. Wilson who had bought the ticket,
+and he simply said: "How do you do, Mr. Wilson?" and passed on without
+looking in the room. Braga and the police followed, casually glanced at
+us two, and were gone. I put on my coat and followed the procession, and
+at 11.30 they went up on the after deck, evidently satisfied that their
+man was not on the ship, and contented themselves with watching new
+arrivals. I flew down, gave them the good news that the search was over,
+and poor Mac, half-roasted, came from behind the bags of oranges.
+Declaring he was roasted alive and dying of thirst, he finished the
+bottle of iced claret.
+
+Ten minutes before 12 the bell was rung and all people for shore were
+warned to leave. Soon we heard the pleasant sound of the steam winch
+lifting the anchor, and at noon precisely, to our relief, the screw
+began to revolve at quarter speed, and the Ebro to respond by forging
+slowly ahead. All boats fell off but ours and the police boat. At last,
+after giving a good look up and down the bay, Braga and the police
+entered the boats, and, casting off, soon were left behind. Once more
+and for the last time I flew down to the cabin. They saw the good news
+in my face; then, shaking Mac's hand in hearty farewell, we ran to the
+upper deck, down the ladder into our boat, and a moment later the big
+ship, putting on full steam, left us astern, we ordering the boatman to
+pull hard after the ship. Mac soon appeared on the after deck, and waved
+his handkerchief to us in farewell. We gave him three cheers, and,
+excited and happy, with our long anxiety over, we returned to the shore.
+
+With Mac sailing northward ho! with Wilson's passport and ticket in his
+pocket, and all our money save two thousand pounds in his trunk, our
+buccaneering expedition on the Spanish Main was over and all but a
+failure when comparing the L10,000 we had captured with our magnificent
+expectations.
+
+Here was a gigantic and well-conceived scheme which had almost collapsed
+through trifles, which, to an honest enterprise would have been light as
+air, but which to us and to our plans were of crushing force, built up,
+as all schemes of wrong doing are, on foundations of sand.
+
+To conclude very briefly the narrative of this expedition, I will here
+add that the day after Mac's departure, altering his passport to fit
+George's description, we sailed on the Chimborazo south to Montevideo.
+Upon our arrival we, with all other passengers for the town, were
+promptly put in quarantine for ten days in a vile little island called
+in irony the Isle of Flowers; but the mails were fumigated and sent
+through, as were two additional mails arriving from Europe and Rio. When
+our quarantine was over we were permitted to enter the city. We found
+that some advice or rumor had reached there, and we feared to venture
+our letters of credit for money. So, destroying all documents save our
+passports, we paid a visit to Buenos Ayres, and then we embarked on a
+French steamer for Marseilles, arriving there without any particular
+adventure, and the next day had a happy meeting with Mac in Paris.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+LITTLE FISHES WRIGGLING THROUGH GREEN WAVES.
+
+
+Once more together and our adventures since we separated related, the
+question arose: What next?
+
+We determined to abandon our dangerous business, for we had capital
+sufficient to start in an honest career, and resolved to do so. For a
+long time our attention had been turned to Colorado, and we had
+frequently talked over a project of going to some growing city there,
+starting a bank and building a wheat elevator and stockyards. Fifty
+thousand dollars would start our bank, and $10,000, with some credit,
+the elevator and yards. This sum we had, with an additional $10,000 to
+pay our way until profit came in from our investments. Here was another
+great and honorable scheme--one easily carried out had we only gone on
+with it. What a success we might have made, particularly so when
+considered in the light of the development of Colorado since 1872 and
+our energy and knowledge of business.
+
+In Paris we all stopped at the Hotel Meurice, Rue Rivoli, and spent much
+time sightseeing. We were particularly interested in viewing the
+battlefields around Paris--so interested, in fact, that we read up the
+whole history of the mighty struggle with Germany, which ended in
+throwing France into the dust. We, like most of the world here, got our
+ideas of the war and the battles from the current news of the day, as
+published in the newspapers, and we had a general idea that the
+Frenchmen had not made much of a fight. That conclusion could only be
+arrived at by a superficial knowledge such as had been ours.
+Investigation upon the spot and a study of impartial authorities soon
+opened our eyes to the fact that France only succumbed after a mighty
+and most heroic struggle. The first few weeks of the war saw her entire
+regular army captive, and transported prisoners across the Rhine. That
+army had made a brave but unfortunate fight. Badly commanded, with the
+transport and subsistence utterly demoralized, they were no match for
+the mighty hosts that Germany poured across the Rhine. Perfectly
+equipped, matchless in discipline since the palmy days of Rome,
+commanded by the foremost military intellects of the age, they met the
+French, overmatching them at every point of contact; enveloping their
+columns with masses of infantry, or sweeping them with murderous storms
+of shot and shell, or launching a magnificent cavalry at them, against
+which French valor--ill directed as it was--proved futile, and that
+splendid array of 480,000 men had to ground their arms, surrender their
+colors, and, to their own unspeakable shame and humiliation, become
+captive to their foes, leaving their beloved France defenseless. But the
+loss of their army, no more than their thronging foes, dismayed France.
+The heart of the nation was stirred, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic,
+from the Channel to the blue Mediterranean, France rose as one man. They
+saw the entire military force of Germany encamped on their soil, and in
+their undisciplined valor, hurled themselves against it, and gave to
+their astounded foes an exhibition of Titanic force and determined valor
+whose story, when known, will become the admiration of all generations
+of men.
+
+It was against the decree of Heaven that France should win in the
+struggle, but she fell only to rise the higher for the fall. The year
+1871 saw France in the dust, with the armies of her foe encamped over
+more than half her soil, with robber-like demands for huge sums of gold
+ere the modern Goths would march home again. To-day she stands the
+marvel of the world. Twice the France of 1870, with the busy hum of
+industry through all her borders, an overflowing treasury, a contented
+people and an army and many which are the awe of Europe. To-day the
+enemy that flung her to earth twenty-four years ago, seeks safety from
+her attack in defensive alliances with all the nations of the Continent.
+
+We resolved to see Europe before returning to America, so the next few
+weeks were spent in a pleasure jaunt.
+
+In the course of it we visited Vienna, remaining there some time and
+bringing away many and pleasant memories of that music-loving old city
+on the Danube. We finally all returned to Wiesbaden together and visited
+the Casino, watching the play and players with an interest that never
+flagged. Here we saw such vast sums of money ever changing hands that we
+almost insensibly began to think the thousands we had were as nothing,
+and when divided up, the sum coming to each seemed almost beggarly.
+
+Gradually we began to speculate as to the desirability of doubling our
+capital once or twice at least, before we threw up our hands and gave up
+the game. I need hardly tell the reader that what at first was a
+philosophical speculation, an airy theory of a possibility, rapidly
+crystallized into steadfast purpose and determinate resolve, and soon
+our brains were working, and readily brought forth a new scheme. For was
+not there the Bank of England, with uncounted millions in her vaults,
+and was not I, as Frederick Albert Warren, a customer of the bank, and
+as such were not the vaults of the bank at our disposition?
+
+We rated our powers high and fondly thought that, speaking in a general
+way, honesty was the best policy, yet in our case there was an exception
+to the rule. We felt and acknowledged we were doing wrong, but since the
+wrong (apparently) profited us, we would do wrong that good might come
+thereby.
+
+Finally we resolved to go on with our postponed assault upon the money
+bags of the Bank of England, at the same time evolving a plan that
+seemed to promise unbounded wealth and complete immunity for us all.
+
+So we packed our baggage, bade farewell to Wiesbaden, and one early June
+morning in 1872 saw us all once more in smoky London, resolved to rouse
+that Old Lady called the Bank of England from her century-long slumber
+spent in dreaming of her impregnability.
+
+In Frankfort there are several firms, Fischer by name, all bankers, and
+as soon as we determined to return to London, Mac wrote a letter in
+French to the Bank of England and signed it H. V. Fischer, which, of
+course, would leave the manager to suppose his correspondent was one of
+the Fischer bankers. In the letter he said his distinguished customer,
+Mr. F. A. Warren, had written him from St Petersburg, requesting him to
+transfer to his account in the Bank of England the small balance
+remaining to his credit on his (Fischer's) books, therefore he had the
+honor to inclose bills on London for L13,500, payable to the order of
+the manager, said sum to be placed to the credit of Mr. F. A. Warren.
+
+I took this letter to Frankfort, and, having purchased bills of exchange
+on London to the amount named, inclosed them and mailed the letter. A
+day or so after I received a letter at Frankfort from the manager of the
+bank, acknowledging the receipts of the drafts, and announcing that the
+proceeds of the same had duly been placed to the credit of F. A. Warren.
+So I had over $67,000 to my credit, and had now been a depositor for
+five months.
+
+George took up his residence at a private house in the west end of
+London, while Mac and I went to the Grosvenor Hotel.
+
+This hotel was one of the very few then in England which were allowed by
+the aristocrats of London society to be what they called highly
+respectable, that is, exclusive, and, therefore, a fit dwelling place
+for their dainty selves. In Dublin there is one of these highly
+respectable hostels, the Gresham, on Sackville street. This hotel was a
+type of all of the sort I mention. I once stopped at the Gresham for a
+week and became one of the "nobility and gentry" that frequent these
+hotels. The waiters all wore full-dress suits, faultless in cut and fit,
+and the chief event in their daily existence, the serving of the table
+d'hote, wore white kid gloves. The bewildering changes of varied colored
+dishes (I mean crockery ware), was something to make one stare. Course
+number one brought on a soup dish of pale violet color, quite a work of
+art, but its contents was a watery compound with an artistic name.
+Course number two consisted of a unique plate, light green in color,
+with little fishes wriggling through green waves, but bearing on it a
+small insipid portion of a genuine inhabitant of the deep; and so on,
+course followed course, each on a different colored plate. If the dinner
+was intended for an exhibition of crockery, each one of the seven I had
+there was a success, but, however gratifying to the eye the dinners
+might be, they were lamentable failures so far as stomach and appetite
+were concerned; but when I came to pay my bill I found the white kid
+gloves and the fancy china again; they were all in it, and many more
+things as well. The bill was more than a foot long, filled with such
+items as soap, sixpence; one envelope, one penny; one sheet note paper,
+one penny; bath, two shillings; extra towels and soap for same,
+sixpence, and so on through the line.
+
+We found the Grosvenor another Gresham. However, as we wanted to stop at
+a swell hotel, we concluded--so long as we were there--to remain; but
+after a few days we found the cuisine "highly respectable;" that is, for
+dinner one could get roast--either beef or mutton. As for vegetables, we
+were strictly limited to turnips, cauliflowers, cabbage and potatoes,
+and, for dessert, the famous apple tart of England, more deadly even
+than our mince pie.
+
+[Illustration: SOME NATIVES I MET IN TAWNY, SPAIN.--Page 290.]
+
+The proprietor of a certain popular restaurant in New York has a fad for
+hanging elaborately got-up Scripture texts--exhortations mostly--around
+the walls of his restaurant. Interspersed with these are advertisements
+of his eatables--also exhortations--such as, "Try our buckwheat cakes,
+10 cents;" "Try our doughnuts and coffee;" between the two exhortations,
+a third bidding one flee from the wrath to come; but the most fetching
+of all are two companion cards. On the one is the legend, "Try our hot
+mince pie;" on the other is displayed the apropos warning, "Prepare to
+meet thy God."
+
+So we resolved to sleep at the Grosvenor, but to avoid the apple tart.
+We soon discovered a good restaurant near by, where we dined, and, as I
+am on the subject of dining, I will finish this chapter with a little
+narrative, the moral of which I will leave my readers to find: We were
+now settled down in London, prepared to devote all our attention to that
+Old Lady--The B. of E.--and, in accordance with a habit of ours, we
+began to look for some safe place--hotel, cafe or restaurant--where we
+could meet, run in at any time for consultation, or to write notes.
+Three things were requisite--nearness to the money centre of the city, a
+room where we could be secluded from people coming and going, and a
+proprietor clever enough not to be inquisitive, with a genius for
+minding his own business. A man who has a genius for that thing always
+carries it in his face, just as his opposite--the busybody--carries
+the traces of his restless inquisitiveness in the face and manner.
+
+That same day we discovered, in a small street leading off Finsbury, a
+shop with a sign over the door bearing the legend: "Licensed to sell
+spirits and caterer." It had canned and potted meats, along with bottles
+of wine, in the window, but was evidently fast going to seed. We pushed
+our way in and found a bright, fresh-looking young Englishman,
+evidently a countryman, but intelligent and civil, much like a
+gamekeeper. We knew at once we had our place and man.
+
+After some weeks we observed, now and then, a couple of sharp-looking
+customers hanging about the place.
+
+We feared being watched, and began to think it time to change, so
+suddenly ceased calling at mine host's snuggery and took up new quarters
+in a private house not far away. About two months later I happened to be
+near and called. He received me warmly, and told me we had saved him
+from bankruptcy. He had been a gamekeeper on a nobleman's estate, and
+his wife had been a housemaid there. They married against the wishes of
+their master, but they had five hundred pounds, and, coming to London,
+started business on that. Custom was poor, and soon they were at the end
+of their rope, when, happily for them, we came along and spent money
+enough in his place to set him on his feet again.
+
+[Illustration: BANK OF ENGLAND BULLION VAULTS.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+WITH NO REGRETS, WITH NO TORTURING REMORSE.
+
+
+Although I had the very respectable balance of $67,000 at the bank, I
+had not as yet, since my arrival in London, paid it a visit. This was in
+pursuance of our plans. So far I had only done business with the
+supernumeraries, and none of the people at the top had ever even heard
+of me. But we determined that they should not long remain in ignorance
+of the great American contractor, F. A. Warren.
+
+Three months had elapsed since our departure from London on our
+piratical tour to the Spanish Main. In all nearly five months had
+elapsed since Green had introduced me to the Old Lady whose impregnable
+vaults we had now at last determined to loot. That in itself was a
+favorable circumstance, as it would give me a chance to flourish in a
+grandly indefinite way to the effect that I had "for some time" been a
+customer of the bank, and none of the officials would probably take the
+trouble to ascertain how very brief, in fact, my acquaintance had been.
+
+I left London by the night mail from Victoria Station for Paris, the
+first of many hurried trips I took to the Continent on the business we
+had entered upon. Truly, we worked hard, spent money lavishly, brought
+all our power and genius to work--for what? To have the lightning fall
+on us.
+
+Upon my arrival I drove at once to the Hotel Bristol, Place Vendome, a
+swell hotel, where none but the great sirs o' the earth could afford to
+stop.
+
+Here I registered as F. A. Warren, London, and at once sent off the
+following letter:
+
+     P. M. Francis, Esq., Manager Bank of England, London.
+
+     Dear Sir: I am a customer of the bank, therefore I take the liberty
+     of troubling you in the hope to have the benefit of your advice.
+
+     Will you kindly inform me what good 4 per cent. stocks are to be
+     had in the market, also if the bank will transact the business for
+     me? I remain very truly yours,
+
+     F. A. WARREN.
+
+By return mail came a letter wherein I was advised to invest in India 4
+per cents or London Gas. I wrote an immediate order to have the bank
+purchase ten thousand pounds of India stock and sent my check for that
+amount, on his own bank, payable to the order of the manager. I received
+the stock, instantly sold it, and replaced the money to my credit, and
+the next day sent off an order for ten thousand pounds gas stock, and
+repeated the operation until I had made the impression I wanted to make
+on the mind of the manager, so that when I returned to London for my
+decisive interview and sent in my card he would at once recognize the
+name, F. A. Warren, as the multi-millionaire American who had been
+sending him ten thousand pound checks from Paris.
+
+All the time of my stay in France I had nothing to do but enjoy myself,
+and I entered upon a systematic sightseeing in and around Paris. There
+are some strange contrasts in that old town. One day I made one of a
+coaching party to Fontainebleau, twenty-one miles from the city. Every
+foot of the road there is classic ground, and I had assiduously studied
+day by day the history of France. That Paris is France is nearly a
+truth, and I had in my mind a tolerably clear view of the history of the
+country and of the men who made its history. I was right there on the
+scene of the history-making, and I found an intensity of interest in my
+excursions such as I had never experienced before. The driver of the
+coach was an Englishman by the name of Nunn. I mention this here, as he
+eventually became my servant, and will appear again in the narrative.
+
+To the Parisian hotel proprietor and shopkeeper the American visitor is
+truly a providence. "Mine host" looks to him for loaves and fishes, and
+is never deceived. The antics of our rich countrymen in Paris are
+portentous in their amazing prodigality, and I fear we are the laughing
+stock of the shopkeepers there.
+
+At the Cafe Riche and Tortoni's I have seen extravagances in ordering
+expensive wines and viands by my countrymen that made me regret that the
+fools who were being served were not forced to toil for the mere
+necessaries of existence. Certainly they were unworthy stewards of the
+wealth heaven or the other place had bestowed on them by inheritance. I
+remember one boy there throwing away in vice and dissipation the fortune
+his father had through years of a long life spent toilsome hours in
+accumulating. I sat at a table near him on several occasions, when,
+after his banquet was half over, he used to reward the waiter with a
+five-hundred franc note ($100), but the proprietor was ever close at
+hand and would instantly despoil the garcon of his prize. He was
+companioned by a member of the demi-monde, who, when arrayed in male
+attire, as she was nightly, would cut up enough monkey tricks in one
+night at the Valentino or Mabille to have made the fortunes of all our
+comic paper artists had they been on the spot to catch her antics with a
+kodak and then lay them before an admiring public.
+
+The fortune this boy had inherited was unfortunately too vast and too
+well-invested by his overfond and madly foolish father for the son to
+run through it entirely. A very few years left him an imbecile in body
+and mind, to become the prey of a parcel of sharks who, dressing in
+purple and fine linen and faring sumptuously every day, held him in a
+state of abject slavery and fear. One day, aboard his own yacht, off
+Naples, they married him to a notorious woman. Under the guardianship of
+his wife and her villain paramour he wandered like a spectre amid the
+scene of his former riot.
+
+For long at Monte Carlo he lingered like a ghost, and at last died in
+Florence. The American colony attended his funeral in a body, while his
+widow, dissolved in tears, refused to be comforted. Although many dark
+stories were whispered, the Americans there forgave her all, for her
+grief and sorrow were so overpoweringly evident that it would have
+seemed a crime to doubt her tender love for the departed. After having
+the body embalmed, she embarked with her dead love for America, and
+to-day his ashes rest in that mighty city of the dead, Greenwood, under
+a Greek cross of white marble, bearing the date of birth and death. I
+went to see it last Easter week. The grave was strewn with flowers, and
+the pedestal bears this inscription:
+
+  "Too good for this world,
+  The angels bore him to heaven,
+  Leaving his heartbroken wife
+  To mourn her unspeakable loss."
+
+Unopposed she succeeded to her husband's estate. It was large then;
+to-day it has grown to enormous proportions. She is not, but easily
+might have been, one of the Four Hundred.
+
+At Saratoga last August I saw her sitting on the balcony of the United
+States Hotel--fat, wrinkled, vulgar-looking, covered with diamonds.
+Nemesis appears to have postponed her visit to the lady. Her life from
+her own standpoint has been a tremendous success. She has been
+philosopher enough to appreciate what an immense factor mere eating and
+drinking is in the sum of human enjoyment. Born with a cold heart, a
+constitution of iron, and the digestion of an ostrich, happily for her
+peace of mind she was absolutely without imagination.
+
+[Illustration: "IN MY DREAM I WAS ON A SHORELESS SEA."--Page 286.]
+
+To fill the sum of human happiness (from her own standpoint) she only
+required one other thing, a good bank account, and that, she said,
+heaven had put in her way, so her life has been filled full of joy, and
+of the only sort she cared for or could appreciate. In her early years,
+when her passions were strong, lover and paramour followed in rapid
+succession. When her blood grew cold she found her delight in the
+pleasures of the table, and keeping the same cook, who was an expert,
+for twenty years, and exercising freely, 1894 found her at 60 with a
+strong pulse, a perfect digestion and a keen enjoyment of sport, racing
+in particular, and, on the whole, enjoying life as well as any woman in
+the universe, with no regrets, no torturing remorse, but with a serene
+faith that when done with this world she--never having done anything
+very bad here--will have a pretty good time in the world to come.
+
+[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO BULLION VAULTS, BANK OF ENGLAND.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+DETAILS NECESSARY, IF TEDIOUS.
+
+
+After the events narrated in the last chapter, I returned to London. I
+arrived early in the morning, and, meeting my companions, we had a long
+and anxious talk over my near-approaching and all-important interview
+with that great Sir of the London world, the manager of the Bank of
+England. Happy for us if in that interview the manager had asked for the
+customary references, or had used ordinary business precaution and
+investigated me, or, indeed, had acted as any ordinary business man
+would have done under ordinary circumstances. Our own conclusions were
+that the fact that I was already a depositor, together with the
+impression made by the letters and my L10,000 checks, would put the
+thing through. Yet we, of course, felt that a thousand things could
+arise to block our way effectually. A look, a word too much, a shadow,
+or a smile in my face might ruin all; but still, after providing so far
+as possible for every contingency, after planning what was to be said or
+left unsaid at the interview, after my companions filling me full of
+advice, we felt after all that everything must be left to my discretion,
+to say and to act as I thought best under the circumstances.
+
+This council of war was held in my room in the Grosvenor. I had arrived
+from Paris at 6 o'clock. Mac and I breakfasted together at 8. George
+joined us at 9, and we talked until 10, then we set out together for the
+bank. Arriving there, they remained outside, watching for my
+reappearance. Entering the bank, I sent in my card (F. A. Warren) by a
+liveried flunkey, and was immediately ushered into the manager's parlor.
+He has long since gone over to the majority, so here I will not so much
+as name or describe him. Sufficient to say, that as soon as I set eyes
+upon him I thought that we would have no particular difficulty in
+carrying out our plans, save only so far as details went.
+
+The manager, who had been told that I was a railroad contractor,
+expressed himself highly gratified to have me do my business through the
+bank, and said they would do all in their power to accommodate me. I
+told him that, of course, I was financing large sums, and would require
+more or less discounts before the year was out. Then I came away, and
+meeting my two friends outside of the bank, in answer to their eager
+inquiries as to what had transpired, I told them that, so far as the
+bank officials were concerned, our way to the vaults of the bank was
+wide open.
+
+So ended the last scene of Act I.
+
+The next day I went to the Continental Bank, in Lombard street, and
+bought sight exchange on Paris for 200,000 francs, paying for it by a
+check on the Bank of England. I was given a note of identification to
+the Paris agent of the bank.
+
+That night I left Victoria Station for Paris. At 10 the next morning I
+had my money, and, going to the Place de la Bourse, near the Exchange, I
+commissioned a broker, who was a member of the Exchange, to purchase
+bills on London for L8,000. I cautioned him to buy bills drawn only on
+well-known banking houses. About 3 o'clock he had the bills ready. I
+paid him the amount, along with his commission, and, examining the
+paper, found that he had purchased for me about what I wanted.
+
+I will explain, for the benefit of any reader not conversant with
+financial transactions, that if John Russell, cotton broker in Savannah,
+ships a thousand bales of cotton to a firm in Manchester, England, the
+firm in Manchester authorizes him to draw a bill of exchange on their
+firm, payable at some London bank at three or six months' time, for the
+value of the cotton. We will say the price is L10,000. Russell draws ten
+bills for L1,000 each, say payable at the Union Bank of London. He gives
+these bills to a money broker in Savannah, who sells them on the
+Exchange and gets for them whatever the rate of exchange may then be on
+London. The president of the Georgia Central Railroad may have ordered a
+thousand tons of steel rail in England for his road, and to pay for them
+he orders a broker to buy for him bills on London to the amount of the
+cost of the rails. He purchases the Russell bills, and these bills of
+exchange he sends in payment to the steel rail manufacturers in England,
+so, as a matter of fact, the president of the Georgia Central pays
+Russell for his thousand bales of cotton, but has the bills of exchange.
+So, in place of L10,000 in gold being freighted twice across the ocean,
+the ten pieces of paper cross only once. These ten bills for L1,000
+each, drawn on the Union Bank of London at six months, in due time are
+presented, duly accepted and paid at maturity by the bank.
+
+Instead of commercial notes or bills they are now known as acceptances,
+and are just as good as a bank note. Therefore, if the owner--no matter
+who it is--wants the money at once, any bank will discount all or either
+for the face value less the interest. In every commercial centre of the
+world these accepted bills are being discounted by banks and moneyed
+corporations for enormous sums, but by no bank in the world in such huge
+amounts as by the Bank of England. Their daily discounts run into the
+millions.
+
+What our plan was will be made clear later.
+
+[Illustration: A BILL OF EXCHANGE.]
+
+The evening of the day of my arrival in Paris found me on the express
+speeding to Paris. Two hours past midnight I was on the miserable little
+passenger steamer that plies across the chopping channel, and which I
+suppose has seen more of human misery than all the fleets that sail the
+Atlantic, for the channel has stronger counter currents, and wind,
+tide and currents seem ever to be in violent opposition, and here
+
+  "E'er across the main doth float
+    A sad and solemn swell,
+  The wild, fantastic, fitful note
+    Of Triton's breathing shell."
+
+And Triton (old Neptune's t'other name) makes all passers over this part
+of his realm pay ample tribute for "his fantastic, fitful notes."
+
+The Paris night express lands one at early dawn in London, nearly always
+weak on the legs, however. I breakfasted with Mac, and after that took
+the bills to the various banks on which they were drawn, and leaving
+them for their acceptance, I called again the next day and received them
+back, bearing across the face, the magic words:
+
+  "London, Aug. 14, 1872.
+
+  "Accepted for the Union Bank of London.
+
+  "E. Barclay, Manager.
+
+  "J. Wayland, Assistant Manager."
+
+Then I hurried to the Grosvenor, and we all looked at them with
+curiosity, for it was upon the imitation of just such acceptances that
+our whole plan was based. I intended to present this and many more
+batches of genuine bills for discount at the bank until the officials
+should become accustomed to discounting for me. In the mean time, as
+fast as I got genuine acceptances and bills, we kept on making
+imitations of them for future use, only leaving out the date until such
+time as we should be ready to put them in for discount. Of course, the
+success or failure of our whole plan turned upon this point. Is it the
+custom of the Bank of England (in 1873) to send acceptances offered for
+discount to the acceptors for verification of signatures?
+
+This is always done in America, and had this very requisite precaution
+been used by the Bank of England our plan would have been fruitless and
+we should have been a few thousands out of pocket; but, if not, then we
+could throw into the hopper enough acceptances of home manufacture so
+that through the red tape routine of the bank millions of sovereigns
+would be ground out into our pockets.
+
+Taking my deposit book and the genuine bills, I went to the bank and
+left the bills for discount. This was at once done and the amount placed
+to my credit. I drew L10,000, and that night found me once more one of
+500 unfortunates paying tribute to Neptune. This time I landed at Ostend
+and took the train for Amsterdam. There I repeated the Paris operation,
+securing L10,000 in genuine bills. I returned to London, and as before
+left them for acceptance. Then my companion manufactured a lot of
+imitations and put them away with those previously manufactured, to be
+all ready when the day came to use them. The genuine bills were then
+discounted. Again and again I went to the Continent, repeating the
+operation, until at last my credit at the bank was firm as a rock, and
+we were ready to reap our harvest. But these operations, simple as they
+seem, lasted over a period of six months, and had been made at heavy
+cost. Our ordinary living expenses were not less than $25 a day for the
+three, while our extraordinary expenses were enormous. I probably
+traveled 10,000 miles over the Continent in my bill-buying expeditions
+to Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfort and Vienna.
+
+Another source of expense was the commissions paid to brokers for buying
+bills on the exchange. Then we had many expenses purely personal, and,
+enormous as it seems, the sum total from the day of our return from
+Brazil until the day of our operations against the bank began to bring
+us in cash were quite $500 a week, so that we had invested $15,000 in
+preparation, not to speak of our hard work--and it was hard work, and
+trying, too, for there were a multitude of details to be worked out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE EGYPTIANS PASS OVER THE RED SEA AND THE HEBREWS ARE DROWNED THEREIN.
+
+
+All the details of events leading through the long Summer and Autumn
+days of 1872 up to the hour when the golden shower began to fall on us
+are of intense, almost dramatic, interest. I will not, however, lengthen
+the narrative by giving here any further account of them, but will
+merely relate the story of the last five days before the actual
+presentation of our home-brewed acceptances.
+
+The bank had been discounting for weeks comparatively large sums for me.
+Many thousand pounds of the genuine article discounted had matured and
+been paid, and more thousands were still in the vaults, awaiting
+maturity, and would fall due, while our home-manufactured bills would be
+laid away in the vaults, there to remain for four or five months until
+due. Of course a full month or two months before that we could pack our
+baggage and be on the other side of the world; I on some hacienda in
+Mexico, George and Mac at some fashionable resort in Florida. They soon
+to knock at the gates of the Four Hundred, I to spend a year or two in
+Mexico, playing "grand senor," until, under the skillful management of
+our friends, Irving, Stanley and White, at Police Headquarters in New
+York, the affair had blown over, and they invited me to return.
+
+But, as the sequel will show, the reality took on a different complexion
+from the ideal.
+
+[Illustration: BOW STREET POLICE STATION.]
+
+My credit at the bank was solid as a rock. That means I had gone through
+the red-tape routine. It only behooved us to use circumspection enough
+to avoid making mistakes in our papers, and fortune was ours. I knew
+everything was all right, but George, being a thorough business man
+himself, could not comprehend that it could be quite right, and he
+insisted upon one supreme test. Any single bill of exchange is seldom
+drawn for more than L1,000, rarely for L2,000, and one of L6,000 is
+almost unheard of. If a party in Bombay wanted exchange on London for
+L100,000, his broker would probably furnish him with one hundred bills
+for L1,000 each. But George had made up his mind that as a test, and to
+make an impression upon the bank manager, I should go to Paris and get a
+bill on London from Rothschilds drawn to the order of F. A. Warren
+direct. Could this be done it would, of course, make it appear that I
+had intimate relations with the Rothschilds, and as a minor
+consideration we could use the Rothschild acceptance--a pretty nervy
+thing to do, as Sir Anthony de Rothschild, the head of the London house,
+whose name we proposed to offer, was a director of the Bank of England,
+and would have to pass his own paper for discount--that is, paper
+bearing his name, manufactured by ourselves.
+
+We tried to talk George out of this notion, which Mac and I regarded as
+a freak, unnecessary in the first place, and impossible anyhow. But he
+was persistent, and I had to start out and try. I expected an expense of
+$1,000 and a delay of two weeks, but fortune or the devil favored us.
+So, purchasing at the exchange broker's in London 200,000 francs in
+French paper money, once more I left Victoria Station for Paris. Once
+more, an unwilling victim, I heard the "wild, fantastic, fitful note of
+Triton's breathing shell." At Calais I took my place in what the French
+call a coupe; that is, the end compartment on a car, which, by paying
+ten francs extra, you can occupy alone. It is unlike the other
+compartments in that there are no arms dividing it into seats; so one
+can lie full length on the cushion.
+
+Before this night I speak of I had cherished a theory as to what I
+should do in the event of an accident happening to any train whereon I
+was a passenger. In such a case I proposed to catch on to some object
+and hold on, leaving my body and limbs to swing freely. My theory ever
+since that night has been that I will go just wherever the breaking
+timbers and flying furniture send me. I had fallen into a sound sleep
+before the train started, and was aroused from it to find myself hurled
+about the compartment much as a stout boy would shake a mouse in a cage,
+and quite as helpless.
+
+Our train was off the track. My carriage was near the engine, and the
+momentum of the long train forced the car in the rear of mine up on end,
+and it appeared as if it would fall over and crush me. I thought my hour
+had come, and I cried out, "At last!" There was no fear or terror in it,
+but merely the thought that after many months of almost incessant
+travel, and necessarily of peril, "at last" my fate had come. It had
+not. How good heaven would have been if it had sent me to my doom then
+and there!
+
+The accident had occurred at Marquise, a small town sixteen miles from
+Calais and four from Boulogne, the first stopping place of the express.
+It was a very long train, but the carriages were all empty except two. A
+heavy excursion train had left Paris, and the cars were going back
+empty. What lessened the number of passengers was the fact that it was
+Sunday night. The English do not travel on Sundays as a rule. So,
+fortunately, a great loss of life was prevented. However, two were
+killed and half of the remaining passengers injured. My own injuries
+were slight and consisted of trifling cuts on the face and hands from
+flying glass. But, far worse than that, I had received a nervous shock,
+which took some weeks to wear off, and during the rest of my journey to
+Paris and return to London I was as nervous as a timid woman. I stayed
+at Marquise until noon, when the express passing at that hour made a
+special stop to pick me up.
+
+In our glorious and free country the killing or mangling of a few
+persons more or less is of no particular concern to any one beyond the
+friends of the victims, least of all to the railway magnate or to his
+servant. But in France an accident which results even in the wounding of
+a passenger is a very serious matter to the road where it occurs and to
+its officials. They always hasten to take the fullest responsibility,
+and if attention or the more solid matter--cash--can comfort the
+sufferer, he will have no occasion to mourn long. If one life be
+lost--even a servant of the road--a strict judicial inquiry takes place
+upon the scene of the accident, by a high official of the State, advised
+by experts, not as in this country, by some drunken country loafer or
+ward heeler, who, all ignorant of the law, has been "elected" county
+coroner, and one who is more anxious to procure free passes on the road
+than he is concerned for the victim murdered by the neglect or parsimony
+of inefficient railway officials.
+
+The road from Paris to Calais is known as the Chemin de Fer du Nord, and
+Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, head of the Paris Rothschilds, is the
+president of the road. This fact occurred to me within a few minutes of
+the accident, and I thought I might make use of the affair as a means to
+help me in my business at Paris. I arrived about dark, went to the Grand
+Hotel, and to bed at once. My nerves were so shaken that I was timid,
+even when in the elevator, but I slept well and awoke at daylight
+feeling better.
+
+At 10 o'clock, limping badly and leaning on a cane, I entered a carriage
+and drove to the Maison Rothschild, Rue Lafitte. The banking house might
+well be called a palace. The various offices open upon a courtyard,
+while the whole architecture of the building would suggest the residence
+of an officer of State or nobleman rather than a building devoted to
+finance. But the currents which centre there are potent and
+far-reaching, and come richly laden with tribute from the four quarters
+of the world. To win that tribute slaves toil, and, toiling, die, in
+Brazilian diamond mines, and thousands of coolies, entrapped by agents
+in China and India, enter into perfidious contracts which commit them to
+hopeless slavery and send them to wear out their lives in despairing
+toil amid the pungent and murderous ammoniacal fumes of the guano
+islands of Chili and Peru. The Rothschilds, too, own the Almaden
+quicksilver mine and others.
+
+They control the quicksilver industries of the world, and to swell their
+abnormal hoard, portentous in its vastness, other poor wretches,
+condemned under form of law, are doomed to days of wearing toil, and,
+their bones rotting from quicksilver absorption, to nights of racking
+pains. So, too, far Siberia contributes its quota of human misery that
+the golden stream of interest on century-old loans may have no
+interruption, but pour on unceasingly into the vaults of the
+Rothschilds.
+
+Alighting from the carriage and mounting the steps with difficulty, I
+entered the English Department, and, seating myself, awaited the
+manager's presence. He came, and expressing great concern when he
+learned I was a victim of the Marquise disaster, asked what he could do
+for me. I replied I wanted to see the Baron. He disappeared into a range
+of offices, and no doubt told Baron Alphonse I was some important
+personage, doubly important because injured on his road.
+
+Soon a slight, sallow man of about 43 appeared, wearing an old-fashioned
+stovepipe hat and a shabby suit of snuff-colored garments. The look of
+the attendants testified that the deity was before me. Taking off his
+antiquated chapeau he began a profuse apology for the accident,
+explaining that accidents were most unusual events in France; that he
+would order his own physician to attend me, that I should have every
+attention without the slightest charge or expense to myself, etc., etc.,
+and ended by saying I was to command him if he could serve me. In return
+I told him since he was so distressed over the accident and my plight, I
+should say no more about either, but as I was too badly shaken to
+complete the business on which I had come to Paris I should request him
+to instruct his subordinates to aid me in transmitting the funds I had
+brought from London back again. He called the manager and told him to
+accommodate me in anything, then, shaking hands and with many
+expressions of regret, he withdrew.
+
+I told the manager I wanted a three months' bill on London for L6,000.
+He informed me that the house of Rothschild was not issuing time bills,
+but since the Baron's order suspended the rule in my case, he would
+procure me six bills for L1,000 each. These really were just as good for
+our purpose as one bill for L6,000, but I had come to Paris on George's
+demand that I should procure one bill for this unusual amount, so
+perforce I had to say "No," that I wanted one bill only.
+
+The manager began to remonstrate, saying it was unusual, and wanted to
+explain the nature of a bill of exchange, but I cut him short, bidding
+him recall the Baron at once. The thought of recalling that Jupiter to
+repeat an order was enough to send a thrill through the entire staff,
+and he instantly said: "Oh, sir, if you wish the L6,000 in one bill, you
+shall have it, but it will involve some delay." So paying him 150,000
+francs on account, I ordered the bill sent to me at 2 o'clock precisely
+at the Grand Hotel, and drove off to the Louvre, where I spent two hours
+in the picture galleries. At 2 o'clock I was at the hotel, and an
+attendant came with the bill, and, pointing to a signature on it,
+informed me it was that of a Cabinet Minister, equivalent to our
+Secretary of the Treasury, certifying that the tax due the government
+on the bill was paid. He explained the revenue stamp required upon a
+bill of exchange was one-eighth of 1 per cent. of the face of the bill,
+making the tax on my single bill 187 francs, or about $37. All bills are
+stamped in a registering machine, which presses the stamp into the
+paper; but there were no registering machines for a stamp of so high a
+denomination as 187 francs either in the branch revenue office in the
+Rothschild bank or at the Treasury, so the Baron had taken the bill to
+the Treasury himself and got the Cabinet Minister to put his autograph
+on it--probably the first and only time in history that such a thing had
+been done. I wanted very much indeed to keep that bill as a curiosity,
+but then the necessity of the time was on me, and I was not then a
+collector of curios.
+
+I had been only eighteen hours in Paris, and by a happy fluke the
+business was done over which I had counted upon spending a good part of
+the month.
+
+When I left London I was all at sea as to how I should carry out the
+objects of my visit to Paris. One plan was to procure an interview by
+strategy with the Baron Alphonse and try to cajole him, but without
+reference, and devoid of all business relations or acquaintance in
+Paris, it was at best a questionable expedient, and I probably would
+have had a take-down. But the accident at Marquise came and smoothed the
+apparently insuperable difficulties in my way. But I have found that
+something unusual does come to help a man on his way to the devil when
+he is anxious to get there, which he is pretty sure to do, if he is only
+diligent and careful to improve his opportunities.
+
+What diligence and strict attention to business do men exhibit when they
+start out to wreck their own lives and break the hearts of those near to
+them! In a play by a modern writer, one scene presents Satan flying at
+midnight over one of our cities, while the drunken songs and joyous
+shouts of some gilded revelers rise in the night. The merry songs and
+laughter are music to the ears of Lucifer. He pauses in his flight to
+listen, and as the songs and shouts increase in volume he looks down on
+the revelers and with a bitter sneer soliloquizes thus of them:
+
+  "Ye are my bondsmen and my thralls,
+  Your lives I fill with bitter pain."
+
+And that sums it up pretty well; but we must look straight away from the
+entrance of the Primrose Way to the exit.
+
+Well, I had successfully played my trump card on the Rothschilds, and,
+not seeing the end, thought I had won, and cleverly won; so before
+sitting down to dinner I went to the telegraph office and telegraphed to
+my partners:
+
+     "The Egyptians all passed over the Red Sea. But the Hebrews are
+     drowned therein."
+
+Thinking this rather witty, I went to dinner well satisfied. An hour
+past midnight the moon looked from behind a cloud and saw me, one of
+many miserables, leaning over the bulwark of that wretched Dover
+steamer, again paying tribute to Neptune.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+"ACCEPTED. LIONEL ROTHSCHILD."
+
+
+When George and Mac received my telegram they, knowing the difficulties
+of my mission, deemed it incredible that I had succeeded within a day,
+so when my telegram came they thought I was attempting some jest. Upon
+my arrival in London, walking into Mac's room--he being still in bed--I
+announced that I had in my pocket Rothschild's bill for L6,000, drawn on
+the London house. He flatly refused to believe me, but when he, and
+later George, saw the bill, they were forced to believe. I at once took
+it down to St. Swithin's lane, and, leaving it for acceptance, called
+the next day, when I found scrawled across it in thin, pale ink the
+mystic words "Accepted. Lionel Rothschild."
+
+The bill itself was drawn on cheap, blue paper, on the same form as the
+blank bills to be had at the Paris stationers', where I had bought some.
+From Rothschilds' I went direct to the hotel where we had our
+rendezvous, and the acceptance was so simple and easy that Mac had it
+copied on another bill in ten minutes. The business methods of the bank
+were so loose that there was no necessity for imitating signatures, but
+as a precaution this was done to some extent. I then proceeded to the
+Bank of England for my last personal interview with the manager. I must
+halt here for a brief space in the narrative, in order to enlighten my
+reader upon some new developments, also to introduce the new member we
+at this time brought into our firm.
+
+[Illustration: "NOYES ESCORTED BY AN ANGRY MOB TO NEWGATE."--Page 379]
+
+There was a friend, a very old friend, of mine residing in Hartford,
+Edwin Noyes by name. We had known each other from our schoolboy days,
+and there was a warm friendship between us. Our paths in life had been
+wide apart, but we maintained a frequent correspondence and often met.
+He knew nothing of my primrose life, but supposed, of course, from the
+style of my living that I was the possessor of a handsome income from my
+business, which lay, as he imagined, in that mysterious precinct known
+as "The Street," which, of course, meant Wall street, and that my
+business was speculating in stocks.
+
+He was a trifle older than myself, of a steady, reserved nature, and a
+discreet and safe friend. This was the new member of our firm. How he
+came to be so I must explain. Up to this time, as the reader will have
+noticed, I was the only one of the party known at the bank, and, of
+course, was the only one who seemed to be taking any risk. Even in the
+event of discovery it would apparently be necessary for me only to take
+flight. George and Mac, not being known in connection with the fraud,
+could remain in London until such time as they chose to go home. To make
+matters absolutely safe for me as well we got up this scheme.
+
+I told the manager of the bank that I had bought an immense plant and
+shops in Birmingham to manufacture railway material, and that I should
+be there superintending the work a good deal; therefore I might
+occasionally send any bills I had for discount from there by mail. I had
+sent two or three lots of the genuine bills in that way. If I could send
+the imitation bills the same way, Mac and George could carry on the
+business through the mail in my name and I could be at the other side of
+the world while the actual operation was going on, so that, far from my
+ever being proved guilty, there would be proof of my innocence, for how
+could I be guilty of a crime committed in England at the very time I was
+on a pleasure jaunt in the West Indies and Mexico? Thus it was
+arranged. Mac and George could do everything and remain in the
+background themselves, provided we had a safe man whom I could introduce
+at the bank as my clerk or messenger, also to represent me in different
+places where I could introduce him as my messenger before I left
+England.
+
+The reader will see the extreme artfulness of the plot, but in all
+wrongdoing there is sooner or later a slip up. Be the plot ever so
+artful, or however safe the wrongdoing may appear, the unforeseen
+something will happen.
+
+Of course, Mac and George not being known at the bank need not care, but
+it might easily be serious for me.
+
+When the explosion came, fifty people in and about the bank would
+remember my face. But if I brought Noyes on the scene to act as my clerk
+I need only introduce him to the paying teller of the bank, and to Jay
+Cooke & Co., the American banking house, where I proposed to buy
+enormous quantities of United States bonds, paying for them in checks on
+the Bank of England. Of course, the bonds being all bearer bonds, would,
+with our knowledge of finance, be as good as so much cash.
+
+So, knowing Noyes, if he would embark in the enterprise, had plenty of
+nerve and could never be bribed or bought into betraying us should he by
+any failure of our plans happen to be arrested, we determined to send
+for him. A short time before we arrived at this conclusion I had sent
+this precautionary letter to him:
+
+                                                  "Grosvenor Hotel,
+                                             "London, Nov. 8, 1872.
+
+"My Dear Noyes: You will be surprised to hear from me from London, but
+the fact is I have been here with George and a friend of ours for a
+year, and have made a lot of money from several speculations we have
+embarked in. In fact, we have been so successful that we have determined
+to make you a present of a thousand dollars, which find inclosed. Please
+accept the same with our best wishes.
+
+"We may be able to give you a chance to make a few thousands, if you
+would care to venture across the ocean. Perhaps we can make use of you.
+If so, I will send you a cable. If I do, come any way, as we will pay
+all your expenses should you determine not to go in with us on the deal.
+Be cautious and preserve absolute secrecy when you leave home as to your
+destination. Will explain the reason for this when we meet. Keep your
+weather eye open for the cable. It may come any hour after you have
+this.
+
+      "Hoping you are quite well, I remain," etc., etc.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A few days later we sent him this cable (it was afterward produced in
+court in evidence against him): "Edwin Noyes, New York. Come by Atlantic
+on Wednesday; wire on arrival at Liverpool; meet at Langham."
+
+He arrived ten days later, and at a little dinner given in his honor we
+told him our plot. He was astounded, and for the remainder of the
+dinner, and for the day, too, for the matter of that, he acted like a
+man in a dream, and we three were amazed that he did not instantly fall
+into our plan.
+
+Here was the dramatic representation of the poisonous effect of
+wrongdoing. We three had by degrees become accustomed to look upon a
+fraud committed by ourselves with equanimity. I say by degrees.
+Insensibly we had been sinking deeper and deeper, until, our moral
+senses blunted, we found excuses to our own consciences. But here was my
+companion and friend; he was no Puritan, but, like ourselves but a few
+brief months before, regarded crime with detestation, and now, when the
+men he trusted proposed he should become a party to a crime, his mind
+revolted in horror. Well for him had he yielded to the prompting of his
+own conscience and fled from us and the fearful temptation of sudden
+wealth. At last he said he would consider it. After a day or two of
+silence he began to question us as to our mode of operation, then his
+mind became more and more familiarized to the thought, until at last,
+fascinated by our association, he acquiesced, saying: "I will do it. I
+want money badly. The Bank of England, after all, will not miss it. So
+I'll go in for this once."
+
+By our direction he went to an obscure hotel in Manchester square, and
+then purchased clothes more suitable for his new position than the
+fashionable tailor-cut suit he wore from New York.
+
+On several occasions I had gone to Jay Cooke & Co. in Lombard street and
+purchased bonds under the name of F. A. Warren and giving checks in
+payment upon the Bank of England. So one day I went there with Noyes and
+purchased $20,000 in bonds, giving my check for them. I then introduced
+Noyes as my clerk, directing them to deliver any bonds I bought to him
+at any time. The next day he called and they gave him the bonds which I
+had given my check for the day before, so there was no necessity any
+longer for me to come in person to make purchases. Noyes could appear
+there any day, give an order for bonds, secure a bill for them, and in
+half an hour bring a Warren check for the amount of the bill,
+pretending, of course, that he had got it from me, but really getting it
+from Mac, leaving the check for collection and to call the next day for
+the bonds.
+
+The same day that I introduced him to Jay Cooke & Co. I took him to the
+Bank of England at a busy time of day, and while drawing L2,000, I
+casually introduced him to the paying teller as my clerk, requesting the
+teller to pay him any checks I sent. Then for the next few days I had
+Noyes take checks to the bank and had him order two or three small lots
+of bonds from Jay Cooke & Co., so that they became familiarized with
+seeing him come on my business.
+
+[Illustration: "I DEMAND A GUARD AND SHELTER FOR MY WIFE, THE
+DUCHESS."--Page 282.]
+
+The plan was complete at last. Everything was ready to carry out our
+scheme in perfect safety to all, and, as related in the beginning of the
+chapter, I was now on my way to the bank for my last visit, with the
+Rothschild bill in my hand. Many accounts were given of this famous
+interview in the English press just after the discovery of the fraud
+and prior to my arrest, also when the details transpired at the trial.
+The facts were simply these: I presented myself at the bank, and,
+sending in my card to the manager, was ushered at once into his parlor.
+After a few remarks upon the money and stock market, I produced the
+bill, remarking that I had a curiosity to show him which had been sent
+me by a correspondent in Paris. It was certainly a curiosity; it was a
+thing entirely unknown in the history of the bank to have a bill of
+exchange bearing the signature of a Cabinet Minister certifying that the
+internal revenue tax had been paid on it. This, along with the
+circumstance that the bill was made payable to myself, evidently made
+considerable impression on the manager and confirmed him in his good
+opinion of his customer. The unusual features of this bill of exchange
+led him to relate some of the inner events of the bank's history, during
+which I asked him what precaution the bank took against forgery. He told
+me a forgery on the bank was impossible. But I asked: "Why impossible?
+Other banks get hit sometimes, and why not the Bank of England?" To that
+question he gave a long reply, ending with the assertion that "our wise
+forefathers have bequeathed us a system which is perfect." "Do you wish
+me to understand you have not changed your system since your
+forefathers' time?" I said. To which he emphatically replied: "Not in
+the slightest particular for a hundred years." In conclusion I told him
+I should be fully occupied looking after my different business
+interests, but would give him a call if I found time. I also said I
+would have the bill discounted and take the cash away with me, instead
+of having it placed to my credit. He called an attendant, gave the
+necessary order, and the cash was handed me. Bidding the manager
+good-bye, I repaired to our meeting place and showed the notes for the
+discounted bill. Even George was satisfied that my credit at the bank
+was good for any amount of discounts on any sort of paper.
+
+Everything now was ready for my departure from England. For some weeks
+my partners had been busy preparing for the completion of the operation.
+
+The first lot of bogus bills were ready to go into the mail at
+Birmingham as soon as I was out of the way--it having been decided that
+I should then be out of the country. So one Monday late in November I
+packed my baggage, and, after many warm hand shakings, I bade my friends
+adieu. We had had many talks about the happy future. We had planned
+pleasant things in the future, and spoken confidently of our
+four-in-hands, our Summer cottages at Saratoga and Newport, of our town
+house, fine suppers and our boxes at the opera. After that I saw them
+for a brief hour on the coast of France and once more said adieu. When
+we met again it was in Newgate. I need hardly say that for the next
+twenty years we had no boxes at the grand opera, no four-in-hands, nor
+yet any fine suppers, but all that which was merely external passed
+away, consumed in that fierce flame, but all that was manly and true
+remained; that is, our devotion and courage and our high resolve to
+conquer fate and live for better things.
+
+Before leaving London we had squared up our cash account. It was
+something to make one stare to see how our money had melted away. It was
+arranged to send in the first lot of bogus bills on Thursday, giving me
+two full days out of the country. Here I made a fatal mistake in
+determining to go to the West Indies, then on to Mexico. As George had
+planned I should have gone at once to New York, stopped at the best
+hotel in the city and registered in my right name. By taking this course
+I should have been safe and could have laughed at any attempt of the
+bank authorities to extradite me, for the first lot of bogus bills could
+have been held back until I had actually arrived in America. Then there
+could not have been found a single particle of evidence against me.
+
+I say "if I had come to New York." But there is some mysterious spell
+over men embarked in crime that blinds their eyes to the plainest
+dictates of common sense or prudence. This has been proved in a thousand
+dramatic instances, but never more forcibly than in our own. It would
+seem as if clever, daring men do almost impossible things with ease, but
+there is a Nemesis which blinds them to trifles, fatal if overlooked,
+causing them to make mistakes of which a schoolboy would be ashamed.
+
+When we first got our combination together I thought we had found a
+short cut to fortune, and never doubted of our success to the very end,
+and amid many mishaps, that either crippled or ruined our schemes and
+lengthened this short cut to fortune, I maintained my confidence until
+on that day down in blazing Rio, when the letter "c" in lieu of the "s"
+in indorse came to the front to crumble our "sure thing" into ruin. I
+remember that in the stupefaction which for a few minutes settled down
+on us, I felt we were really fighting against fate. A fate that like the
+fiat of Deity says "Thou shalt not," to all wrongdoing.
+
+For some time after that "indorce" takedown a feeling took possession of
+me that such short cuts to fortune were risky, and that if success did
+come the success would in the end prove a failure. But there is so much
+in companionship and such magnetism in human association that when we
+all three met in Paris and went in and out together, then, under the
+stimulus of our union, I forgot all my forebodings and began to think
+the unforeseen fatal something would not happen, and that we could
+conquer fortune whether she would or no, and by any method on which we
+chose to enter. But, as will be seen in the sequel, when reveling in an
+unheard-of success, literally loaded down with wealth, Nemesis appeared
+and by means even more simple than our error in Rio stripped us of our
+wealth and dignity and left us naked to every storm that blew.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+SHOWERS OF GOLD FALL--AND THEN?
+
+
+I shall try and condense into a single chapter the narrative of events
+in London from the time of my departure until the day, some months
+later, when our scheme exploded and all took to flight when Noyes was
+arrested.
+
+Our expenses had been so enormous that we were anxious to make enough to
+recoup them, so it had been agreed that the first batch of bogus bills
+should not exceed the amount paid out since leaving Rio.
+
+I left for Paris on Monday. On Wednesday, Noyes went to the bank and
+drew out all the money to my credit, except three hundred pounds. The
+same day he went to Birmingham and mailed lot number one of
+home-manufacture bills representing L8,000.
+
+The next twenty-four hours was an anxious time for my friends. The bills
+would be delivered by the early mail on Thursday, and if all went right
+the proceeds would be placed to my credit by 12 o'clock, and the bills
+themselves would be stowed away in the vaults until they were due some
+months ahead. George and Mac waited with the greatest anxiety until 2
+o'clock. They had everything packed for instant flight, when at that
+hour they sallied out of Mac's lodging and started for the bank to make
+the test. They had filled out two Warren checks, one for L2,300 payable
+to Warren, another for L4 10s., payable to bearer.
+
+Noyes went on ahead, the others following, and took his stand on the
+steps of a hotel in a side street not far from the bank. Keeping his
+eye out for a suitable appearing party he finally stopped a uniformed
+messenger, and, telling him to take the L4 10s. check to the bank, bring
+the money to him there, and he would be paid for his trouble.
+
+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.
+
+But why not be satisfied and stop while it was all right? That is the
+question of a wise man, but who ever knew any man who wanted to do a
+thing, whether he did it or not, who could not find half a hundred good
+reasons why he should do it. But as Christmas came near Mac began to
+long for home. He had repaid his father every penny of the large sum he
+was owing him; there had been a reconciliation by mail, and each steamer
+that came bore many long letters from parents and sisters, all speaking
+of their joy over the happy turn of events that was going to bring the
+absent member of the flock home within its walls again. The father's
+heart, long estranged, grew very tender toward his boy, and with pride
+he thought his eldest had thrown off the follies of his youth, and in
+manful strength was making ample atonements for the thoughtlessness and
+the wanderings of his youth. He and they were all destined to a terrible
+awakening. For soon the press of the world was to teem with accounts of
+his son's arrest and incarceration for participation in a gigantic
+fraud. When the blow fell it came with crushing force on that home, and
+a shadow deep as night settled down on the household; all joyousness and
+even hope itself fled when the cable bore the news that their boy had
+been condemned to life imprisonment in a foreign dungeon. And one by one
+the members of that family passed away from a world that held no more
+for them since their good name had been tarnished.
+
+In London the boys talked of spending Christmas at home, but the
+argument to stay--and it prevailed--was that since the money came in so
+easily and in such amounts it was a pity to run away from it. Then,
+again, by obtaining an enormous sum and putting it in a place of
+absolute security, the bank would be glad to compromise the matter in
+consideration of receiving a million or two back again.
+
+So they spent a pretty merry and an exceedingly expensive Christmas in
+London, but later in February they determined to pack up and leave.
+
+Everything smiled upon them. The gold and bonds they had, meant fortunes
+for all. I was away in tropic islands leading an idle life with my
+bride amid the cocoanut and palm trees. Mac and George had never
+appeared in the transaction, and as for Noyes, not a soul in all America
+knew he was in Europe, and in all Europe only three or four people had
+seen him, and knew him as representing Warren.
+
+The business was finished. All three laden with money were going to
+leave England, leaving the bank to slumber on for weeks until the first
+bills became due before there could be a discovery. By that time the
+cash would have been safely stowed, and how or where or to whom could
+anything be traced?
+
+So in council they had decided to be content with the enormous amount
+they had. The last batch of bills was in the mail. Only one day more and
+the strain on the nerves would be over. That day Noyes bought bonds and
+drew cash for more than $150,000. At 3 o'clock they sat down to lunch,
+their last in London, and then went direct to Mac's apartments in St.
+James' place. All the material for making fraudulent bills was there,
+and what could be burned was to be thrown into the grate, and the rest
+to first be filed into blank nothings and then thrown into the Thames.
+The three were there and they were happy. They had engineered a gigantic
+scheme, had struck for wealth and won. The short cut to fortune in
+defiance of fate had been traversed and now they set about a grateful
+task--that of getting themselves and their rich argosy out of England.
+Mac being the artist of the party, and having executed the actual
+writing, drew the sealed box containing the unused bills up to the fire
+and began throwing them in one by one. In doing so he occasionally would
+throw some bill more elaborate than the common run on the floor beside
+his chair. He had finished his task and took from the floor those he had
+thrown there, looked at them for a moment, then crumbling them together,
+raised his hand to throw them in the fire, but as the devil always
+forsakes his friends at the critical moment, he stopped, smoothed out
+the bills and turning to the others, said: "Boys, these are perfect
+works of art; it is a pity to destroy them." From our point of view it
+was, since it was only necessary to drop them into the mail and they
+would coin us thousands. Then George said: "Suppose we send them in."
+The others said "All right," and our doom was sealed.
+
+There were in the lot nineteen bills of exchange for L26,000. A date had
+been left off one of them! They failed to note it! Poor fools, we had
+sold ourselves.
+
+Was this an accident? No, it was Nemesis; it was anything you want to
+call it, but it was not an accident.
+
+So a letter was written, the bills, with memorandum, inclosed, the
+envelope directed and stamped, and the three fools went to Birmingham,
+mailed the letter, and then laughed over their success in the fight
+against society, facilitated themselves that they had discovered the
+undiscoverable, that they had safely traversed the short cut to fortune.
+There is no short cut by wrongdoing to fortune, Boss Tweed and the long
+list of robber barons to the contrary!
+
+The bills were mailed on Monday. As that fatal letter slipped from their
+fingers into the mail-box the last act of the deadly tragedy began. When
+it ended the curtain fell upon us descending from the dock into the
+chill dungeons of Newgate, never, so far as the sentence was concerned,
+to emerge again.
+
+On Tuesday morning the letter with the bills arrived at the bank.
+Following the routine, they went to the discount department, were
+discounted and placed to my credit. As I had a balance of L20,000, when
+the proceeds of the bills were added to it, it brought up the whole to
+the handsome sum of L46,000.
+
+[Illustration: "THE DAY OF MY DESTINY IS OVER."--Page 304.]
+
+When the bills arrived at the bank a strange thing occurred. The fatal
+omission was made on an acceptance of Blydenstein & Co., a great banking
+firm in London. The discount clerk noticed the omission of the date of
+acceptance, but this being a mere formality, he thought it a clerical
+error on the part of the bookkeeper of Blydenstein & Co. He made no
+report of the matter, and it was discounted along with the other
+eighteen, which were put away in the vaults with the batches that had
+preceded it, while he laid this one aside until the next day, which was
+Wednesday. At half past ten he gave it to the bank messenger, telling
+him when he went his regular rounds to take the bill to Blydenstein's
+and request them to correct the omission.
+
+At 2 p.m. on Tuesday Noyes went to Jay Cooke & Co. and ordered $100,000
+in United States bonds, and gave them a check on the Bank of England for
+the amount. He was to call for the bonds next day, of course, after the
+check had gone through the Clearing House and had been paid.
+
+As soon as the bank opened on Wednesday, in order to test if everything
+was all right, Noyes sent in a messenger with a small check, and the
+money was thrown out as at all other times without remark. And that was
+a complete demonstration that everything was all right. So it was then,
+but within thirty minutes from that second the messenger was going to
+start with the bill to Blydenstein's for correction.
+
+This was 10 o'clock Wednesday. The bills had been twenty-five hours in
+the possession of the bank, had been discounted and the proceeds placed
+to my credit for twenty-four hours.
+
+Who with intellect less than an archangel's could have divined the true
+combination? First of all, that men brilliant and clever, gambling with
+their lives, could have made such an omission, damning, fatal. Second,
+if made, that the great Bank of England, thought absolutely infallible
+by the whole world, conservative, supposedly cautious, would have
+discounted a bill for L20,00 with the date out of the acceptance, and
+having done so, hold the bill well on into the second day, without a
+discovery, and that, too, when the firm whose acceptance was a forgery
+was not 100 yards away! So when at 10 o'clock on Wednesday Mac saw the
+small check paid without question to the messenger it seemed he had an
+assurance doubly sure and a bond of fate that all was well, and that the
+last batch of bills was packed safely away for another three months in
+the vaults of the bank.
+
+So Noyes went at once to Jay Cooke & Co., and as the check had been paid
+at the bank they handed over, as in so many other occasions, the
+$100,000 in bonds to him.
+
+Mac and George were outside. George took the bonds and gave Noyes a
+L10,000 check, and one minute from his leaving Jay Cooke & Co., Noyes
+was at the counter of the bank. The cashier counted out the $50,000 to
+him. He walked out of the bank with a lighter heart and more buoyant
+step than ever before, for was not the danger all over and the long
+strain on the nerves at an end, the transaction complete and fortune
+won? He was never going to the bank again.
+
+They had arranged to meet at Garraway's Coffee House in Exchange alley.
+This is the Garraway's that became so famous at the time of the South
+Sea Bubble, and its fame continued down to the end of the wars of
+Napoleon. Then its glory departed as a centre of speculations, but its
+renown as an old-fashioned chophouse remained till 1873. Everywhere in
+contemporary English literature, from Swift and Addison to Goldsmith and
+Johnson, one meets references to Garraway's.
+
+The Dean immortalized it in his well-known lines on 'Change Alley:
+
+  "There is a gulf where thousands fell,
+    Here all the bold adventurers came,
+  A narrow sound, though deep as hell,
+    'Change Alley is the dreadful name.
+
+  "Subscribers here by thousands float
+    And jostle one another down.
+  Each paddling in his leaky boat,
+    And here they fish for gold and drown.
+
+  "Meantime secure on Garraway's cliffs
+    A savage race by shipwreck fed,
+  Lie waiting for the foundered skiffs
+    And strip the bodies of the dead."
+
+Dickens also makes it the scene of the writing of the famous chops and
+tomato sauce letter from Mr. Pickwick to Mrs. Bardell.
+
+One can imagine the elation of my friends as they sat around that little
+table at Garraway's. It was only 10:35. Their income that morning had
+been $150,000. And many more such days had gone before. All danger was
+over, wealth was won. They saw themselves back in America, among the
+Four Hundred, possessors of a fortune, however wrongfully obtained, yet
+obtained in a way that would leave behind no ruined widows and orphans
+to linger out the remainder of their blighted lives in poverty and
+misery. That was a point which added zest to their enjoyment of the
+prospect.
+
+"I am never to go to the bank again. Come, shake hands on that," said
+Noyes. And in their excitement and wild delight they shook hands again
+and again.
+
+But they would have moderated their joy had they known that at the very
+moment the bank porter, pale and frightened, was rushing past the room
+where they sat, carrying the news to the bank that the two-thousand
+pound bill was a forgery. Instantly all was confusion and excitement in
+the bank. Telegrams were at once sent to the detective police, and at
+that moment swarms of them were pouring out of the Bow street and
+Scotland Yard offices.
+
+That already stories of gigantic frauds, multiplied a thousand fold by
+rumor, were flying everywhere that every bank in London was victimized.
+In ten minutes the story reached the Stock Exchange and a scene of
+terrific excitement ensued, and, through it all, our three innocents sat
+on in that dingy old coffee-house, serenely unconscious of the fearful
+storm that was rising. Still they were safe. Everything was confusion in
+the bank. The terrified official, frantic with fear, could only describe
+a tall young man, an American, who said his name was Warren.
+
+Had my three triumphant friends only known what was up they might have
+sat where they were the day through and drank porter out of the pewter
+mugs in safety. There were a hundred thousand men in London who would
+answer any description the bank could have given of Noyes, Mac and
+George had never appeared in the transaction, and I, the F. A. Warren
+they were looking for, was living quietly with my young wife in a lovely
+isle in the tropic sea.
+
+Surely then, these three high-toned financiers still had the game in
+their own hands. They had nothing to fear. They had wealth. There was no
+clue to their identity and the world was before them--a world which lays
+her treasures and pleasures at the feet of him who commands wealth.
+
+But that mighty Something had decreed otherwise, and a subtle spirit
+under whose power they were but purposeless puppets inspired them to
+commit an act of folly which was to hurl them from the fools' paradise
+wherein they were reveling down to the pit of despair.
+
+Upon Mac casually remarking that they had still a balance of $75,000 to
+Warren's credit, Noyes spoke up and said: "Boys, that is too much money
+to leave John Bull; suppose you make out a check for L5,000. I will run
+over and get the cash, and it will do for pocket money." And the two
+others, triumphant in success, became idiots and assented. Making out a
+check for L5,000, Noyes started for the bank, check in hand, and
+entering, instantly found himself with a hot and angry swarm of hornets
+about him.
+
+[Illustration: A NEWGATE SCENE.--DON'T WANT HIS PICTURE TAKEN.]
+
+There were twenty-five detectives in and around the bank. Special
+messengers had summoned the affrighted directors. The great bank parlor
+was packed with a host of stockholders and directors, who were
+questioning the manager and clerks. And excitement rose to fever heat
+when, with twenty hands holding him, poor Noyes was hustled in among
+them. They rushed at him like a pack of wolves. Had that been a bank
+parlor in festive Arizona, they would not have endured the delay
+incidental to procuring a rope, but would have ended it and him by
+gunnery at short range. Noyes could not be shaken; his nerve never
+failed. He said a gentleman had hired him as a clerk, and that was all
+he knew. He had left him at the Stock Exchange; if they would let him
+go, he would try and find him and bring him around to the bank. J. Bull
+is gullible, but not so much so as to swallow that yarn.
+
+So they held tightly to him, and a committee of indignant Britons
+escorted him to Newgate.
+
+[Illustration: A SENTRY.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+POINTS FOR JUSTICE TO PICK UP.
+
+
+Mac and George were without, and were stricken with consternation, for a
+minute's observation of the gathering crowd and the rushing into the
+bank of excited people convinced them something unusual was in the wind,
+and they knew Noyes must be in deadly peril. Mac rushed into the bank in
+hope to warn or to be of help. Everything there was in confusion.
+Unobserved in the excitement, he made his way into the parlor and there
+saw what made his heart stand still--Noyes surrounded by an angry crowd
+of officials. With great presence of mind and great nerve he pushed
+through toward Noyes, who saw him and knew he was there to help if he
+had a chance to bolt from his captors; but there was no chance. As they
+were about starting for Newgate, Mac slipped outside and told George
+what had befallen Noyes, and discussed the possibility of a rescue when
+on the way to Newgate with him. While they were waiting in the entrance
+Noyes came out in custody. He saw and recognized them. They joined in
+the crowd and were within arm's reach of him every rod of the short
+distance to Newgate, but the crowd was packed so tight that one could
+hardly move, and a rush for escape was hopeless. Arrived at Newgate, Mac
+in his desperation was entering with the escort, when George pulled him
+away, and as they got out of the crowd they heard the newsboys crying:
+"Great forgery on the Bank of England by an American; L10,000,000
+obtained." That afternoon Lionel Rothschild, president of the Board of
+Directors, called on him at Newgate, and offered him his liberty and
+L1,000 reward if he would tell all he knew; but Noyes' nerve was not to
+be shaken. He said a gentleman, an entire stranger, had hired him as a
+clerk and messenger, and he knew nothing about Mr. Warren nor his
+business.
+
+[Illustration: "NOYES WAS SURROUNDED BY AN ANGRY CROWD OF
+OFFICIALS."--Page 236.]
+
+All this time the $150,000 drawn that morning was in a stout bag behind
+the counter at Garraway's.
+
+Little did the barmaids dream of the treasure that was in the bag at
+their feet. When Mac went for it, one of the barmaids asked him if he
+had heard of the great bank robbery. He drove to St James' place, and
+soon George joined him there.
+
+Here again was enacted the scene we had in Rio; as there, so here, they
+looked at each other in helpless stupefaction. Why had they not been
+satisfied? Why had they let Noyes go for a paltry L5,000? Why had they
+not understood the meaning of the evident excitement in and around the
+bank?
+
+In Rio there was only a suspicion aroused. Here our companion was a
+prisoner in Newgate. Scarcely an hour had passed since he was free and
+without a fear had joined in the congratulatory scene at Garraway's. Now
+ruin was threatened. Upon cool reflection they came to two conclusions.
+First, that Noyes not only would never betray them, but that he could be
+depended upon to keep so close a mouth that no clue could be pumped from
+him; and next, that he could never be convicted of the forgery.
+
+He might, of course, be subjected to a few weeks of Newgate life. That
+was very awkward, of course, but it would come all right.
+
+So they resolved for the present to remain in London and await
+developments.
+
+That night the cable flashed the news of the forgery over the world,
+dwelling particularly upon the fact that the perpetrator was an
+American. The next morning the London press overflowed. Every prominent
+paper gave a leader in the editorial column, and when the weeklies and
+monthlies came out they followed suit. These editorials make now to us
+who were on the inside amusing reading. They were full of Philistine
+talk and amazement, and generally conceded that Noyes was an innocent
+dupe, and all more or less doubted if his principal, the mysterious Mr.
+F. A. Warren, would ever come back to say so.
+
+Day after day went by, and Mac and George hung around London reading the
+accounts of the affair and of the examination of Noyes before the Lord
+Mayor.
+
+They had communicated with him through his solicitor, and he sent them
+word to leave England at once. In the mean time they had been sending
+away the cash, and so entrenched were they in the belief that by no
+possible chance could their names become mixed up in the affair that in
+every instance but two they sent the money or bonds to America in their
+right names.
+
+In the mean time the bank very wisely sent a cable to their legal agent,
+Clarence A. Seward, in New York, asking him to set the American
+detective force on the alert. He was a man of the world and understood
+quite well what sort of men then ruled at Police Head quarters. So he
+sent at once for Robert A. Pinkerton and gave him entire charge of the
+American end of the line. Eventually they unearthed the whole plot,
+secured the evidence that convicted us and recovered the greater part of
+the money. The first step taken by the private inquiry men was to have
+our friends, the detectives at headquarters, led to believe that they
+had the case entirely in their own hands and to strengthen this
+Pinkerton had the Bank of England agent in New York go to headquarters
+every day and pretend to consult with Irving.
+
+After the continental raid, on our return to London we sent Irving
+$3,000 in greenbacks in a registered letter, but in order to have a
+hold on our three honest friends at headquarters in case of any possible
+treachery in the future we put the money in the envelope in the presence
+of a magistrate and had his clerk register it and make it a part of the
+court record. The envelope was simply addressed "James Irving, Esq., 300
+Mulberry street, New York," and of course the officials in London
+supposed it a private address.
+
+When we returned from Rio we sent another $3,000, $1,000 each for
+Irving, Stanley and White, and took the same precautions.
+
+Soon after the floods of money coming to us in London Mac sent $15,000
+to Irving in another registered letter, without any precautions,
+however. Irving & Co. did not know what game we were playing, but were
+very happy over the dividends past and to come. But when they read the
+cable dispatches in the press about the bank forgeries, their bliss was
+ecstatic. Each in fancy saw himself decked out in a magnificent diamond
+pin and ring, spinning along Harlem lane behind a particularly fast pair
+in a stylish rig. This was their day vision. At night each saw himself
+in certain resorts ordering unlimited bottles, or seeing New York by
+gaslight at the rate of $100 a minute, and the Britishers paying for it
+all. But the lawyers and the Pinkertons between them played Irving and
+headquarters for fools and knaves. Day after day one of the lawyers
+visited Mulberry street, and, being tutored by Pinkerton, gave deceptive
+points to Irving, who, with his two chums, was completely hood-winked
+and never suspected the game being played on them.
+
+But as I have got somewhat ahead of events in London I will return there
+and very briefly narrate what was taking place there. Nearly every day
+Noyes was brought before the Lord Mayor and officially examined, but,
+acting under advice of his lawyer, he was strictly non-committal. The
+detectives and officials were convinced he knew all about it, and tried
+by both threats and promises to make him talk. Baron Rothschild and
+others of the directors visited him again, but our friend was deaf, dumb
+and blind, and they were foiled. In time two Pinkerton detectives had
+arrived in London, and by a series of lucky hits soon began to let in
+some light on the business.
+
+In searching Noyes the English police had found his garments were made
+by a certain London tailor who had several establishments. They brought
+the foremen and salesmen down to see him, and none could identify him;
+but the American detectives went over the ground again, and discovered
+that the London officers had missed one branch store. This was the one
+Noyes had patronized. They remembered him as a customer who had, when
+ordering garments, given the name of Bedford. This in itself was a bad
+point against Noyes, and the New York men wanted very much to make him
+talk, and had they been permitted to adopt the vigorous American methods
+they might have succeeded.
+
+A salesman remembered seeing Noyes or Bedford one day walking in Mayfair
+with a gentleman who really was Mac, of whom he gave a good description,
+and taking the clerk the detectives started out to make a house-to-house
+investigation. Now, No. 1 Mayfair, the first house they entered, was the
+residence of a famous London doctor by the name of Payson Hewett, and
+Mac had been a patient of his. But Hewett knew absolutely nothing about
+him save only his name and the address he gave, Westminster Palace
+Hotel. The detectives were elated, and flew to this hotel, but as Mac
+had never been a guest they could learn nothing; still they had cause
+for rejoicing. Here was Noyes giving a fictitious name to a tailor and
+in company with an elegantly dressed American, who gave a fictitious
+address to his surgeon. And they were well satisfied that whenever the
+matter was dug out it would be found that the elegantly dressed
+stranger, as well as the clerk, had a hand in the business. Payson
+Hewett stated that Mac said he was a medical graduate from an American
+university, and said that, no doubt, he spoke the truth, as he had a
+perfect knowledge of medical subjects.
+
+Here they were getting matters down pretty fine, and cabled all the
+facts to America with orders to look Mac up, also his friends. This
+information was the fruit of hard work--many blind trails had been
+followed that ran nowhere.
+
+In the mean time George and Mac had determined to return to America. The
+last thing Mac did before leaving his lodgings in St. James' place was
+to roll up in three rolls $254,000 in United States bonds and send the
+trunk containing them by express to Major George Mathews, New York. He
+wrapped them in a nightshirt belonging to me, which in some way had got
+into his baggage. Then he bought a ticket to Paris and sent his baggage
+over, waiting in London a day or two longer before going himself.
+
+George determined to go to Ireland, and to Ireland he went, and I shall
+let him in a later chapter tell in his own language the stirring events
+in Ireland and Scotland that finally ended in his arrest in Edinburgh
+some weeks later. Mac, before sending his baggage away, had intended to
+sail from Liverpool by the Java of the Cunard line, and he cabled Irving
+at Police Headquarters to meet him on the arrival of the steamer. Mac
+went to Paris, stopping at the Hotel Richmond, Rue du Helder, under his
+right name, never for a moment thinking he could possibly come under
+suspicion.
+
+In the mean time the Pinkerton men continued their house-to-house
+visitation of the fashionable lodging houses to hunt out Mac. This, in
+huge London, was a Titanic task, but they exhibited a marvelous activity
+in tracing out clues. In a lucky moment for the Pinkertons, a
+subordinate inquiring at every number in St. James' place if an
+American gentleman was lodging or had lodged there was informed by one
+landlady that Mac had been a lodger, but had left a few days before. As
+soon as this important report arrived they flew to St. James' place and
+found the landlady a warm friend of the man they were looking for. The
+detectives were forced to tell her their business. She was indignant
+that any one should so wrong Mac, and ordered them out of the house.
+
+They brought the bank solicitors and other important people to see her
+before she would consent to be questioned; when she did, her information
+was important indeed. She had seen very little of George, but much of
+me, though she had never heard my name, but still the detectives knew
+from her description that the man she described was the F. A. Warren
+they wanted, and whom to get meant fame and comparative fortune for
+them.
+
+The rooms had been unoccupied since Mac left and a careful search was
+made for clues, but nothing was found until she was asked for the
+waste-paper basket. The basket proved to be a bag, and when turned out
+some pieces of blotting paper appeared, which, held in front of a
+mirror, of course would reflect the writing the same as on the written
+sheet, and on holding the last of the lot to the glass they were
+thrilled through when the Pinkertons saw reflected there:
+
+  Ten Thousand......................Pounds Sterling.
+  F. A. WARREN.
+
+which, when compared with a canceled check of mine, then in the
+possession of the bank, exactly fitted it. Here was a piece of evidence,
+which, if it could be brought home to Mac, was a chain to bind him fast
+and sure.
+
+Pinkerton and his man started at once for Paris, and going to the
+American bankers, where most Americans register on arrival, they found
+Mac's name as large as life, registered at Andrews & Co.'s as stopping
+at the Hotel de Richmond.
+
+Pinkerton was not long in reaching Rue du Helder, and learned that Mac
+had left for Brest the night before. In short order he was at the Paris
+agency of the steamship company, and found that Mac had purchased a
+ticket to New York by the Thuringia, which was due to sail that very
+hour from Brest. He did not let the grass grow under his feet between
+the ticket and telegraph offices, and there he telegraphed the
+authorities to arrest Mac, but he had a speedy reply that the Thuringia
+had sailed half an hour before his telegram came. On second thought he
+quite possibly was not sorry Mac had got off to New York, as it would
+lengthen out the bill and scatter some of the bank's money in New York.
+
+He therefore cabled to his office in New York particulars as to Mac's
+departure, and then he turned all his attention to discovering who this
+F. A. Warren could be. Mac had cabled Irving that he was coming by the
+Thuringia. Pinkerton, feeling that there was no secrecy required about
+his man being on the steamer, gave the fact to the press, and Irving
+discovered, very much to his chagrin, that all the world shared with him
+his secret as to Mac's whereabouts, and that if he would save his
+reputation he would have to be on hand, not as a friend and confederate,
+but in his official capacity and make a genuine arrest--that is, unless
+he could arrange to have Mac taken off the steamer in a small boat as
+soon as she came into the lower bay and before the police boat, with its
+load of officials, came alongside. This Irving and his two subordinates
+resolved to attempt, so he took into his counsels a great chum of his
+and a well-known burglar by the name of Johnny Dobbs. To him was given
+the job of getting Mac off the steamer, but he made a serious blunder.
+Instead of hiring and manning two boats, one to relieve the other, he
+got only one. For a day or two they came within hailing distance of all
+incoming steamers, but were ashore on Staten Island, taking a rest, when
+bright and early one morning the Thuringia slipped into the harbor.
+There was a man in the boat with Dobbs who knew Mac, and the plan was to
+meet the steamer, and as Mac was sure to be on deck on the lookout, to
+shout to him to jump overboard and they would pick him up and make for
+shore. Once ashore and warned they would not have seen him again.
+
+After the Thuringia came into the harbor, Irving kept the police boat
+waiting over an hour. Then, supposing his friend was safe ashore, he
+boarded the ship. There were five United States Marshals on the police
+tug, the bank lawyers and some of the private inquiry officials.
+
+Irving, accompanied by White and Stanley, jumped aboard the big ship,
+after giving orders to the captain of the tug not to let any one off
+until he gave permission. Mac saw the tug and recognized his three
+friends, but was in no way alarmed until Irving, shaking hands with him,
+hurriedly explained the state of affairs. Mac took them to his cabin and
+gave them $150,000 in bonds, $10,000 in greenbacks, which he had bought
+of the brokers in London, besides English bank notes and two or three
+valuable diamonds. Then taking out several bags of sovereigns he said:
+"Now, boys, help yourselves. Load yourselves down and keep them from the
+enemy." What a picture those fellows loading up with that golden store
+of sovereigns would have made! They knew the marshals and detectives
+they held entrapped aboard the tug would be furious, and morally sure
+that Irving & Co. had plucked their bird. Therefore any appearance of
+pockets bulging out might lead to disgrace, so, while they hated to
+leave any, for their fingers itched for all, yet they were forced to
+that cruel self-denial.
+
+One amusing piece of impudence on Irving's part occurred when looking
+with greedy eyes on the eight-carat diamond Mac wore on his finger, he
+said: "My God, Mac, I wish I had brought along a paste diamond. You
+could wear the ring and give me yours in exchange." The ring having been
+seen by so many he feared to chance taking it. No doubt his enforced
+denial for long sat heavy on Jimmy's soul. What a penchant all our
+honest detectives have for gems, and where do they get them?
+
+In the mean time a storm was raging among the rival officers, who did
+not relish being duped, and finally by threats forced the captain to
+bring the tug alongside the steamer. Then they rushed on board to find
+Irving & Co. with their prisoner awaiting them.
+
+The marshals went to the cabin and found some L4,000 or L5,000 in
+sovereigns, but when Mac was searched nothing was found on him but $20
+in greenbacks. He was turned over to the United States officials and
+landed in Ludlow Street Jail, pending an examination before the United
+States Commissioner with a view to his extradition.
+
+How the Pinkertons unearthed the $254,000 wrapped in old clothing in
+Mac's trunk at the European Express Office, 44 Broadway, would take too
+much time to tell here, or how circulars were sent out to the banks and
+trust companies warning them to hold all funds deposited by any of our
+party, or how Pinkerton and his men recovered large sums in various
+places, must all be passed over here. Suffice it to say that the fatal
+piece of blotting paper was produced in New York along with many lesser
+points of evidence, and after a hard legal fight Mac was finally ordered
+to be given up to the English Government to stand his trial for
+complicity in the great bank forgery.
+
+The legal proceedings before the commissioner lasted three full months.
+The array of counsel on both sides made it a forensic contest between
+giants, in which all past history was invoked for precedents. This
+extradition case attracted wide attention.
+
+After United States Commissioner Gutman had finally decided to surrender
+him to the demand of the British Government, appeal was made to the
+United States Circuit Court, Judge Woodruff, then to the Supreme Court,
+Judge Barrett, before whom Mac was brought by writs of habeas corpus;
+but the commissioner's decision was sustained. Mac was sent to Fort
+Columbus for safe-keeping while counsel were vainly arguing on new writs
+of habeas corpus and certiorari, but before any conclusion could be
+reached, he was hurried away by his custodians. He had scarcely time to
+bid good-bye to his counsel, when with a United States officer he was
+hurried into a carriage in Chambers street, guarded by Chief Deputy
+Marshal Kennedy and Deputies Robinson and Crowley, and driven rapidly
+down Broadway to the Battery, so that the large crowd who gathered to
+witness his departure from the metropolis had very little time to feast
+their eyes.
+
+He was transferred from the Battery to Governor's Island by a tugboat
+and subsequently handed over by the deputy marshals to the charge of
+Major J. P. Roy, who had him escorted to Fort Columbus.
+
+The following morning United States Marshal Fiske, with Deputies Crowley
+and Purvis; Mr. Peter Williams, solicitor of the Bank of England; Sergt.
+Edward Hancock, a London detective; Deputy Marshal Colfax and others,
+boarded the steam tug P. C. Schultze at the Battery and steamed across
+to Governor's Island. At 10.30 o'clock Capt. J. W. Bean, on post at the
+fort, received an order to deliver him over.
+
+Capt. J. W. Bean then delivered him over to United States Marshal
+Fiske's charge, with whom he descended the steps from the balcony of the
+fort, and marched, with a deputy at either side, through tiled pathways
+and groved and shaded avenues, to the wharf at the other end of the
+island, where the Schultze was awaiting his arrival. A large crowd of
+spectators, soldiers and civilians lined the wharf, lingering anxiously
+to see him off. But he walked very leisurely, smoked, laughed and
+appeared in a state of unaccountable good humor.
+
+It was nearly 11 o'clock when the Schultze steamed away from Governor's
+Island wharf and whistled and rattled down the Bay to await the arrival
+of the Minnesota, which lay at anchor during the forenoon near Pier 46,
+North River, and did not sail until some minutes after 12 o'clock. The
+Schultze meantime waited, steaming around the lower bay until the
+Minnesota arrived. The steam tug neared the bulky and huge vessel, and
+Mac was finally taken on board by United States Marshal Fiske and Deputy
+Marshals Robinson, Crowley and Colfax, and given into the custody of the
+English detectives, Sergts. Webb and Hancock, who in return gave the
+usual receipt to Marshal Fiske.
+
+For the present, I leave Mac on the Atlantic, sailing swiftly eastward,
+to meet his terrible doom.
+
+[Illustration: DRAWING STONE.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+THE IRONY OF FATE.
+
+
+In this chapter I give in his own words George's account of his flight
+from London and his arrest.
+
+"Without the remotest suspicion that my right name was known or that
+anything had been discovered to show my connection with the fraud, I
+resolved to take the steamer Atlantic of the White Star line at
+Queenstown for New York. Knowing that all the railway stations in London
+were being watched, and that any man buying a ticket for America might
+have to give an account of himself, I sent a porter to purchase a ticket
+for Dublin via Holyhead. I intended taking the 9 p.m. mail train, and,
+as a precaution, I waited until the last moment, after the passengers
+were on board, and the waiting-room doors shut. As the mail was being
+transferred from the wagons to the train, I took the opportunity to walk
+through the big gate unobserved amid the rush and confusion. The car
+doors were all locked, but on showing my ticket to a guard (conductor)
+he let me into a compartment, no doubt supposing that I had obtained
+admission to the station from the waiting-room and had been loitering
+about. The same was probably the case with the two or three other men
+looking out of the waiting-room window at the platform, whom I judged to
+be detectives. The train rolled out of the station, and soon I was
+leaving London behind at the rate of fifty miles an hour. After midnight
+we took the steamer at Holyhead and arrived at Dublin about 7 a.m. I
+should not have felt so comfortable throughout this night's journey had
+I known that the telegraph was flashing in all directions five thousand
+pounds reward for my capture.
+
+"A whole column regarding myself and my supposed movements was published
+in the Dublin papers of that morning. Not suspecting they contained
+'news' regarding me, I neglected purchasing one, and, remaining ignorant
+of my imminent danger, took the train for Cork, where I arrived about 4
+p.m. I had two or three London papers of the previous day in my hand as
+I left the station. I had never been in Cork until then, and as I passed
+into the street two detectives, who were watching the passengers, turned
+and followed me. A few yards from the station one of them stepped up by
+my side and said:
+
+"'Have you ever been here before?'
+
+"I slightly turned my head toward him, gave a haughty glance as I
+replied: 'Yes,' then looked straight ahead and continued my slow gait,
+paying no further attention to him. He continued walking by my side for
+a few steps, as if irresolute, then dropped to the rear, rejoining his
+companion. I did not dare to look around or make inquiry as to the
+location of the wharf from which the tugboat started to convey mail and
+passengers to the New York steamers, which waited in the outer harbor.
+Therefore I continued my walk along what appeared to be the main
+business street, perhaps for a quarter of a mile, then turned into a
+druggist's and called for some Spanish licorice. This was done to enable
+me to ascertain if the detectives were still following. In a moment they
+passed the shop gazing intently in and saw me leaning carelessly against
+the counter with my face partially turned to the street. As soon as I
+had paid for the licorice I continued my walk in the same direction, but
+saw nothing of the men, they having evidently stopped in some place to
+let me get ahead once more. In a short time I approached an inclosure
+over the gate of which was a sign that informed me I had come by
+accident direct to the wharf of the New York steamers. Entering I found
+the place crowded and the tugboat ready to convey the passengers to the
+steamer Atlantic. Before attempting to step aboard the tug I took a
+covert look around and saw my two detectives standing back in one corner
+with their eyes fixed upon me, all but their heads being concealed
+behind the crowd waiting to see their friends off for America.
+Apparently unconscious of their presence, I threw my papers, one by one,
+down among the passengers; and as the deck of the boat was eight or ten
+feet below, the detectives could not see to whom they were thrown. I
+stood leaning on the rail a short time gazing at the scene, then left
+the wharf not even glancing in the direction of the detectives. I felt
+that any attempt of mine to embark would precipitate their movements,
+therefore I at once abandoned all ideas of taking passage from
+Queenstown.
+
+"Now mark the irony of fate! That was the last passage ever made by the
+magnificent steamer Atlantic! Some magnetic influence deranged her
+compass so that she ran twenty miles out of her course, striking on the
+coast of Nova Scotia, at Meager's Head, Prospect Harbor, broke in two,
+then rolling into deep water sank in a few minutes. Out of 1,002 persons
+on board 560 perished, including most of the saloon passengers and all
+the women and children. The elegant cabins and staterooms became their
+tombs--and one might have been mine. But not for me such favoring fate;
+a moment's struggle ended their sufferings, while I was left to undergo
+the pangs of a thousand deaths!
+
+[Illustration: A CORRIDOR OF THE TOMBS, NEW YORK.]
+
+"I continued my walk up a hill among the private residences of the city,
+and, hailing a cab, told the driver to take me back to the station.
+Eager for a job, he asked to drive me a mile beyond on the railway.
+Thinking I might elude the detectives at the Queenstown station, I
+acceded, and he made his little Irish horse rush along at a pace
+which brought us to the stopping place just before the train arrived.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR OF AN ENGLISH CONVICT PRISON.]
+
+"I purchased a ticket and hastened into a carriage, where, lo and
+behold! sat the two detectives. A few minutes brought us to Cork again.
+I was not yet aware they were in possession of my right name and the
+knowledge that a reward of L5,000 was offered for my capture, nor that
+their hesitation was occasioned by doubts as to my identity, which the
+first false step on my part might remove. I did not suppose they were
+looking especially for me, but for any one in general whose actions and
+appearance might indicate that he was one of the operators in the bank
+forgery. Under this erroneous belief I crossed to the Dublin station,
+which was a quarter of a mile from that of the Cork and Queenstown. As I
+entered the waiting room I saw my two detectives standing at the other
+side. 'Well,' I thought to myself, 'this is very strange; I left the
+Queenstown station ahead of them and here they are again, all alive!' I
+walked away into the most thronged streets of the business part of the
+city; turning a corner I glanced backward and saw them following at some
+distance in the rear. As soon as I had fairly turned the corner I
+started at a fast walk, turning the next before they came in view, and
+after three or four such turnings I went into a small temperance hotel
+and took lodgings for the night. There was but a single commercial
+traveler in the sitting room--a special room set apart in every English
+hotel, sacred to the 'drummer' fraternity. In the course of the evening
+he handed me a small railway map of Ireland, which, in my subsequent
+flight through the country, proved of incalculable service to me.
+
+"The next morning I went out and purchased a handbag, a Scotch cap and a
+cheap frieze ulster. My night's cogitations had not enabled me to solve
+the detective problem, but I felt confident that something was decidedly
+wrong. I then hired a covered cab, driving past the postoffice to
+recoinnoitre, and saw one of the detectives standing in the doorway.
+This sight deterred me from going in to ask for a letter. Dismissing my
+cab, I took another and drove to the place where I had made my
+purchases, taking them into the cab and going through a by-street which
+brought me close to my hotel.
+
+"From the commercial room in the second floor front I looked out and
+marked the farthest house I could see to the left on the opposite side.
+Stepping to the desk I wrote an order directing the postmaster to
+deliver any letters to my address to the bearer. This I gave to a
+cabman, instructing him to drive to the postoffice and bring my mail to
+the house I had marked, returning myself to the commercial room to
+watch. In a few minutes I saw the cabman drive to the house, and seeing
+no one waiting there, he turned and drove slowly down the street past
+the hotel, holding up at arm's length a letter to attract my
+notice--which it did to my two detectives walking along a short distance
+behind him, on the hotel side of the street, with noses elevated and
+eyes peering everywhere.
+
+"'Well,' I thought, 'this is getting to be hot, and it is time for me to
+leave Cork.' I was now fully aroused to a sense of my danger. No one
+happening to be in the commercial room for the moment, I left my hat on
+the sofa, and wearing the Scotch cap, slipped downstairs just as they
+were past the hotel, following them until I came to where the cab was
+waiting with my luggage. I ordered the driver to take me to a canal-boat
+wharf, where I dismissed him; then, with bag in hand, I walked across
+the canal bridge, stopped in a small shop and hired a smaller boy to go
+for a jaunting car, and a few minutes later I was rolling to the
+northward.
+
+"On the road I threw some small coins to poor-looking people, who then,
+as now, comprised among their numbers the most honest patriots and the
+truest-hearted sons of Erin.
+
+"Seeing me throwing the pence to the poor folk, cabby took it into his
+head that I must be a priest--a good criterion of the estimation in
+which the benevolence of the fathers is held by their own people. And I
+may here remark that all the Catholic priests I have known, occupying
+the post of chaplain, were without exception faithful and entirely
+devoted to the duties of their holy calling. I had no intention of
+traveling as a priest, and when I told the driver as much he would not
+believe it, but insisted that I was really a priest traveling incognito;
+therefore, when we stopped at a small wayside tavern, about twelve miles
+from Cork and two to Fermoy, he privately informed the mistress that I
+was a priest who did not want the fact to become known. Accordingly the
+good woman treated me with marked attention during my short stay. It was
+then nearly sunset, and as I did not wish the cabman to get back to Cork
+until late at night, I kept him eating and drinking until dark, when I
+paid the bill and started him homeward, uproariously rejoicing. I then
+started for Fermoy station, about two miles distant, taking the hostler
+along to carry my bag. When within half a mile of the village I let him
+return. While passing through the village I went into a shop and
+purchased a different Scotch cap, the 'Glengarry.'
+
+"Arriving at the station, I noticed a man near the ticket office who
+appeared to be watching those who were purchasing tickets. This made me
+change my plan--instead of taking a ticket to Dublin, I bought one for
+Lismore, the end of the road in the opposite direction. The exclamation,
+'Well, are you going to stay all night?' was the first intimation I had
+of our arrival at that place. I rubbed my sleepy eyes, and saw with
+dismay that all the passengers were gone and one of the porters was
+putting out the lights. At the platform I found a cab, and by 9 p.m. I
+was at the Lismore House. After eating supper I entered the sitting
+room, finding a single occupant whom I took to be a lawyer, and judging
+by his conversation and manner, in the light of later events, I do not
+doubt that he surmised who I was. He was reading a newspaper, which he
+once or twice offered to me; but, not dreaming of the interesting nature
+of its contents, I declined to take it from him. About 10 o'clock the
+gentleman retired, leaving his paper on the table. I carelessly picked
+it up, and the first thing that caught my eyes was a displayed heading
+in large type, offering L5,000 reward for my arrest.
+
+"A thunderbolt, indeed! For a few minutes I stared at the paper in blank
+dismay. It was fortunate for my temporary safety that there were no
+witnesses present. 'Well,' I thought to myself, 'this is a predicament!
+How did they obtain any clue to me? I thought we had covered up the
+whole affair so deep in mystery that not a clue to our personality could
+ever be obtained!'
+
+"I sat for an hour alone in this Lismore Hotel, utterly dumfounded,
+bewildered, paralyzed. I had experienced some shocks, some 'take-downs,'
+in my time, but never one to compare with this.
+
+"Arousing myself from a state of mental stupefaction hitherto unknown, I
+began to realize the necessity of immediate action if I wished to avoid
+falling into the merciless jaws of the British lion. I put the paper
+into the fire, and retired to the room allotted to me.
+
+"Before daylight in the morning I had decided upon the first step, and
+as the lawyer had asked me if I intended to remain over Sunday, I
+resolved to be as far away as possible before he was out of bed. While
+it was yet dark in the house, I left my bag in the bedroom and crept
+gently down the stairs to the basement, where the porter-hostler was
+sleeping in a box of rags. I suppose the poor wretch had not long
+finished his multifarious duties, for I could arouse him only to a state
+of semi-consciousness, and could get no information from him. I then
+went up to the front door, carefully turned the key and stepped out on
+the piazza which ran along the front of the hotel. Another shock was in
+store for me. A man posted on the other side of the street was watching
+the hotel!
+
+"It was now quite light, and I sauntered carelessly up the street,
+apparently taking no notice of the man over the way, and endeavoring to
+show by my actions that I was out for an airing before breakfast.
+
+"As I turned the next corner and glanced back, I saw him following. I
+noticed a place where jaunting-cars were to be let, but passed on, at
+each turn glancing back to see my follower the same distance in the
+rear. I now took a circuit around by the hotel, but instead of going in
+I hastened and turned the next corner beyond--he, when reaching the
+corner near the hotel, not seeing me, doubtless thought I had gone in,
+and planted himself in his old position. I thought Lismore to be getting
+rather hot, and hastening to the livery stable, found the hostler just
+getting up. He informed me that all the horses were engaged for the day
+except one, the fastest they had, but as this was engaged for a long
+journey on Tuesday, they were letting him have a rest. I said: 'But, my
+good fellow, I must have a horse, and at once, with you to drive, and
+there will be a half sovereign for a good Irishman, such as I see before
+me.' My 'blarney' began to do its work. Scratching his head, he finally
+said: 'Well, I will waken up my master, and you can talk with him.' So
+he rapped at a window, and soon a night-capped head appeared, and after
+some parley the master consented to let me have his equipage. In a few
+minutes from the time I had lost sight of my follower we were rattling
+out of the town of Lismore at the full speed of a blooded Irish horse. I
+had left my bag behind, taking only the Scotch caps and ulster with me
+from the hotel. I found, by reference to the small map and railway
+guide, that Clonmel was less than thirty miles distant, and connected
+with Dublin by a branch line. When I engaged the jaunting-car I had
+told the owner that it was uncertain what part of the day I should
+require it, and after we were about five miles from Lismore I said to
+the driver:
+
+"'You say that you are going to Clonmel on Tuesday for a passenger.
+Well, now, as I must go there before I leave this part of the country,
+you may as well continue in that direction, and I can return with you on
+Tuesday.'
+
+"This pleased him, and we drove on till about noon, when we stopped at a
+country grocery about five miles from Clonmel. As we drove up to the
+door, the words of an old Irish song went jingling through my brain:
+
+  "'At the sign of the bell,
+  On the road to Clonmel,
+  Pat Flagherty kept a neat shebeen.'
+
+"The rain poured down in torrents. I gave my driver a lunch of bread and
+cheese, which--of course, there--included whisky. I also gave him a
+sovereign, telling him to pay his master for the horse-hire and keep the
+change for himself; then started him back, brimful of delight and the
+'craythur,' receiving his parting salute:
+
+"'Yer 'onor is a jintleman, and no mistake.'
+
+"I arranged with the storekeeper to let a boy take me in his car to
+Clonmel.
+
+"The Green Isle! Well, I found out that day what keeps the grass green
+in Ireland. My Irish frieze and every thread on me were water-logged,
+yet the Irish lad, my driver, took the 'buckets-full' as a matter of
+course. Amid this deluge of rain we arrived in Clonmel and stopped at a
+'shebeen,' kept by the boy's uncle--driving into the back yard through a
+gate in a board fence fifteen feet high, which shut it in from the
+street.
+
+[Illustration: "I AM JOHN CURTIN OF THE PINKERTON FORCE."--Page 332.]
+
+"I went into a room in the rear of the sale room, the door of which
+stood open so that I could see all that passed within, and, as I stood
+drying my clothes by the turf fire, I saw how thirsty souls on the
+'ould sod,' evaded the Sunday liquor law. The proprietor stood in the
+shop in a position whence he could covertly keep an eye on the policeman
+patrolling the street, and as soon as he was out of sight a signal was
+given, the backyard gate thrown open, when a dozen men rushed in, and
+the gate closed. Coming hilariously through the dwelling into the shop,
+these were soon busily drinking their 'potheen.'
+
+"It was now 2 o'clock p.m., the rain had ceased, and starting out, I
+walked along a main street until I saw a sign 'cabs to let.' I went into
+the house and was shown into an inner room, where the proprietress sat
+crooning over a turf fire. She motioned me to a seat beside her, and
+when I told her I wished for a conveyance to take me to Cahir, a place
+eight miles distant, she asked me several questions, among others, how
+long I wished to be gone, and if I were not an American. To all of which
+I replied to the following effect: That I was going to visit some
+friends who were officers stationed in the fort at Cahir; and as to her
+mistaking me for an American, the ancestors of the 'Yankees' went from
+about Norfolk County, England, to America, of course, taking the accent
+with them, and I being from the former place, (Norfolk) of course had
+the same accent.
+
+"This explanation appeared to satisfy the old lady, and she became quite
+confidential; and, anxious to remove from my mind any trace of offense
+at her unusual questioning, she drew closer to me and said:
+
+"I can see that you are all right; but the fact is that the captain of
+police sent an order that I should notify him at once in case any
+stranger wished to hire a vehicle, especially if I thought him an
+American. But I do not care for the curs; they are nothing but a parcel
+of spies and informers in the pay of the English Government; so even if
+you were the one they are looking for they will wait a long time for me
+to inform them, and you shall have my best horse and a good driver.'
+
+"I heartily thanked the good old Irish lady--for I have found true
+ladies and gentlemen among the poor and humble, as well as the wealthy,
+especially in Ireland--and in a few minutes I was bowling gayly along
+toward Cahir.
+
+"This is a small, ancient, walled garrison town, the nearest railway
+station being at Clonmel. This miniature city has been the scene of many
+a heart-stirring event in the distant past. Here Cromwell was for a time
+held at bay, and his fanatical hordes made their Celtic opponents pay in
+blood for their patriotic and desperate defense of their homes and
+firesides.
+
+"Driving through the town gate, I saw in the main street a grocery store
+with a blind down, and telling the driver to halt there, I paid him and
+sent him back. I then went into the grocery, and after taking a lunch of
+bread and cheese, continued my walk up the street. I saw a hotel just
+ahead, but not wishing to attract attention to my movements, I crossed
+to the opposite side, and while doing so glanced back and saw a car come
+through the same town gate I had just entered, and dash furiously up the
+street, pulling up at the walk a few yards behind me. Just as they
+sprang out I turned to the left in a narrow lane in which I saw a
+gateway to the fort, just within the entrance of which a sentry was
+pacing, there being opposite several roofless cottages. The soldier's
+back being turned, quick as thought I sprang unseen within one of these,
+and in a moment I heard some men run around the corner and interrogate
+the soldier, who stoutly declared that no one had entered. The men then
+demanded to see the captain, were admitted, and after a short time I
+heard them come out and depart. I stood in that ruin two mortal hours
+until dusk, then walked out unseen by the sentry, and turning to the
+left, came into a narrow street lined with small dwelling houses."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+"EXCUSE ME, SIR, FOR QUESTIONING YOU."
+
+
+"Crossing the narrow street in Cahir, referred to at the close of the
+last chapter, I went in haphazard at the first door, without knocking,
+and saw a family eating their humble supper. As I walked in I addressed
+the family at the table thus:
+
+"'Good evening. Pardon my intrusion, and do not disturb yourselves; but
+by all means finish your supper.'
+
+"'Good evening, sir,' was the reply from the man, whom I will call
+Maloy. 'We are glad to see you; will you sit by and have pot-luck with
+us?'
+
+"'No, thank you,' I answered. 'I am an American--and it is my custom
+when traveling in any country to make unceremonious calls like this, in
+order to see the people as they really are at home.'
+
+"After supper was over I related to Maloy and his family several stories
+and incidents concerning the Fenians and their doings in America, which,
+of course, interested them greatly. When it was fairly dark I arose to
+go, and Maloy went outside with me. He had previously informed me that
+he was employed by the government in the civil service. I will not state
+in what capacity, for, although so many years have elapsed, the
+true-hearted Irishman may still be earning his bread in the same humble
+employment, and the knowledge that he assisted one whom he supposed to
+be a Fenian leader in 1873 might even now cost him dearly. When we were
+outside the door I said:
+
+"'The fact is, Maloy, I am a Fenian leader, and the police are after me!
+I have been dodging them for two days, and they are looking for me now
+in Cahir! I have important papers for prominent Fenians in various parts
+of Ireland, and it would delay our plans if I am obliged to destroy
+them. But I fear I must do so at once unless you can help me. I would
+almost sooner forfeit my life than to lose these papers, and I shall
+fight to my last breath rather than let them fall into the hands of the
+police, for it might be the ruin of several good men! My plan is to
+double back to Clonmel, and I want your assistance to get me out of
+Cahir!'
+
+"'Oh, sir,' he replied, 'it is too bad you did not let me know a little
+sooner, for the mail car is gone; it starts at 6 o'clock.'
+
+"Just as he had finished speaking, a car came rumbling past and he
+exclaimed joyfully:
+
+"'We are in luck! There goes the mail car to the postoffice! Come with
+me!'
+
+"We hastened through a narrow, dark lane to the gate--the same I had
+entered from Clonmel--walked through and at a hundred yards beyond
+waited for the mail car, which soon came along. Maloy being well
+acquainted with the driver, hailed him, saying that a friend of his
+wanted a ride to Clonmel.
+
+"After shaking hands warmly with Maloy, I climbed upon the car, and the
+next instant I was whirling along--into fresh dangers--in that unique
+vehicle, an Irish jaunting car.
+
+"Arriving near Clonmel I saw a tavern, and ascertaining from the driver
+that it was near the railway station, I left the car and entered the
+place, only to find that the best, and, in fact, the sole food to be had
+for supper was eggs. Having been on the move since dawn, after a
+sleepless night, and almost without food, I hesitate to divulge how many
+eggs I disposed of that evening, for the statement might tend to throw
+distrust on the general veracity of my narrative. Having dried my wet
+clothes and put myself into a presentable condition, I went to the
+railway station to take the 11 p.m. train to Dublin. Seating myself on a
+bench outside, I handed some money to a porter and sent him for a
+ticket, which he obtained. There were but a few waiting about, so I
+stepped into the small waiting room and sat down near three other men.
+The one nearest, whom I at once put down for a local policeman in
+private clothes, turned and spoke to me. I replied with civility to his
+questions until finally he said: 'But are you not an American?' I
+replied to his startling question in such a manner that he appeared
+satisfied.
+
+"'You must excuse me, sir, for questioning you,' he explained, 'but
+there has been a great forgery in London, and it is said some of the
+parties are in Ireland, and I am anxious to get a claim on the L5,000
+that is offered for each one of them.'
+
+"I told him that instead of being offended I was greatly pleased to see
+the zeal he exhibited in the execution of his duties, and expressed the
+hope that he might be successful in securing at least one of the
+forgers, which would give him not only the L5,000, but undoubtedly
+promotion. I got on the train all right, resolving that I would not
+speak another word of English while in Ireland, and forthwith turned
+into a Russian, who could speak 'une veree leetel Francais,' confident
+that I should not be in danger of exposure by encounter with any one who
+could speak the Russian language. I threw away the ordinary Scotch cap I
+had been wearing, and put on the Glengarry. When I arrived at the
+Maryborough junction, the train on the main line from Cork was late, and
+I walked up and down on the platform, well knowing that the detectives
+would scrutinize more closely those who appeared to shrink from
+observation; therefore, I affected the bearing of a Russian prince as
+nearly as I knew how.
+
+"I got on the train unmolested, and arrived in Dublin at 1 a.m.
+
+"There appeared to be some special watching of those leaving the train,
+but I passed out unchallenged and took a cab. Not knowing the name of
+any hotel, I told the driver I would direct the route as we passed
+along, and he drove away at a great pace. Very soon I noticed another
+cab following at an equal speed. I had mine turn a corner, but the one
+behind came thundering after; and though I bade my driver to turn at
+nearly every corner still I could not shake off my supposed pursuer
+until, after apparently being followed about two miles, the stern chaser
+turned off in another direction, much to my relief. We soon approached
+the Cathedral Hotel, where I alighted about 2 a.m., rang up the porter,
+and was shown to a room.
+
+"At 7 o'clock in the morning I sent for my bill, left the hotel, went
+direct to the 'Jew' quarters, and purchased a valise and some
+second-hand clothes. Noticing the old Jewess' looks of curiosity at
+seeing one of my appearance making such purchases, I remarked: 'A Fenian
+friend has got himself into a scrape, and the police are after him; so I
+am going to get him out of the country, and wish to let him have some
+things that do not have too new a look.' At hearing those (in Ireland)
+magic words, 'Fenian,' 'police,' she became all smiles, let me fill the
+valise with old garments at my own price, and at starting said: 'God
+bless you! May you have good luck, and get off safe to America!'
+
+"I then went to a more pretentious locality, where I procured a silk hat
+draped with mourning crape, put the Glengarry in my pocket, and became a
+Frenchman. At this moment I discovered that I had left in my room at the
+hotel a large silk neck-wrapper on which were embroidered my initials. I
+immediately stepped into a shop and left my new purchases, resuming the
+Scotch cap, and started for the hotel (where I had given no name), to
+secure the dangerous article left behind. Coming in sight of the hotel,
+I saw a man stationed opposite, leaning on a cane, who appeared to be
+watching the house. As I approached nearer he kept his eyes covertly
+fixed upon me; therefore, instead of entering the hotel, I walked past
+it and turned the next corner, glancing backward as I did so, and, to my
+dismay, saw the man following me. I now adopted the same plan of action
+that succeeded so well at Cork, and in half an hour I had shaken him off
+and returned to the place where I had left my new silk hat and valise.
+Donning the hat, with valise in hand, I was soon seated in an Irish
+jaunting car, on my way to a station about ten miles out on the railway
+to Belfast.
+
+"Upon reflection I was satisfied that the chambermaid had found the silk
+wrapper and taken it to the hotel office. There the initials, together
+with the knowledge of my arrival at so unusual an hour, without baggage,
+and my early departure, had aroused suspicion, and the police had been
+notified. At about 11 o'clock I arrived at the station, and going into a
+store paid my Dublin cabman and called for lunch. About five minutes
+before the train was due from Dublin I walked into the empty station,
+presented myself at the ticket office, and said: 'Parlez vous Francais,
+Monsieur?' and received the reply, 'No.' I then said in a mongrel of
+French and English that I wished for a ticket to Drogheda--not daring to
+purchase one through Belfast. Supposing me to be a French gentleman, he
+was very polite and ordered the porter to take my baggage to the
+platform. There I found myself the solitary waiting passenger. As the
+train approached I saw a pair of heads projecting from the carriage
+windows, eagerly scanning the platform. Two men jumped off, and,
+hastening to the station master began to talk to him in an excited
+manner, all the time glancing toward me. As I passed near the group to
+get on the train, I heard the agent say: 'He is a Frenchman.' No doubt
+he informed them that I had purchased a ticket to a way station only--a
+fact that would naturally allay suspicion. At the next stopping place
+they actually arrested a man, but went no further.
+
+"I afterward ascertained that twelve men were arrested on that and the
+preceding day, among the number being a fraudulent debtor trying to
+escape by the same steamer, the Atlantic.
+
+"The following extracts from contemporary newspapers will give the
+reader some idea as to what a 'hot' place Ireland was for me:
+
+
+
+                          "(By Cable to the New York Herald.)
+                                                     "London.
+
+     "Three shabbily dressed men, who, from their accent, are believed
+     to be Americans, were arrested in Cork, Ireland, this morning while
+     attempting to deposit $12,000 in that city.
+
+     "They are supposed to be the parties who recently committed the
+     frauds on the Bank of England."
+
+                       "(From the London Times of same date.)
+
+                                         "To Editor of Times.
+
+     "Sir: The case of Dr. Hessel has been so lately before the public,
+     and so much has been written both in the English and German papers
+     against the English police, that probably a little evidence upon
+     the procedure of the German (or, I ought probably to say, the
+     Bavarian) may not be uninteresting at the present moment. Myself
+     and son, a sub-lieutenant, R. N., made a great attempt to reach
+     the grotesque old city of Nuremberg on Saturday last, arriving
+     there about 7 o'clock. We were asked to put our names in the
+     stranger's book, as usual, which we did, and retired to bed.
+     Imagine our surprise, on rising on Sunday morning, at receiving a
+     visit from one of the chief police officers, requesting us to
+     'legitimize ourselves.' I asked him his object for making this
+     demand, when he replied that a man named Warren was wanted by the
+     English police.
+
+     "In vain I showed him an old passport and letters addressed to me,
+     showing that my name was Warner; he informed me that I could not
+     leave my room, and placed two policemen at the door. At 1 o'clock
+     I remembered an influential inhabitant of the town who knew me, and
+     I sent for him. He at once went to headquarters and gave bond for
+     me to a large amount, and at 6 o'clock in the evening myself and
+     son were released. You will remember that in the case of Dr. Hessel
+     four persons swore to his identity before he was deprived of his
+     liberty. In my case a similar name to that required was sufficient
+     to deprive me of mine.
+
+     "I have since received, thanks to the strenuous and prompt action
+     of the British Minister at Munich, a very ample apology in writing
+     for the blunder that had been committed. It was signed by the
+     Burgermeister of the city, and as the intelligence of this worthy
+     seems to be equaled by his simplicity, he sends me a safe pass to
+     protect me in my further travels, in case Warner should again be
+     considered the same as Warren. I remain, sir, your obedient
+     servant,
+
+                                             "CHARLES W. C. WARNER,
+                                  "Ex-Sheriff, London and Middlesex
+
+
+
+"I now return to my narrative. In the second-class compartment where I
+sat were two burly, loud-talking, well-informed farm proprietors, one of
+whom had imbibed a little too freely of the native distillation. The
+sober one had just finished reading a column article on the 'Great Bank
+Forgery' to his lively companion, who at length turned and addressed me.
+I answered him politely in broken French, and he then went on to give
+his opinion of the bank affair, as nearly as I can remember, as follows:
+
+"'You, being a Frenchman, don't understand about our great bank; but I
+tell you those Yankees did a clever thing when they attacked that
+powerful institution. The one they have got penned up here in Ireland
+can't possibly escape; indeed, according to the newspapers, he is
+already in the hands of the police. I am almost sorry to hear it, for in
+getting the best of that bank so cleverly the rascal deserves to get
+off; and see, here is a description of him.'
+
+"I looked at the paper and saw that it was a fair general outline of my
+appearance, even to my ulster which I had with me in the valise, and
+the Scotch cap which was in my pocket. Before we reached Drogheda I had
+explained to one of my new friends, in broken French, that, owing to my
+ignorance of the English language, I had purchased a wrong ticket, and
+being liable to make a similar mistake, should feel obliged if he would
+take the trouble to procure me a ticket at that station. He readily
+assented, and by this means I procured it without exposing myself. The
+hunt for me was becoming so extremely hot that I dared not show myself
+again at a ticket office; and if I should be found on a train ticketless
+that fact might lead to closer scrutiny--the rule in that country being
+that every passenger must be provided with a ticket before entering a
+car.
+
+"The train arrived in Belfast at 9 o'clock, and I at once took a cab to
+the Glasgow steamer. It was very dark, and I went on board unobserved,
+two hours before the time of departure. Going down into the saloon
+cabin, I saw the purser sitting near the entrance, to whom I said:
+'Parlez vous Francais?' He shook his head. I then asked in jargon for
+'une billet a Glasgow.' Surmising what I wished, he gave me a ticket,
+putting on it the number of my berth.
+
+"Expecting to be followed, I had taken that instant precaution of
+impressing on the purser's mind that I was a Frenchman. I passed into
+the washroom, just opposite where the purser sat, washed myself and
+brushed my hair. Just at this moment I heard steps descending the cabin
+stairway, then the words:
+
+"'Purser, a cab just brought a man from the Dublin train. Where is he?'
+
+"'Oh, you mean the Frenchman,' replied the purser; 'he's in the
+washroom.'
+
+[Illustration: ONE WHO HAS BEEN ROBBED IDENTIFYING THE THIEF AT
+NEWGATE.]
+
+"While this was passing I had put on my silk hat and taken up my valise,
+and was standing before the glass (a la Francais) taking a final view of
+my toilette, and snapping off some imaginary dust and lint, as the
+two detectives stepped in, and after looking me well over went out, and
+I saw them no more. That proved to be the last ordeal through which I
+passed in Ireland. After being convinced that they had left the steamer
+I went to my berth, and being thoroughly exhausted I fell asleep in an
+instant, not awaking until the steamer was entering the harbor of
+Glasgow.
+
+"After my arrest a month later in Scotland, during the transfer to
+London and afterward to Newgate, while awaiting trial, the detectives
+told me that they were in Cork three hours after I had left, and one of
+them related their adventures substantially as follows:
+
+"'We arrived in Cork Saturday afternoon and were not long in finding the
+temperance hotel where you stayed on Friday night, and the hat you left
+behind. After a long hunt we ascertained that a jaunting car had left
+the stand some hours previously and was still absent.
+
+"'We had a good laugh at those blunder-heads, the Cork officers, letting
+you slip through their fingers, and then showed them how we do things.
+After some delay we traced the cab across the bridge to the shop where
+you got the boy to go for it. The shopwoman was quite voluble about you,
+saying she knew all the time that you were an American by the accent,
+and described the bag and ulster which we had ascertained were in your
+possession. Of course, we were now satisfied that we were on the right
+scent, but could get no further trace or the direction taken by the cab.
+We therefore sent dispatches to all the telegraph stations within fifty
+miles to put the police on the watch and sent messengers to the outlying
+places, but somehow you slipped through our meshes, and nothing turned
+up until the car man returned at about 11 p.m., as drunk as a soldier on
+furlough. After putting him under a water tap until he was half drowned
+we got him sober enough to tell where he had left you; but he swore you
+were a priest, and his evident sincerity caused us all to roar with
+laughter. This angered him, and he said: "Ye may twist me head an'
+dhroun me intirely, but I wull niver spake another wurrud about the
+jintelman at all, at all," and sure enough we could get nothing more out
+of him.
+
+"'We had a carriage ready, and, jumping in, we were at the wayside inn
+by midnight and terrified the old woman half out of her wits in arousing
+her out of bed. After a while she gathered them sufficiently to show us
+that you had six hours the start of us. The boy who carried your bag
+could give us no points, but we concluded you intended taking the branch
+line at Fermoy for Dublin. We drove right on, arriving at the Fermoy
+station at 1 p.m., but, getting no trace we telegraphed to all the
+stations along the line to Dublin, and there as well to be on the
+lookout. Who would ever have thought of your taking the opposite
+direction, penning yourself in at the end of a branch line, at a small
+inland town like Lismore? Why, you were, as we discovered the next
+morning, at that moment sleeping quietly at the Lismore Hotel, and only
+about ten miles from where we were working so industriously for that
+L5,000! Well, you "done" us fine that time!
+
+"'After you so cleverly threw us off the trail, we could get no trace
+until Sunday morning, when we received a dispatch from Lismore, stating
+that a man had come on the last train, stayed at the hotel and left at
+daylight without paying his bill. "Hello!" said I, as soon as I read the
+dispatch, "we never suspected Lismore; he has been there all night and
+is off again!" We telegraphed to Clonmel, Waterford and other places;
+then left for Lismore, where we arrived, paid your bill and took the bag
+with us. Surmising that you might make for Clonmel, we looked for and
+found the place where you got the car, but no news as to what direction
+you had taken. It would have made you laugh, as it did us, to see the
+old livery man stamp about and tear his hair when he found how easily
+he could have made the L5,000--if he had "only known."
+
+"'Starting on the way to Clonmel, we soon had news which satisfied us we
+were once more on the right track. Shortly after we met, sure enough,
+the cab you had sent back from the country store. Arriving there we took
+the boy, who had just returned from driving you to Clonmel, with us,
+and, feeling sure that we should soon come up with you, we made our
+horses spin toward that town. Arriving there, we saw the inspector, who
+informed us that he had sent a constable in pursuit of a man who had
+hired a car to go to Cahir.' (This must have been one of the men in the
+car whom I escaped by dodging into the ruined cottage.) 'It being then
+sundown we drove to Cahir with all speed, arriving there just after
+dark, passing the Clonmel mail car inside the gate; but it contained no
+one but the driver.
+
+"'We soon found the constable sent from Clonmel, who said you had
+disappeared into the fort, where a friend must have concealed you, and
+that you must be there still. He then took us to the fort, which was
+closed for the night. As soon as my eyes lighted on the ruined cottages
+I asked him if he had searched them and received an answer in the
+negative. "Why," said he, "they are, as you see, all open to the day,
+without roof, doors or windows, and no one would think of hiding in
+them." "You are a fool," I replied. "Give me your lamp and come with
+me." After a look around and seeing how easily any person could stand in
+a corner out of sight, I remarked to him emphatically that he was the
+biggest specimen of a goose I had ever seen in my line. "I think," said
+I, "you had better go home and play pin. Here is where he dodged you,
+and now he is off again, with an hour or more start." We worked until
+after midnight and gave Cahir such a "turning over" that the inhabitants
+won't soon forget, but could not get hold of the least trace, except at
+one place (Maloy's), where a woman said a stranger came in at supper
+time, who said he was an American seeing the people in their homes. We
+cross-questioned the man, but could get nothing out of him more than
+that you had departed.
+
+"'At last we gave it up, went to the hotel to get some sleep, which we
+needed badly, and the next day went to Dublin, heard about the finding
+of your neck-wrapper at the Cathedral Hotel, and knocked about Ireland
+for some time. During this time we arrested several persons, but soon
+discovered none of them was the right party, and we never obtained a
+genuine trace until you were discovered later in Edinburgh.'"
+
+[Illustration: MARKET CROSS, EDINBURGH.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+THE FLOWERS IN THE PRIMROSE WAY ARE SWEET.
+
+
+As narrated in an earlier chapter, I left England two days before the
+first lot of forged bills were sent in. I left serene and confident of
+the future. My departure was a happy event in a double sense. All my
+negotiations had been carried on at a considerable expense of nerve, and
+in leaving I left everything in such trim that success seemed certain,
+with all chance of danger eliminated from the venture. I felt that the
+trying toil was now all over, with nothing for me to do but to reap the
+harvest, and that without effort or care on my part.
+
+So, when the late November sun looked down on me--I crossed by daylight
+this time--standing on the deck of that same wretched Channel steamer,
+it looked on a happy man. I did not know then that success in wrongdoing
+was ever a failure. The anxious toil of the London and Continental
+negotiations was a thing of the past. Was I not young; wealth was or
+soon would be mine; was I not in perfect health, body sound and
+digestion good, and, above all, was not the woman I loved awaiting me in
+Paris, to give herself to me, in all her youth and beauty, and then
+somewhere across the Western waters would I not find in some tropic seas
+a paradise, which gold would make mine, where I could bear my bride, and
+there, turning over a new leaf, live and die with the respect of all
+good men mine?
+
+Here was a stately structure I was going to erect, but how rotten the
+foundation! I, in my egotism, fancied, in my case, at least, the eternal
+course of things would be stayed, and that justice would grant me a
+clean bill of health. She did give me that, but it was long years after,
+and only when she had had from me her pound of flesh to the very last
+ounce.
+
+I joined my sweetheart and her family at the Hotel St. James, Rue
+Saint-Honore. She was an English lady, and for a whole year our
+courtship had been going on, and now, our wedding day being fixed a week
+ahead, we all set out sightseeing and having a good time generally. I
+now engaged the coachman I had met before as my valet, and a very good,
+all-around, handy man he proved to be. Of course I was anxious to hear
+that the first coup on the bank had succeeded, but I was tolerably
+confident it was all right. Had it fallen through it would have proved
+awkward for me. In that event the Paris climate would have been too warm
+for me, and I would have had to find a score of excuses to hasten our
+marriage and leave for the Western World as speedily as possible.
+
+I had a four-in-hand coach, and we drove everywhere in and around Paris,
+once to Versailles and on to Fontainebleau, where we dined, a merry
+party. What a strange world is this, what a stage it is, ever crowded
+with tragedies, too! How absolutely in the dark we are as to the motives
+and actions of men.
+
+There I was, the centre of merry pleasure parties in gay Paris. A young
+dude, driving my four-in-hand, and yet a criminal, waiting in hourly
+expectation a telegram announcing success in a great plot which, when it
+exploded, was destined to startle the business world, and to hurl me
+from the summit of happiness, where I was reveling, apparently free from
+care, to the misery of a dungeon, banishing the happy smiles from my
+face and the joyous ring from my voice, leaving in place of the smiles
+the sombre gloom of the prison, and in place of the snatches of song and
+eager accents I was wont to speak with, the hushed voice subdued to
+prison tones.
+
+Late one morning, on opening my eyes, my first thought was: It will be
+hit or miss at the Bank of England within the next sixty minutes. We had
+engaged for a coaching party to Versailles and were to dine there. I
+left for the drive that day with a dim fear that before the sun set I
+might be under the necessity of leaving Paris in a hurry.
+
+When starting for Versailles I left my servant behind to wait for the
+expected telegram, and to bring it to me by rail. We were at dinner, and
+I was just raising a glass of champagne to my lips when I saw my valet,
+Nunn, crossing the esplanade. He entered the room and handed me a
+telegram. Tearing open the envelope I read:
+
+"All well. Bought and shipped forty bales."
+
+That meant the first lot for $40,000 had gone through safely. It was
+certainly a great relief. The next day I received $25,000 in United
+States bonds, from George in London, my first share of the proceeds. I
+sold the bonds in Paris, receiving payment in French notes.
+
+On Thursday, the day before our marriage, I had a telegram from Mac and
+George to meet them in Calais, and to Calais I had to go. I arrived
+there at midnight, just before the Dover steamer got in, and was on the
+pier to meet them. We exchanged warm greetings; as we did so Mac placed
+a small but very heavy bag in my hands, and they began laughing over my
+surprise. It contained L4,000 in sovereigns, and was stuffed with bonds
+and paper money. We went to a hotel near by, and there they counted out
+to me the very nice sum of $100,000 in gold, bonds and French money. As
+they were going back on the same steamer, and I was to return to Paris
+by the train carrying the passengers of the steamer just arrived, we had
+only a brief half hour's talk. After giving me the money we went out
+and sat down on the pier, and that conversation and scene are forever
+impressed on my memory. I shall make no attempt to describe either, but
+could both be put on the stage, with the audience in possession of a
+full knowledge of the enterprise we were embarked in, there would be
+seen a picture of human life such as the novelist or playwright never
+had the imagination nor the daring to depict. To the earnest student of
+human life it would have been a revelation.
+
+There we were, three earnest, ambitious young men, enthusiastic for all
+that was good and noble. I about to wed a pure-souled woman, who thought
+me an angel of goodness, and about to fly with my plunder and bride to
+Mexico. My two companions were returning to London to continue carrying
+out a giant scheme of fraud against a great moneyed institution, but
+there we were, with $100,000 in plunder at our feet, sitting under the
+stars, listening to the dash of the waves, and talking not at all like
+pirates and robbers, but much more like crusaders setting out on a
+crusade, or like pilgrims going on a pilgrimage.
+
+I told my friends I should go to the City of Mexico for a year or two,
+and then meet them somewhere in America where we would unite our wealth
+to inaugurate some scheme that would benefit thousands in our own
+generation and millions in the generations to come. We would hedge
+ourselves about with kindly deeds, so live as to win the respect of all,
+and when under the sod live in the eyes and mouths of men.
+
+Too soon the whistle sounded, and we had to say good-bye, which we did
+in an enthusiasm that told how deeply we felt. We were walking in the
+Primrose Way, its flowers and songs were sweet, and we thought their
+perfume and melody eternal.
+
+I again arrived in Paris at daylight, but early as it was, my
+sweetheart, escorted by my servant, was waiting my arrival. It was our
+wedding morning. During our drive to the hotel, radiant with joy, she
+told me the separation had been a cruel one, and she was so happy to
+know we should never be separated again!
+
+At 4 o'clock that afternoon we were married at the American Embassy.
+
+I had told every one I was going to leave the next day for Havre, to
+embark for New York. Our baggage was all packed and placed in a van,
+which I accompanied to the Havre station, and had stored there. Sunday I
+purchased one ticket to Bayonne, one for Madrid and one to Burgos, each
+from different agencies. On Sunday morning I took a van to the Havre
+station, and transferring our baggage to the road into Spain, checked
+all of it to Madrid.
+
+My purpose was to sail by the Lopez & Co. steamer El Rey Felipe from
+Cadiz to Mexico, which was advertised to sail ten days later.
+
+We were married very quietly on Friday, and our friends, wisely
+recognizing the fact that young married people like to be alone, the
+next day said good-bye and returned to Normandy. We spent a quiet and
+happy Saturday and Sunday, and on Sunday night we left--my wife, servant
+and self--for Cadiz, via Madrid. My wife, like all English people, knew
+little of geography, and had such hazy notions of America that she
+thought it quite the thing to go to such an outlandish and far off
+quarter of the globe as America via a Spanish port. Columbus, she knew,
+had gone that way, and why should not we?
+
+We had an all-night ride to Bayonne in one of those antiquated
+compartments used in railway carriages all over Europe, but the ride was
+not tedious, nor was the night long. This little earth had no happier
+couple, and, talking of the happy years that lay before us, the night
+rushed by like a fairy dream.
+
+Where was my conscience? Why, my dear reader, I had sung it such a song
+that it was delighted with the music, and had, I was going to say, gone
+to sleep, but it had not. It was wide awake, and we were good chums. We
+both--conscience and I--had persuaded ourselves it was a virtuous deed
+to do evil that good might come. My conscience was perhaps as old as the
+sun, but I myself was young and too inexperienced to see the fallacy of
+the argument, since I myself was the doer of the wrong; but, of course,
+I should have hotly denounced any other such philosopher as a villain
+and rogue.
+
+The night flew by, and to our surprise we found 240 miles had slipped
+away and we were in Bayonne. Thirty minutes more and we were speeding
+south, and soon crossed the Bidassoa, the boundary between France and
+Spain. Then my wife saying, "Now I will sleep," laid her head on the
+shoulder of the happiest man in or out of Spain, and in ten minutes her
+regular breathing told me she was in the land of dreams.
+
+The Pyrenees, in dividing France and Spain, stand between two distinct
+peoples, and as the centuries go by the streams of national life meet,
+but only to repel each other, never to mingle. One has but to cross the
+bank to realize that he is among a different race. Dress, food and
+cooking--social life, religious devotion, modes of thought--are all
+different. To us here in America it is difficult to realize that so
+slight a thing as a mountain barrier, easily traversed, crossed by many
+defiles and good roads, should continue to separate two distinct
+peoples. But so it is. Stranger still, for nearly all time the
+inhabitants of the Spanish mountains have been more or less opposed to
+the people of the Spanish plains, and every century has seen several
+insurrections among the mountaineers. In 1872 and '73 the Carlists held
+the mountains and more or less fusillading was going on. The possibility
+of my way being blocked by the Carlists never entered into my
+calculations.
+
+The railway from Bayonne to Madrid is owned in Paris, and it seems that
+the directors were paying blackmail to Don Carlos, ostensibly to him,
+but really to several marauding bands who plundered under the name of
+fighting for the Don, upon the understanding that the railroad was not
+to be meddled with. The directors had been paying 100,000 francs a
+month. As will be easily believed, there was a difficulty in the
+distribution of the money among so many greedy and inartistic robbers,
+and the discontented determined to hold up the railroad itself and stop
+all trains. Unluckily, the train we were on was the one they proposed to
+experiment on first, and they proposed drastic measures, too--in fact,
+had blown up or down a short tunnel, and torn up the rails in front of
+our train. As we crossed the frontier a French gendarme and Spanish
+civil guard appeared, demanding passports. It was, of course, a sure
+thing that I had them all right. It is a safeguard under the protection
+of which the man who has anything to fear slips through the fingers of
+frontier guards and police, while the honest man quite frequently
+neglects the necessary formalities and is detained.
+
+Our train crossed the bridge over the Bidassoa and we were on Spanish
+soil. Soon we entered the gorges of the Pyrenees, and while speculating
+whether I should awaken my wife to see the magnificent scenery all
+necessity for awakening any one on that train was over. Three or four
+musket shots rang out, our train was off the rail, and after a crash or
+two came to a sudden stop, and then a babel arose, while the train was
+surrounded by armed men. It was laughable. It seemed like an opera
+bouffe, the real thing, this motley array of brigands, all trying to
+maintain under difficulties the grave Spanish exterior.
+
+One monkey of 18 or 19 years, armed, came to our compartment, and,
+pointing to my chain, said he wanted it and my watch. None of us
+understood Spanish, but we all comprehended his meaning readily. I
+refused to make him a gift, and got rid of him easily.
+
+We were all ordered to alight and our captors seemed inclined to be
+ugly. Myself and party were about the only well-dressed people on the
+train, and, seeing a priest close by, I went up to him, and ascertaining
+he could speak French, I began, in very bad French indeed, to threaten
+with very dire consequences Don Carlos and every band of Carlists who
+dares to annoy an English Duke and Duchess, and demanded instant shelter
+and a guard for my wife, the Duchess. We could hardly keep from
+laughing, it was so very like a melodrama. My wife thoroughly enjoyed
+the situation, and I should have done so too, had I not had such strong
+reasons for quick passage through Spain to blue water on the South, for
+I desired to speedily put some leagues of Neptune's domain between
+myself and the Old World.
+
+The priest, although a sallow, sombre fellow, was a very good one, and
+seemed to realize the gravity of the situation, for, calling the chief
+to him, he warned him to be careful. That gentleman came up, and drawing
+himself up said very proudly: "Sir, we are soldiers, not robbers." I
+said I was very glad to know it, and demanded to be informed if I was a
+prisoner or not, and was told I was not, but with the same breath he
+said he would be obliged to detain us for a few days. There was a fonda,
+or inn, close by, and leaving my wife there, I finally managed by a
+liberal use of money to secure an ox-cart, and by virtue of great
+generalship on the part of myself and servant, got all our baggage out
+of the wrecked train and safely up to the inn.
+
+Spaniards are provokingly slow, but by riding mule-back five miles away
+I succeeded in seeing the local commander of the Carlist forces, and he
+promised to send me the next day a pass through the lines, going either
+south or north. I got him also to include in the pass my fellow
+passengers. I did this because there was a Portuguese family who had
+tickets for South America. They were then on their way to embark at
+Lisbon, and the old gentleman, the head of the family, was very weak and
+ill.
+
+My safe plan would have been to return to France, make my way to Brest
+and embark from there to New York, and that would have been my course
+had I had any conception of the slowness of the Spanish officials and of
+the fierce storms and snows that dominate the passes of the Pyrenees in
+Winter.
+
+We were informed by many officials, railway guards, Custom House
+officers, Carlists, etc., that by crossing thirty miles south we would
+pass the lines and get to a little town on the railway where trains left
+frequently for Madrid. The Spaniards about the place would never have
+let us start out on that perilous trip had it not been for the money
+there was in it. I had secured at a round price three century old
+bullock carts, and in the afternoon of the second day we got off. I had
+all the women and the sick Portuguese in one cart, with the two other
+carts ahead heaped with luggage. Thus there were eight bullocks, four
+mules and (unlucky number) thirteen men engaged.
+
+I had very misty notions as to our destination, but took it for granted
+the baker's dozen of natives I had with me knew what they were about.
+Snow was everywhere, and we were mounting up, up, up, on wheels, but I
+supposed the highest altitude was only four or five miles away, and that
+the down grade would be easy until we reached some snug inn where we
+would find shelter for man and beast. Then an early start by daylight
+and our novel jaunt would come to an end in civilization and a railway.
+But I did not know Spaniards, their country, the Pyrenees, nor what
+blizzards can blow in sunny Spain.
+
+Myself and my servant Nunn trudged on alongside the cart with the women.
+It took an hour to get out of sight of the fonda, and then we struck a
+fine, wide military road that wound in and around the mountains, but
+always up and deep in snow. Three, four o'clock came and still no sign
+of the summit, but with the road winding in and out for miles ahead. The
+sky began to darken, and without warning down came the snow. Then
+frequent halts of the caravan to rest the cattle. Deeper grew the snow,
+and as the darkness began to settle down I realized the responsibility I
+had unwittingly taken on my shoulders. I had four delicate women in my
+forlorn party and found myself fast in the midst of a snowstorm, in a
+wild pass of the Pyrenees. I recognized one blessing, however, and was
+profoundly grateful--the air was calm--and though the snow fell thick
+and fast it was not driven by a storm.
+
+Nunn proved to be thoroughly reliable, helpful and full of cheer.
+Between us we kept up the spirits of the party. But all hands began to
+grow hungry. Fortunately I had in my baggage a large pate de foie gras.
+That is a fat goose liver pie, and it was fat, happily so, as it went
+the further. Then I got rugs and wraps out of my trunks for the women
+and a couple of bottles of brandy, and administered liberal doses all
+round. I soon had them happy and full of courage. It was certainly
+better to have them full of Dutch courage in a fool's paradise than to
+have them awake to their position, for I quite expected it would end in
+a night camp-out in the snow and sending an empty cart for supplies. Two
+hours after dark we came to a dead halt, and my guides--they were
+beauties--said they could go no further; the oxen could not pull the
+carts. There was a fonda, they said, two miles away, but did not show
+any disposition to help to get there, and for that matter did not seem
+to care whether we did or not. I ordered them to leave the middle cart
+behind and divide the teams, one team to be added to the front cart and
+one to be hitched in front of the mules. Our interpreter was one of the
+Portuguese women, but we did not get on very well, the Spaniards
+objecting to anything being done, all of them apparently waiting for
+the Virgin or some of the saints to come to our aid; but as neither did,
+Nunn and I were exasperated, and finally took the matter into our own
+hands. By my orders, despite the energetic protests of the drivers, he
+unhitched the oxen from the middle team, and between us we got them to
+the mule cart, hitched them in front of the mules and pulled out and
+past the other carts. Here the Spaniards halted us, and after an angry
+altercation in the dark--and it was dark--they agreed to go on. So,
+taking a yoke of oxen from our cart, they were put in front of the four
+of the first cart, and off we started. Nunn volunteered to stand by and
+guard the stranded cart; so giving him two blankets and a little brandy
+we drove off in the darkness. But not until, in sight of all, I had
+given him a revolver, and each of the unlucky thirteen a good nip of
+brandy. My anxiety about serious results was over as soon we started,
+and in an hour and a half we halted in front of a wretched mountain inn,
+patronized by muleteers, with the first story for a stable, but none of
+us were disposed to be particular. A supper of Spanish beans was soon
+ready, and then a bed was made up on the floor, and the women were soon
+asleep. After seeing that the mules and oxen were fed, I took half an
+hour's nap. Then with two drivers we started back, taking three yoke of
+oxen. What a tramp I had back through the snow and storm! I was very
+happy, however, for I knew my wife and party were safely sheltered, and
+the excitement of action kept one from being gloomy.
+
+In due time we found our stray, hitched to and started, but it was hard
+pulling and the exhausted oxen had to come to frequent halts. At last,
+just as I was beginning to feel tired, we came to the fonda.
+
+The snow had slackened, but the wind was beginning to blow, so Nunn and
+I carried all the luggage and traps into a corner of the stable below,
+and tumbling down into the hay we were soon in the land of dreams. In my
+dreams I was on a shoreless sea in a bark that silently and swiftly
+circled around. Dark clouds closed in on all sides, while my boat sailed
+between ever-narrowing walls, the clouds still closing in, until a giant
+hand grew out from a ragged edge of the cloud wall, which, seizing the
+prow of my boat, pulled it into the gloom and darkness. I felt the
+clouds brushing my cheek. I heard the roar of falling water, and felt
+that my doom was sealed. I thought of my wife, and, trying to call her
+name, was dumb. I looked behind. Far off and far up there was a glow of
+rosy light, and within the aureole was her face, full of sorrow, looking
+at me with pity in every feature. As I looked, her face was slowly
+eclipsed by a cloud. Then with one cry I plunged into the sea--and
+awoke.
+
+That dream would easily have joined the long procession of forgotten
+dreams, but it was recalled many a time during many years. And, try as I
+might, I felt it to be a portent and a prophecy.
+
+When I awoke in the morning I was dumfounded to find a blizzard blowing
+that the cattle could not face, and with every appearance of
+continuance. In reply to my inquiries I learned they sometimes blew in
+those altitudes for a week. This was unpleasant news for me, and the
+prospect made me nervous. It was now Thursday, the fourth day since our
+departure from Paris. And what might have happened in London in that
+time! Here was I as completely isolated from the outside world and from
+all news about my companions in England as if on a desert isle. For all
+I knew discovery might have been made, and full details of the fraud
+might be blazing in the press of Europe. I began to fear I had run into
+a trap. To make matters worse, the steamer El Rey Felipe was advertised
+to sail Monday from Cadiz, and to miss her seemed danger indeed.
+
+[Illustration: PRISONERS WAITING TRIAL, AT NEWGATE, RECEIVING VISITORS.]
+
+I was a prisoner in a wretched inn in a defile of the Pyrenees, with a
+civil war raging, and no telling what might arise to detain us. Our
+objective point was only some thirty-five miles away, but with roads
+deep in snow, with wretched cattle and more wretched Spaniards for
+drivers, there was poor prospect of making headway. I felt it would
+never do for me to suffer longer detention.
+
+I determined to leave my wife and baggage in charge of Nunn, to put the
+$120,000 I had in a bag and start back to the French frontier, cross
+into France and catch the Saturday steamer from Havre to New York,
+explaining to my wife that important business demanded my presence in
+America, that she could follow on the next steamer and that I would meet
+her on arrival.
+
+In the mean time my unlucky thirteen were happy. For were they not
+sheltered, with plenty of food and high wages, all out of the pocket of
+the great lord the Virgin herself must have sent to them? In fact, they
+were winning from me what to them was a fortune. I was paying each man a
+dollar a day and $5 for each team and cart.
+
+From my experience I must give the Spaniards a good name for honesty. Of
+course, they were charging me cut-throat prices, but they were poor,
+and wealthy lords did not often come their way. Aside from that they
+were very honest. Many things, such as rugs, shawls, lunch baskets,
+dressing cases, etc., that must have seemed of value to them, lay around
+everywhere, but not a single article was missing during the entire trip.
+
+All day long the blizzard blew. It was a novel situation, and how I
+should have enjoyed it had I only possessed that greatest of all
+blessings--a good conscience! As it was, I was in misery, and could find
+no peace, not even in my wife's smiles and evident content to be
+anywhere with me.
+
+I saw that the cattle were well cared for and that the men had both food
+and wine. Then my servant skirmished around and decapitated sundry
+chickens he found. So we had roast chicken three times a day, and as I
+had a case of brandy in my luggage, we did not suffer. Nunn roasted the
+chickens, made the punch, got the Spanish men and women to dance for our
+entertainment, and made himself generally of service. About midnight the
+storm broke up, and to my great satisfaction the stars came out. That
+night I slept in the same room with the women, with a sheet hung between
+us.
+
+At 5 o'clock I had all hands up and breakfast under way. I ordered the
+drivers and hangers on to have the teams hitched up and ready at
+daylight. They all ate breakfast heartily enough, but were not zealous
+about starting out. They made all sorts of pretexts and excuses to avoid
+leaving their comfortable quarters. Certainly the road was not an
+inviting prospect, there being quite eighteen inches of snow, but I was
+determined to start one way or the other, either south with the party or
+north alone. After long argument they, thinking they had me at their
+mercy, refused to hitch up the cattle to make the attempt. I at once
+paid and dismissed them all. Determining to set out immediately alone
+for the French frontier, carrying only a small bag slung over my
+shoulder, and concealing the bonds and paper money on my person, I would
+leave the greater part of the gold in charge of my wife. I knew Nunn
+would be a trusty guard to her.
+
+I had not given her any intimation of my purpose, but got my bag ready,
+and, secreting about me the bonds and paper money, I took my wife into a
+room, and, first telling her she must be very brave, explained my plan,
+pointing out I must not miss the Saturday steamer. She should follow on
+the next, and I would leave her $20,000. But she pleaded to go with me,
+said she would be no encumbrance, would ride mule-back to the railway,
+no matter how far away. I then called Nunn and told him I should leave
+him in charge of the baggage, and that we were going to set out at once.
+I praised his fidelity, and informed him I would make him a present
+when he arrived all safe in New York with the baggage. But when the sick
+man and his family were told we were going they raised a howl. The women
+all hung on me crying and imploring me not to leave them to despair and
+death. They would all perish, etc.
+
+[Illustration: Henry Hawkins, Esq. Q.C. Hon. Sir. J. Kellog, KKT Judge
+of the Queen's Bench Rt. Hon. Sir R. J. K. Cockburn, Chief High Justice
+of England]
+
+
+[Illustration: The Lord Chancellor. Sir C. Russell J.C. Queen's
+Counsel.]
+
+
+[Illustration: Witnesses. Clerk of The Old Bailey. "I object My Lord".]
+
+I had secured a good saddle mule, but with a man's saddle, and my wife
+was sensible enough not to make an outcry over the prospect of a ride
+man-fashion. She came out warmly clad and mounted the mule, and I
+strapped some rugs and a bundle of lunch behind the saddle. The owner of
+the mule was at his head, halter in hand, ready to lead off. The entire
+population were out staring open-mouthed. I delivered a speech to my
+lucky-unlucky thirteen, telling them in the best way I could that I was
+going in order to deliver them all over to the vengeance of the military
+chief of the district. That I should accuse them as robbers and thieves,
+and that they might look for anguish that would wring their hearts and
+souls.
+
+They were greatly moved, and, pulling out my watch, I informed them by
+pantomime and bad Spanish that if they got the teams in harness and the
+luggage all packed on the carts in twenty minutes I would take them into
+my favor and resume our journey southward.
+
+Spaniards are proverbially slow. But these Spaniards were not slow, and
+a very few minutes saw us all once more mounted on our cart, with the
+two baggage carts following, and on our rocky way southward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+FEAR SAYS "NO" TO HAPPINESS.
+
+
+We passed during the day a military post and several squads of armed
+men. Poor fellows! they were wretchedly equipped, so far as garments
+went. They all examined us curiously, but did not offer to stop or
+question us while I marched on ahead of the cavalcade like a drum major,
+giving the military salute to each party as we passed. I ought to have
+been fatigued, but I was not. After about five miles of uphill work we
+began to descend. The road was a masterpiece of engineering, and well it
+might be, for it was one of five military roads the great Napoleon
+ordered to be constructed across the Pyrenees, and it was done in a
+thoroughly workmanlike manner. It wound in and out and along defiles of
+stern beauty.
+
+We halted for rest and refreshment at noon, and again at 4 o'clock for
+an hour. At the last place we found some Carlist officers, one a young
+Englishman, who was a good fellow and most attentive. He was an
+aide-de-camp on Don Carlos' staff. He told me there was no chance of his
+side winning, but he was in it for the fun of the thing and in hope of
+seeing some fighting. He had taken part in a number of skirmishes, and
+was by no means satisfied yet. He volunteered to escort us through the
+lines, and was evidently more than pleased to meet an English lady in
+the person of my wife.
+
+It was beautiful to see him order about my muleteers and bully them up
+hill and down dale, not hesitating to use his whip on them. About 5
+o'clock we started off in great shape, having some twenty miles to go to
+the little town on the railway south of the Pyrenees. We had two
+lanterns and a number of torches; it was a picturesque caravan in the
+darkness. The young officer rode beside the first cart, conversing with
+my wife, while I walked in the rear. We had reason to congratulate
+ourselves over our escort, he being a brave and brilliant fellow and
+evidently a person of importance. He little thought whom he was
+escorting. I was pleased on my wife's account, as he was company for
+her, and, altogether, she thoroughly enjoyed the novelty of the whole
+situation.
+
+We had made a fine bed of hay and blankets for our sick man.
+Nevertheless, he was a source of much anxiety and trouble. At last, to
+the intense relief of all, we heard far away the shrill whistle of a
+locomotive. It was sweet music to my ears, for I realized the peril of
+the delay. We had now arrived at the base of the southern slope of the
+Pyrenees and the plain stretched out before us. We had just passed
+through an intrenched camp that guarded the entrance to the valley. Our
+escort had ridden ahead, and not satisfied with smoothing the way for
+us, had turned out the guard to do us honor. We halted for a few
+minutes, and several uniformed officers came forward and were introduced
+to my wife and me. It was a picturesque scene. The mantle of snow
+covering all, the strange-looking mountaineers, the eager-faced, boyish
+officers--French, English, Austrian--all soldiers of fortune, who, in
+the dearth of great wars, were seeking fame in the inglorious civil
+contest; our torches casting fantastic shadows until the forest-covered
+mountain, dark and frowning, though snow lay everywhere, seemed peopled
+with hosts of men--all made a picture never to be forgotten by some of
+the observers.
+
+Another mile and our escort had to leave us, but the town, standing dark
+against the snow, was in plain view. By his advice I went ahead on foot
+with two men, in case any of "the enemy" were prowling around, but found
+none until we arrived in the town; then a scene of great excitement to
+the townspeople arose.
+
+We were examined and cross-examined, and our statements taken down in
+writing and sworn to by all hands. In the mean time I had made beds for
+our sick man and the ladies in the waiting room of the station, and
+about 2 o'clock I went to sleep. The station was fortified and full of
+soldiers, but I did not care, being told the Madrid train would start at
+daylight; if so, I would be in time for El Rey Felipe, and would be
+sailing out of Cadiz harbor on Monday over the blue water, westward ho!
+
+After a two hours' nap I was up, paid off my lucky thirteen, giving them
+a present in addition to their due, with a written paper certifying that
+they were honest and brave, and had delivered me and mine in safety.
+
+The weather continued very cold, and when the train, consisting of two
+passenger and one baggage car, arrived we found there were no heating
+arrangements, and we shivered at the thought of an all-day's ride
+without fire or heat across that windy plain. I determined to have a
+compartment to ourselves, for my wife and I had not had a moment's
+privacy since the smash-up of the train. So we fixed up a bed on the
+floor of a compartment for our sick man, and I put his family in to look
+out for him. When the train left we found ourselves, very much to our
+satisfaction, alone. I had telegraphed ahead to Burges to have hot water
+cases, then the only mode of heating cars in Europe, ready on our
+arrival.
+
+The engineer of our train was an Englishman. As it was so important that
+I should not be delayed I gave him a sovereign and his stoker another,
+and asked him as a favor to make time. He said he would and kept his
+word. But arriving at Burgos we found that the train from Santander
+going south was two hours late, so my wife and I started out to see the
+famous town.
+
+After a short view we made our way to the Cathedral, and it was a sight!
+It is one of the many sacred edifices which the piety of former ages
+bequeathed our own. One of these sacred buildings--like the Strasbourg
+and Cologne Cathedrals, in the construction of which generation after
+generation of pious souls--pious according to the fashion of their
+times--had given their days to the building and decoration of the
+cloister or church where their lives were lived, and all was done with
+loving and patient care.
+
+We in our day may sneer at the monks and brothers of the Dark Ages, but
+in those times of rude violence all gentle hearted, scholarly souls
+found in the sanctity and quiet of the cloister the only refuge open to
+them, and they did good work, both in the domain of mind and in the
+world of material things. Much that was "piety" and much that was
+"faith" in their day is termed superstition in ours; but who will deny
+that the simple piety and credulous faith of their day was a million
+times better than the restless skepticism and sad unrest of ours?
+
+At Burgos I tried to get an English paper, but none was to be had and no
+one there had ever seen one.
+
+But here some startling news came flashing over the wires. Nothing less
+than that there had been a revolution at Madrid, the capital. Amadeo,
+the lately elected king, had suddenly resigned, and a republic had been
+proclaimed with Castelar at the head.
+
+I began to see more and more what a fool I was to let myself be caught
+at such a time in such a land, but still had so much confidence in my
+good fortune that I felt I would be on time for the steamer on Monday.
+
+It was now 3 o'clock Friday. We were all aboard for Madrid and just
+pulling out of the station. We would be due there the next morning. From
+Madrid to Cadiz there is only one through train in twenty-four hours,
+and that leaves seven mornings a week; but, as it runs only fifteen
+miles an hour, and is seldom on time at that, one must figure on taking
+an entire twenty-four hours for the journey. Still, as we would be due
+Saturday morning, I had a big margin for delay.
+
+At last we were off. On the train and in every group we passed there
+were signs of subdued excitement. Between Royalists and Republicans
+sharp lines were evidently drawn which soon were to culminate in bloody
+conflict.
+
+Soon after 10 o'clock we arrived in the walled town of Avila, about
+eighty miles from the famous Escurial built by the second Philip, and
+about 150 miles from Madrid. Here we got an excellent dinner and good
+coffee. But dinner was spoiled for me by the disastrous intelligence
+that martial law had been proclaimed and that the Government had seized
+the roads running north from Madrid to transport troops.
+
+Here was a pretty pickle! I was enraged. I saw the chief of the railway
+at Avila, but he was a fool, and under the unwonted state of affairs had
+lost what little head he ever had.
+
+So once more our baggage was all piled out of the train, and once more
+we had to go into camp on the floor of the station, with a terrific din
+around us.
+
+I arose early, and looking up the telegraph clerk and railway chief, I
+made them both rich by the present to each of five escudos.
+
+Then I telegraphed Castelar and the Minister of War that I was an
+Englishman, that I had my family with me, and having important business
+in Madrid I must not be detained in Avila. I demanded that he should at
+once direct the military officials to send me on to Madrid by special
+train. I also sent a telegram to Hernandez, president of the road in
+Paris, offering 5,000 francs for a special train. Another urgent message
+was sent to the superintendent in Madrid repeating the offer for a
+special train, the same sum to himself if he expedited the train. I also
+authorized him to spend a similar amount if necessary in bribing the
+military authorities.
+
+[Illustration: TRIAL OF THE FOUR AMERICANS AT THE "OLD BAILEY," LONDON.]
+
+At 11 o'clock I had a long telegram from him saying a train would be
+made up at Avila. But an hour having passed away, I sent him a message
+to order up an engine and one car from Madrid. Another message arrived
+at 12 o'clock, and down came an engine and car.
+
+Our baggage was hustled into the three front compartments. I put Nunn
+and the Portuguese party in one and my wife and I occupied the rear
+compartment. Thank Heaven! once more alone together. The soldiers and
+inhabitants flocked around, and we were the observed of all observers.
+
+The local railway chief was more than anxious to see us off, as I added
+another five to the five escudos already given. Just then the telegraph
+operator flew out with an order for our train to await the arrival of
+the train from Madrid.
+
+I stormed. I kept the wire hot with messages of protest to officials.
+Two messages came from Madrid saying the delay was but temporary. So
+there I sat in that musty compartment, my wife by my side and with a
+heart full of bitterness, for I saw the precious hours slipping away,
+and with them my chance of taking the Sunday morning train so as to
+catch the Cadiz steamer. To miss it, I thought, meant ruin.
+
+Hour after hour passed by, and there we sat. My secret cause of unrest
+had to be kept locked in my breast, while my young wife, all
+unsuspecting, was merry and happy, chanting little snatches of song and
+telling me a hundred times she was the happiest of women. She did not
+care for revolutions, nor for delays. Was she not with me! The sun
+began to go down the sky, and the shadows fell. Still we sat on,
+expecting every moment an order to proceed. The suspense was terrible.
+
+At last about 6 o'clock an order came to have everything ready to pull
+out for Madrid at 7, so very reluctantly we dismounted to take supper in
+the station, and once more got into the car. But no order came. The
+hours dragged on, and I saw fate closing her hand on me.
+
+The night wore on, when suddenly, toward midnight, the operator rushed
+out of his office and, shouting to the engineer, flew up to our
+compartment, said good-bye and in a minute we were off. After that long
+and terrible day it was happiness to be moving.
+
+I had given the engineer a tip; he put on steam, and as we flew over the
+road hope returned. I felt we were safe. At the rate we were going I
+should have two or three hours to spare. We soon were at the Escurial.
+As fate would have it we found here an order to run us on a side line
+and to keep the track clear for a train going north. For two miserable
+hours we waited and no train. Then I set the wires in motion again, and
+just as the eastern skies grew gray we started.
+
+Soon after midnight I telegraphed to the railway authorities at Madrid
+to hold the train going south to Cadiz until my arrival, offering $100
+an hour for every hour's detention.
+
+Madrid is situated on a high sandy plain, storm-swept in Winter worse
+than any plains in Northern Europe. We had a wheezy engine. Four miles
+out it broke down, and then I gave up the struggle.
+
+At 4 o'clock Sunday afternoon, nine hours too late for the Cadiz train,
+we arrived at Madrid, too late to reach Cadiz by a special train. Not
+too late could the train have been started off as soon as ordered, but
+in Spain a special train is an unheard-of thing.
+
+Mine from Avila was an innovation, only possible because there was so
+much money behind it to all concerned at both ends of the line. No
+Spaniard was ever known to be in a hurry, and no particle of matter
+between his chin and his sombrero holds any lurking suspicion that
+anything born of a woman could be in a hurry or have any reason for any
+such insanity.
+
+Here I was at last in the much-longed-for Madrid, but not on time, and I
+had nothing to do but to put in execution some new plan. Had I even at
+that late date resolved to go to New York, I could have returned to
+France by the Eastern route, via Barcelona, and all might have been
+well.
+
+I telegraphed to Lopez & Co. to Cadiz inquiring if they would hold the
+El Rey Felipe for twenty hours. They replied they were under contract
+with the Government and had to sail on time. So I said good-bye to that
+plan.
+
+On consulting my memorandum I saw there was a French steamer sailing
+from St. Nazaire, on the west coast of France, for Vera Cruz, Mexico,
+which would touch at Santander on Saturday for mails and passengers, and
+I resolved to go by her; this, of course, meant retracing our way
+through the hated Avila to Burgos, and changing there for Santander.
+
+Here we saw the last of the Portuguese family with their sick member.
+They said good-bye with every expression of gratitude, and in truth I
+was glad to see them off. We were all very tired of them, and they had
+been a serious expense. That is, might have been serious, but as I paid
+that expense out of the Bank of England's cash I naturally could be
+liberal in the extreme, and gave a salve to my conscience by reflecting
+what a good-souled, charitable young man I was in looking out for these
+strangers and putting my hand freely in my pocket in their behalf.
+
+As soon as breakfast was over I hurried to the English Embassy, and
+there securing files of the London papers looked eagerly and nervously
+through them. To my intense relief I saw there was nothing in them.
+Therefore, I knew all was serene in London and that the Old Lady was
+without doubt giving out sovereigns by the tens of thousands for us.
+
+Very much relieved in mind I returned to the hotel, and we set out to
+see Madrid.
+
+[Illustration: A DETECTIVE IDENTIFYING OLD OFFENDERS AT NEWGATE.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+I WATCH THE PYRENEES SINK IN THE SEA, THEN SAIL O'ER GREEN NEPTUNE'S
+BACK.
+
+
+It was 11 o'clock when we started. The streets were thronged, and the
+throngs moving in one direction. That was to the street lined on both
+sides with churches, whose doors were flung wide open to the surging
+masses. We went with the current and entered a famous church which was
+crowded with the pious, their souls rapt in their devotion. Like all
+European churches, there were no seats, but the audience, closely
+packed, knelt or stood. We joined the worshipers, but looked around with
+curious eyes. When the prayers were ended the street was one living mass
+of people, all moving toward the outskirts of the town. We went with the
+tide, and with the tide entered the arena, where a bull fight was
+on--curious transition from church to arena. It was a great sight--I
+mean that of seeing the people--there were 15,000 present in that
+amphitheatre. It looked just like the old Roman arena, and to us was in
+all its details intensely interesting.
+
+On Monday we visited the picture galleries and museums, and on Tuesday
+we got our baggage down to the depot once more, and purchasing our
+tickets we were off for Santander. I was too anxious to enjoy the
+scenery. We were a day and a night on the journey, and arriving on
+Wednesday I still had before me three days of anxiety.
+
+Being thoroughly sick of Spain, I longed to be on blue water with our
+good ship's prow pointed to the Western World. Then I felt I could begin
+to enjoy life. I had a charming wife--delightful companion--and once up
+anchor all my haunting fears would die, and life's pleasures would be
+mine to the full. But there in Santander the time dragged wearily. To be
+sure, I had the English papers, but they were nearly a week on the way,
+and a bad conscience finds many a cause for fear. I was aching to be
+aboard. Saturday came at last, and going early down to the headland at
+the harbor's mouth, with my field glass I anxiously scanned the Bay of
+Biscay to see if I could discern anywhere on the horizon the smoke of
+the approaching steamer. Lingering there until the dinner hour, I
+hastened to the hotel.
+
+My wife was merry and happy. I was glad to see her so, and found it
+difficult to conceal my solicitude. Going both together to the headland
+we spent most of the afternoon there. Night and then midnight came, and
+no steamer's lights flashed in the dark waters of the bay. Heartsick and
+anxious I went to bed, half resolved to take my wife into my confidence,
+tell her in some measure the truth, and point out to her the necessity
+of my taking flight, leaving her to follow at her leisure. It would have
+been a terrible shock to her, but I began to fear that the truth would
+come to her ears some time.
+
+Early the next morning my servant awoke me, asking me to look out of the
+window. I ran to it, and looking out, there in the bay, just in front of
+the hotel, lay a steamer of the largest size and magnificent in her
+beauty. It was a happy sight for me.
+
+Nunn hired a boat for our luggage and a second for me, and then, after a
+hurried breakfast, we boarded the steamer, Nunn following with the
+baggage. Among other things I had a favorite dressing case, and had
+given the servant strict orders to keep it under his eye, but as soon as
+he came aboard he inquired in great agitation if I had brought it off
+with me. Upon my saying no he was quite overcome, at the same time
+explaining that he had laid it on top of the baggage in front of the
+hotel, and some one had stolen it. While he was speaking a passenger
+came walking by with the identical case in his hand. Nunn flew at the
+man and seized both him and the bag, and sure enough he had the thief,
+but I ordered him to let the man go, and he went away shamefaced enough.
+He little thought when stealing the bag that the owner was going on the
+same steamer. At last we were afloat, and now I was all eagerness to
+hear the steam monkey start to bring the anchor a-peak. It is simply
+amazing how a bad conscience "moldeth goblins swift as frenzy's
+thought." Even as I stood there I was not at rest, but was impatient and
+suspicious of every movement from the shore. As the long day dragged
+slowly on and 4 o'clock came, preparations for getting under way were
+going rapidly forward. I took my field glasses, stationed myself on the
+after deck and anxiously scrutinized every boat leaving the shore.
+Suddenly a boat started out from the head of the bay, pulled steadily by
+eight rowers, and my conscience told me it meant danger, but the boatmen
+pulled down along the shore, then suddenly stopped, and I could see that
+they were passing a bottle around, taking a drink. Soon I discovered a
+heap on the stern, which on closer inspection proved to be nets, and my
+fears boiled down showed me they were simply fishermen and I an ass and
+somewhat ashamed of myself. I felt I had really no cause for fear, even
+had the steamer remained in harbor for a week. Just then, with a mighty
+throb, the screw gave a turn, and it was music to my ears. Then the
+waters of the bay were churned into yeasty waves. The city and shores
+seemed to glide by and our prow was pointed direct to the blue sea
+rolling beyond. Soon the joyous billows were toying with our ship, and
+huge as it was were tossing it as lightly and easily as a child a toy.
+
+But, still ill at ease, I walked the deck restless and unhappy.
+
+I no longer feared arrest, was confident that never would hand of human
+justice be laid on me, but I dimly felt that there was a divine justice
+which would exact retribution. I felt that if there was mind behind this
+frame of matter we see, then He who made the natural law and decreed a
+penalty for every infraction must have made an infallible decree for
+every violation against the moral law. If so, where could we poor
+insects go or hide, or how scheme or dodge to escape the divine
+vengeance?
+
+But as I stood on the deck that night and watched the mountains sink
+into the sea I felt this all dimly, and tried to shake off the feeling.
+I stood fascinated, with many conflicting emotions sweeping through my
+mind, sadly watching the receding shores of Spain, and just as the
+highest mountains were sinking in the sea my servant appearing at my
+side informed me that dinner was ready and my wife waiting. Sending him
+away and turning my face to the land, I strained my eyes through the
+gathering gloom to discern the distant shore. Then with a bitter feeling
+in my heart I set out for the saloon, but stopped and quoting these
+lines--
+
+  "The day of my destiny is over,
+  And the star of my fate hath declined"
+
+--went below.
+
+Soon, under the warming influence of wine, forgetting all my forebodings
+and looking into my wife's face beaming with love and content, I could
+not refrain from saying to myself: I am a fool to doubt that happiness
+is mine. Am I not Fortune's favorite? With love, youth, enthusiasm,
+health and wealth on my side, what else save happy days and nights and
+long years filled with content can be mine?
+
+So, shaking off my forebodings, the eighteen days of our voyage over
+green Neptune's back were ideal, and we became objects of envy to all
+the passengers.
+
+Our ship was the Martinique, with French officers and crew, and a fine,
+manly lot of men they were. The passengers were mostly colonial people
+returning home to the French colonies in the West Indies. They were
+nice, refined people, but we were rather reserved and kept to ourselves.
+One of the passengers had a dozen Spanish fighting cocks, and they
+afforded us much amusement. There were frequent mains on the after deck
+and sometimes on the dinner table. These were very popular, particularly
+with the ladies, who were continually asking to have the cocks brought
+on after dessert. A space would be made in the centre of the table and
+two cocks placed on it. How they loved fighting! They certainly enjoyed
+it far better than the spectators. There were four long tables, all
+crowded, but when the main was started the other tables were deserted
+and the passengers packed around ours.
+
+Our opposite neighbors were two Sisters of Charity who were on their way
+to the City of Mexico to fill a gap that death had made in the ranks of
+their order there. They were simple, sainted souls and had never known
+any life other than the religious, and never emerged from the cloister
+save only to do deeds of mercy in the country town outside. They had
+been selected by lot to go to Mexico. We were favored to become fast
+friends of theirs, and I was glad to have them accept such attentions as
+we could give. It was delightful to meet such simple, unsophisticated
+people under circumstances when, they being travelers, the rules of the
+Church permitted them to throw off their reserve, to associate with
+strangers and to live--so far as food and drink were concerned--like the
+people they were associated with for the time.
+
+My wife and I grew to like them well, and I was never tired of getting
+their views of men and things. Truly their lives were a thing apart from
+the world and the ways of men. They told me with a kind of rapture that
+the average life of one of their order in Mexico was only five years,
+and they thought heaven had been very gracious in selecting them, that
+they might give their lives to the Church and so become members of the
+mighty army of martyrs who were honored in heaven by looking upon the
+face of the Virgin and her Son and serving them.
+
+They knew nothing of wines and did not suspect the costliness of those
+which during the entire voyage they drank at my expense.
+
+The dinners were rather formal affairs and occupied an hour and a half,
+and between the good sisters and us two we always finished a bottle of
+claret and two of champagne, and about a like quantity between dinner
+and bedtime. I don't believe that up to the hour they left the world
+they ever quite understood why they were so happy and merry on that
+voyage.
+
+We used to visit the steerage forward nearly every day. There was an
+unmistakable lady so unfortunate as to be a passenger there. She
+appreciated our visits, and eventually confided the story of her life to
+my wife, and what a story it was of woman's love and man's perfidy!
+
+I had an electric battery which I frequently took into the steerage to
+astonish the natives. When I first put a silver piece in a basin of
+water and told them the man taking it out could keep it, what a rush
+there was! There was one would-be clever clown who was perfectly willing
+to test the power of the battery, but was so clever he never would take
+hold of both handles at once. He dodged around for two or three days
+greatly pleased with his sharpness, but I determined to have him some
+day and have him hard when I got him. So one morning when dancing about
+as usual he happened to be barefooted. Apparently by accident, I upset
+the basin of water over the deck, making it a good conductor, then
+accepting his offer to try the machine by holding one handle, I dropped
+the other on the wet deck and gave him the benefit of the whole power
+of the battery. He let one terrific yell, then stood rooted to the deck
+speechless for a moment; then gave vent to a series of whoops that would
+have made the fortune of a Comanche Indian. When freed from the current
+the clever fellow made a break for the steerage and never appeared again
+at any of my electric seances. All those ignorants insisted that my
+battery was surely el diablo.
+
+After eighteen days we cast anchor in St. Thomas harbor, and pleasant as
+our voyage had been we were glad to see land. We were to stop a day for
+coaling.
+
+Taking the two sisters, we went ashore in one of the many boats
+surrounding the ship, all manned by scantily robed black fellows. The
+town, with its hordes of gaudily dressed and noisy blacks, was most
+interesting. I had hired the boat for the day, so the three black
+fellows accompanied us around the town. Each wore a stovepipe hat. The
+remainder of their furniture consisted of cotton shirt and trousers. The
+men were barefooted, of course.
+
+My wife was the typical blue-eyed, golden-haired Englishwoman, and was
+the observed of all observers in that black mob. I myself was all in
+white, from canvas shoes to white umbrella. So, between the two sisters
+in their black robes and white bonnets and our attending boatmen, along
+with a mob of half-naked black boys that followed, we formed quite a
+circus and created a commotion in the town.
+
+First I took the sisters to the cathedral. Both were grateful and knelt
+at the altar for a full half hour while we waited. Then after visiting
+several stores to make some small purchases, we went to a circus showing
+there that week. I bought ten tickets for my party. Everything they saw
+in the town was marvelous and strange to them. When we entered the
+circus tent the sisters were perplexed and thought it must be a new sort
+of church. But words would fail to express their amazement when they saw
+the clown and bespangled horseman enter the ring and the performance
+begin. They were in a new and hitherto undreamed-of world, and gazed in
+childlike wonderment on the scene, and, like children, only saw the
+glitter of the spangles and thought both men and women performers were
+angels of beauty. Even after the thing was over the magic and witchery
+of it all rested on them. Their hearts were deeply stirred and their
+thoughts were with the performers. To please them we sat until the
+audience had dispersed, and, when going out, one of them, speaking of
+the performers, told my wife they must be "very near to God."
+
+Then we went to the hotel. I dispersed my cortege and ordered a room for
+ourselves and one for the sisters, and we all took a nap until evening.
+Then we had some negro singing and dancing for our amusement in the
+courtyard of the hotel, and at 9 o'clock we went out for a moonlight
+walk under the tropical sky. About 10 we found we had had enough of it
+and were glad to betake ourselves to bed.
+
+We all breakfasted together in the courtyard the next morning and soon
+after went aboard. At noon up came the anchor and we were off for
+Havana, our next stopping place, twenty-four hours' sail away. The
+steamer after one day's detention to take in cargo would continue her
+voyage to Vera Cruz. It was my intention to go on to that port, and from
+there across the country to the capital, the City of Mexico. There was
+no cable to Mexico in 1873, and things there were in rather a primitive
+condition. Of course, I never anticipated pursuit beyond New York, and
+took it for granted that my friends at Police Headquarters would squelch
+it there. But once in Mexico there would have been no danger for me. To
+be in Mexico was like being in the centre of darkest Africa. There was
+no extradition treaty, no railroads and no telegraph; above all, I had
+plenty of cash.
+
+I intended to buy an estate near the capital, and settle down for two
+or three years, and by a liberal expenditure of money secure the
+friendship of the government officials and the chief people of the
+country. Official and social morals being not of the best, if my history
+transpired I would probably become the lion of society, as they would
+all esteem it a creditable thing to any man to secure a few millions
+from the English, whose enormous wealth is the plunder of India and all
+the world for centuries.
+
+The next morning I found we were sailing along the Cuban coast, quite
+near the land, which looked so inviting that I made up my mind to go
+ashore and stay a month in Havana, so I had my baggage got on deck. Soon
+after dinner the engines were stopped for some hours for repacking, the
+captain informing me that it was doubtful whether we should arrive in
+Havana in time to go ashore that night. At 6 o'clock the sunset gun is
+fired, the custom house closes and no more debarkations are allowed that
+day. If I went ashore the next day I must be up and off at an early
+hour, as the ship sailed at 7.30, so I told the captain if he arrived
+before 6 o'clock I would go ashore and wait for the next steamer, but if
+we were late I would go on to Vera Cruz with him.
+
+Once having made up my mind to go ashore, I was all eagerness to push
+matters. To do so I even asked the captain to tell the engineer to force
+the engines a little if possible. It was well on to 6 o'clock when we
+steamed past Moro Castle and dropped anchor in the harbor. I engaged two
+of the boats alongside, our baggage was hurried into them, my wife went
+down the ladder, and speaking some hurried farewells I ran down after
+her and sprang lightly into the boat. That instant the sunset gun was
+fired. Two minutes later and the custom house officers on board would
+have forbidden my leaving the steamer. I say two minutes, but it was
+less than half a minute. Half a minute! Thirty seconds changed my
+destiny.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+"HAPPINESS AND I SHAKE HANDS FOR A TIME."
+
+
+Cuba! What a productive and fertile island it is, with its charming
+climate and lovely scenery! But, as in so many of the green spots of
+this world, man has blasted and spoiled all that indulgent nature has
+lavished here. From the days of Columbus the story of Cuba has been one
+of wholesale murder of natives, of revolutions--later of insurrections,
+and deadly civil strife, which have ruined whole provinces once covered
+with large sugar, coffee and tobacco plantations.
+
+Slavery now, as in all her past Christian history, is everywhere.
+Previous to 1861 40,000 slaves were yearly imported in slave ships into
+the harbor of Havana.
+
+Perhaps all men are cruel when they are absolute masters of the lives
+and fortunes of their fellows and amenable to none for their acts.
+Certainly the white Cubans, as a rule, are cruel masters in all their
+dealings with their slaves.
+
+Probably to-day, certainly in 1873, most of the large plantations
+witnessed scenes of cruelty never surpassed in the long annals of human
+servitude.
+
+During my stay I was invited to visit many plantations, but visits to
+two were enough for me, there being too many signs on the surface of the
+brutality that lay beneath. I could easily give cases that I saw or
+heard of, but refrain from doing so here.
+
+One day's stay in Cuba convinced us we could spend a month very happily
+on the island, and, discovering that Don Fernando, the proprietor of
+the hotel, had a furnished house in a lovely situation to let, we
+resolved to remain, renting the house for a month at a fixed rate per
+day. This rate included the ten servants--slaves--in the house, he to
+furnish good horses and everything except wine. The service proved good,
+and the cooking exquisite. This was rather expensive, but certainly a
+handy kind of housekeeping, taking all worry and household cares from my
+wife's shoulders.
+
+There were a large number of American visitors on the island, lovers of
+and seekers after sunshine and warmth, which they found in abundance
+while swinging in hammocks under the palm or cocoanut trees, or in
+strolling along the white strand, with its innumerable sunny coves,
+while the Winter storms and blizzards were raging in the Northern
+States. Here we formed many pleasant acquaintances, and, throwing off
+much of the reserve maintained during the voyage, we mingled freely in
+the nice but gossipy society which winters there.
+
+Our house was on a lovely slope in full view of the Gulf of Mexico, and
+in the midst of what was more like a tropical plantation than a garden.
+
+I made the acquaintance of Gen. Torbert, our Consul, and was introduced
+by him to the Spanish officials, including the colonel of police. I
+assiduously cultivated the acquaintance of the latter, and frequently
+had him out to the house to dinner and lunch, and felt pretty confident
+that if any telegrams came about me he would certainly bring them to me
+at once for an explanation. Even if my presence became known, and
+telegraphic orders for my arrest should arrive, no speedy action would
+be taken and ample time given me to escape. In all the assemblies,
+picnics and balls I was gratified to find my wife very much sought after
+and admired. It was well she had a few happy days; enough misery lay not
+far ahead.
+
+In the mean time I had no word from my friends in London. In fact, they
+did not know where I was. When I bade them good-bye at Calais they told
+me not to inform them of my destination until I had got there, and then
+to do so through some relative.
+
+Every day I watched the New York papers to see if there had been any
+explosion in London, but the silence of the press told me my friends
+were having an amazing success, and we might expect two or three months
+more to elapse before there would be any discovery.
+
+We had been some weeks in Havana.
+
+It was well into the month of February when one day, being in my hammock
+on the veranda, with my wife sitting near me, my servant rode up with
+the papers, and, handing me the New York Herald, I leisurely opened it,
+while chatting with my wife, but could not suppress an exclamation when
+my eyes fell upon an Associated Press dispatch from London, in staring
+headlines. They read:
+
+  AMAZING FRAUD UPON THE BANK OF
+  ENGLAND!
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  MILLIONS LOST!
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  GREAT EXCITEMENT IN LONDON!
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+    L5,000 REWARD FOR THE ARREST OF THE
+    AMERICAN PERPETRATOR, F. A. WARREN.
+
+    "London, Feb. 14, 1873.
+
+    "An amazing fraud has been perpetrated upon the Bank of England by a
+    young American who gave the name of Frederick Albert Warren. The
+    loss of the bank is reported to be from three to ten millions, and
+    it is rumored that many London banks have been victimized to
+    enormous amounts. The greatest excitement prevails in the city, and
+    the forgery, for such it is, is the one topic of conversation on
+    the Exchange and in the street. The police are completely at fault,
+    although a young man named Noyes, who was Warren's clerk, has been
+    arrested, but it is believed that he is a dupe.
+
+    "The bank has offered a reward of L5,000 for information leading to
+    the arrest of Warren or any confederate."
+
+[Illustration: "I FIRED POINT BLANK, AND DOWN HE WENT AS IF FELLED BY
+LIGHTNING."--Page 334.]
+
+I took a long walk on the beach to think over the situation. I was
+alarmed over the arrest of Noyes, which I knew ought not to have
+occurred if the proper precautions had been taken, but I concluded that
+at the worst his arrest only meant for him a brief incarceration.
+
+I knew that no human power and no fear could ever make him betray us.
+Two things never entered my calculations at all; that is, that my right
+name would ever transpire, or that George and Mac would ever, by any
+possibility, be brought into question for the fraud.
+
+So I came back from my walk with my plans outlined. It was to remain
+quietly where we were for a fortnight longer, then take the steamer to
+Vera Cruz, go to the City of Mexico and there buy an estate, as I had
+originally proposed. Then, after a few months, leave my wife there and
+travel incog. through Northern Mexico and Texas, meet Mac and George and
+afterward return to Mexico.
+
+Not a soul in all Europe knew I was in Cuba, and so long as my name did
+not transpire I was as safe in Cuba as if in the desert.
+
+Consequently I determined to go on in the same way since our landing. In
+the mean while I would watch the papers, and if any signs of danger
+appeared I could take instant measures for my safety.
+
+As the days passed the cable dispatches appearing in the papers
+increased in volume, and the papers everywhere had editorials, which, as
+a rule, were humorous or sarcastic, poking fun at the Britishers in
+general and the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street in particular. Then the
+comic papers took it up, and from week to week published cartoons
+intended to be funny.
+
+One of the funniest of these came out in one of the New York comics,
+which appeared after the mail arrived from London with the particulars
+of the simplicity of the bank officials in their dealings with the
+mysterious F. A. Warren. This full-page cartoon represented a young dude,
+seated on a mule, riding down a steep declivity.
+
+At the bottom the devil stood, holding in the fingers of his extended
+hands a quantity of thousand-pound bank notes tempting Warren, and John
+Bull stood behind the mule, belaboring it with an umbrella and driving
+Warren down to the devil.
+
+I tried to keep the papers from my wife, but one day she came home from
+a visit with a flushed face and eager to talk, and began telling me
+about some daring countryman of mine "who had the audacity to rob the
+Bank of England," and "who ought to have a whipping." On several
+occasions Americans there asked my opinion as to who the party could be.
+
+I always told them he was some clever young scamp, with plenty of money
+of his own, who did it for the excitement of the thing and from a wish
+to take a rise out of John Bull.
+
+The next French steamer for Mexico was advertised to land at Havana for
+passengers and mails for Vera Cruz in a few days, and I determined to
+sail by her. Soon after my arrival I had formed the acquaintance of a
+wealthy young countryman of mine from Savannah by the name of Gray. We
+soon became fast friends, and I had him out to dinner nearly every day.
+He had a warm friend in Senor Andrez, a rich young Cuban planter, and
+had accepted an invitation to visit his coffee plantation in the Isle of
+Pines, the largest of all that immense body of islets and keys of the
+south coast of Cuba in the Carribean Sea, one of the loveliest tropical
+isles imaginable, and Gray insisted upon my making one of the party.
+
+It was proposed to spend a week on the island, and to take three days in
+going and coming. But if I went then I would be unable to sail on the
+steamer of the 25th, and would have to wait another week.
+
+One day Gray brought Senor Andrez to dinner, along with a common friend,
+a Senor Alvarez. All three joined in imploring me to make one of the
+party, promising sport as novel as good; said the wild boars were
+plentiful; that we would have two days' shark fishing, turning turtles
+and hunting their eggs, and could vary it by a slave hunt, the jungle
+and some of the smaller islands being "full of runaways," and as they
+were by law wild beasts we might be lucky enough to shoot a few of
+them--shoot, not capture, as the planters knew that a runaway slave who
+had tasted the joys of freedom if caught was useless as a slave. So, as
+a matter of sport, as well as a warning to other slaves, they organized
+yearly hunts to bag a score or two. But so great is the depravity of the
+human heart that these wretches, in their desperate wickedness, objected
+to being shot, and at times were guilty of the enormity of shooting back
+again. History records how, on certain occasions, they did so with such
+good effect that the hunted became hunters; but these were rare events.
+
+After long urging I consented. At the time there were only two short
+railways in all Cuba. We were to cross the island to the south coast,
+and there embark for the Isle of Pines in a boat owned by our host,
+which would be in waiting. The railway would take us to the little
+hamlet of San Felipe, some forty miles south, and there we were to take
+horses to the seaport town of Cajio. We were to start on Saturday, two
+days ahead. My wife did not relish my going, and I disliked it more than
+she did, but for totally different reasons. Mine were that, as a matter
+of prudence, I ought to recall my consent and remain in Havana until
+steamer day, and then sail without fail to Mexico. But fearing the
+ridicule of my friends, I went, persuading myself that there could be no
+danger and that everything in London was buried in so dense a fog bank
+that the detectives would struggle in vain to find a way out of it or
+any clue to our identity.
+
+Had I known of the clever work of the Pinkerton brothers in London and
+the discoveries in Paris I should have been ill at ease; but had I known
+that Capt. John Curtin--then a member of the Pinkerton staff in New
+York, but now (1895.) of San Francisco--had with perfectly marvelous
+intuition and rare detective skill let daylight into the whole plot, and
+had reported to his chief that whenever F. A. Warren was discovered he
+would prove to be Austin Bidwell; I say if I had known this, instead of
+going off on a ten days' pleasure jaunt into an isolated corner of the
+world I should have taken instant flight, leaving Cuba, not by the usual
+modes of departure, but by sailing boat, and alone, for one of the
+Mexican ports.
+
+Capt. Curtin had been detailed to work on the New York end of the case,
+to look for clues. It seemed a hopeless task. He is a warm friend of
+mine now, after twenty years, and has long forgiven me for the bullet I
+lodged in him in 1873. A few years after arresting me in the West Indies
+he went to San Francisco and started a private inquiry office of his own
+at 328 Montgomery street. When, after twenty years' incarceration, I
+arrived there one lovely May in 1892, he was waiting for me at the
+ferry, and gave me warm greetings, and as hearty congratulations, too,
+as any man could give another; then introduced me to his friends
+everywhere, and, in fact, from the hour of my arrival until my
+departure, three months afterward, was never tired of doing me a service
+and forwarding my business, so that by his kind offices I made a great
+success out of what, by reason of the great financial depression, might
+otherwise have proved a failure. But as Capt. Curtin, after effecting my
+arrest, having recovered from his wound, was one of the four who took me
+to England, I will wait until a later chapter to tell how it was he
+discovered my name and located me in Cuba.
+
+On Saturday morning our party of four, accompanied by a following of
+black fellows and half a dozen dogs, set out by train. Before reaching
+San Felipe our bones had a shaking. The roadbed was execrable, the
+trucks of the cars were without springs, and to me it seemed as if we
+must leave the rails at any moment.
+
+In Havana we regarded Don Andrez as a good fellow, but upon our arrival
+at San Felipe he had grown into a man of importance. When we came to
+Cajio he had grown into a person of distinction, and at the island he
+had swollen into a local Caesar. At San Felipe, a mere hamlet, horses
+were waiting for us and mules for the baggage, but before setting out we
+went to a nearby hacienda and sat down to what was simply the best lunch
+of which I ever partook.
+
+The town was chiefly remarkable for the number of its fighting cocks. At
+the hacienda there were dozens, each in its separate
+compartment--regarded the same as horses and game dogs are in England
+and America--and half the black boys we met were carrying game birds.
+
+At last, starting for Cajio, the road soon degenerated into a mere
+track, which led through some barren hills with scanty growths of a
+species of oak without underbrush, and here and there a sprinkling of
+cacti, and in the lower reaches between the hills grew dense green walls
+of Spanish bayonet.
+
+We were crossing Cuba at its narrowest part, and from San Felipe to
+Cajio was only some thirty miles. After fifteen miles we came into the
+fertile coast belt and passed a number of deserted sugar plantations
+where tropic vegetation was trying to cover up the work of ruin wrought
+by man. Residences and sugar houses destroyed by fire were very much in
+evidence. To my surprise I learned that bodies of insurgents--who then
+held and had held for six years nearly the entire eastern province of
+Santiago de Cuba and Puerto Principe, and part of the extreme western
+province of Pinar del Rio--had only a few weeks before landed by night
+at the port La Playa de Batabano, fifteen miles away, and with the cry
+of "Free Cuba and death to the Spaniard!" had blotted out the town and
+then marched into the heart of the country, burning houses, killing the
+whites and calling upon the slaves to join them in freeing Cuba. Many
+did, and terrible were their excesses, and terribly did they pay for
+these. The Spanish soldiers and loyal Cuban volunteers closed in upon
+them, and at the little hamlet of San Marcos, where we halted and
+examined the too evident signs of the battle and massacre that followed,
+they made their last stand, but were no match for their well-armed and
+disciplined foes. After a desperate struggle they were overpowered, and
+every surviving soul was butchered by the infuriated soldiers. It was
+better so. Had they been spared it would have only been for the moment,
+for by official decree of the Captain-General of Cuba, indorsed by the
+Madrid Government, every inhabitant within the insurrectionary line,
+without regard to age or sex, was doomed to death without form of trial.
+
+At San Marcos we made a halt to view the scene of the fight and examined
+the heaps of ashes where the fires were kindled which consumed the
+bodies of the slain. Two or three were my countrymen. At the time it was
+quite the thing for venturesome Americans to go and join the rebels and
+help the fight for "Cuba libre." For some years every few days notices
+would appear in the press about some Americans having been shot for
+joining or attempting to join the rebels. This went on until the affair
+of the steamer Virginus, when her crew and passengers, to the number of
+150, were shot, the steamer having been captured close to the shore and
+about to land men and guns. Then our Government awoke and forbade
+Spanish officials to shoot Americans without trial.
+
+As I stood there curiously examining the marks of the conflict, or
+examining some part of an unconsumed bone, I little thought that in a
+very few days I myself would be a fugitive, creeping through jungles and
+over tropic plains, seeking to join the comrades of the men on whose
+ashes I was then treading, to aid their fight for free Cuba.
+
+Perhaps my subsequent fate made me ponder over my happy life in Cuba,
+and compare the horrible misery of my prison life, with its hardships
+and degrading detail, with the brightness of those days, when love,
+obedience, wealth and luxury were mine.
+
+But in those long years, when in their gloom and depression I was
+fighting to keep off insanity by ignoring the dreadful present and
+dwelling on the past, no incident of all my life on the island haunted
+me more than this at San Marcos. Every detail was photographed on my
+brain, and as I recalled that blackened spot strewn with ashes soddened
+by tropical rains, soon to be all the greener for the fertilizing
+tragedy, many a thousand times I said, "Would to God my ashes were
+mingled with the dead there."
+
+Soon after leaving San Marcos, striking into the jungle, the road became
+so narrow that we had to go single file. I found the silence of the
+tropical forest impressive, and think it had its effect on us all--even
+the negroes and dogs moved on, making no sound. Although novel scenes,
+yet I was glad when 5 o'clock came and we emerged from the jungle on to
+the coast road. It was sandy, but well traveled. Another mile and we
+were in Cajio, and the Caribbean, blue and lovely as a dream, lay spread
+before us, with hundreds of palm crowned islets and coral bays, all with
+sandy beaches of dazzling whiteness.
+
+Senor Andrez had a house here, and as they had notice of our coming
+everything was prepared for our reception. Entering the house, we were
+served with black coffee and thin rice cakes fried. Gray and I wanted a
+swim before supper in the waters, which looked very tempting, but it
+would have been a breach of etiquette to indulge then--and, by the way,
+there is a strange repugnance to water inherent in the Spanish nature,
+there being no bathhouses in Spain, they say, and I believe it. Gray and
+I, during the next few days, were in and out of the water at all hours,
+but could never persuade any one else to try the experiment of a swim in
+the warm water of the Caribbean. At the house, or when out in boats, we
+frequently invited some of the company to join us in a plunge, but none
+ever accepted the invitation. We are told on good authority that "our
+virtues depend on the interpretation of the times," and one might add
+"on the interpretation of our nation." The Anglo-Saxon loves soap and
+water and plenty of it; the Spaniard does not. But this contrast may
+mean nothing in our favor; there may be a reason for it, racial
+probably, but possibly climatic.
+
+Supper came, and it was a treat. Gray and I noted that in suitability of
+material to the purpose intended, and in cookery, it excelled anything
+in our experience. Cafe Riche and Tortoni's were not in it. We were
+curious to see the cook. She was ordered in for our inspection, a sober,
+sad-faced negress, angular, bony, and, strangely enough, knew only a few
+words of Spanish, her language being some African dialect, Africa being
+her natal place, as it, indeed, was of most of the slaves.
+
+What views of life, what views of the Christian world most of these
+slaves must have! Torn from their homes, leaving their slaughtered
+family on the ashes of their homes, and carried off to toil and wear out
+the only life nature will ever give them--for what? To toil amid hunger
+and abuse too foul to name in order that the Christian robber may have
+gold to gratify his desire.
+
+[Illustration: "ANOTHER SECOND WOULD HAVE ENDED MY LIFE."--Page 371.]
+
+She was evidently alarmed over the summons--it might mean anything--she
+was unused to the coin of compliment; but we gave it freely, however,
+and the next morning each of us did better, and when departing placed a
+sovereign in her hand and made Senor Andrez promise to be good to her.
+
+Our host grew his own tobacco and made his own cigars. These were famous
+even in Havana, and Gray and I enjoyed them that evening. A number of
+grass-woven hammocks were swung under a roof in front of the house. It
+was delightful lying there watching the phosphorescent waves rippling or
+breaking on the beach under the light of a full moon and listening to
+the chatter or the songs of the black fellows who swarmed around while
+smoking cigars worth the smoking. The negro children, shrill-voiced and
+loud, were very much in evidence.
+
+The air was delightful, and following the custom of the country we slept
+in the hammocks without undressing.
+
+The next morning, under a sunrise sky, which in its glowing colors
+looked like the New Jerusalem, Gray and I made a break for the glorious
+water that rippled on the beach. What a swim we had! We were the only
+humans visible. All other unfeathered bipeds were asleep, and we varied
+our bath by wandering around the beach in a state of nature, viewing
+things generally, but a turtle pond held us fascinated. Stakes had been
+driven down inclosing a space, and upward of twenty great turtles were
+prisoners, waiting apparently with the greatest of patience to be
+devoured--that being, so far as I can see, the ultimate destination of
+all life--that huge procession to the stomach. The rocks tell us that it
+began a good while ago, and it has kept up with crowded ranks ever
+since. When the missionary landing in Fiji anxiously inquired of the
+boss cannibal gentleman where his predecessor might be sojourning, he
+was promptly informed that he had "gone into the interior." To "go into
+the interior" is the decree fate writes in her book of doom and copies
+on the birth certificate of all the breathers of the world.
+
+[Illustration: SUGAR LOAF MOUNTAIN, View from Rio de Janeiro.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+THE PHILISTINES ARE UPON THEE, SAMSON.
+
+
+I was very fortunate in my servant Nunn, he being devoted to me, a
+resolute fellow as well, and thoroughly trustworthy. He felt very badly
+over my leaving him behind in Havana. Nor would I have done so under
+ordinary circumstances.
+
+The day before leaving on the trip, taking him aside, but not wishing to
+actually disclose anything, I talked in a very impressive, grave way,
+instructing him to leave Havana secretly after telling his mistress that
+I had ordered him to go to Matanzas, a city forty miles east by rail. He
+was to bring all the New York papers, meet me at Cajio and not let a
+soul know his destination, but be there awaiting my arrival from the
+Isle of Pines the following Sunday week. If in the mean time anything
+unusual, no matter what, happened, then he was instantly to depart for
+Cajio, there hire a boat and crew and come after me, not to mind expense
+and not to lose a moment's time. Nunn was one of those wise men who know
+how to obey orders without self-questionings as to the whys and
+wherefores.
+
+I had secured gun licenses from the authorities, and, giving them to
+Nunn, ordered him to bring a breech-loader and a brace of revolvers with
+him.
+
+During my stay in the Isle of Pines I would be out of reach of the
+outside world. If on meeting Nunn I found from the papers he brought
+that there was any sign of danger I would not return to Havana, but
+would secure a boat, provision it, set sail alone for some port in
+Central America and send my servant back after my wife.
+
+At 10 o'clock our party set out in an open-decked cargo boat from Cajio
+for San Jose, seventy miles across the water and on the west coast of
+the island. San Jose was one of the half-dozen plantations belonging to
+our host, the chief product being coffee, and on this one there were 130
+slaves.
+
+We had a motley cargo. Twenty black fellows, dogs, turtles, fighting
+cocks, two trained pigs, a good-sized snake that answered to the name of
+Jacko and had the run of the ship. Ship, men, women and young darkies,
+trained pigs and everything except we three guests were the absolute
+property of our host.
+
+We were passing through the gate of the Gulf of Matamano. The bottom was
+so white and the water so clear that we could see distinctly all the
+wondrous marine life beneath. Ashore in the thick forests all seemed to
+be dead, but here in the water and beneath the surface all was teeming
+with life. Flocks of sea fowl were in the air or whitened the rocks
+which everywhere rose above the waters, and innumerable little islets
+rested like lovely pictures in the blue setting of the sea.
+
+At one of the loveliest, called Cayos de Tana, with a wide fringe of
+white beach, we landed; that is, our boat ran toward it until the keel
+stuck in the sand, when a dozen black fellows sprang over into the
+water, and, taking us white trash on their shoulders, carried us ashore.
+Once there we set out to find turtle eggs, and soon found heaps of sand
+which, when scraped away, revealed the eggs in dozens. We took away
+about a bushel, but they had a rancid flavor, so Gray and I backed out
+of our promise to eat them, as did Senors Andrez and Mondago.
+
+The man in charge of the boat was a skillful sailor, and, having a fine
+breeze, we rushed through the water at a great rate. At last, after a
+day of novel enjoyment, just as the short twilight of the tropics was
+fading out, we ran alongside of the little pier of San Jose and were
+welcomed with loud shouts and gun shots from about a hundred gaudily
+attired slaves, who were excited and seemingly glad over the return of
+their master, this being Sunday and a holiday.
+
+Did any of my readers ever think what the rest of Sunday is to the
+toilers of the earth? If Christ left no other legacy to the Christian
+world but that happy day of rest, then must we still bless and praise
+him as the Mighty Benefactor of the world, the Saviour and glorious hero
+of the workingman. For nineteen years I toiled, exposed to every storm
+that blew, and was sustained through all the six days' misery by the
+blessed knowledge that Sunday, with its rest, was never far off. And
+when the Sunday morning dawned and the happy consciousness filled my
+mind that for one day at least I was free from toil, my heart filled
+with gratitude to the Galilean carpenter, who, by his gracious deeds and
+genius, had so impressed the hearts of men that for his sake they had
+taken the seventh day of the Hebrew and bequeathed it as a day of rest
+to all the toiling generations of the sons of men. The Roman Empire,
+which overshadowed the world and held the nations in subjection, knew no
+day of rest, and to-day the toiling millions of China never wake to say:
+"This is a day of rest on which I can turn my thoughts to other things
+than toil."
+
+I must not here enter into details of that week of rare sport and keen
+enjoyment in the Isle of Pines. We went shark fishing by day and tipping
+turtles in the moonlight by night, when they came ashore to deposit
+their eggs in the sand. One never-ending source of enjoyment to the
+Cubans was the battles of the fighting cocks. I had got over some of my
+repugnance to the sport, and enjoyed it almost as well as the cocks
+themselves. How soon one learns to do in Rome as do the Romans!
+
+The week had come to an end, and, although importuned by my host to
+delay my departure, my anxiety as to the state of affairs in the outside
+world was too great to postpone my return to the mainland. So, after a
+rousing send-off from every one on the plantation, I departed. Just as
+the sun was flinging its dyes over the clouds and waters, one week from
+the Sunday of my arrival at San Jose, I was sailing into the little bay
+of Cajio. Gray was to remain another week, and I was returning in a
+small sloop manned by two of Senor Andrez's men. I found Nunn waiting
+for me on the beach. He handed me a letter from my wife and said
+everything was well at home. Opening the letter I found an earnest
+appeal to return at once. Going to the hacienda near by I took the
+bundle of New York and London papers Nunn had brought. I went to my
+room, and, opening the Herald I was amazed to see the storm over the
+Bank of England business and the great desire to discover the mysterious
+Warren.
+
+I felt that the time had come when it would no longer be prudent for me
+to live under my right name. It was an easy matter to invent a name and
+live under it, and I determined to do so, for a time at least, until
+after I saw how matters developed. But I could not do this in Havana,
+for in case of using an alias it would be necessary to take my wife into
+my confidence. She was sure to discover the matter sooner or later, and
+it was better for her to learn the miserable truth from my own lips than
+to leave the discovery to come to her through the public press.
+
+In Mexico I should really have nothing to fear, even if it was known I
+was there. So, after some cogitation, I determined to return to Havana,
+say good-bye to all our friends and embark as soon as possible for Vera
+Cruz. I was impatient to set off at once, but it was both dangerous and
+difficult work to go through the jungle by night, so telling Nunn to be
+ready to start at sunrise I went to bed.
+
+At dawn we set out and did not halt until we reached San Marcos, with
+its gloomy memorial of human savagery. After an hour's halt we set out
+and arrived at San Felipe in time to catch the train to Havana. On
+arriving there at dusk I sent my servant to inform his mistress of my
+safe arrival while I called on Don Fernando at the hotel. His frank and
+hearty reception told me at once that he had heard nothing, and he knows
+pretty well everything going on in the town. From the hotel I drove to
+the police barracks and called on the colonel of police, with the same
+result, which satisfied me beyond all doubt that however the storm blew
+in London or New York there was not a single cloud on the horizon in
+Havana. But it was soon to blow a hurricane. I had a very happy meeting
+with my wife, and found her the picture of health and happiness.
+
+As I looked in her face, beaming with confidence and faith, I realized
+how hard it would be to tell her the terrible truth, and what a shock it
+would be to her when she discovered the husband she believed the soul of
+honor stood in danger of a prison. Yet I was tolerably certain she would
+forgive me upon my promise never to do wrong again.
+
+She had sent out invitations to dinner for Thursday to twenty friends.
+There was then a steamer in the harbor advertised to sail in two days
+for Mexico, and I had thought of going by her. Had we, this book would
+never have been written.
+
+As invitations were out for Thursday, I concluded to wait for Saturday's
+steamer, but determined to sail on that day without fail.
+
+Under our system of housekeeping a dinner party was a simple thing. We
+merely had to notify our landlord how many guests we expected and the
+thing was done, so far as we were concerned. Don Fernando would send his
+hotel steward down to the house with reinforcements of cooks and
+waiters, and my wife had simply to usher the guests into the dining room
+and out again. Don Fernando's supernumeraries did the rest. On the day
+of our dinner I was strongly tempted to give some hint to my wife that I
+was in some way entangled in a web, but as she was so happy I could not
+do it, but resolved to wait until we were settled in Mexico, and then to
+tell her a little, but not all the truth.
+
+My wife, all unconscious of the frightful calamity impending, entered
+upon the last half day of happiness she was to know for many long years.
+The same statement would be true of myself. As the guests were arriving
+I was in a happy vein, and in the same happy frame of mind sat down to
+dinner. Twenty happy mortals, but not one divined the termination of
+that dinner party, least of all the proud and happy hostess. It was a
+great success, and at 8 o'clock was drawing to a close. The long windows
+were open, while the warm breeze from the nearby gulf was pouring
+through the room. The clock had just chimed the quarter when there came
+a sudden rush of feet over the veranda and through the hall. All eyes
+were fixed on the open door leading to the hall, when an eager,
+resolute-faced man, evidently an American, stepped with a firm pace into
+the room, followed by a dozen civilians and soldiers. With a quick
+glance over the company his eyes rested on me, and coming direct to my
+chair, while my guests gazed in amazement, he bowed and said in a low
+voice: "Mr. Bidwell, I am sorry to disturb your dinner party or to annoy
+you in any way, but I am forced to tell you I have a warrant in my
+pocket for your arrest upon a charge of forgery upon the Bank of
+England. The warrant is signed by the Captain-General of Cuba,
+everything is in due form, and you are my prisoner. I am William
+Pinkerton."
+
+[Illustration: BENEATH OLD BAILEY COURT ROOM--COURT ADJOURNED FOR
+LUNCH.]
+
+Every man who enters the arena and joins in the struggle of life has
+more or fewer takedowns in his history. But my wish is that between
+this hour and my last I may have no more takedowns so near the freezing
+point as this was. I shall never forget the look on my wife's face.
+First she gazed at the intruders with indignation, then turned to me
+with a look of eager expectation, as much as to say: "Wait till my
+husband raises his arm and you will all go down." But instead of seeing
+me rise, indignant and angry, driving the intruders out, she saw me
+talking quite calmly to Curtin. Then her face grew deadly white. None of
+the guests heard Pinkerton's words, but, as will be easily imagined,
+there was a painful silence, which I broke by standing up and saying
+that there was some unhappy mistake, that I was arrested upon the charge
+of furnishing arms to the insurrectionists in the eastern provinces. I
+requested my friends to withdraw at once, and everything would be
+explained on the morrow.
+
+[Illustration: TRANSFERRED FROM DARTMOOR TO WOKING PRISON]
+
+There were five soldiers present, Mr. Crawford, the English
+Consul-General, Pinkerton and Captain John Curtin, my servant Nunn being
+in custody of the latter. It was a strange and unhappy scene, and every
+one felt extremely awkward and ill at ease, especially the writer. In
+the rear of the dining room was a large sitting room, where I kept my
+valuables in trunks and did my writing. I turned to Mr. P., and said:
+"Will you come in the other room?" "Certainly," he replied, without the
+slightest hesitation. The room was brilliantly lighted. Motioning him to
+a seat, I said:
+
+"Will you have a glass of wine?"
+
+"Yes, but I never drink anything but Cliquot," replied Mr. Pinkerton,
+pleasantly.
+
+A servant brought in a bottle and glasses, and I turned the conversation
+upon the subject of money. The captain, being a stranger to me, guided
+by former experience with Irving & Co. I fancied he might be bribed.
+Sometimes the police are susceptible to this form of temptation, and I
+was at bay and desperate. I intended to offer him a fortune for a bribe.
+If he refused to take it I resolved to shoot him and dash out of the
+window, for at my elbow was an open drawer, with a loaded revolver ready
+at my hand.
+
+I said: "You know the power and value of money?"
+
+"Yes, and I need and want plenty of it."
+
+Pointing to a trunk I said: "I have a fortune there. Sit where you are
+ten minutes, give no alarm, and I will give you $50,000."
+
+Then a scene ensued that if put upon the stage would be deemed
+farfetched, if not incredible. When I said this the captain never moved
+a muscle, but looked at me seriously, earnestly, then dropped his eyes
+to the bottle. As he did so I placed my hand on the revolver. He took
+the bottle up, filled his glass, and, looking steadily at me, drank it
+off, and, replacing the glass on the stand, coolly remarked:
+
+"Why, sir, that is $5,000 a minute!"
+
+"Yes, and good pay, too," I said.
+
+"But I won't have it!" he interjected, and sprang to his feet as he saw
+me make a movement; but I was too quick for him.
+
+I fired point-blank, and down he went as if felled by lightning.
+
+I rushed to the window, when the Venetians were torn violently down, and
+one of Curtin's subordinates, revolver in hand, sprang from the outer
+darkness through the window into the room, and the others came with the
+soldiers. My wife, too, white faced, rushed in from the dining room. A
+lively struggle followed, in which Curtin, having risen from the floor,
+joined. The struggle was soon over, leaving me a prisoner under close
+guard.
+
+My bullet had struck the captain, breaking a rib and glancing off, but
+he was game, and when we shortly after departed for the city he rode
+with me in the same carriage. I tried to soothe my wife's fears, but it
+was attempting the impossible, so we drove away to the city in three
+carriages, Mr. P. assuring my wife that I would sleep at the hotel.
+
+By the time we arrived the news had spread among the American colony,
+and as the hotel was a sort of American club delegations of my
+acquaintances speedily arrived. All were loud in the denunciation of the
+outrage. Of course, they saw things on the surface only. Soon our
+Consul-General Torbet arrived, and assured me he would see that I should
+be treated with every consideration until such time as the unfortunate
+mistake was corrected.
+
+That night I slept at the hotel with Curtin and his two companions for
+roommates. Mr. P. took his wound and close call very good naturedly, and
+said he did not blame me at all, but felt taken down to think I had got
+the drop on him. Early the next morning my friend, the chief of police,
+Col. Moreno de Vascos, called on me, indignant and angry that I should
+suffer such discourtesy. He was particularly indignant over the insult
+to himself in not being consulted, so that he could have sent me a note
+to call on him and explain. Then he turned to Pinkerton and told him to
+liberate me, as he would be responsible for me whenever wanted. But the
+captain knew what he was about, and knew his business too well and the
+backing he had to pay any attention to Col. Vascos. I claimed the
+protection of our Consul, but Torbet regretfully told me that on account
+of the orders Pinkerton bore from the State Department at Washington he
+was forced to consent to my detention, but he would not permit me to be
+kept in the ordinary prison. So about 12 o'clock next day I was
+transferred to the police barracks, and put into the lieutenant of
+police's room and a guard of soldiers placed over me.
+
+The New York Herald of the next day contained the following:
+
+     (Editorial, New York Herald, Feb. 26, 1873.)
+
+     "CUBAN AFFAIRS--BIDWELL'S IMPRISONMENT.
+
+     "The special telegraphic advices which we publish to-day in
+     reference to the arrest and imprisonment at Havana of Bidwell, one
+     of the parties accused of the recent forgeries on the Bank of
+     England, are very interesting, touching the jurisdiction of the
+     Island authorities in this matter. It appears that Bidwell was
+     arrested at the request of the British Government on the
+     supposition that he was a British subject; but it is represented
+     that he is a citizen of the United States of America, and that his
+     arrest in Cuba is not justified by any extradition treaty with
+     England, nor by any authority, except that of the Captain-General,
+     whose will over the Island is the supreme law. If it can be
+     established that Bidwell is a citizen of the United States his case
+     certainly calls for the intervention of the Secretary of State. The
+     prisoner, it seems, desires a transfer to New York, which is
+     perfectly natural, but we suspect that the international
+     difficulties suggested touching his detention in Cuba will not
+     materially improve his chances of escape. Such proceedings could be
+     carried out in no other country than Cuba, where the
+     Captain-General does not always act in accordance with law.
+     Distinguished lawyers and judges of that city, in conversation with
+     the Herald correspondent, denounced the act as being utterly
+     illegal and without precedent."
+
+
+     (Cable dispatch to the London Times, March 3, 1873.)
+
+                                         "Havana, Cuba, March 2, 1873.
+
+     "Great efforts are being made by the lawyers and prominent citizens
+     here to obtain the release of Bidwell, supposed to be Warren.
+     To-morrow the American Consul will demand his release on the ground
+     that he is an American citizen. The British Consul-General, E. H.
+     Crawford, is doing everything in his power to counteract these
+     efforts. There is great excitement here over Bidwell's arrest and
+     the popular sympathy is with him."
+
+
+     (By cable from Havana to New York Herald, March 31, 1873.)
+
+     "Bidwell, the alleged Bank of England forger, whose arrest caused
+     so much excitement here, escaped by jumping from the second story
+     balcony of the police barracks late last night in the presence of
+     his guards. He was partly dressed at the time. Bidwell and his wife
+     are greatly liked here, and no doubt his Havana friends, seeing the
+     impossibility of counteracting by legal means the efforts of the
+     British Consul to secure his extradition, planned the affair.
+
+     "It is the general opinion that John Bull has seen the last of
+     Bidwell, there being dozens of planters in the district ready and
+     willing to shelter him, which they can do effectually."
+
+[Illustration: MAT-MAKING AT PENTONVILLE PRISON.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+NIGHTLY IN MY DUNGEON THE MAGICIAN MEMORY WOULD UNROLL THAT SCENE.
+
+
+So at last justice had laid hold of me, but I thought it a very shaky
+hold--so much so that I was confident that I could break away from her,
+so that she could never weigh me in her balance.
+
+I will not enter into the details of events in Havana for the next few
+days--briefly told, I was nominally a prisoner; actually so, as regards
+leaving the barracks. The commander, Col. Vascos, was a warm friend,
+and, living in the barrack, he wanted me to dine at his table, but as I
+was already planning an escape, I deemed it best not to accept.
+
+My wife spent many hours with me daily. All my meals were brought from
+the hotel. Nunn was kept a prisoner for two days, then liberated. I took
+him into my confidence, telling him I was going to escape, and directed
+him to make all outside arrangements for that event, and he was greatly
+rejoiced when I told him he should accompany me in my flight.
+
+Pinkerton, was awake to the danger of losing his man, and had lodged a
+written protest with the English and American Consuls against my being
+confined in the police barracks.
+
+The only result was that Col. Vascos issued an order to keep him and his
+men out of the barracks.
+
+I had a great many visitors, including officers of the army and navy,
+and all were loud in protestation and indignant at my arrest. None
+seemed to care whether I was guilty or not, but all demanded my
+liberation, as there was no extradition treaty and no law to surrender
+me. Even my lawyer, the most influential in Cuba, assured me there was
+not the slightest danger of my surrender, but I knew that the bankers
+Rothschild would ask Spain to give me up, and to an impecunious
+Government like that of Spain the word of a Rothschild was more potent
+than that of a king.
+
+Then I knew such bright men as William A. Pinkerton (who had arrived)
+and his lieutenant, Capt. John Curtin, would never have made the mistake
+of coming to Cuba without full powers; therefore, feeling confident that
+my surrender would be only a question of time I resolved to escape.
+
+At my request Col. Vascos had sent a guard of soldiers to my house and
+brought to the barracks two of my trunks. I had $80,000 in cash and
+bonds, besides many valuables as well, in them. I gave my wife $20,000
+and my servant $1,000 in gold and $5,000 in Spanish bank notes. Curtin
+had in vain tried to seize my luggage, but the Spanish law stood in his
+way.
+
+All this time the rebellion in the island was in full blast, the
+insurgents--consisting of native Cubans, mulattoes and negroes
+(ex-slaves)--held possession of the greater part of the Eastern
+provinces--that is, the whole eastern end of the island, and the western
+end, called Pinar del Rio. They had kept the flame of rebellion alive
+for six years and were still making a desperate and fairly successful
+fight to maintain themselves. The sympathies of the American people were
+with them, and they looked to our country for arms and recruits. The
+former were smuggled into the island as opportunity offered by a Cuban
+committee in New York. Not many, but yet some, recruits went, for it was
+death to be caught going or returning, and few ever returned. The civil
+conflict was murderous, neither side giving quarter. The spirit of
+adventure was strong upon me, and I resolved, if I escaped, to make my
+way to the Western Province and join the insurgents for a year, then
+make my escape by crossing the narrow body of water between Cape San
+Antonio and the mainland of Central America.
+
+Once among the rebels all pursuit of me was at an end, as army after
+army had been sent from Spain to crush the rebellion, and each had in
+turn melted away before the valor of the rebels or the deadly climate.
+
+Nunn volunteered to accompany me, and I gave him $2,000 to send to his
+wife in Paris, that his mind might be easy on that score. No one knew my
+real destination save Nunn and my wife. It was hard to obtain her
+consent, but at last it was given. I arranged with her that she was to
+leave Havana as soon as she knew I was off, cross to Key West, wait one
+month there, and, if she then heard nothing of me, she was to telegraph
+my sister to meet her in New York, take the steamer to that city and
+live with her until I rejoined her.
+
+Among other things, Nunn, by my orders, procured good maps of the
+country. A Spanish gentleman, a warm friend, but whose name I will not
+mention, was my counselor in the plot. He advised me to go to the Isle
+of Pines, as Senor Andrez had promised to keep me safely from all
+pursuit. I let my friends think that was my destination. I proposed as
+when on my visit to embark from Cajio, but to take a westward course
+along the coast, and when well off Pinar del Rio and night fell to put
+about and steer to shore under cover of the darkness. Once ashore, to
+get as far inland as possible before dawn. Then to keep a lookout for
+any body of rebels and join them as a volunteer in the cause of "free
+Cuba." We were sure of a welcome, particularly as we would come well
+armed.
+
+[Illustration: BLACK MARIA CONVEYING THE FORGERS THROUGH LONDON IN
+CHAINS.]
+
+I had made it a practice to give the sentinels in the police barracks a
+bottle of brandy every day and a box of cigars every second day during
+my stay, besides what were to them valuable presents, so I was highly
+popular in the barracks. We had fixed on the night of March 20 for the
+venture.
+
+My room was in the second story of the barracks, but I was allowed to go
+freely through all the rooms on that floor, followed more or less by a
+guard. None of the windows opened on the street. There was a room
+leading to an open window, but the door was kept locked. It was arranged
+to have it unlocked with the key on the inside at 10 o'clock that night.
+I was to walk about as usual, and, when the hour came suddenly step
+through the door, lock it behind me and then bolt through the window
+into the street. Nunn and my friend were to await me outside of the
+window with orders to shoot any man (not a native) who attempted to stop
+me, as I feared Curtin or his men might be on guard in the street, and
+once in the street I did not propose to go back again alive.
+
+The guns and two extra revolvers had been made into a bundle and left at
+the station. At a nearby room were disguises for Nunn and myself,
+consisting simply of cloaks and whiskers. We intended to board the 10:30
+train going South, and once well out of the station would dispense with
+all disguise but the Spanish cloak each of us wore.
+
+The day for the venture came. I had previously instructed my wife to
+send word she was indisposed, and to remain at the hotel. She had very
+bravely offered to be on hand and with me up to the moment I disappeared
+through the door, but fearing that in the excitement some of the
+soldiers might say or do something insulting, I forbade her being on the
+scene. I had had an unusually large number of visitors during the day. I
+felt but little anxiety over the result, save only on the side of
+Pinkerton. I had a sort of suspicion or presentment that, once fairly
+outside of the barracks, I would run against him. The day passed rapidly
+away, and 6 o'clock came, and all the civil officials, with the horde of
+hangers-on, departed, leaving the usual evening solitude in the
+barracks. Soon Nunn came with my supper and cautiously produced a
+revolver and belt. I strapped the belt around me under my vest, placing
+the revolver under a pile of clothing. Nunn reported everything all
+right. He had seen Curtin that day as usual around the hotel and
+apparently unsuspicious of anything unusual going on.
+
+The window I was to jump out of opened on the public street, and the
+street would be jammed full of people at the hour I was going. Of course
+there were a good many chances of failure, chiefly so because all the
+police from top to bottom knew me by sight, and if one of them happened
+to be one of the half hundred witnesses of my jump he might have wit
+enough to seize me.
+
+Nunn and my friend were to be under the window ready to act according to
+circumstances. Above all, to be ready to seize hold of any one who
+manifested any intention to detain me. Nunn was full of courage and
+hope. At 7 o'clock he went away, not to see me again until we met
+outside the barracks. I called the guard and three or four idle soldiers
+into my room and served them out liberal doses of brandy. Unluckily
+enough, however, the one on duty would drink but lightly. Soon after 8
+Consul-General Torbet came in to smoke a cigar and have a chat. He
+remained until nearly 10, and then departed. Then I felt the hour had
+indeed come. I thrust the revolver inside my shirt, and rolled up a cap
+and put it in the same place. Then calling the sentry, I gave him a
+drink and a cigar, and stepping out into the hall, I began my usual
+march around through the upper rooms of the barracks. I was to go out of
+the window at precisely 10. It wanted ten minutes of that time. It was a
+long ten minutes to me, but I marched around puffing my cigar
+unconcernedly, with an eye on the door I was to slip through. At the
+hour I had my watch in my hand, and was in the room farthest from the
+door of exit into the room opening on the street. I walked swiftly
+through the two intervening rooms and so was for a brief four or five
+seconds out of sight of the slow following sentinel. I reached the door,
+opened it, stepped through and instantly locked it. In a moment I was
+through the open window into the little iron balcony outside. One swift
+glance showed me the street thronged with people, but hesitation meant
+failure and death. I climbed lightly over the railing and hung suspended
+for an instant from the bottom; the crowd below made a circle from
+under, and I dropped easily to the ground, bareheaded, of course. Nunn
+was there, and instantly clapped a large straw hat on my head. The
+strange incident did not seem to attract the least notice, for in a
+moment we were lost in the crowd. I had my hand on my revolver, and had
+so strong a belief I should every second be confronted by Curtin that I
+was strangely surprised when I saw no sign of the gentleman. In less
+time than it takes to tell it, I was down into an open hallway and then
+into a room. I and Nunn, who were smooth-faced, were given bushy
+whiskers and a cloak. In the mean time, I paid an agent in waiting
+$10,000 in French and Spanish notes, then we hurried out of the rear
+into a cab and were driven to the station, arriving just in time to
+catch the 10:30 train.
+
+The cab ride and train ride that night were happy rides. I had been a
+captive and now was free. The sights and sounds all around me took on a
+deeper purpose and a more significant meaning than they had ever borne
+before.
+
+I had for a few brief days been a captive, shut out from nature's sights
+and sounds, and that brief deprivation awoke in me a feeling of
+appreciation for the feast that is everywhere around us spread with a
+lavish hand. My mind was in a tumult of delight, and I almost forgot I
+was a fugitive; fortunately the Spaniard is not a suspicious animal, and
+no notice was taken of us; and so we bumped slowly on southward through
+the tropic night.
+
+Seven o'clock on the morning of the 11th found us at Guisa, a small
+station on the railroad about ninety miles from Havana and west from
+Cajio some twenty miles. Our friend here procured us horses, and,
+bidding him good-bye, Nunn and I started on our ride to Cajio. We were
+both greatly elated over the success of our adventure. Our friends had
+procured for us police passports and gun permits under the names of
+Parish and Ellis.
+
+I had a chronometer, several valuable diamonds, a revolver and gun. Nunn
+carried a canvas bag containing, among other things, 250 capital cigars,
+tobacco, matches and 300 cartridges. Then we had good maps of the island
+and current charts of the Gulf of Mantabano, with its hundreds of rocky
+inlets, spreading everywhere along the south coast. But, armed as we
+were, it would never do to be picked up by any Spanish boat or patrol
+anywhere near the rebel border. It probably meant death if we were
+captured.
+
+I think on the whole it would have been the wiser plan to have gone to
+Senor Andrez's plantation at San Jose. The fear in that case was that if
+an order arrived from Madrid to deliver me up I might not be safe even
+in the Isle of Pines. At Cajio I resolved to lose myself so far as the
+Spanish authorities were concerned, and only travel by night. If we
+remained on land this would be necessary, as soldiers were everywhere
+and our police passports would not hold good if we were found traveling
+in the direction of the rebel lines.
+
+I proposed going by sea, and then all our voyaging would necessarily be
+by night, for there were Spanish gunboats everywhere patrolling around
+the shores, but there were innumerable small inlets where we could draw
+up our boat, lay perdu during the day and spy out the next island to
+sail to at night.
+
+[Illustration: CASTS OF THE HEADS OF NOTORIOUS CRIMINALS.]
+
+We arrived in due time at Cajio, and here our passports were demanded by
+a little yellow monkey of a sergeant. I did not quite like having
+passports scrutinized and determined to try and avoid any more of it.
+
+We found no boat at Cajio, nor could we buy, or, if we bought, could not
+manage one alone. The only thing we could do was to charter one with a
+crew of four men. During my stay in Cuba I had been studying Spanish. I
+had become a tolerably proficient speaker, so I had no great difficulty
+in associating with the natives.
+
+I found my idea of joining the rebels by sea impracticable, and as to go
+by land was perilous in the extreme, I made up my mind to send Nunn back
+to Havana and to make the venture alone. I did not care to chance his
+life, and I also felt that it was safer for one than for two.
+
+Forty miles away was the last fortified post on the Rio Choerra, at the
+small town of Voronjo. Once across that small stream I would be on
+neutral ground, liable at any time to fall in with a rebel band.
+
+Nunn was very plucky and most devoted. He by no means wanted to go back,
+but at last consented.
+
+I determined to chance traveling on the beach by night. So at 12 o'clock
+the day after our arrival at Cajio we mounted our horses and announced
+that we were returning to Havana. Two miles away, at the small hamlet of
+Zoringa, we put our horses out and struck for the beach about four miles
+west of Cajio. Then we went a few yards into the jungle and sat down for
+our last talk and to wait for the darkness. We were no longer master and
+servant, but friends. The hours went slowly by; we did not say much, but
+felt strongly. We had good cigars and smoked almost incessantly.
+
+I told him to see Curtin, to give him my regards and laugh at him in a
+nice way, and to tell my wife that I would limit my stay with the rebels
+to a year. I told Nunn to send for his wife to join him in New York, and
+my wife would take her into service so that they could be together.
+
+I did not dare to keep the gun we had, but retained the revolvers in a
+belt around my waist. They were rather old-fashioned, and, as the sequel
+proved, the ammunition was not waterproof or else was defective. I had
+two bottles of water, a hundred cigars in my pocket, 300 cartridges,
+four pounds of dried beef and a loaf of bread. I wore a soft hat and had
+on a fine pair of English walking boots, an important article for the
+tramp ahead of me. I wore my chronometer tied by a stout string. I sent
+my wife all my valuables save three diamond studs, $700 in gold and
+$5,000 in notes, mostly Spanish bank notes, and I kept $10,000 in bonds.
+
+Nunn cut me a stout ironwood cudgel as a handy weapon.
+
+At last the night came, and still we waited, loath to say good-bye. We
+had come out of the jungle and were sitting in the still warm sand
+talking in low tones and watching the stars. At last when my watch told
+me it was 10 we rose, and, shaking hands warmly, parted, he going east
+to Cajio, I west toward Pinar del Rio and the rebel camps.
+
+Of course, my great danger lay in meeting soldiers who would stop me.
+Indeed any one who met a stranger and a foreigner heading west would
+either stop him or give an alarm, and if once arrested (passports so
+near the enemy's camp were useless) it meant death, or what was quite as
+bad, incarceration in a filthy prison until my case was reported on to
+the Captain-General in Havana. That, of course, meant my return to
+Havana and possibly to England.
+
+Everything is very primitive in Cuba. The common people--that is, the
+whites and free people--live in mere huts or cabins, and sleep in
+hammocks under roofs open on two sides. All go to bed soon after sunset,
+so there was no danger in night traveling, save only in meeting the
+sentries or running on some detached post of soldiers.
+
+In case of meeting these, I had resolved to plunge into the tropical
+jungle which came close down to the beach.
+
+Neither night traveling nor the situation had any terrors for me. I
+felt my only danger lay in stumbling upon some outpost or sentry who
+might perceive me before I saw him and so cover me with his rifle before
+challenging, but I knew from observation since my arrival in Cuba that
+the discipline among the Spanish soldiers was very slack, and I had a
+pretty firm belief that isolated sentries usually took a nap while
+waiting the relief.
+
+After leaving Nunn I started out at a quick pace, alert and confident.
+The moon had gone down, but the Caribbean Sea was lovely in the
+starlight, and between watching the phosphorescent ripples of the waters
+and listening to the night noises of the jungle I soon discovered I was
+enjoying my jaunt and found myself anticipating the pleasure of the
+free, open life ahead of me when once beyond the Spanish outposts and a
+soldier of fortune. I thought what a story of adventure I would have to
+relate when a year or two later I rejoined my wife and friends, and I
+felt that a good record won in a fight for "free Cuba" would make men
+willing to forget my past.
+
+I found my westward march frequently interrupted by spooks--some rock,
+stump or bush would, to my suspicious eye, take on the human form until
+I thought it was a sentry on guard and meant danger. Once or twice I
+sought the shelter of the jungle and spent a long time watching for some
+sign of movement. On one occasion I painfully made a circuit of nearly a
+mile to pass a projecting mass of bushes in the belief that there were
+men behind it. The air was balmy as on a June night at home. I trudged
+along with my two bottles of water slung across my shoulder tied to a
+cord, and between them and my revolvers and cartridges I was pretty well
+loaded down.
+
+Nowhere during the night did I come across any fresh water, but was
+fated to have a water adventure before daylight which I did not relish.
+Soon after midnight I sat down on the sand well in the shadow of some
+palmetto trees and had a very enjoyable lunch of bread and dried beef,
+washed down by water from my bottle; then lighting a cigar and reclining
+at full length on the dry sand I passed a pleasant half hour enjoying
+the fine Havana. I looked forward to the hours of daylight to be spent
+reclining at ease in the jungle with many anticipations of pleasure. I
+had a supply of fine cigars, plenty to think about, and the
+consciousness of having overcome serious difficulties gave me a feeling
+of elation--then my surroundings were so novel and I was fond of outdoor
+life.
+
+At 4 o'clock the sky put on a ragged edge of gray in the east, and
+feeling pretty well satisfied with my progress I began to think of
+selecting a retreat for the hours of daylight. Suddenly I found myself
+upon what was evidently the neck of a swamp extending far and wide into
+the land. I had discovered during the night that there was a
+well-traveled road skirting and following the beach at a distance of a
+few hundred yards, but there was danger of my meeting some one there, so
+I stuck to the beach.
+
+In the middle of the swamp was a clear space of water with marshy banks.
+As it was nearly daylight, and being in no hurry, my presence in the
+country unknown, and in no immediate danger, I determined to halt and
+not tackle the swamp until nightfall again. Then, if seen by any one, I
+would have some hours of darkness to make myself scarce in the
+neighborhood.
+
+Turning to follow the edge of the swamp I saw before me on a little
+lower level than where I stood in the sand what appeared a plot of vivid
+green grass, and without any precaution stupidly stepped with my full
+weight upon it, and instantly found myself floundering in four feet of
+mud and water. I had fallen, and getting back on the solid ground I
+found myself wet to the shoulders, my legs covered with mud and my
+pistols, bread, etc., soaking with salt water. At once I ran across the
+beach and sat down in the warm water of the sea, washing off the mud
+as well as possible. Then I made my way into the jungle, crossing the
+road, and going into the thicket a short distance sat down waiting for
+daylight, purposing to remain concealed near enough to the road to see
+all passers-by, so that I might judge what sort of people I was among.
+
+[Illustration: DARTMOOR CONVICT ESTABLISHMENT.--ABOUT 2000 PRISONERS.]
+
+As the ground where I stood was low and wet, and my clothes soaking, I
+feared catching the fever, so made my way well back to where some fallen
+trees had made a rift in the dense mass of trunks, creepers and foliage,
+letting in the sunlight. There I pulled off my garments to dry, taking
+great care not to let any of the poisonous leaves come into contact with
+my flesh, and made myself comfortable, sitting down to lunch nearly in
+the state of nature. I was more concerned over my damaged cigars than my
+dampened cartridges. On examination I found the cigars but slightly wet,
+so, spreading them out to dry along with the drapery, I lit one and
+surveyed the position. As the moisture was already steaming out of my
+garments I took matters cheerfully and considered the outlook good.
+
+Having finished one of my bottles of water, I made up my mind to carry
+only one, and to take my chance of replenishing that. So long as my
+health continued perfect I did not require much water; what I feared was
+that my exposure and change of diet might make me feverish; if so, I
+would suffer from thirst unless I struck a hilly country.
+
+How much company my watch was to me during those long days and nights! I
+was never tired of examining it. About 10 o'clock I made my way to the
+road and placed myself in a mass of foliage, where unseen by any one I
+had quite a range of the road. Up to this hour I had not seen a soul. At
+first I watched the little stretch of road with eagerness, but no one
+appearing I turned my attention to watching the evolutions of a huge
+yellow spider which was spreading its net near by. While absorbed, and
+almost fascinated, I was suddenly roused by the sharp, quick beating of
+hoofs on the sandy road. Giving a startled glance, I saw a man unarmed,
+but evidently a soldier, gallop quickly by on a mule. Twenty minutes
+later an old-fashioned cart containing four half-dressed negroes and
+drawn by four wretched mules passed. The men were silent and downcast.
+Before 1 o'clock thirty people had passed, several being soldiers of the
+guardia civil (armed police).
+
+Then starting to spy out the land from the bushes and vines bordering
+the swamp I could see a bridge crossing the neck of the swamp, but,
+worst of all, quite a collection of houses at the other side, reaching
+down to the beach, and a wharf that ran out into the water quite fifty
+yards, with, no doubt, a guardhouse and police station among them. I saw
+my way blocked. It seemed certain there would be sentries on guard at
+the bridge, or so near it as to make it impossible for me to cross
+unobserved. The swamp extended inland apparently for three or four
+miles, and the jungle grew so dense as to make it impossible to
+penetrate it in an effort to go around, so I determined not to venture
+crossing the bridge, but to swim for it.
+
+The swamp spread on both sides of the lagoon, and there was no such
+thing as wading in that almost liquid morass, so I tried to find by
+daylight a place where the mud was covered with water enough at least to
+make swimming possible, but no such place could I find.
+
+Everywhere a black tangled mass of rotting leaves and creepers spread,
+making such a horrible slime that I shrank from attempting to cross it
+to the open water. Once over that there was the same ordeal to go
+through on the other side, and I knew I could only do it at full
+length--that is, to lie flat and pull myself along as well as possible.
+The simplest way was to wade out into the sea, then to swim far enough
+outside of the pier to escape observation from any one who might chance
+to be on it.
+
+But this involved the chance of a horrible death, the sea there swarming
+with sharks, which at night come in shore. Therefore, after cogitating
+the matter, I resolved to attempt the bridge, taking the risk of being
+seen. It might prove fatal to be seen, as I would have to bolt back, and
+once knowing a fugitive was in the jungle they might turn out and hedge
+me in, unless I took the sea route. This I resolved to do, if the one by
+the bridge proved impracticable.
+
+So during the afternoon I gathered a small lot of dried limbs and broke
+them off in sufficient quantity to make a raft capable of bearing about
+twenty pounds. On this I intended to put my revolvers, cartridges,
+cigars, etc., and also to rest lightly on it myself, pushing it before
+me as I swam. After dark I crossed the road into the jungle skirting the
+beach, carrying my raft, and deposited it on the sand. Lying down in the
+hot sand near by smoking a cigar, I waited for the moon to go down. I
+was doing more than watch the stars and moonlit water. I was saying to
+myself, "What a jolly world is this!"
+
+Then, beginning to argue of human destiny, at last I brought the
+argument around to Ego, and decided that he was a pretty clever fellow,
+and that the world meant to treat him well. So Ego, settling down into a
+very comfortable frame of mind, lighting a fresh cigar and looking
+across at the dark masses of the coral islets crowned with foliage set
+in the mirrored waters, passed two delightful hours.
+
+I watched the moon go down and was not impatient, for the beauty of the
+scene more even than the novelty of the position cast a charm over the
+spirit and soothed the eye and mind. I wondered how many were seeking me
+and how many thousands were speculating over my identity and
+whereabouts, yet not one in his wildest imagination could ever picture
+the reality of my position in all its strange and magic surroundings.
+Through all the coming twenty years, nightly in my dungeon, the
+magician memory would unroll that scene from his pictured chambers. It
+was all there--the physical that the eye took in and the thoughts evoked
+and sent swarming to the brain, there to remain engraved until life and
+memory end.
+
+[Illustration: SCENE NEAR RIO JANEIRO.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+SHARKS, SALT WATER ONES, AND OTHER THINGS.
+
+
+The bridge had no protection along the side save a simple stringpiece of
+timber. On the far side the houses rested nearly against the bridge
+entrance, forming a street, which I had to pass through.
+
+The moon went down at 10, but I could hear loud voices and occasional
+bursts of laughter until 11. Then all grew still save the night noises
+of the woods and swamps.
+
+At midnight I carried my raft down to the edge of the water, then
+leaving it there for use in case of a repulse, with my ironwood stick in
+my left hand and my revolver in the right, I marched down to the bridge,
+but fearing my upright figure might be seen, dark as it was, outlined
+against the sky, I stooped and crawled along the stringpiece of timber
+until within twenty feet of the large house at the end of the bridge.
+Peering through the gloom I listened, but could not see or hear any
+movement. Straightening myself up I took half a dozen paces, when, in
+the stillness, I heard a sharp crackle that turned me to stone as the
+flame of a wax match revealed two soldiers sitting on a bench within the
+porch of the guardhouse not ten feet away. One had struck the match to
+light a cigarette. The flame that betrayed them to me showed to them my
+form outlined on the bridge.
+
+There was a sudden exclamation, a hail, "Quien va!" then a sudden and
+thrilling rattle of accoutrements, but I had turned and was flying back
+across the bridge. Suddenly a rifle shot rang out sharply on the night;
+a second followed, but I was unharmed. In ten seconds I was beside my
+little raft, and, pushing it before me, waded out in the shallow water.
+When up to my knees I halted, unstrapped my revolvers and placed them on
+the raft. Then pulling off my shoes I put them and my load on the raft,
+fastening all with a string put there for the purpose. Sticking my knife
+through the lapel of my coat and resting my chin on the raft I began to
+swim, keeping well out, so as to go outside the long wharf.
+
+In the mean time everything was in commotion ashore. Two more shots were
+fired, and flashes of the guns proved that a squad had turned out and
+had crossed the bridge in hot pursuit. Then I blessed the wise
+forethought that had led me to construct the raft. Certainly it had
+saved me, for they would surely search the jungle.
+
+During the fearful excitement I had forgotten all about the sharks. In
+the darkness I had given all my attention to trying to get a glimpse of
+the wharf. Suddenly, near me in the calm and awful stillness, there
+sprang out of the dark waters a large fish which fell back with a
+splash.
+
+My heart stood still and my blood seemed to freeze, for to my horror I
+fancied I saw the black fins of numberless sharks cutting the water. I
+saw myself dragged down into the awful depths and torn limb from limb,
+by the fierce and hungry monsters. I gave up hope and ceased my
+swimming, expecting every minute to see the water churned into angry
+foam by the furious sharks. Instinctively I placed my hand on the knife
+I had thrust through the lapel of my coat for just such an emergency,
+but strength and courage were all gone and my nerveless hand could not
+draw it out. It seemed a long time that I waited, half dazed, for death,
+which I hoped when it came would be swift.
+
+Then I began swimming again, but in a hopeless way. My nerve was all
+gone. I fancied I was ringed around with the black-finned devils, and
+thought I could discern the currents from their waving tails; but I kept
+on swimming, pushing my raft before me, until suddenly I was thrilled
+through by my foot striking the bottom.
+
+Making a rush for the shore, and once there, heedless of the fact that I
+was in the rear of the houses, I fell down in the sand, weak and
+panting, and there I lay until strength enough to walk came to me. Then,
+taking my baggage from the raft, and cutting the cords that bound it
+together, I started on. Courage and confidence soon came back, and I
+kept steadily on for three hours, passing several small salt water
+inlets, but no fresh water to fill my now empty bottle.
+
+At the first sign of day I went just within the border of the jungle,
+and lying down was soon asleep, and sleeping soundly, too, for waking I
+found the sun high in the heavens, and, looking at my watch, saw it was
+9 o'clock. At the same time I discovered that I was hungry, with no food
+save a small piece of dried beef and not a drop of water in my bottle.
+
+The salt water lagoon, or inlet, where I had my adventure of the
+previous night was marked on my map as a river, but it was not. However,
+I did not worry over the water question, as I knew I was near the hilly
+country surrounding the town of Alguizor, an important military
+headquarters, and I was confident of soon meeting some creek flowing
+from the hills. As for food, there were to be found in the dense jungle,
+where the soil was moist and wet, the holes of the nut crabs. They were
+large and fat--that is, appeared to be fat--and I knew that with plenty
+of them in the jungle I should not suffer from hunger.
+
+Before starting inland for the day I turned to look at the blue waters
+rippling under a light breeze, and glancing in the sun, only a few yards
+away, I smiled to think of the phantoms my fears had conjured up, but
+for all that I resolved that no more night swims in the sea should find
+place in my programme.
+
+I made my way with difficulty through the tangled woods, but had gone
+nearly a mile before I came to the road. After a cautious survey from my
+shelter, I stepped out on it, and looking away to the west I saw
+cultivated hills with teams and people moving about; I also saw the road
+became two--the right-hand one led away from the coast into the hills,
+the one to the left continued to skirt the beach. Both roads were well
+traveled, and I knew I was near the tobacco belt, which is cultivated
+throughout its entire length, from the Gulf to the Caribbean Sea, for a
+breadth of twenty miles, its western border touching the province of
+Pinar del Rio. Forty miles beyond that border the rebels held the town
+of San Cristoval, but I had made up my mind to follow the coast until I
+reached the hamlet and harbor of Rio de San Diego, fifty miles south
+from San Cristoval, then to strike north to the town of Passos, twenty
+miles west of San Cristoval. Once past San Diego, I would be well within
+the rebel lines, and could safely show myself, although I determined not
+to do so voluntarily until I was at Passos.
+
+The roundabout way I was traveling doubled the distance, but, aside from
+getting outside the lines of the Spanish patrols, I was in no particular
+hurry, and my mode of life was hardening and fitting me for the service
+in which I was to embark. I counted upon taking ten days, or rather
+nights, to reach San Diego, and five from there to Passos, where I would
+make myself known to the rebel chiefs as an American volunteer in the
+cause of Cuban liberty. And, I thought, what a change of scene for Mr.
+F. A. Warren. From the Bank of England to a volunteer in a rebel camp in
+Cuba!
+
+[Illustration: MILITARY SUPPRESSING REVOLT OF CONVICTS AT CHATHAM.]
+
+I crossed the road and entered the jungle to pass the day, but as the
+ground was dry the trees and vines were not so closely matted, making it
+easier to move about, and a far more agreeable place it was for a
+daylight picnic than the jungle where I had passed the day before.
+But no crabs showed themselves, and as there was no animal life to be
+found, there was nothing but my piece of dried beef to be had "to go
+into the interior," so I dined off that; then, lighting one of my
+precious cigars, lay down in a sort of fairy bower to enjoy myself, and
+succeeded. During the entire day no sight or sound of human form or
+voice came to me, nor yet of animal life, save only a mateless bird,
+garbed in green that flitted around. Of course, not a drop of water this
+whole day long for me, and, though I was moderately thirsty, I did not
+suffer, despite the fact that I smoked several cigars. But I felt that I
+must have food and drink that night, whatever risk I incurred in
+securing it. I determined, therefore, to start early on my journey and
+get food before the country people were all in bed. As soon as night
+fell I stepped out on the road and cautiously started westward. Knowing
+there must be some town or hamlet near by, I purposed to enter, spy out
+some shop and watch until the shopkeeper was alone, then enter and
+purchase a supply of such food as he had, then march out and disappear
+as quickly as possible.
+
+Soon after starting I came to a small place such as the poor whites of
+the country inhabit, and seeing two women in the doorway I walked in,
+and with a salute and "Buenas noches, senoritas," I asked for water
+(agua); they responded with alacrity and brought me some in a cocoanut
+shell. I saw it was vile stuff, with an earthy taste, but thirsty as I
+was it tasted like nectar. There was some food on a wooden dish inside,
+and I suppose they saw me looking at it, for the older woman ran in and
+returned bringing me two roasted plantains and a rice cake. Just then I
+discovered a man inside and two others came up from the rear of the
+house, or I would have purchased food of the women; but, seeing them, I
+thanked the ladies, and, saying good night, disappeared in the darkness.
+Picking up the empty bottle I had left in the road I walked on,
+feasting as I went on my roasted plantains. How nice they tasted!
+
+A mile ahead I came to a tumbledown roadhouse, with quite a crowd of
+loud-voiced men standing around, who evidently had been indulging in the
+fiery aguardiente sold there. Like the Levite and priest, I passed by on
+the other side, giving the place a wide berth. Soon after I entered a
+town or hamlet of a dozen houses. Two or three passed me in the darkness
+with a "Buenas noches, senor," to which I mumbled some reply, they
+doubtless taking me for a neighbor. Two uniformed men, evidently police
+or soldiers, were lounging in the only shop, and I dared not enter until
+they were gone. Planting myself in a deep shadow, I sat down waiting for
+them to go out, but they showed no sign of moving until a shrill voice
+from a female throat issued from a nearby house, bidding one of the
+loungers to lounge no more just then, and he, hurriedly obeying the
+summons, went; soon his companion followed; then, leaving my empty
+bottle in the road, and with my hand on the revolver in my outside
+pocket, I entered the shop. The easy-going Cuban shopkeeper paid no
+particular attention to me, did not even stop rolling the cigarette he
+was making. After deliberately lighting it, he lazily responded to my
+"Buenas noches, senor," I saw bread, cakes and ham, and ordered of each;
+then, seeing some Spanish wine, I took a bottle; also a bottle of
+pickles. Producing a $10 Spanish bank note, I paid the bill, and emerged
+into the night with the precious load, and so strong was the animal
+instinct of hunger upon me that I would have fought to death sooner than
+surrender the provisions I carried.
+
+Picking up my empty bottle I looked out for a chance to fill it as I
+walked through the town on the main road, which went straight west, but
+intending to abandon it as soon as I came to the fields and found it was
+safe to sit down for a feast, then make my way to the beach, now some
+two miles away, and put in a good distance before daylight. But for two
+mortal hours the road was bordered by impenetrable walls of cactus and
+bayonet grass, and to make the matter worse the moon came out from
+behind the clouds and poured a flood of light on the open road. Twice
+men on horseback passed me, coming from the opposite direction, and both
+times I sank down in the shadow of the cactus, both times with revolver
+in hand, but dreading an encounter, as the noise of firing might wake a
+hornets' nest about my ears.
+
+At last I came to a road which entered a field. I was soon over the bars
+and found myself in an old tobacco plantation, now partly planted in
+Spanish beans. Crossing a couple of fields at the foot of the hills and
+in going over a triangular piece of ground, I found the ruins of a
+house, and nearby a small stream of water. I was in luck, and, taking a
+good drink and filling my bottle, I sat down in a convenient shadow and
+spread out my eatables. They were a goodly sight, and consisted of four
+pounds of good ham, a dozen good-sized sweet cakes, two loaves of bread,
+a bottle of pickles and one of wine, and one of water. I began with a
+drink of wine, then followed ham and bread and cake for dessert, all
+washed down with a fine long drink of water. Then lighting a cigar I
+stretched myself at full length and spent a delightful hour star-gazing.
+
+Then I arose, took another drink of wine, but as it was not particularly
+select, threw the remainder away, and, filling both bottles from the
+brook, I prepared to march.
+
+How I wish the kodak fiend existed then and that one of them had
+happened along just then to take a snap shot at me as I stood there in
+full marching order, with my water bottles slung over my shoulders, my
+eatables tied up in a large silk handkerchief, with my garments all in
+tatters, the result of thorns and creepers snatching at them in my
+jungle trampings; but, worst of all, my trusty and precious walking
+boots were beginning to show signs of rough usage.
+
+I struck the road leading to the beach and marched westward, but it was
+an unknown land, and I was in constant fear of running against some
+military post or patrol, being thus constantly delayed by long halts to
+watch some suspicious object or by making long detours to avoid them.
+Once I had a fright. Two men on horseback riding on the sandy road were
+almost on me before I saw or heard them, and I only had time to sink
+into the shadow as they passed almost within reach of my hand. Both were
+smoking the everlasting cigarette, and were engaged in earnest talk.
+Daylight came and found me not more than eight or ten miles further on
+my journey, but I was very well content as I pitched my camp for the
+day. I had a royal feast, then, after a cigar, lay down to sleep in
+another fairy bower and slept until noon, and awoke to find myself
+wondering how matters were going with Capt. Curtin in Havana, rather
+amused over the state of chagrin I knew he must be in. I thought of a
+possible future meeting some years ahead, when, all danger over, I would
+see and chaff him over a bottle of Cliquot and the $50,000 he wouldn't
+have, and how I went all the same and saved the money.
+
+I realized I must be frugal or my provisions would never hold out; so,
+after a light lunch, I began to make my way slowly to the beach through
+the tangled maze of trees and vines. Coming in sight of the blue waters
+I lay down to sleep again and awoke when the stars were out. The moon
+would not go down till late, but as there was a deep, broad shadow cast
+by the trees I walked in it.
+
+Good food and the long day of rest restored my strength. All my
+confidence returned, and I made good progress. At last the moon went
+down, and then I pressed rapidly forward, always with revolver in hand,
+ready for instant action. I think I made fully twenty-five miles this
+night, but as the coast was indented my progress in a straight direction
+was not more than half that distance. Just as it began to grow gray in
+the east I came out on a wide inlet. It ran deep into the land. I
+recognized it from my map as Puerto del Gato, and then I knew I was in
+the province of Pinar del Rio and almost out of danger.
+
+I went into the bush again and pitched camp, waiting for daylight to
+come and reveal my surroundings. Pitching camp consisted in scraping a
+few leaves together and lying down; but this morning I was too excited
+to sleep. I felt that I was near my goal, after having safely gone
+through many dangers. Once across the Puerto del Gato, two nights of
+travel would place me outside of the farthest Spanish pickets and bring
+me among friends, far beyond chance of pursuit, and I also knew that the
+mere knowledge of my presence in the rebel camp would cause all thought
+of pursuit to be dropped.
+
+When daylight came I stood and looked around. Across the inlet, twenty
+miles away, I could see only dark masses of green, with no sign of life.
+To the north the land was hilly, with houses here and there in the
+distance, and signs of animal life. I cautiously searched the shore for
+a mile in the hope of finding a boat to cross to the other shore of the
+inlet, but none was in sight.
+
+About 9 o'clock I saw smoke off at sea, and soon I made out a small
+Spanish gunboat coming rapidly up. Dropping anchor about a mile up the
+inlet, she sent a boat ashore. I was feeling sleepy, and, going into the
+woods again, I took a light lunch, and, emptying one bottle of water,
+lay down to sleep, resolved to make my plans when I awoke. I did not
+like the appearance of this gunboat; it seemed to promise the presence
+of the enemy in force around me, besides being a visible manifestation
+of the power of that enemy.
+
+When I awoke from my nap I started on a cautious spying out of the land,
+making my way toward the head of the inlet, but keeping always under the
+protection of the woods. While going cautiously along I was startled by
+the notes of a bugle ringing out some military call not far away, and a
+moment later the gunboat replied with a gun, then steamed out to sea.
+Continuing my progress through the woods I came to the road, and, hiding
+securely in a thicket where I could see unseen, I watched. Soon I heard
+the sound of voices, and then a detail of armed men passed, going
+leisurely east, escorting an empty wagon drawn by four mules. It meant
+much, these armed escorts, showing they were in the face of the enemy.
+Several others passed during the hour of my watch. Then, with many
+cautious glances up and down the road, I slipped quietly across and
+crept for two hours through the jungle. Making my way to the side of the
+bay, I saw that I had left the military post behind me. There were white
+barracks and a wharf with people walking on it, and here the road and
+beach were one. This much discovered, I went a safe distance into the
+jungle and lay down to have a good sleep, feeling I would need all my
+energy and strength for the coming night, as it promised to be a
+critical one, especially as I could not afford to wait for the moon to
+go down, and would not have the shelter of darkness, for the moonlight
+was so powerful that one could easily read print by it.
+
+I slept until dark, and awoke refreshed, then lunched and nearly
+finished my last bottle of water. I had only sufficient food for two
+more light meals. After lunch I smoked for an hour, star-gazing and
+philosophizing. At 9 o'clock, emerging into the road, I started
+cautiously out, walking in the shadow of the jungle as much as possible.
+I thought the head of the inlet was about ten miles away, and expected
+to find a military post or at least a picket stationed there.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Daylight once more. But it found me happy and content, for the
+difficulties of the passage of the wide inlet, which had confronted me
+the night before, had all been surmounted. I was now in a densely wooded
+point on the western side of the bay. Between me and San Diego lay a
+wild no man's land of fifty miles. That meant only two nights more of
+peril and uncertainty, and it was all straight going. So far as the
+coast line was concerned I was outside of the Spanish lines. Tired out
+and very well contented, just as the sun rose fiery red above the
+horizon, I lay down and was at once in dreamland. At noon, hungry and
+with only a few ounces of food to satisfy my hunger, I woke. Finishing
+my last bit of ham and bread, I lighted a cigar and set about planning.
+Pulling out my little map, I began to scan it for the thousandth time.
+About six miles to the north was the little town of San Miguel. Between
+me and San Diego lay fifty miles of wild country swept by fire and
+sword, without an inhabitant and without food. Hungry as I already was,
+I felt it would not do to undertake a two days' journey through that
+wilderness without eating. Of course I made a mistake. I was clear of
+the toils, and I ought to have taken every and any chance rather than
+enter the enemy's lines again.
+
+I resolved, soon after night came, to set out for San Miguel, watch my
+chance to enter a shop and purchase food, then, beating a hasty retreat,
+strike out across the country straight for San Diego, there to find
+myself among friends in the rebel camp.
+
+I set out and without any particular adventure arrived about 9 o'clock
+at San Miguel. It proved to be a hamlet with the houses ranged close
+together on opposite sides of the streets. The moonlight cast a deep
+shadow on one side, while the opposite side was almost like day. I stood
+in the deep shadow watching. The first building was evidently a police
+or military barrack. The door was wide open, but no one was visible
+inside. About five doors off was a shop, but the door was closed, and
+from where I stood there appeared no sign of life within. I waited about
+ten minutes, and rashly concluding that there was no one save the
+proprietor there, I stepped out of the shadow into the moonlight and
+hurrying across the street, put my hand on the door, opened it and
+stepping within found myself in the presence of twenty soldiers, all
+gossiping, smoking or gambling. Belts and cartridge boxes along with
+bayonets decorated the walls or were lying about on boxes and barrels.
+
+All eyes were turned on me. I saw myself in a fearful trap and nothing
+but consummate coolness could keep them from questioning me. My heart
+beat fast, but with an affectation of indifference I saluted and said:
+"Buenos noches, senores." They all returned my salutation, but looked at
+each other eagerly, each waiting for the other to question me.
+
+I stepped to the counter and asked for bread; two loaves were given me.
+I picked up some cakes and paid for them. From the door I turned, and
+putting all my dignity into a bow, I said: "Good night, gentlemen." They
+all seemed held by a spell, but they looked and were dangerous as death.
+I closed the door, fully realizing my peril, feeling the storm would
+break the instant I was out of sight. Fortunately there was no one near,
+and I ran swiftly across the street into the protecting shadow and
+crouched down in a dark space between two houses. The cactus-like weeds
+grew there and pricked me, but I heeded them not, for that instant the
+soldiers poured out of the shop, an angry and excited mob, buckling on
+their belts, cartridge boxes and bayonets as they ran. Some had their
+muskets, others hastened to get them and all save two stragglers rushed
+out of the town in the direction from which I had entered. I wondered at
+this, but soon discovered the reason. Some few women, hearing the
+tumult, came into the street, but seeing nothing, went in again; the
+stragglers all disappeared and the street was quiet.
+
+[Illustration: UNDERGROUND PASSAGE AND STAIRS LEADING TO OLD BAILEY
+DOCK.]
+
+I came out of my corner and hurried in the shadow down the road in the
+opposite direction to the course followed by my pursuers. Arriving at
+the last house at the foot of the street, I found myself confronted by a
+small river, quiet and apparently deep, with all the space from the
+last house to the river one impassable barrier of giant cactus, I had
+either to swim the river or turn back, and I ought to have plunged in as
+I was, revolver and all, the distance over being short; and, as I am an
+expert swimmer, I could easily have got across, loaded down as I was.
+But a contemptible trifle had weight enough to cause me to adopt the
+suicidal course of turning back.
+
+The fierce animal instinct of hunger was on me, the smell of the food
+enraged me, and I thought if I swam the stream the cakes and bread I
+carried would be soaked and probably lost, for I had them loose in my
+arms; beside, I was overconfident of my ability to escape my pursuers.
+They had marched by the road that led behind the village to the bridge
+crossing the river some distance up; evidently, not seeing me, they took
+it for granted I knew of the bridge, and had gone that way.
+
+To appease at once my hanger, in a fatal moment I retraced my steps. As
+I passed a house three women came out. They spoke to me, and in my
+excitement, instead of saying good evening in Spanish (buenas noches), I
+said good morning (buenas dias). They, of course, saw I was a stranger.
+
+Just then four soldiers came hurriedly into the street from the road,
+and I was forced to leave the women and crouch down in my former hiding
+place. Then they did what women seldom do--betrayed the fugitive.
+Calling to the soldiers, they pointed out the place I was in. All four
+came running, and in a moment were almost on top of me. I presented my
+revolver and snapped the trigger twice without exploding the cartridges;
+they were too close or too excited to use their muskets, but all four
+grappled with me, and naturally used me pretty roughly.
+
+There was a terrific hullabaloo, as in response to their cries their
+comrades came running in. By the time they had hustled me across the
+street into the shop there was a mob of half a hundred around me. Soon
+the commander, a captain, appeared. I wish I could say he was a
+gentleman, but he was not. He was a little, peppery young fellow,
+apparently with negro blood in his veins, and dictatorial and insulting
+in manner.
+
+Surely I was an object--a tramp in appearance--but with a diamond ring
+on my finger (which I had taken from my pocket and slipped on), a
+revolver strapped to my waist and a splendid chronometer in my pocket.
+Such an object had never before loomed on their horizon. Was not one
+glance enough to show that I must be a notable rebel, and there was but
+one doom for such.
+
+My desperate situation cast out all fear, and I was cold and haughty.
+Flourishing my police passport, I informed him that I was Stanley W.
+Parish of New York, a correspondent of the New York Herald, and he had
+better look out what he was about.
+
+But it was evident that police passports made out in Havana had no
+currency in the face of the enemy; but at any rate it proved that
+whatever my intentions might be, I had at least hailed last from Havana,
+and not from the rebel camp, and this would prevent my peppery captain
+from enjoying the pleasure of standing me up in the morning, to be
+fusilladed, such being the law for all captives in the savage contest.
+
+Down my gentleman sat on a barrel, pompous and important, and ordered me
+to be searched. All this time a dozen hands were holding me fast. I told
+my officer he was a fool and a clown, but my captors began to go through
+my pockets, and speedily there was a heap of gold and paper money on the
+barrel, and my little friend fingered it with a covetous eye. I had my
+$10,000 in bonds pinned in the sleeve of my undershirt. This they
+missed, but found all else I carried. In the mean time there was an
+eager audience looking on, absorbed in the interest of the scene.
+
+There was a collection indeed on that barrel. Beside my ring, there were
+five other valuable diamonds, my chronometer, which with its regular
+beat and stem-winding arrangement was a great curiosity. Then the heap
+of money was a loadstone for all their hungry eyes. The captain was
+making out an inventory and statement, while I stood white with rage to
+see the half-breeds, blacks, browns and yellows, handle my property so
+freely. I was especially in a rage with the impudent captain, who had
+the nerve to put my watch in his pocket. Absorbed by the interest of the
+scene, my captors had insensibly loosened their hold, and I determined
+to have some satisfaction out of the captain. Suddenly seizing one of
+the revolvers before I could be stopped I gave him a stinging blow with
+it and sprang on him. We rolled on the floor, and there was a scene. I
+was dragged off by fifty hands, every one trying to seize me, if only by
+one hand. My captain got up with the blood running down his face, and,
+rushing to a peg, he seized a sabre bayonet and flew at me like a mad
+bull. I shouted at him in Spanish, calling him a cur and coward, bidding
+him to come on. He was not unwilling, while my captors held me firmly
+exposed to his assault. Another second would have ended my life, when a
+woman spectator, who stood near nursing a child, threw her arms around
+him; this, joined to my indifference, for I continued my jeers and
+taunts, changed his purpose, to my disappointment, for I preferred death
+to going back to Havana.
+
+     "From Wall Street to Newgate" is replete with stirring incidents,
+     marvelous adventures, hair-breadth escapes and remarkable
+     experiences, such as few men have met with. They are narrated in
+     any easy, picturesque style, evincing sincerity and candor, with no
+     attempt at sensation or exaggeration. The truth told is stranger
+     than fiction, and history may well be challenged to produce another
+     life into which has come so many varied and bewildering events, or
+     to disclose another character, trained in a religious home, having
+     culture and an unusual business talent, whose deflection from the
+     path of honor has stirred to its very depths the entire civilized
+     world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+ONE LOVELY JUNE MORNING INTO PLYMOUTH HARBOR WE SAIL.
+
+
+Ten days after the events recorded in the last chapter I sailed once
+more into Havana. This time a prisoner. Two days after my capture, by
+order of the Captain-General of Cuba, I was put on board the little
+gunboat Santa Rita, a wretched little tub that steamed four miles an
+hour and took eight days going from Puerto Novo on the south to Havana.
+
+I was taken by a guard of soldiers, not to the police barracks, but to
+the common prison, where an entire corridor was cleared of its inmates
+to make room for me and my guards. Pinkerton was the first man to call.
+He, of course, was delighted to see me. While giving me credit for my
+escape, he told me he did not purpose to have me leave him again, and
+having permission from the authorities, he or some of his men intended
+to keep me company night and day. Of course I respected him for his
+honest determination to do his duty. He really was an altogether good
+fellow, and showed me all possible courtesy and consideration; in fact,
+on his first visit he brought me a letter from my wife, along with a box
+of cigars and a bottle of wine on his own account.
+
+One of his men, by the name of Perry, used to sleep in my little room
+with me, and every morning Mr. P. would relieve him, remaining until
+dinner time. We had many long talks on all sorts of subjects, and he
+gave me many inside histories of famous criminal cases which he had been
+engaged in. In time we became very good friends.
+
+He also gave me full particulars of the really extraordinary way in
+which he discovered my presence in the West Indies and the reason which
+led him to conclude that F. A. Warren and I were one. William Pinkerton
+ordered him to look up the New York end of the business and see if he
+could discover the identity of Warren. He was one of the many working on
+the case, but to him belongs the credit of establishing my identity,
+also of locating my whereabouts and of effecting my arrest.
+
+When ordered on the case he knew no more about me or the forgery than
+what he read in the newspapers. He soon made up his mind that I was an
+American, and that I was a resident either of New York or Chicago. This
+because I was so young and evidently had a good knowledge of finance and
+financial matters. So he determined to seek for a clue to F. A. Warren in
+Wall street. He procured a list of the names of every banker and broker
+in New York, and then spent some time in interviewing them, his one
+question being "Now, who is he?" With their assistance he soon made out
+a list of nearly twenty possible Warrens, and speedily narrowed it down
+to four, my name being one of the four. He soon located my home, and
+began making cautious inquiries on the spot from neighbors and others.
+He discovered that I was believed to be in Europe, and had been there
+before, and that when I last returned I had paid off debts and
+apparently had plenty of money. He had become convinced of my identity,
+but if I were Warren--where was I?
+
+Without arousing suspicion, he heard from some of my acquaintances a
+saying of mine that whenever I had a bank account, I should live in the
+tropics. So he reported to his superiors that in his opinion F. A. Warren
+and I were one, and he believed that, if in America at all, I might be
+found at some fashionable resort in Florida.
+
+He concluded to go to Florida, and visit the various resorts. Upon his
+arrival at St. Augustine, he sent letters to several of the West India
+islands, including Martinique, Jamaica and Cuba, inquiring for the names
+and descriptions of all wealthy young Americans lately arrived. One
+letter he sent to Dr. C. L. Houscomb, then the leading American doctor in
+Havana, who, replying to his inquiry, gave my name among others. After
+my arrest Dr. Houscomb told me how grieved he was to have betrayed me,
+but that he thought that Pinkerton was a newspaper man, and wanted the
+information as a matter of news.
+
+With this letter in his hand, Pinkerton found a plain path before him.
+To go ahead of my story a little, I will say here that eventually the
+bank authorities made him a considerable present in cash, along with
+their congratulations over his clever detective work. Capt. John Curtin
+is to-day well and hearty, a prosperous man and very generally respected
+by the citizens of San Francisco, where he lives.
+
+About ten days after my arrival he brought me a New York Herald
+containing these dispatches:
+
+     (Special to New York Herald.)
+
+                                            Madrid, April 12, 1873.
+
+     The American Ambassador, Gen. Sickles, has formally notified Senor
+     Castelar that the American Government will consent to the surrender
+     to the British Government of Bidwell, now under arrest in Havana
+     upon charge of being concerned in the Bank of England forgery.
+
+
+     (Special to New York Herald.)
+
+                                            London, April 12, 1873.
+
+     To the great gratification of the authorities here, official
+     confirmation is given to the rumor that the Spanish Government has
+     concluded to grant the extradition of Bidwell, now under arrest in
+     Havana. There seems to be no doubt that Bidwell is the mysterious
+     Frederick Albert Warren, and there is a very general curiosity to
+     see him. Many conflicting stories have been published of his
+     extraordinary escape and equally extraordinary capture. The Times'
+     report had it that he was mortally wounded, and that he had on his
+     person when captured diamonds to an enormous value, which had
+     disappeared soon after. Sergeants Hayden and Green of the Bow
+     Street force and Mr. Good of the bank of England sail on the Java
+     to-morrow to escort Bidwell to London.
+
+So the web was closing in on me. Of my daily sad interviews with my wife
+I will say nothing here. But could I have foreseen that this woman, on
+whom I had settled a fortune, would have married another soon after my
+sentence, I should not have felt so sorrowful on her account. In due
+time Green, Hayden and Good arrived, and were introduced to me. I did
+not give in, but made, by the aid of my friends, a hard fight to
+persuade the Captain-General to suspend the order for my delivery, and
+succeeded for a time.
+
+At last, after many delays and many plans, early one May morning I was
+taken to the mouth of the harbor. There the boat of the English warship
+Vulture was in waiting, and I was formally transferred to the English
+Government, and Curtin. Perry, Hayden and Green went on board with me.
+Soon after she steamed out of the harbor. Later in the day the Moselle,
+the regular passenger steamer to Plymouth and Southampton, came out, and
+about ten miles out at sea was met by the Vulture's boat, and I and my
+four guardians were transferred to her.
+
+At last I was off for England, and it looked very much as if Justice
+would weigh me in her balance after all, the more certainly because I
+found my wife on the Moselle. I had secretly resolved never to be taken
+back, but intended the first night out of Havana to jump overboard,
+possibly with a cork jacket, or something to help to keep me afloat. The
+waters of the gulf were warm, there were many passing ships, and I
+would take my chance of surviving the night and being picked up. But,
+very cleverly, Curtin decided to send my wife with me and treat me like
+any other cabin passenger, rightly divining I would not kill her by
+committing suicide or going over the side on chances.
+
+I was well treated all the way over, but every night my prayer was that
+we might run on an iceberg or go down, so that my wife might be spared
+long years of agony and me from the misery and degradation of prison
+life.
+
+I had obtained a position in Havana for one of my servants, but Nunn was
+returning with me, feeling very badly and most unhappy over the sure
+prospect of my future misery. I was pleased to think he had held on to
+the money I had given him. Altogether, he was quite $2,000 ahead, and I
+wanted to make it $5,000. He certainly deserved it for his constancy and
+affection.
+
+One lovely June day we sailed into Plymouth, there to land mail and such
+passengers as wanted to take the express to London. I instructed my wife
+to go to Southampton while I went ashore with my guardians.
+
+From the London Times, June 10, 1873:
+
+     "Among the passengers who landed at Plymouth yesterday morning from
+     the royal mail steamer Moselle was Bidwell, otherwise F. A. Warren,
+     in charge of Detective Sergeant Michael Hayden and William Green,
+     accompanied by Capt. John Curtin and Walter Perry of Mr.
+     Pinkerton's staff. They were joined by Inspector Wallace and
+     Detective Sergeant William Moss of the city police, who had come
+     down from London the previous night to meet the steamer.
+
+     [Illustration: CHATHAM--CONVICTS AT LABOR.]
+
+     "It being known that Bidwell was expected from Havana in the
+     Moselle, an enormous crowd assembled in Milbay pier to await the
+     return of the steam tender with the mail, in order to get a sight
+     of the prisoner, and so great was the crowd that it was with some
+     difficulty that Bidwell and his escort managed to reach cabs, and
+     were driven to the Duke of Cornwall Hotel adjoining the railway
+     station. They left by the 12.45 train for London. A crowd of
+     20,000 persons were present to see them off, and cheered Bidwell
+     heartily.
+
+     "Bidwell will be taken before the Lord Mayor in the justice room at
+     the Mansion House this morning."
+
+Accompanied by my escort of six, I arrived in London one bright Spring
+morning, just as the mighty masses of that great Babylon were thronging
+in their thousands toward Epsom Downs, where on that day the Derby, that
+pivotal event in the English year, was to be run. All London was astir,
+and had put on holiday attire, while I, now a poor weed drifting to rot
+on Lethe's wharf, was on my way to Newgate.
+
+Newgate! Then it had come to this! The Primrose Way wherein I had walked
+and lived delicately at the expense of honor, ended here!
+
+"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," was written by one
+Paul. The wisdom of many was here and condensed in the wit of one, and
+one with the shrewdest insight into things and a practical knowledge of
+human history.
+
+I was a prisoner in Newgate. Newgate! The very name casts a chill; so,
+too, does a sight of that granite fortress rising there in the heart of
+mighty London. Amid all the throbbing life of that great Babylon it
+stands--chill and grim--and has stood a prison fortress for 500 years.
+Through all those linked centuries how many thousands of the miserable
+and heartbroken of every generation have been garnered within its cold
+embrace! What sights and sounds those old walls have seen and heard! As
+I paced its gloomy corridors that first night, pictures of its past rose
+before me so grim and terrible that I turned shuddering from them, only
+to remember that I, too, had joined the long unending procession ever
+flowing through its gates, which had heaped its walls to the top with
+one inky sea of misery.
+
+In the cruel days of old many a savage sentence had fallen from the lips
+of merciless judges, but none more terrible than the one which was to
+fall on us from the lips of their ferocious imitator, Justice Archibald.
+
+I found my three friends already prisoners there, and a sad party we
+were. When we said good-bye that night on the wharf at Calais, where we
+sat star-gazing and philosophizing, we little anticipated this reunion.
+
+What a rude surprise it was to find how things were conducted in this
+same Newgate. I took it for granted--since the law regarded us as
+innocent until we were tried and convicted--that we could have any
+reasonable favor granted us there which was consistent with our safe
+keeping. But no. The system of the convict prison was enforced here, and
+with the same iron rigor. Strict silence was the rule along with the
+absolute exclusion of newspapers and all news of the outside world. The
+rules forbid any delicacy or books being furnished by one's friends from
+the outside. This iron system is as cruel as unphilosophical, for,
+pending trial, the inmates are more or less living in a perfect agony of
+mind, which drives many into insanity or to the verge of insanity, as it
+did me. How can one, then, when the past is remorse--and the present and
+future despair--find oblivion or raze out the written troubles of the
+brain save in absorption in books.
+
+When Claudo is doomed to die and go "he knew not where," peering into
+the abyss, the fear strikes him that in the unknown he may be "prisoned
+in the viewless winds" and blown with restless violence round about this
+pendant world. A terrible figure! It filled at this time some corner of
+my brain and would not out. It went with me up and down in all my walks
+in Newgate.
+
+[Illustration: PRINCIPAL WARDERS, WOKING PRISON. No. 1 Scott, No. 2.
+Metherell.]
+
+[Illustration: ASSISTANT WARDERS, DARTMOOR PRISON.]
+
+If I had the pen of Victor Hugo, what a picture I would draw of a mind
+consciously going down into the fearful abyss of insanity, making mighty
+struggles against it, yet looking on the cold walls shutting one in and
+weighing down the spirit, feeling that the struggle is ineffectual,
+the fight all in vain, for the dead, blank walls are staring coldly on
+you, without giving one reflex message, bearing on their gray surface no
+thought, no response of mind. For they have been looked over with
+anxious care to discover if any other mind had recorded there some
+thought which would awake thought in one's own, and help to shake off
+the fearful burden pressing one to earth. As a fact, a man so situated
+does--aye, must--make an effort to leave some visible impress of his
+mind as a message to his kind. It is a natural law, and the instinct is
+part of one's being. It is a passion of the mind--a longing to be united
+to the spiritual mass of minds from which the isolated soul is suffering
+an unnatural divorce of hideous material walls.
+
+It is this law which makes the savage place his totem on the rocks, and
+it is, thanks to the same instinct, that this very day our savants are
+finding beneath the foundations of the temples and palaces which once
+decked the Phoenician plain, the baked tablets which tell us the family
+histories, no less than the story of the empires of those days. When the
+impress was made on the soft clay to be fire-hardened, each writer felt
+or hoped in the long ages in the far-off unknown,
+
+  "When time is old and hath forgot itself,
+  When water drops have worn the streets of Troy
+  And blind oblivion swallowed cities up,
+  And mighty States, characterless, are grated
+  To dusty nothing"----
+
+then some thought, some message from their minds, there impressed on the
+senseless clay, would be communicated to some other mind, and wake a
+response there.
+
+Many a time, with a brain reeling in agony, did I turn and stare blankly
+at those walls, and, in a sort of dumb stupor, search them over in hope
+to find some word, some message impressed there, some scratch of pen or
+finger nail. It might be a message of misery, some outcry from a wounded
+spirit, some expression of despair.
+
+Had there been one such--had there been! Every one of my predecessors
+had left a message on that smooth-painted wall, but the red-tape
+official rogues--the stultified images sans reason, sans all
+imagination--had, after the departure of each one, carefully painted
+over all such legacies.
+
+The hideous cruelty of it all! My blood, boils even now, when I think of
+it. Even in the days of Elizabeth the keepers of the Tower of London had
+enough human feeling to leave untouched the inscriptions made by Raleigh
+and others, and there they are to-day, and to-day wake a response in the
+heart of every visitor that looks on them.
+
+[Illustration: A GANG IN BLOUSES MARCHING OUT.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+RUNNING THE GAUNTLET.
+
+
+My life at Newgate was an ordeal such as I hope no reader of this will
+ever undergo. Day by day I saw the world slipping from under my feet,
+and the net drawing its deadly folds closer around me. Soon we all were
+forced to realize there was no escape for any of us.
+
+Of course, we were all guilty and deserved punishment--I need not say we
+did not think so then--but the evidence was most weak, and had our trial
+taken place in America under the too liberal construction of our laws,
+undoubtedly we all would have escaped. But in England there is no court
+of criminal appeal, as with us, and when once the jury gives a verdict,
+that ends the matter. The result is that if judges are prejudiced, or
+want a man convicted, as in our case, he never escapes. The jury is
+always selected from the shopkeeping class, and they are horribly
+subservient to the aristocratic classes. They don't care for
+evidence--they simply watch the judge. If he smiles, the prisoner is
+innocent. If he frowns, then, of course, guilty.
+
+With us when a man is charged with an offense against the laws he
+engages a lawyer--one is sufficient and quite costly enough. In England
+they are divided into three classes, viz.: solicitors, barristers and
+Queen's Counsels.
+
+The solicitor takes the case and transacts all the business connected
+with it. A barrister is the lawyer who is employed by the solicitor to
+conduct the case in court and make the pleadings. He never comes in
+contact with the client, but takes the brief and all instructions from
+the solicitor. The Queen's Counsel is a lawyer of a higher rank, and
+whenever his serene lordship takes a brief he must, to keep up his
+dignity, "be supported" by a barrister. So my reader will perhaps
+understand the raison d'etre of the proverb, "The lawyers own England."
+As no solicitor can plead in court, so no Queen's Counsel will come in
+direct contact with a client, and must be "supported" by a barrister.
+Ergo, any unfortunate having a case in court must fee two, if not three
+legal sharks to represent him, if represented at all.
+
+We employed as solicitor a Mr. David Howell of 105 Cheapside, and a
+thoroughgoing, unprincipled rascal he proved to be. He was a small,
+spare, undersized man, with little beady eyes, light complexion, red
+hair, and stubby beard, and when he spoke it was with a thin reedy
+voice. From first to last he managed our case in exactly the way the
+prosecution would have desired. He bled us freely, and altogether we
+paid him nearly $10,000, and our defense by our eight lawyers--four
+Queen's Counsels and four barristers--was about the lamest and most
+idiotic possible.
+
+We early came to the unanimous conclusion that in our country Howell
+would have had to face a jury for robbing us, and that but one of our
+eight lawyers had ability enough to appear in a police court here to
+conduct a hearing before an ordinary magistrate.
+
+I do not propose to enter into the details of our preliminary hearings
+before the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House, or of the trial. Both the
+hearings and trial were sensational in the highest degree, and attracted
+universal attention all over the English-speaking world. Full-page
+pictures of the trial appeared in all the illustrated journals of Europe
+and America, and our portraits were on sale everywhere.
+
+After many hearings before Sir Sidney Waterlaw, we were finally
+committed for trial.
+
+Editorial from the London Times of Aug. 13, 1873:
+
+THE BANK FORGERIES.
+
+     "Monday next has been fixed for the trial, and the depositions
+     taken before the Lord Mayor at the Justice Room of the Mansion
+     House by Mr. Oke, the chief clerk, have been printed for the
+     convenience of the presiding judge and of the counsel on both
+     sides. They extend over 242 folio pages, including the oral and
+     documentary evidence, and make of themselves a thick volume,
+     together with an elaborate index for ready reference. Within living
+     memory there has been no such case for length and importance heard
+     before any Lord Mayor of London in its preliminary stage, nor one
+     which excited a greater amount of public interest from first to
+     last. The Overend Gurney prosecution is the only one in late years
+     which at all approaches it in those respects, but in that the
+     printed depositions only extended over 164 folio pages, or much
+     less than those in the Bank case, in which as many as 108 witnesses
+     gave evidence before the Lord Mayor, and the preliminary
+     examinations--twenty-three in number from first to last--lasted
+     from the first of March until the 2d of July, exclusive of the time
+     spent in remands."
+
+From the London Times, Aug. 10, 1873:
+
+     "On the opening of the August sessions of the Old Bailey Central
+     Criminal Court. The court and streets were much crowded from the
+     beginning, and continued so throughout the day. Alderman Sir Robert
+     Carden, representing the Lord Mayor; Mr. Alderman Finis, Mr.
+     Alderman Besley, Mr. Alderman Lawrence, M.P., Mr. Alderman Whetham
+     and Mr. Alderman Ellis, as commissioners of the Court, occupied
+     seats upon the bench, as did also Alderman Sheriff White.
+
+     "Sheriff Sir Frederick Perkins, Mr. Under-Sheriff Hewitt and Mr.
+     Under-Sheriff Crosley, Mr. R. B. Green, Mr. R. W. Crawford, M.P.,
+     Governor of the Bank. Mr. Lyall, Deputy Governor, and Mr. Alfred de
+     Rothschild were present. The members of the bar mustered in force,
+     and the reserved seats were chiefly occupied by ladies. Mr.
+     Hardinge Gifford, Q.C. (now Lord Chancellor of the British Empire),
+     and Mr. Watkin Williams, Q.C. (instructed by Messrs. Freshfield,
+     the solicitors of the bank), appeared as counsel for the
+     prosecution."
+
+For eight mortal days the final trial dragged on, and there we were
+pilloried in that horrible dock--a spectacle for the staring throngs
+that flocked to see the young Americans who had found a pregnable spot
+in the impregnable Bank of England.
+
+The misery of those eight days! No language can describe it, nor would I
+undergo it again for the wealth of the world.
+
+The court was filled with fashionables, ladies as well, who flocked to
+stare at misery, while the corridors of the Old Bailey and the street
+itself were packed with thousands eager to catch a glimpse of us. The
+Judge, in scarlet, sat in solemn state, with members of the nobility or
+gouty Aldermen in gold chains and robes on the bench beside him. The
+body of the court was filled with bewigged lawyers--a tippling lot of
+sharks and rogues, always after lunch half tipsy with the punch or dry
+sherry which English lawyers drink, jesting and cracking jokes,
+unmindful of the fate of their clients. Capt. Curtin and a score of
+detectives were present.
+
+No fewer than 213 witnesses were called by the prosecution. Of these
+about fifty were from America, and by them they traced our lives for
+many years before. As the forged bills were all sent by mail it was
+necessary to convict us by circumstantial evidence. The evidence was all
+very weak, save only in that remarkable matter of the blotting paper.
+Our conviction was a foregone conclusion.
+
+The jury retired to consider their verdict shortly after 7 o'clock, and
+on returning into court after the lapse of about a quarter of an hour
+they gave in a verdict of guilty against all of the four prisoners.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+"NOTHING LEFT US BUT A GRAVE, THAT SMALL MODEL OF THE BARREN EARTH," WITH
+DISHONOR FOR AN EPITAPH.
+
+
+Judge Archibald proceeded to pass sentence. He began with the
+interesting and truthful remark: "I have anxiously considered whether
+anything less than the maximum penalty of the law will be adequate to
+meet the requirements of this case, and I think not." We had information
+that a few days previously a meeting of judges had been held and that he
+had been advised to pass a life sentence. What he really meant to say
+was that he had anxiously considered whether anything less would be
+adequate to satisfy the Bank of England. He went on to say that we had
+not only inflicted great loss on the bank, but had also seriously
+discredited that great institution in the eyes of the public. He
+continued: "It is difficult to see the motives for this crime; it was
+not want, for you were in possession of a large sum of money. You are
+men of education, some of you speak the Continental languages, and you
+have traveled considerably. I see no reason to make any distinction
+between you, and let it be understood from the sentence which I am about
+to pass upon you that men of education"--and he might have added, what
+he undoubtedly thought, Americans--"who commit crimes which none but men
+of education can commit must expect a terrible retribution, and that
+sentence is penal servitude for life, and I further order that each one
+of you pay one-fourth of the costs of prosecution--L49,000, or $245,000
+in all."
+
+And, after all, what aroused so greatly his indignation? It was simply
+this--because we were youngsters and Americans, and had successfully
+assaulted the fondly imagined impregnable Bank of England, and, worse
+still, had held up to the laughter of the whole world its red-tape
+idiotic management, for had the bank asked so common a thing as a
+reference the fraud would have been made impossible.
+
+Let my reader contrast this modern Jeffreys, his savage tirade, and, for
+an offense against property, this most brutal sentence, with the
+treatment of the Warwickshire bank wreckers. Greenaway, the manager of
+this bank, and three of the directors by false balance sheets and
+perjured reports for years had looted the bank, finally robbing the
+depositors of L1,000,000, several of whom committed suicide and
+thousands more of whom were ruined.
+
+They were tried, convicted, and in being sentenced were told that, being
+men of high social position, the disgrace in itself was a severe
+punishment; therefore, he should take that fact into consideration, and
+ended by sentencing two to eight months', one to twelve and one to
+fourteen months' imprisonment.
+
+We were sentenced late at night--nearly 10 o'clock--a smoky, foggy
+London night. The court was packed, the corridors crowded, and when the
+jury came in with their verdict the suppressed excitement found vent.
+But when the vindictive and unheard-of sentence fell from the lips of
+this villain Judge an exclamation of horror fell from that crowded
+court.
+
+We turned from the Judge and went down the stairs to the entrance to the
+underground passage leading to Newgate. There we halted to say farewell.
+
+[Illustration: BEFORE THE GOVERNOR--ASSISTANT WARDER REPORTING A
+PRISONER FOR TALKING.]
+
+To say farewell! Yes. The Primrose Way had come to an end, but we were
+comrades and friends still, and in order that in the gloom of the
+slow-moving days and the blackness and thick horror of the years to come
+we might have some thought in common, we then and there promised--what
+could we poor, broken bankrupts promise?
+
+Where or to what in the thick horror enshrouding us could we turn? We
+had
+
+  "Nothing left us to call our own save death,
+  And that small model of the barren earth
+  Which serves as paste and cover to our bones;"
+
+nothing but a grave, that
+
+  "Small model of the barren earth,"
+
+with dishonor and degradation for our epitaph!
+
+But there, in the very instant of our overwhelming defeat, standing in
+the dark mouth of the stone conduit leading from the Old Bailey to the
+dungeons of Newgate, by virtue of the high resolve we made, we conquered
+Fate at her worst, and by our act in establishing a secret bond of
+sympathy in our separation dropped the bad, disastrous past, and
+starting on new things planted our feet on the bottom round of the
+ladder of success, feeling that, with plenty of faith and endurance,
+Fortune, frown as she might now, must in some distant day turn her wheel
+and smile again.
+
+And what was this act? Why, it was a simple one, but bore in it the germ
+of great things.
+
+As we halted there in the gloom we swore never to give in, however they
+might starve us, even grind us to powder, as we felt they would
+certainly try to do. We knew that in their anxiety about our souls they
+would be sure kindly to furnish each with a Bible, and we promised to
+read one chapter every day consecutively, and, while reading the same
+chapter at the same hour, think of the others. For twenty years we kept
+the promise. Then, making the resolve mentioned in the beginning of this
+book, I marched back to my cell. The door was opened and closed behind
+me, leaving me in pitch darkness--a convict in my dungeon. Dressed as I
+was I lay down on the little bed there, and through all that long and
+terrible night, with a million dread images rushing through my brain, I
+lay passive, with wide-open eyes, staring into the darkness, conscious
+that sanity and insanity were struggling for mastery in my brain, while
+I, like some interested spectator, watched the struggle; or, again, I
+was struggling in the air with some powerful but viewless monster form,
+that clutched my throat with iron fingers, but whose body was impalpable
+to the grasp of my hands. A mighty space, an eternity of time and
+daylight came. Then, like one in a dream, I rose mechanically, and,
+finding the pin I had secreted, I stood on the little wooden bench, and,
+impelled by some spiritual but irresistible force, I scratched on the
+wall the message I had resolved to leave:
+
+  "In the reproof of chance
+  Lies the true proof of men."
+
+Then I thought of my friends and my promise, and, like one in a dream, I
+took the ill-smelling and dirty little Bible from the shelf, and,
+turning to the first chapter, read:
+
+    "And the spirit of God moved upon the waters." ...
+  "And God said let there be light, and there was light."
+
+Then the book fell from my hand, and I remembered no more. My mind had
+gone whirling into the abyss.
+
+I was sentenced on Wednesday. For three days, from Thursday to Sunday,
+my mind was a blank. I have no recollection of my removal under escort
+from Newgate to Pentonville.
+
+On Sunday, the fourth day of my sentence, like one rousing from a
+trance, I awoke to find myself shaven and shorn, dressed in a coarse
+convict uniform, in a rough cell of white-washed brick. The small window
+had heavy double bars set with thick fluted glass, which, while
+admitting light, foiled any attempt of the eye to discern objects
+without. In the corner there was a rusty iron shelf. A board let into
+the brickwork served for bed, bench and table. A zinc jug and basin for
+water, with a wooden plate, spoon and salt dish (no knife or fork for
+twenty years!) completed the furnishings.
+
+As I was looking around in a helpless way a key suddenly rattled in the
+lock and, the door opening, a uniformed warder stepped in and, giving me
+a searching look, said in a rough voice: "Come on; you'll do for chapel;
+you have put on the balmy long enough." His kindly face belied his rough
+tones, and I followed him out of the door and soon found myself in the
+prison chapel. None was present, and I was ordered to sit on the front
+bench at the far end. The benches were simply common flat boards ranged
+in rows. Soon the prisoners came in singly, marching about two yards
+apart, and sat on the benches with that interval between them--that is,
+in the division of the chapel where I sat, it being separated from the
+rest by a high partition. Soon a white-robed, surpliced clergyman came
+in, and the service began; but I had no eye or ear, nor any
+comprehension save in a dim manner, as to what was going on. My brain
+was trying to connect the past and the present, feeling that something
+terrible had befallen me, but what it was I could not understand. When
+the services were over I returned under the escort of the warder, who,
+when I arrived at my cell, ordered me to go in and close the door, which
+I did, banging it behind me. It had a spring lock, and when I heard the
+snap of the catch and looked at the narrow, barred window, with its
+thick, fluted glass admitting only a dim light, I remembered everything.
+Like a flash it all came to me, and I realized the full horror of my
+position. Sitting down on the little board fastened to the wall, serving
+as bed, seat and table, I buried my face in my hands and began to
+ponder. Regrets came in floods, with remorse and despair, hand in hand,
+when, realizing that it was madness to think, I sprang up, saying to
+myself the hour and minute had come for me to decide--either for
+madness and a convict's dishonored grave, or to keep the promise I had
+made to my friends--never to give in, but to live and conquer fate.
+
+I determined then and there to live in the future, and never to dwell on
+the horrible present or past. Then I remembered the last scene in
+Newgate and my promise to accompany my friends step by step, day by day,
+in our readings. Finding a Bible on the little rusty iron shelf in the
+corner, and this being the fourth day of our sentence, I turned to the
+fourth chapter. It gives the story of Cain's crime and punishment, and I
+read the graphic narrative with an intensity of interest difficult to
+describe. When I read, "And Cain said unto the Lord, my punishment is
+greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from
+the face of the earth," I felt that the cry of Cain in all its intense
+naturalness, in its remorse and despair, was my own, and I was overcome.
+Laying the book down, I walked the floor for an hour in agony, until
+fantastic images came thronging thick and fast to my brain. I realized
+that my mind was going and felt I must do something to make me forget my
+misery.
+
+I opened the Bible at random and my eye caught the word "misery." I
+looked closely at the verse and read:
+
+"Thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass
+away."
+
+I threw the book down, crying with vehemence, "That's a lie! God never
+gives something for nothing." Soon I opened the book again and looked at
+the context. Those of my readers who care to do so can do the same. The
+verse is Job xi., 16. The context begins at verse 13. From that hour I
+never despaired again.
+
+The same day I began committing the Book of Job to memory, and worked
+for dear life and reason. I became interested, and my interest in that
+wondrous poem deepened until the study became a passion. Thus I turned
+the whole current of my thoughts into a new channel. Reason came back,
+and with it resolution and courage and strength.
+
+I was in Pentonville Prison, in the suburbs of London. All men convicted
+in England are sent to this prison to undergo one year's solitary
+confinement. At the completion of the year they are drafted away to the
+public works' prisons, where, working in gangs, they complete their
+sentences.
+
+Of my experience in Pentonville during my year of solitude it suffices
+to say that, passing through a great deal of mental conflict, I found I
+had grown stronger and was eager for transfer to the other prison, where
+I could for a few hours each day at least look on the sky and the faces
+of my fellow men.
+
+At last the day of transfer came, and, escorted by two uniformed and
+armed warders, I was taken to the famous Chatham Prison, twenty-seven
+miles from London on the river Medway....
+
+"You were sent here to work, and you will have to do it or I will make
+you suffer for it," was the friendly greeting that fell on my ears as I
+stood before a pompous little fellow (an ex-major from the army) at
+Chatham Prison one lovely morning in 1874.
+
+I had arrived there under escort but an hour before, strong in the
+resolve to obey the regulations if I could, and never to give in if I
+had a fair chance; also with a desperate resolve never to submit to
+persecution, come what might, and these resolutions saved me--but only
+by a steady and dogged adherence to them on many occasions, through many
+years and amid surroundings that might well make me--as it did and does
+many good men--desperate and utterly reckless.
+
+After a few more remarks of a very personal and pungent nature the
+little fellow marched off with a delicious swagger and an heroical air.
+I at once turned to the warder and asked, "Who is that little fellow?"
+"The Governor!" he gasped out. "If he had only heard you!" and then
+followed a pantomime that implied something very dreadful. Then I
+marched off to the doctor, and next to the chaplain, who (knowing who I
+was) asked me if I could read and write, to which I meekly replied,
+"Yes, sir;" but apparently being doubtful upon the point he gave me a
+book. Opening it and pretending to read, I said in a solemn tone of
+voice: "When time and place adhere write me down an ass." He took the
+book from me, looked at the open page, gazed solemnly in my face with a
+funny wagging of his head, as much as to say, "you will come to no
+good," and followed the little major.
+
+Then my cicerone took me into the main building, filled up to the brim
+with what seemed to be little brick and stone boxes, and, halting in
+front of one, said, "This is your cell." Looking around to see if it was
+safe to talk, he began to question me rapidly about my case, and getting
+no satisfaction he wound up the questioning with the remark: "Well, you
+tried to take all our money over to America." Then, becoming
+confidential, he told me what wicked fellows the other prisoners were,
+chiefly because they went to the Governor and reported the officers,
+charging them with maltreatment and bullying particularly, and knocking
+them about generally. Of course, the warders never did such things, but
+were really of a very lamblike and gentle nature. In order to back up
+their lies the prisoners would knock their own heads against the walls
+and then swear by everything good that some one of the warders had done
+it. I said, perhaps he had.
+
+Well, he said, perhaps an officer might give a man "a little clip," but
+never so as to hurt him, and "only in fun, you know." I felt at the time
+that I would never learn to appreciate Chatham "fun," but on the very
+next day I was convinced of it when a man named Farrier pulled out from
+his waistband a piece of rag, and, unrolling it, produced two of his
+front teeth with the information that a certain warder had struck him
+with his fist in the mouth and knocked them out.
+
+But to return to my narrative. After many "wise saws and modern
+instances," he locked me up in the little brick and stone box and
+departed, having first informed me that I "would go out to labor in the
+morning."
+
+I looked about my little box with a mixture of curiosity and
+consternation, for the thought smote me with blinding force that for
+long years that little box--eight feet six inches in length, seven feet
+in height and five feet in width, with its floor and roof of
+stone--would be my only home--would be! must be! and no power could
+avert my fate.
+
+On the small iron shelf I found a tin dish used by some previous
+occupant, and smeared inside and out with gruel. There being no water in
+my jug, when the men came in for dinner, I, in my innocence, asked one
+of the officers for some water to wash the dish. He looked at me with
+great contempt and said: "You are a precious flat; lick it off, man.
+Before long you won't waste gruel by washing your tin dish. You won't be
+here many days and want to use water to clean your pint."
+
+After dinner I saw the men marched out to labor, and was amazed to see
+their famished, wolfish looks--thin, gaunt and almost disguised out of
+all human resemblance by their ill-fitting, mud-covered garments and
+mud-splashed faces and hands. I myself was kept in, but the weary,
+almost ghastly spectre march I had witnessed constantly haunted me, and
+I said, "Will I ever resemble them?" And youthful spirit and pride
+rushed to the front and cried, "Never!"
+
+Night and supper (eight ounces of brown bread) came at length, and I
+rose up from my meal cheerful and resolute to meet the worst, be it what
+it might short of deliberate persecution, with a stout heart and faith
+that at last all would be well.
+
+In the morning I arose, had my breakfast (nine ounces of brown bread and
+one pint of gruel), and was eager to learn what this "labor" meant. I
+was prepared for much, but not for the grim reality. I had been ordered
+to join eighty-two party--a brickmaking party, but working in the "mud
+districts." So we, along with 1,200 others, marched out to our work, and
+as soon as we were outside of the prison grounds I saw a sight that,
+while it explained the mud-splashed appearance of my spectral array, was
+enough to daunt any man doomed to join in the game. Mud, mud everywhere,
+with groups of weary men with shovel, or shovel and barrow, working in
+it. A sort of road had been made over the mud with ashes and cinders,
+and our party of twenty-two men, with five other parties, moved steadily
+on for about a mile until we came to the clay banks or pits. Fortunately
+we had a very good officer by the name of James. He wanted the work
+done, and used his tongue pretty freely; still he was a man who would
+speak the truth, and treated his men as well as he dared to do under the
+brutal regime ruling in Chatham. He speedily told me off to a barrow and
+spade, and I was fully enlisted as barrow-and-spade man to Her Majesty.
+
+A steam mill, or "pug," like a monster coffee mill, was used for mixing
+the clay and sand and delivering it in form of bricks below, where
+another party received them and laid them out to dry, preparatory to
+burning. Our duty was "to keep the pug going"--keep it full of clay to
+the top. The clay was in a high bank; we dug into it from the bottom
+with our spades, and filled it as fast as possible into our barrows. In
+front of each man was a "run," formed by a line of planks only eight
+inches in width, and all converging toward and meeting near the "pug."
+The distance we were wheeling was from thirty to forty yards, end the
+incline was really very steep; but that in itself would not have been so
+bad, but the labor of digging out the clay was severe, and that
+everlasting "pug" was as hungry as if it were in the habit of taking
+"Plantation Bitters" to give it an appetite.
+
+One had no period of rest between the filling of one's barrow and the
+start up the run. In an hour's time my poor hands were covered with
+blood blisters, and my left knee was a lame duck indeed, made so by the
+slight wrench given it each time I struck in my spade with my left foot;
+but I made no complaint. About 10 o'clock the man next to me with an
+oath threw down his spade and vowed he would do no more work. Putting on
+his vest and packet, he walked up to the warder, and quite as a matter
+of course turned his back to him and put both hands behind him. The
+warder produced a pair of handcuffs, and without any comment handcuffed
+his hands in that position, and then told him to stand with his back to
+the work. No one took the slightest notice and the toil did not slacken
+for an instant, but one man was out of the game, and we had to make his
+side good.
+
+Noon came at last. We dropped our spades, hastily slipped on our jackets
+and at once set off at a quick march for the prison. I naturally looked
+at the various gangs piloting their way through the mud and all steering
+in a straight line for the Appian way whereon we were, for, as all roads
+lead to Rome, so all the sticky ways "on the works" led to the prison.
+Our laconic friend was trudging on behind the party, and to my surprise
+I noticed that several of the other parties had un enfant perdu, hands
+behind his back, marching in the rear, and as soon as we reached the
+prison each poor sheep in the rear fell out quite as a matter of course.
+When all the men were in, a warder came up and gave the order, "Right
+turn! Forward!" and off the poor fellows marched to the punishment cells
+for three days' bread and water each, and no bed, unless one designates
+an oak plank as such. It was all very sad; 'twas pitiful to see the
+matter-of-fact way in which every one concerned took it all.
+
+So my first day in the mud and clay came to an end, and I found myself
+once more in my little box with a night before me for rest and thought.
+Although I had suffered, yet there were grounds for gratitude and hope,
+and I felt that I might regard the future steadily and without despair.
+
+[Illustration: VISITOR TRYING ON THE HANGMAN'S IR ON PINIONING BELT AT
+NEWGATE.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+HENCEFORTH A LIGHT WAS TO STREAM THROUGH THE FLUTED GLASS OF MY WINDOW.
+
+
+The first day was over, but it seemed to me that something more must
+come. That what I had gone through could mean the life of a day must
+surely be impossible. Was there nothing before me but isolation so
+complete that no whisper from the outside world could reach me, that
+world which compared with the death into which I was being absorbed
+seemed the only world of the living?
+
+Had I actually nothing to look for but the most repulsive work under the
+most repulsive conditions? I said there must be surely some change, that
+wheeling mud forever was not the doom of any man and could certainly not
+be mine.
+
+I looked about my little cell, the stillness of the grave without, the
+utter solitude within. The ration which formed my supper was on the
+table, eight ounces of black bread. Try as I might to cheat myself with
+hope, I knew that hope for many a long year there was none, that so far
+as the most vindictive sentence could compass it, for many a long year
+the earth with her bars was about me.
+
+No "De Profundis" cry could ever ascend from the abyss to the bottom of
+which I had fallen. What was outside of me had nothing but the hideous.
+
+But although the visible seemed corruption, and the things which my
+soul, and body, too, had refused to touch were become my sorrowful meat,
+yet I could not but feel that the invisible, that part of me which no
+bars could hold and no man deprive me of, was still my own, and that in
+it I might and would find sufficient to support what I began to feel
+was, after all, the only man.
+
+To face the actualities of the position was the first thing; not to
+cheat myself, the second. I had seen the sort of men I was to be with. I
+set to work to study and to understand the kind of life we were to live
+together.
+
+At early dawn we rose, receiving immediately after the nine ounces of
+bread and pint of oatmeal gruel which composed breakfast. At 6.30, to
+chapel to hear one of the schoolmasters drone through the morning
+prayers of the English Church service, and listen to some hymn shouted
+out from throats never accustomed to such accents. Then the morning
+hours would drag slowly on in the Summer's sun and Winter's blast until
+the noon hour; then there was the long march back from the scene of my
+toil to the prison for dinner. Arriving there, each man went to his
+cell, closing his door, which snapped to, having a spring lock. Soon
+after a dinner is given consisting of sixteen ounces of boiled potatoes
+and five ounces of bread, varied on three days of the week with five
+ounces of meat additional. At 1 o'clock the doors were unlocked and we
+marched out to our work again. At night, returning to the prison, eight
+ounces of black bread would be doled out for supper. Then came the hours
+between supper and bedtime, when shut in between those narrow walls one
+realized what it was to be a prisoner.
+
+In the corner of the cell there was a board let into the stonework.
+There was a thin pallet and two blankets rolled up together during the
+day in a corner of the cell that served for bedding, but so thin and
+hard was the pallet that one might almost as well have slept on the
+board. For the first few weeks this bed made my bones ache. Most men
+have little patience and small fortitude, and this bed kills many of
+the prisoners. I mean breaks their hearts, simply because they have not
+the wit to accept the matter philosophically and realize that they can
+soon become used to any hardship. It took six months for my bones to
+become used to the hard bed, but for the next nineteen years I used to
+sleep as sweetly on that oak board as I ever did or now do in a bed of
+down, only, like Jean Valjean, in "Les Miserables," I had become so used
+to it that upon my liberation I found it impossible for a time to sleep
+in a bed.
+
+On a little rusty iron shelf, fixed in the corner, was our tinware.
+Although called tinware, it really was zinc, and was susceptible,
+through much hard work, of a high polish, but this "polishing tinware"
+was a fearful curse to the poor prisoner. It consisted of a jug for
+water and a bowl for washing in and a pint dish for gruel. There were
+strict and imperative orders, rigidly enforced, that this tinware should
+be kept polished, the result being that the men never washed themselves,
+and never took water in their jugs, for if they did their tinware would
+take a stain--"go off," as it was termed--the result being that if the
+poor devil washed and kept himself clean he would be reported and
+severely punished for having dirty tinware.
+
+A prisoner is not permitted to receive anything from his friends or
+communicate with them in any way, save only once in three months he is
+permitted to write and receive a letter, provided he is a good character
+and has not been reported for any infraction of the rules for three
+months; for if reported for any cause, however trifling, the privilege
+of writing is postponed for three months, and, as a matter of fact, more
+than half of the men never get a chance to write during their
+imprisonment.
+
+A visit of half an hour once in three months is permitted, but this is a
+favor that is only granted upon the same condition as the privilege of
+letter writing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+WHAT, THESE TEDIOUS DETAILS AGAIN.
+
+
+It will be well to present here some account of those who were to rule
+my life for so many years.
+
+The Board of Prison Commissioners have their headquarters at the Home
+Office in Parliament street, London, and are under the control of the
+Home Secretary of State. One of these visits each of Her Majesty's
+convict establishments once a month, in order to try any cases of
+insubordination which are of too serious a nature for the governor of
+the prison to adjudicate upon, he not being permitted to order any
+penalty beyond a few days of bread and water and loss of a limited
+number of remission marks.
+
+The head authority at each prison is the governor, of whom the largest
+establishments, like Chatham, have two. Next comes the deputy
+governors--the medical officer and an assistant doctor; the chaplains
+and schoolmasters, Protestant and Catholic. There are four grades of
+prison warders, viz., the chief warder, principal warders, warders and
+assistant warders. The chief warder, of course, stands first in the
+list, and his duties, if honestly executed, render him the most
+important, as he is the most responsible of the prison officials, save,
+perhaps, the medical officer, who is the autocrat of the place. But, in
+case anything goes wrong, he is the man who gets all the blame, and when
+matters run smoothly and well, the governor gets all the thanks. During
+the absence of the governor the deputy takes his place, and in turn the
+chief warder performs the duties of the deputy governor's office. As all
+business passes through the chief's hands, he must be a fair scholar,
+though sometimes a principal warder who understands bookkeeping is
+detailed to assist him. He must be of strict integrity, a thorough
+disciplinarian, and of a character to make him respected both by his
+superiors and inferiors in position. The warders of all grades are under
+his command, and must fear him for his inflexibility in punishing any
+breach of regulations, and have confidence in his disposition to act
+justly toward them, he being the one on whom the governor relies for all
+information regarding their conduct. It is on the reports of the chief
+warder that the governor acts in all cases involving their promotion,
+reprimands or fines, and their application for leave of absence must be
+approved of and signed by him. It is clear that unless he is very
+straight in the performance of his duties, he would soon place himself
+in the power of some of the warders, who would not fail to take
+advantage of any knowledge of his derelictions to benefit themselves,
+and to the detriment of discipline and good order. Under the English
+Government the salary of a man possessing these superior qualifications
+is between $500 and $600 a year and his uniform. This is of blue cloth,
+the sleeves and collar of his coat and his cap embroidered with gold
+lace. On alternate days, at the prison where I was confined, he came on
+duty at 5 a.m. in Summer and 5.30 in Winter, and left the prison at 4
+p.m., leaving in charge a principal warder, coming on duty the following
+morning at 7 a.m. At 6 o'clock p.m., after receiving the reports from
+the ward officers, stating the number of prisoners each has just locked
+up, and thus seeing that all are safe, he locks with his master key the
+gates and outer doors of the main buildings, and before finally retiring
+for the night he must lock the outer gate, so that no one but the
+governor can get in or out--each watchman being locked into the ward
+which he is set to guard. There are bells in his room connecting with
+the various wards, and in case of sickness or any other emergency, he is
+the man who is aroused. It is the chief warder who keeps everything
+connected with the prison in running order, and whatever goes wrong the
+cry is for the chief, and he is sent for, be it day or night.
+
+In a large establishment there are a dozen or more principal warders.
+These are the lieutenants of the chief, and have general supervision of
+the working parties. Their pay is about $400 a year and uniforms. There
+are of the other two grades, warders and assistant warders, from two to
+three thousand employed in all Her Majesty's prisons in Great Britain
+and Ireland. Warders and assistant warders are provided with a short,
+heavy truncheon, which each carries in his hand or in a leather sheath
+which hangs from his belt, to which is also attached a sort of cartouch
+box in which he keeps the keys, which are fastened to a chain, the other
+end to his belt. When about to leave the prison, on going off duty, he
+must hang up the belt and attachments in the chief warder's office.
+Their pay, besides uniforms, which are of blue cloth, is $350 a year for
+warders and $300 for assistant warders. All promotions are by seniority.
+In case of transfer by authorities to any other prison, they retain
+their position in the line of promotion, but if they volunteer or make
+application to be transferred they have to begin at the bottom in
+reckoning the length of service for promotion. When the authorities wish
+to transfer warders, it is usual for them to call for volunteers, of
+whom they find a sufficient number anxious for a change, unless the
+transfer is to an unpopular station, such as Dartmoor, which is among
+the bogs, and a lonely, bleak place.
+
+[Illustration: THEY DO IT DIFFERENTLY IN CHINA.]
+
+[Illustration: THEY DON'T USE STRAIGHT-JACKETS IN PERSIA.]
+
+Warders are exempted from doing night duty, which is all done by the
+assistant warders, who are on that service one week out of three.
+Although when on night duty they had the day for sleep and recreation,
+I never saw one who did not detest it, because they must remain on duty
+continuously for twelve hours, and must not read, sit down nor lean
+against anything, nor have their hands behind them. These military
+regulations apply as well to the whole time they are on duty in the
+prison, day or night. A few years ago the time of daily duty was reduced
+to twelve hours, with one hour at noon for dinner. Besides this, at
+times they must do a good deal of extra duty. Each is allowed ten days
+annual holiday, but is frequently obliged to take it piecemeal, a day or
+two at a time, so that he cannot go far away from the scene of his
+servitude. Their duties require unflagging attention and never-ceasing
+vigilance, which must be a heavy tax on the brain, and the twelve hours
+must be passed in standing or walking about. In fact, they are subjected
+to military discipline, or rather despotism, and any known infraction of
+the rules subjects them to penalties according to the nature of the
+offense. Leaning against a wall, sitting down, etc., for a first
+offense, they are mulcted in a small sum--12 to 60 cents, usually--and
+are put back in the line of promotion. The fines go to the Officers'
+Library fund. I knew one officer, Joseph Matthews, who had been
+assistant warder twenty years, and, being frequently set back for doing
+some small favor to prisoners, was discharged from the service in 1886,
+without a pension, for some slight breach of regulations. He had a wife
+and six children, and had worked twenty years for less than $7 per week.
+For giving a convict a small bit of tobacco, a heavy fine, suspension,
+and in case it was not the first offense, expulsion from the service
+without a pension. For acting the go-between and facilitating
+correspondence with the friends of convicts, expulsion--possibly
+imprisonment. One of the assistant warders, who was convicted of having
+received a bribe of L100 from one of us at Newgate, was expelled from
+the service and imprisoned eighteen months. Another at Portsmouth
+Prison underwent the same fate, save that his term was but six months,
+for sending and receiving letters for a prisoner, and similar cases are
+of frequent occurrence.
+
+The warders and assistant warders are the ones who come in direct and
+constant contact with prisoners, and when the eye of no superior
+authority is on them, or nothing else to deter, they are "hail fellow
+well met" with such of the convicts as are unprincipled enough to curry
+favor with and assist them in covering up their peccadilloes from their
+superiors. They naturally recoil at the hardness and parsimony of the
+Government toward them, evading the performance of duties when they can,
+and I have heard more than one say: "Why should we care what prisoners
+do, so long as we don't get into trouble? The Government grinds us down
+to twelve hours' daily duty on just pay enough to keep body and soul
+together; then, if we complain, tells us that we can leave if we like,
+as there are others ready to step into our places. Bah! what do we care
+for the Government? It is of no benefit to us; the big guns get big pay,
+and the higher up the office the more the pay and the less the work. To
+be sure, we can go out of the prison to sleep, but otherwise we are
+bound as closely as you are." Yet these very warders, the moment any
+superior authority appears on the scene, are as obsequious and fawning
+as whipped dogs, and recoup themselves for this forced humiliation by
+taking it out of such of the convicts as fail to curry their favor, or
+offend, or make them trouble. Surely their office is a very responsible
+one, and it is blind, false economy to retain low-priced men in such a
+position. The present English system of penal servitude is perfect on
+paper, but the moral qualities of most of the warders and assistant
+warders preclude all possibility of the reformation of those in their
+charge.
+
+Notwithstanding the expositions of the English delegates at the
+international meetings, prison reform has never yet been tried in Great
+Britain and Ireland. In other words, all efforts in that direction have
+been defeated by placing convicts in the immediate charge of a class of
+men who, by education and training, possess none of the qualifications
+requisite for such a responsible position.
+
+In so far as forms are concerned, the business of the prison is carried
+on most systematically. There are blank forms which cover everything,
+from provisioning the prison to bathing the men, and these must be
+filled in and signed by the warder in charge of the particular work
+being done. For example, every week he must fill in the proper form and
+certify that every man in his ward has had a bath. I have known men to
+go unbathed for many months, simply because they did not wish to bathe,
+and it saved the warder trouble--nearly all others in the ward only
+bathed about once a month, and yet at the stated times the officer
+filled up and signed the form, certifying to the superior authorities
+that those in his ward had been bathed at the regulation times.
+
+A great majority of the officers are soldiers who have been invalided or
+pensioned off after doing the full term for which they enlisted--twelve
+years--and of sailors in the same condition. In order to encourage
+enlistment into the army and navy, the Government gives discharged
+soldiers and sailors the preference in the civil service, apparently
+heedless as to their moral qualifications. Indeed, it would be
+difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain about these, for the very
+nature and present requirements of these services tend to harden and
+make men conscienceless, subservient and fawning toward their superiors,
+and tyrannical to those in their power.
+
+As to those in the prison service, there are many who would be good men
+in a situation suited to their acquirements, and there are but a few of
+those who are brought into immediate contact with the men--who, in fact,
+virtually hold the power of life and death over them--whose influence is
+of an elevating or reforming kind. Indeed, I have heard many of them
+telling or exchanging obscene stories with prisoners, and using the
+vilest language and bandying thieves' slang, in which they become
+proficient. I am bold to say that at least one-half of all I have known
+are in morals on a level with the average prisoner, or, as I have heard
+more than one assistant warder say, "Too much of a coward to steal,
+ashamed to beg and too lazy to work"--therefore became a soldier, then a
+warder. This may, at the moment, have been spoken in a jesting way, but
+it is none the less true.
+
+What can be expected in the way of refinement and good morals from a
+class of men who entered the army or navy, coming, as they did in most
+cases, from the untaught and mind-debased multitude with which that land
+of drink and debauchery swarms?
+
+It will be seen from the foregoing that very much is expected from them,
+and in order to fulfill the very hard terms of their contract with the
+Government, and keep their places, they are forced to resort to
+trickery, deception and perjury, until these, in their attitude toward
+their employer, the Government, become second nature, readily resorting
+to lies to clear themselves from blame, even in trivial matters, to save
+themselves from a sixpence fine. There are jealousies among themselves,
+but when it is a question of deceiving or keeping any neglect of duties
+or violences against prisoners from the superior authorities they all
+unite as one man and affirm or swear to anything they think the position
+requires.
+
+A real pleasure was derived from those prisoners' friends, the rats and
+mice, which I easily tamed and taught to be my companions.
+
+[Illustration: "COME ON. YOU ARE FREE."--Page 480.]
+
+Not long after my arrival a prisoner gave me a young rat which became
+the solace of an otherwise miserable existence. Nothing could he cleaner
+in its habits or more affectionate in disposition than this pet member
+of a despised race of rodents. It passed all its leisure time in
+preening its fur, and after eating always most scrupulously cleaned
+its hands and face. It was easily taught, and in course of time it could
+perform many surprising feats. I made a small trapeze, the bar being a
+slate pencil about four inches long, which was wound with yarn and hung
+from strings of the same; and on this the rat would perform like an
+acrobat, appearing to enjoy the exercise as much as the performance
+always delighted me. I made a long cord out of yarn, on which it would
+climb exactly in the manner in which a sailor shins up a rope; and when
+the cord was stretched horizontally it would let its body sway under and
+travel along the cord, clinging by its hands and feet like a human
+performer.
+
+A rat's natural position when eating a piece of bread is to sit on its
+haunches, but I had trained this rat to stand upright on its feet, with
+its head up like a soldier. Placing it in front of me on the bed, I
+would hand it a piece of bread, which it would hold up to its mouth with
+its hands while standing erect. Keeping one sharp eye on me and the
+other on its food, the moment it noticed that I was not looking it would
+gradually settle down upon its haunches. When my eyes turned on it it
+would instantly straighten itself up like a schoolboy caught in some
+mischief. It always showed great jealousy of my tame mice, and I had to
+be very careful not to let it get a chance to get at one. On one
+occasion I was training one of the mice, and did not notice that the rat
+was near. Suddenly, like a flash, it leaped nearly two feet, seizing the
+mouse by the neck precisely as a tiger seizes its prey. Although I
+instantly snatched it away, it was too late, the one fierce bite having
+severed the jugular.
+
+I have mentioned mice, and indeed they were most interesting pets,
+easily trained and as scrupulously clean and neat as any creature of a
+higher race could be. I at times had a half dozen of them, which I had
+caught in the following simple way: I first stuck a small bit of bread
+on the inside of my pint tin cup, about half way down; then turning it
+bottom up on the floor, I raised one edge just high enough so that a
+mouse could enter, and let the edge of the cup rest on a splinter. It
+would not be long before one would enter, and as it could not reach the
+bread otherwise it stood up, putting its hands against the sides of the
+cup, thus over-balancing it, causing the cup to drop, and simple mousie
+would find itself also a prisoner.
+
+Although there was an order that no prisoner should be permitted to have
+any kind of pets, especially rats and mice, and as the prison swarmed
+with these, the warders had become tired of being obliged to turn over
+the cells and prisoners daily in search of these contraband favorites,
+the loss of which generally provoked the owners to insubordination; in
+consequence of which there was a tacit understanding that they were not
+to be interfered with, provided they were kept out of sight when the
+governor made his rounds.
+
+Nothing could overcome the jealousy of my otherwise gentle rat when it
+saw me petting a mouse, and it would watch for an opportunity to spring
+upon its diminutive rival and put a speedy end to its career.
+
+I had one mouse which to its other accomplishments added the following:
+It would lie in the palm of my open hand, with its four legs up in the
+air, pretending to be dead, only the little creature kept its bright
+eyes wide open, fixed on my face. As soon as I said, "Come to life!" it
+would spring up, rush along my arm and disappear into my bosom like a
+flash.
+
+[Illustration: 1 Austin ----. 2 Geo. McDonald. 3 Officer. 4 Geo. Bidwell.
+5 Officer. 6 Noyes. 7 Mr. Straight, Q.C. McDONALD SPEAKING TO MR.
+STRAIGHT, Q.C., DURING THE TRIAL.]
+
+I had a mouse trained the same as the one above described, and was in
+dread lest a warder should see and destroy it. Therefore, in the hope of
+getting a guarantee for its safety, one day when the medical officer on
+his round came to my cell with his retinue I put my mouse through the
+"dead dog" performance. The little fellow lay exposed in my hand with
+one of its twinkling eyes fixed on me, and the other on these strangers.
+Such was its confidence in me that it went through the performance
+perfectly, and when I gave the signal in an instant it was in my (as the
+poor thing believed) protecting bosom. The doctors laughed, and the
+retinue of course followed suit--if they had frowned the latter would
+have done likewise. The doctors appeared so pleased that I felt certain
+they would order the warder, as was in their power, to let me keep my
+harmless pet, the sole companion of my solitude and misery, unmolested.
+
+They went outside the cell and lingered; in a moment then the warder
+came in, and after a struggle got the mouse out of my bosom and put his
+heel upon it. I am not ashamed to confess that I cried over the loss of
+this poor little victim of overconfidence in human beings.
+
+I once procured a beetle with red stripes across its wing-sheaths, and
+trained it to show some degree of intelligence. This was for months the
+sole companion of my solitude, but it was at last discovered in my
+possession and taken away.
+
+I made friends with the flies, and found that they displayed no small
+degree of intelligence. I soon had a dozen tamed, and in the course of
+my long observations I discovered, among other things, that the males
+were very tyrannical over the fair sex, and tried to prevent them from
+getting any of the food. In the Summer mornings at daylight they would
+gather on the wall next my bed and wait patiently until I placed a
+little chewed bread on the back of my hand, when instantly there was a
+rush, and the first one who got possession, if a male, tried to prevent
+the rest from alighting, and would dart at the nearest, chasing it in
+zig-zags far away. In the mean time another would have attained
+possession, and it went for the next corner, and for a long time there
+would be a succession of fierce encounters, until at last all had made
+good their footing and feasted harmoniously; for as fast as one
+succeeded in alighting it was let alone. Sometimes a male would take
+possession of my forehead, and, in case I left him unmolested, he would
+keep off intruders on what he evidently considered his domain by darting
+at them in a ferocious manner. On one occasion I noticed a fly that had
+one of its hind legs turned up, apparently out of joint. As it was
+feeding on my hand I tried to put my finger on the leg to press it down.
+During three or four such attempts it moved away, after which it
+appeared to recognize my kind intention and stood perfectly still while
+I pressed on the leg. It may be unnecessary to add that I failed in
+performing a successful surgical operation.
+
+As the Winter approached the flies began to lose their legs and wings;
+those that lost their wings would walk along the wall until they came to
+the usual waiting spot, and as soon as I put a finger against the wall
+the maimed creature would crawl to the usual place on my hand for
+breakfast. Indeed, the long years of solitude had produced in me such an
+unutterable longing for the companionship of something which had life
+that I never destroyed any kind of insect which found its way into my
+cell--even when mosquitoes lit on my face I always let them have their
+fill undisturbed, and felt well repaid by getting a glimpse of them as
+they flew and with the music of their buzzing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+THE DAYS O' SUMMER MERRILY SPENT IN THE LAND OF THE HEATHER.
+
+
+In the cell next to mine was a prison genius named Heep, who was one of
+the most singular characters I ever met. As I shall have occasion to
+speak of him frequently, I may as well give here a sketch of his life as
+related to me by himself. He was born in the town of Macclesfield, near
+Manchester, in 1852, of respectable mechanics, or tradespeople as they
+are called in England. His father died when Heep was about 5 years of
+age, and after a time his mother married a carpenter and joiner of the
+place.
+
+Young Heep was a lively child, up to all sorts of tricks, and does not
+remember the time since he could walk that he was not in some mischief,
+and, as he remarked, "took to all sorts of deviltry as naturally as a
+duck to water." As long as his father lived there was not much check on
+his mischievous propensities, but his stepfather proved to be a severe
+and stern judge, and brought him to book for every irregularity,
+thrashing him most unmercifully for each offense. His mother could not
+have filled her maternal duty very judiciously, judging from the fact
+that before he was 12 years old she set him to follow and watch his
+stepfather to the house of a woman of whom she was jealous. The boy
+possessed great natural abilities, and in good hands would have turned
+out something different than a life-long prison drudge. He was handsome,
+genteel in appearance, an apt scholar, though very self-willed and
+headstrong, and as he grew up his naturally hot temper became
+uncontrollable. At an early age he had discovered that by threats of
+self-injury he could bend his parents to his wishes, but found in his
+stepfather one who would put up with no nonsense; even when he cut
+himself so as to bleed freely, instead of the coveted indulgence it only
+procured him an additional thrashing.
+
+At 15 he had become ungovernable at home, and his father had him put in
+the county insane asylum, where he remained a year and a half. While
+there he caused so much trouble that the attendants were only too glad
+when he escaped and went to Liverpool. Here he succeeded in getting a
+situation with a dealer in bric-a-brac, rare books and antiquities. In a
+short time the proprietor placed so much confidence in his integrity
+that he gave him the charge of his place during his own absences, and
+young Heep was not long in taking advantage of his position to rob his
+employer by taking a book or other article which he sold to some one of
+his master's customers. This went on for some time until on one occasion
+he took the book to a shop kept by a woman to whom he had previously
+sold several articles and offered it for a sovereign. She examined it
+and found that it was an ancient, illuminated Greek manuscript, worth
+fifty times more than the price young Heep asked for it, and, suspecting
+something wrong, she told him to come again for the money the next
+evening. At the appointed time he entered the place and was confronted
+by his master, who contented himself with upbraiding him for his perfidy
+and discharging him from his service.
+
+At this period of his career he had contracted vicious habits, the most
+pernicious for him being that of drink, for when sober he was in his
+right mind, but the moment the drink was in his common sense departed,
+and he became a raving maniac, ready to fight or perpetrate any other
+act of folly. Up to this time he had never been tempted to steal only in
+order to supply means for improper indulgences.
+
+Not long after being discharged from his situation he was found by the
+police acting in so insane a manner under the influence of drink that
+the magistrate before whom he was taken had him sent to the Raynell
+lunatic asylum. Here, being perfectly reckless, he carried on all sorts
+of games which made him obnoxious, although making himself very useful
+in work which he liked, such as gardening, etc. He also took up fancy
+painting and soon became a skillful copyist of prints of any
+description, enlarging or reducing, and painting them in oil or water
+colors. He also became a good decorator and scene painter, besides
+devoting time to various studies, including music.
+
+At last he found means to effect his escape and lay in hiding until
+night; then as he had on the asylum clothes, which would betray him, he
+went back and got in through the window of the tailors' shop, which was
+in an isolated building, and exchanged the clothes he had on for a suit
+belonging to one of the attendants. Thinking himself now safe from
+recognition he started off across the country, but had not gone more
+than twenty miles when, in passing through a small town, a policeman who
+had just heard of the escape from Raynell arrested him on suspicion.
+
+The Raynell authorities sent some one to identify him; he was taken
+back, tried on the charge of stealing the attendant's suit of clothes,
+which he still had on, was convicted by the usual intelligent jury and
+sentenced to five years' penal servitude.
+
+He finished his term of imprisonment at Chatham, and instead of being
+set at liberty was sent under guard back to the asylum!
+
+According to English law, if a person confined in a lunatic asylum
+escapes and keeps away fourteen days he cannot after that be arrested,
+unless he commits fresh acts of insanity.
+
+After several futile attempts he at last made good his escape and
+obtained work with a farmer, where he remained safe for thirteen days,
+and was congratulating himself that in less than another day he would be
+free, when his thoughts were broken off by the appearance of two
+attendants who seized and carried him back to the asylum.
+
+The events above narrated had driven him into a state of desperation at
+what he felt to be gross injustice, and he carried on in such a way that
+the doctor ordered his head to be shaved and blistered as a punishment,
+the straitjacket and all other coercive measures having been of no
+avail. The night watchman had orders to watch him closely, but he kept
+so sharp an eye on the watchman that he caught him asleep, and, creeping
+to the closet window, which he had previously tampered with, crept out,
+and after climbing the low wall found himself on a raw November night,
+with the rain falling in torrents, a stark-naked,
+head-shaved-and-blistered but once more a free man. In this condition he
+wandered on throughout the night, and just before daylight he entered a
+cemetery to find that refuge among the dead of which he thought himself
+so cruelly deprived by the living.
+
+Beneath the entrance to the church there was a passage which led to some
+family vaults in the basement, and he crept down the passage to seek
+some shelter for his nude body from the driving rain, which had chilled
+him through. While groping about in the dark his hand rested on
+something soft, which, to his unbounded delight, proved to be an old
+coat which had probably been left there by the sexton and forgotten. He
+remained hidden all day, and traveled through the fields all night,
+during which he found a scarecrow, from which he transferred to his own
+person its old hat and trousers.
+
+He said that although so hungry, he never had felt so happy as he did at
+finding himself once more dressed up. After proceeding a few miles
+farther, he ventured into a laborer's cottage in quest of food, which
+was given him, and with it a pair of old boots. As dilapidated, ragged,
+vagabond-looking, honest people are common in England, no questions were
+asked, and he proceeded on his way rejoicing in that freedom of which he
+had been deprived for ten years or more.
+
+Amid all his pranks he had never been charged with idleness, and now
+worked at odd jobs about the farms until he had procured a decent suit
+of clothes, when he applied to a master house painter for work as a
+journeyman, though he had never done anything of that kind. The master,
+pleased with his appearance, gave him a trial, but the first job showed
+such ignorance of the art of house painting that he was forthwith
+discharged with half a day's wages. However, he had picked up some
+valuable hints, and being very apt by the time he had been more or less
+summarily discharged from half a dozen places he had become a good
+workman, and henceforth had no trouble about retaining any situation as
+long as he refrained from beer and restrained his temper; but at the
+slightest fault-finding on the part of the master he would fly into a
+passion and throw up the situation, and this, especially, if he
+suspected that anything had leaked out about his imprisonment.
+
+While at work with a companion at painting the interior of a gentleman's
+residence near Bradford a word or two was dropped which made him believe
+his fellow workman had become aware of his being an ex-convict. Quitting
+work, he went to a public house, passing the rest of the day in
+carousing. About midnight, while on his way to his boarding house, it
+occurred to him that he had noticed a good many valuable things about
+the gentleman's house which he could obtain. No sooner thought than
+done; the entrance was in a moment gained; he had just consciousness
+enough left to gather a few things, then lie down by the side of them
+and fell into a drunkard's sleep, in which the servants found him when
+they came down in the morning. A constable was sent for, he was given in
+charge, tried, convicted of the crime of burglary and sentenced to seven
+years' penal servitude.
+
+His former term of five years had made him proficient in all the dodges
+of prison life, and he felt justified in his own mind in using all his
+craft in order to put in his seven years as easily as possible. As he
+had been in Raynell asylum, he knew that by "putting on the balmy" so as
+to be sent to the lunatic department he would not be subjected to the
+prison rules and be as well off as he had been in the free asylum.
+Persistent attempts at suicide by cutting himself in the arms and legs
+with a piece of glass so as to bleed freely accomplished his purpose.
+Being placed with the other convict lunatics, he made himself useful,
+but on account of his bad temper and overbearing, quarrelsome
+disposition, obnoxious to his fellow prisoners.
+
+Eventually he was discharged with an eighteen months' ticket-of-leave
+and $2.50 as capital for a new departure.
+
+He went to Liverpool, procured a passage on board a freight steamer to
+America, which he paid for by working at painting. Landing at New York,
+he made his way to Norfolk, Va., where he procured work as a painter.
+Owing to his infirmity of temper he did not keep his place long, and
+after knocking about for a few months he took a freak to return to
+England--the last place of all for any man who has once been a prisoner.
+
+[Illustration: George Bidwell
+
+AFTER IMPRISONMENT. (From Photo. by Stuart, Hartford.)]
+
+Once more in his native land, he procured work without difficulty at
+house painting, but, as usual, remained in one place but a very short
+time. His earnings, like those of a great majority of the working
+class in England, were squandered in the public house.
+
+Soon after the events just recorded, Heep concluded to visit his old
+home in Macclesfield. He accordingly threw up his situation, and arrived
+at the railway station an hour before the train was due. In order to
+while away the time he entered a public house and drank several glasses
+of ale. The compartment which he entered happened to be empty, and as
+usual whenever he indulged his appetite for anything containing alcohol,
+he was soon quite out of his mind and fancied that some one on the train
+was coming to murder him, and leaped headlong from the train, which was
+going at the rate of forty miles an hour. This came to a standstill, he
+was taken on board again, not seriously injured, and left at Wrexham in
+Denbighshire, from which he was sent to the Denbigh Insane Asylum. This
+being a Welsh institution, did not, according to Heep, possess those
+facilities for enjoying life which were so liberally supplied to the
+inmates of the Raynell asylum near Liverpool. Accordingly he behaved
+himself with so much propriety that the doctor discharged him as cured.
+
+Not long after his return he got work near Manchester at painting in a
+block of new houses where the plumbers were at work putting in the gas
+and water pipes. On a Saturday, when he left work at noon, he met a
+young plumber who was out of a job. This man said he knew where he could
+earn a sovereign if he had tools to do a job in a butcher shop, and told
+Heep that if he would go to the houses where he had been painting and
+borrow a few plumbers' tools and assist him he would divide the amount.
+Heep went back, but finding that the master plumber and all his men had
+gone (Saturday afternoon in England being a half-holiday for laborers),
+he took the few tools required, went and finished the job by 7 p.m.;
+then instead of taking the tools back, they went into a public house
+where they caroused till midnight, when they separated, Heep taking the
+tools to his boarding house. On Monday he started early, so as to get
+the tools back before the other workmen arrived. On nearing the houses
+he passed a policeman who walked a little lame. He turned his head to
+look back, and the policeman happened to do the same thing, and seeing
+Heep looking at him his suspicions were aroused. Turning back, he came
+up and asked him what he had in the two bosses (tool baskets). Heep
+informed him, and on further questioning showed him the key to the house
+from which he had taken the tools, and asked him to accompany him there,
+which he did. They entered, Heep putting back the tools, and showed the
+policeman where he had been painting and wished him to stay until the
+master came in half an hour. This the policeman declined to do, and took
+the tools and told Heep to come to the police station.
+
+Heep lost his temper and began cursing him. The policeman went to the
+door, and seeing another just passing beckoned him in, and the two
+marched him to the station. The plumber was sent for, and was induced to
+make a charge against Heep and value the stolen goods at ten shillings.
+Seeing that the police were bound to make a case against him, he seized
+the plumber's knife and cut his throat, severing the windpipe. The
+doctor was sent for, he was transferred to the jail hospital, and in the
+course of two or three weeks was well enough to appear before the
+magistrate, though he could not speak, and was bound over for trial.
+
+In the mean time the police had discovered that he had served two penal
+terms, on the strength of which, when convicted, the magistrate
+sentenced him to ten years' penal servitude.
+
+At the trial he had not yet recovered the use of his voice, nor did he
+have any one to defend him, for at that time, unlike the present, the
+Crown did not furnish a lawyer for the defense of those who were unable
+to employ one at their own expense. When the magistrate was about to
+pronounce the sentence, he said that as the prisoner had escaped from
+ordinary asylums he should send him to a place from which he could not
+escape--meaning a prison.
+
+[Illustration: BANK OF ENGLAND SCENE.--VISITOR HOLDING L1,000,000
+($5,000,000) BANK OF ENGLAND NOTES.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+WE WILL FERRY YOU OVER JORDAN THAT ROLLS BETWEEN.
+
+
+Once convicted of a crime in England it is impossible, unless a man has
+money or friends, for him to obtain an honest livelihood unless he is
+the happy possessor of a trade. All the great corporations demand
+references that will cover a series of years of the applicant's life,
+and, above all, strict inquiry is made as to his last employer. This
+cuts the ground out from under the feet of the unfortunate, and feeling
+that England can no longer be a home to him he turns his eyes as a
+matter of course to America.
+
+A fair percentage of the prisoners are men who perhaps under great
+temptation, or while under the influence of drink, have broken the laws,
+but yet are honorably minded and resolved in future to lead an honest
+life. Such are not undesirable citizens; but there is another class,
+that of the professional criminal; with these the prisons swarm, and,
+worse yet, the slums and saloons of the great cities are breeding
+thousands more that will take the places of those now on the stage.
+
+The conditions of society in England are such that the procession of
+criminals is an unending one. The society that creates the criminal also
+has established a system of police repression that makes the life
+history of society's victim one of misery, until such time when the
+criminal, growing wise by experience, shakes the dust of English soil
+off from his feet and transfers himself, a moral ruin, to our country,
+here to become a curse and a burden.
+
+This flow of moral sewage to our shores is constant and unceasing. Our
+Government has frequently protested against it, but with no success, for
+the officials in England indignantly deny that the State either
+encourages or assists the exodus of her criminal classes; but from my
+personal knowledge I know this to be false. The officials over there
+have found out an effectual way to rid themselves of their discharged
+prisoners as fast as their sentences expire, and cast them on our
+shores, and this is so ingenious a way that the wrong can never be
+brought home to them.
+
+During my twenty years' residence in Chatham I suppose nearly half as
+many thousands asked me for information about America, and at least 95
+per cent. assured me that when released they would "join the society"
+and depart at once for that happy hunting ground--that Promised Land
+which charms the imagination no less of the criminal than of the honest
+poor of the Old World. In every English prison the walls are decorated
+with placards, gorgeous in hue, of rival firms appealing to the readers
+for patronage. "Join us," they all say; and every prisoner knows the
+appeal "join us" means if you do we will ferry you over the Jordan that
+rolls between this desert land and the plains flowing with milk and
+honey on the other side. The "firms" I mention are those arch humbugs,
+the Prisoners' Aid Societies of England.
+
+Elizabeth Fry, who made "aid to prisoners" fashionable and a society fad
+in England, has much to answer for. Prisoners' Aid Societies have sprung
+up in every quarter of England, and having a rich soil, and under the
+fostering care of the Government, have flourished with a rank and
+luxuriant growth. These societies draw their nourishment from English
+soil, but, unhappily for us, their tall branches hang over our wall and
+their ripened fruit falls on our ground.
+
+From the time a prisoner becomes accustomed to his surroundings until
+the hour of his release the one thing ever uppermost in his thoughts,
+the one distracting subject and cause of anxious solicitude, is the
+question, "Which society shall I join?" It is a tolerably safe venture
+to predict that he will "join" "The Royal Prisoners' Aid Society of
+London," which society is happy in having Her Gracious Majesty and a
+long list of illustrious lords and ladies for "governors." What that may
+mean no one knows. Certainly no benefit from these people ever accrues
+to the discharged prisoners, but who can describe the glory that falls
+on the four or five reverend gentlemen, sons, nephews or brothers of
+deans or bishops, high-salaried secretaries of this particular society,
+who pose at the annual meeting in Exeter Hall, before a brilliant
+audience, and after have the felicity of seeing their report in the
+church and society journals and their names connected with such exalted
+people.
+
+The way the Government over there accomplishes its purpose of getting
+rid of its criminal population at our expense and at the same time is
+able to answer the charges of our Government with disavowal is this:
+
+The Home Secretary alone possesses the pardoning power for the United
+Kingdom, and directly controls every prison, his fiat being law in all
+things to every official as well as to every inmate. He has officially
+recognized and registered at the Home Office every prisoners' aid
+society in England, Scotland and Wales, and in order to boom them he
+gives to every discharged prisoner an extra gratuity of L3 provided he
+"joins" a prisoners' aid society on his discharge, the result being that
+all do so. England is a small and compact country, and the police have
+practically one head, and that head is the Home Secretary. Under the
+circumstances the system of police espionage is so perfect that whenever
+a discharged prisoner is reconvicted for another crime he cannot escape
+recognition, and in all such cases the Home Secretary notifies the
+particular aid society who received the prisoner on his discharge of the
+fact, very much to the vexation of the officials of the society, who are
+all anxious for a good record in reforming men that come officially
+under their auspices. They publish that all who are never reported as
+reconvicted are reformed, and all love to make a big showing for the
+money subscribed at the all-important annual meeting, the result being
+that all the men hustled out of the country by the society count as
+reformed men.
+
+These societies are supported by subscriptions, which all go in salaries
+and office rents. The assistance given to the discharged prisoner is
+limited to the L3 extra gratuity given the society by the Government on
+the prisoner's behalf. The London societies have an agreement with the
+Netherlands Line and the Wilson Line of steamers to "take to sea" for L2
+10s. all "workingmen" they send to them. I have talked to thousands of
+men who "joined the society," most of whom intended to go to America,
+and I have talked to scores who had "joined," but who, unluckily for
+themselves, not leaving England, were reconvicted and sent back to
+Chatham. Throughout twenty years I conversed with several thousand men
+who joined the society avowing they were going to America, and were
+never heard of again in England, and have also known some scores of men
+who passed through the hands of the society agents, yet were afterward
+reconvicted. Therefore I am in a position to speak with authority on the
+important question of England dumping her criminal population on our
+shores.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+"WELL MY MAN, WHAT DO YOU INTEND TO DO?" "I WANT TO GO TO AMERICA, SIR."
+"TUT! TUT! YOU MEAN YOU WANT TO GO TO SEA!" "YES, SIR; I WANT TO GO TO
+SEA."
+
+
+The Royal Society and The Christian Aid Societies, presided over by a
+Rev. Mr. Whitely, enjoy a bad pre-eminence in this respect. The year
+before my release the latter stated at the annual meeting that six
+thousand discharged prisoners had passed through his society, and I
+venture to assert that five thousand of these found their way to this
+country through the assistance of this society. These two societies have
+been boomed to an incredible extent, and it would be a curious study if
+any report could be had as to how the large subscriptions were actually
+expended.
+
+For the sake of making my narrative clear, I will here only speak of the
+first-named society.
+
+[Illustration: LEAVING LIVERPOOL.--GEORGE BIDWELL'S FAREWELL TO JOHN
+BULL.]
+
+Two months before release the prisoner must inform the warder that he
+intends to join the Royal Society. He notifies the Home Office, which in
+turn notifies the society and forwards a warrant for L3. The prisoner
+upon discharge takes a certain train for London, and is met upon his
+arrival at the station by an agent of the society. This agent ranks as a
+servant, is usually an ex-prisoner and is always paid 21 shillings a
+week. He pilots his man at a certain hour before the Reverend Secretary,
+and here follows a verbatim report of the dialogue between the great
+man and the poor, timid and dreadfully embarrassed ex-prisoner:
+
+Great Man--Well, my man, what do you intend to do?
+
+Ex-Prisoner--I want to go to America.
+
+Great Man--Tut! tut! my man; you mean you want to go to sea.
+
+Ex-Prisoner (taking the hint)--Yes, sir; I want to go to sea.
+
+Great Man--Very well, my man. Go with this agent, who will fix it with
+the ship captain so you can go to sea.
+
+If a steamer of either line named is about to sail he is taken on board
+at once goes to the steerage, and just before sailing the agent hands
+him a ticket and the criminal is safely off for America. England is rid
+of a bad subject, and the Royal Society has one more "reformed" man to
+put in its report. In addition to the L3 gratuity the ex-prisoner has
+been paid L1, L2 or L3 in addition, provided his sentence had been at
+least five years. The society is not a cent out of pocket over him, and
+forlorn and friendless he lands here with from $2 to $15 in his pocket.
+He has got the cheap suit of clothes he wears, one handkerchief and one
+pair of stockings extra. It is almost certain he will speedily drift
+into crime, spending the remainder of his life in prison, and finally
+dying there or in the poorhouse.
+
+There is just one way this evil can be stopped--I might say two ways.
+The first, and a method that would be effectual in stopping the influx
+of criminals from all countries, is to let Congress put a tax of $30 or
+$50 on the steamship companies for every passenger not an American
+citizen whom they bring to America. Not one discharged criminal in a
+thousand could meet the tax in addition to the fare. The only other way
+possible would be for our Government to request the English Government
+to furnish them with photographs, marks and measurements of all
+discharged criminals. Then have them copied and sent to the
+Immigration Commissioners of our ports. But that would involve a radical
+change in these boards and their methods. Efficiency there under our
+corrupt system is, I fear, hopeless.
+
+I visited Ellis Island a few days ago and saw how they passed a shipload
+of immigrants in a few minutes, and as I looked I felt it was hopeless
+to expect any efficient measures to throw back the foul tide that is
+polluting our shores.
+
+Seldom as men of the criminal class once safe in America ever return to
+England, yet they do now and then return. In the two or three cases that
+came under my observation it was very much to their loss and grief, for
+they only came back to undergo another term.
+
+One day, in 1890, a man working in my party slipped a note into my hand
+that had been given him for me in chapel that morning. As in similar
+cases, I secreted the note, and when safe in my little room I read it.
+The writer said he had lately come down from London, and was most
+anxious to get into my party in order to have a chance to talk with me.
+He said he had been living in Chicago and could give me all the news. He
+ended the note by stating he was being murdered by hard work, and
+implored me to try and get him into my party, where it was not so hard.
+This I was most anxious to do, as in my party you could talk almost with
+impunity. To have a man near me fresh and only a year before in Chicago
+would be like a letter from home and also a newspaper. Therefore, I
+determined to get Foster in my party if possible. At this time I had
+been seventeen years a resident, and was, in fact, the oldest
+inhabitant, and had some little influence in a quiet way. About eleven
+years before I had been put in the party, and had a chance to learn
+bricklaying, and having become an expert in the art was given charge of
+the bricklaying. I was on the best of terms with our officer, so when, a
+day or two later, one of our men was so fortunate (in the Chatham view
+of it) as to meet with an accident and be admitted to that heaven, the
+infirmary, I told my officer to ask for Foster to replace him. He did
+so, and he, very much to his gratification, found himself by my side,
+with a trowel instead of a shovel in his hand. We worked side by side,
+Winter and Summer, storm and shine, for two years, and in spite of
+myself I began soon to like the man. His chief and only virtues were
+truthfulness and fair-mindedness toward his friends--rare and
+incongruous virtues for a professional burglar; nevertheless, he
+possessed them in a marked degree. This is a statement to make a cynic
+smile, and is one of those cases where the result is justifiable; yet,
+however the cynic may smile, there is plenty of all-around good faith in
+the world, and there is no nation, race or color, no clique, religion
+nor social strata, that has a monopoly of the article. Good faith and
+truth grow in unlikely places, as I have found in my career, for I have
+looked on life from both sides, and to look on it from the seamy side is
+instructive, indeed, for then the mask is off and the true character is
+revealed. I have been away down in the depths, and for years have toiled
+cheek by jowl, through sunshine and storm, in blinding snows and pelting
+rain, with my brother men under conditions too brutal and demoralizing
+to be understood if described--conditions where the very worst side of
+human character would naturally be thought to come to the front, and I
+came out of the fierce struggle in that pit of death with conclusions as
+to the human animal that are decidedly favorable, and I am inclined to
+the view that man was born almost an angel, and that, in spite of the
+fearful temptations of the world into which he has been thrust, much of
+the angelic pottery abides.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+MANY A MAN MORE DANGEROUS WRITES ALDERMAN AFTER HIS NAME.
+
+
+Foster's experience during his four years' residence in Chicago was
+decidedly novel, and it had evidently brightened his wits--that is,
+increased his cunning without adding to his honesty. And as I think it
+will interest my reader to get a view of life from the actor's own
+standpoint, I will relate one of the many stories he told me during the
+years we worked together.
+
+Upon Foster's release from his first term of imprisonment he joined the
+Christian Aid Society of London, and Mr. Whitely, the secretary,
+promptly "sent him to sea," as he has thousands of others. In due time
+he arrived in New York, but as he had heard much of Chicago he
+determined to go there. He arrived penniless, but within an hour ran
+against an old friend in the person of a former partner in the art of
+burglary who had been a fellow prisoner with him in London. This man's
+name was Turtle, and Mr. Whitely had only "sent him to sea" two brief
+years before. It was plain from his magnificent diamond ring, pin and
+big bank roll, freely displayed, that the seafaring life of the former
+protege of the London Prison Aid Society was a profitable occupation. He
+was delighted to meet Foster, and took him to a tailor's at once and
+fitted him out liberally, at the same time handing him $250, just for
+pocket money. When, on the next day, Foster stated to his friend that
+he was ready to undertake a burglary, Turtle was displeased, and said:
+"No; we are on the honest game, which pays better." What that was will
+appear. Turtle had a large private inquiry office, with two of the city
+detectives for side partners, who turned over to him all business in
+which there was a prospect of mutual profit. All imaginable schemes of
+villainy were concocted and executed there, and with perfect impunity,
+too. For Turtle had the ear of all the magistrates, and was in with all
+the gangs that made the City Hall of Chicago the worst and vilest den of
+robbers that encumbers this earth.
+
+What cause the pessimist has for his boding views when in cities like
+New York, Quaker Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco, the City
+Halls, those centres of municipal life, hold and are ruled by the worst
+and most dangerous gangs of criminals sheltered by any roof in any city!
+
+Alas! that the centre which should be the purest stream within the city
+should be a foul cesspool, sending out poisonous vapors to pollute the
+life of the citizens!
+
+Universal suffrage in our great centres is a corrupt tree and its fruits
+must needs be poisonous.
+
+Turtle gave his friend Foster a welcome at his office and at once
+enrolled him on his staff, but virtually made him a member of the firm.
+So, between the two Police Headquarters thieves and the two English
+ones, they had a combination indeed.
+
+Many stories Foster told me during the years of our intercourse that
+were novel and strange, and gave me a view of the social world seldom
+seen. Here is a specimen:
+
+One day a countryman appeared at Police Headquarters in Chicago and
+announced that he had been robbed of $20,000, and showed how his coat
+pocket had been cut open and the money taken. This, he explained, had
+been done in a crowd. It was a strange place for a man to carry so
+large a sum, and, still stranger, the pocket was cut on the inside. Of
+course, a pickpocket in the rare event of cutting the pocket of an
+intended victim must of necessity cut the pocket from the outside. The
+countryman had fallen at Headquarters to the tender mercies of the two
+partners of Turtle. One glance at the pocket showed them there was a
+colored gentleman in the woodpile, and as there was $20,000 in the deal
+somewhere, they determined to have some share of it. They, of course,
+pretended to believe the story of the countryman, but for fear some of
+the other Headquarters men might hear and want a share, they hurried him
+away from the office over to the Sherman House; then one went to
+Turtle's office and posted him on the situation. The countryman was
+anxious to leave town, but on various pretenses they held him for two
+days, but as he stoutly affirmed that the lost money was his own they
+were puzzled to solve the mystery; but their knowledge of human nature
+was such that they felt certain that if they could only arrive at the
+bottom the old gentleman would not be quite as white as he pretended to
+be. He came from an obscure mountain town in East Tennessee, and while
+they fancied a trip there might solve matters they feared to lose their
+victim--for victim these human tigers determined the countryman should
+be. The second day they resolved on decisive measures to get at the
+truth, and at the same time secure some plunder, provided the
+Tennesseean had any cash.
+
+So far Turtle and Foster had not been seen by the victim. The detectives
+asked the countryman to remain one more night to see if they could not
+catch the men who had robbed him. That afternoon one of Turtle's staff
+secured a room at the same hotel, and, seizing an opportunity, slipped
+into the countryman's chamber and concealed some burglar tools under the
+mattress of his bed and in his carpet bag. This once done, they marched
+the "guy" along Clark street, and, as arranged, Turtle and one of his
+staff met them, and shaking hands with the two detectives asked if they
+were arresting their companion for a job. Upon their saying he was a
+wealthy gentleman from the South, Turtle burst out laughing, and said he
+knew him for an old-time burglar, and if they would search his house
+they would find stolen goods, and ended by saying, "Bring him down to my
+office and I will show you his picture." The detectives now changed
+their tones and threatened to arrest him. He having, as the sequel will
+show, a bad conscience, became frightened. Then they arrested him, and
+announced that they were going to search his room at the hotel. This
+they did, taking him along. Of course, they found what they had
+previously hidden, very much to the terror of the countryman, who,
+lashed by a bad conscience, began to think he was in a fix. The friends
+of the hour before now became threatening bullies, promising to get him
+ten years for the possession of burglar tools. They took him to Turtle's
+office, and there stripping him they found to their disappointment that
+he had no money, but found carefully folded up in an inner pocket a
+postoffice receipt for a registered letter sent from Nashville to St.
+Paul. They kept him a prisoner that night while Turtle left by the first
+train for St. Paul with the receipt in his pocket. The next morning
+found him in St. Paul, and a few minutes later he walked out of the
+office with the registered letter, which proved to be a bulky one.
+Tearing it open he found it full of United States bonds and greenbacks,
+amounting in all to $20,000. The next day all save $1,000, reserved for
+the victim, was divided among the four birds of prey. That day the
+victim was taken before a friendly magistrate and fully committed to
+await in jail the action of the Grand Jury. Twenty-four hours later a
+tool called on him at the jail, and gave him the option of taking $1,000
+and getting out of town by the first train or getting ten years for the
+possession of burglar tools. The poor fool, with trembling eagerness,
+accepted the first part of the ultimatum, and within an hour a bail
+bond was filled up, and darkness found the baffled old man speeding
+westward, never again to look on his own people.
+
+But how was he a baffled old man? He had embarked in a scheme of
+villainy, but had been beaten at his own game by sharper rascals. From
+whom did he steal the money? Read:
+
+In a small Tennessee town there lived a widow whose husband had been
+killed in the Confederate army and who found herself, like so many more
+Southern ladies at the close of the war, impoverished, and with a family
+of children to be provided with bread. But it seems she was a brave
+body, and with a head for business. She opened a small hotel in
+Nashville, and by reason of her history, no less than her excellent
+hostelry, she thrived apace, and, investing all her savings in newly
+started industrial enterprises in Nashville, her small investments
+brought in large returns, which were reinvested, until at 40, finding
+herself mistress of a competency, she quit business and went to spend
+the remainder of her days where she was born. The hero of the adventure
+in Chicago was not only her neighbor, but had been the comrade of her
+husband through the deadly fights of the war. She naturally turned to
+him as a friend for advice. He first asked her to be his wife, and upon
+her refusal he began to urge her to dispose of all her interests in
+Nashville and reinvest her money in the nearby city of Knoxville. At
+last she consented, and sent him to Nashville with authority to act as
+her agent. He disposed of her property, except the old hotel. He was
+paid $20,000 on her account, and once with the money in his possession
+he determined to keep it. It was a cowardly deed, and dearly did he pay
+for it. He wrote her he was going to Chicago, and would take the money
+with him, as he would only remain for a day. To Chicago he came, and, as
+related, robbed himself, sending off the money in a registered letter to
+himself. Then he appeared at Police Headquarters with his cut pocket
+and clumsy story, which appeared in the next morning's paper. He sent a
+marked copy of the paper to the lady, and at the same time wrote a
+hypocritical letter stating that he was so heartbroken over losing her
+money that he did not have the courage to look her in the face, and
+never should until such time as he could repay the money. He said he was
+going to California to work, and when he had enough she would see him
+again, but not before.
+
+[Illustration: "I RESOLVED TO LEAVE A MESSAGE OF HOPE AND HIGH
+RESOLVE."]
+
+How easy it is for a man to become an unspeakable villain, and how
+nicely this one was hoisted with his own petard!
+
+Eventually this catastrophe proved a blessing to the widow. It drove her
+back to her hotel again, and soon after she became the wife of one of
+the bravest and best men Tennessee ever produced. I was so interested in
+the fate of this lady that when in Nashville in 1893 I tried to hunt her
+up. I found several who knew the whole story, and from them I heard her
+after history and a full confirmation of Foster's narrative.
+
+Foster remained four years in Chicago and flourished. He and Turtle
+became very influential in politics and partners in a combine of
+rascally Aldermen and police magistrates that robbed the city and the
+citizens with impunity. But unluckily for him, he one day took it into
+his head to pay a visit to his old haunts in England, there to display
+his diamonds and bank roll to such of his former cronies as happened to
+be at liberty. On arriving in London he began to play the role of a rich
+American, but was recognized by the police, an old charge raked up
+against him, arrested, promptly placed on trial, found guilty and
+sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. Although the possessor of
+considerable property, he is to-day toiling at Chatham like a slave and
+probably if he lives he will come out a broken man. It is a certainty
+that the very day he is liberated he will "go to sea," being sent by a
+prisoners' aid society, and a few days later become an ornament to that
+good city of Chicago. Once there, his ambition will not be satisfied
+until he takes his seat as Alderman, becoming one of the City Fathers.
+Many more immoral and dangerous than he write Alderman after their names
+in that windy city.
+
+[Illustration: BIDWELL PICKING OAKUM.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+A BATTERED HULK STRANDED ON A SHORE TO WHICH NO TIDE RETURNS.
+
+
+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. He was a man of great
+nerve and quick apprehension, and very truthful, therefore I found his
+stories of his adventures most interesting, besides the fact that his
+history was another proof of the truth that wrongdoing never pays.
+Stoneman was of good parentage, and had entered the army in 1861, making
+a good record up to and including the battle of Gettysburg. There, owing
+to a quarrel with his captain, he deserted, and became a bounty jumper,
+making a large amount of money, but when the war ended, finding his
+occupation gone, he entered upon a life of crime, starting out first as
+a very successful express robber. The last robbery he engaged in in that
+line was on the New Haven road near Norwalk. His share amounted to some
+thousands, but he was literally bowled out, and by a singular
+circumstance. One of his confederates by the name of Riley had been
+arrested, and was confined at Norwalk. He engaged as counsel for his
+chum a well-known criminal lawyer of New York by the name of Stuart, and
+arranged with him to go up to Norwalk to see Riley the following day.
+Although Stoneman had plenty of money, he told Stuart he had none, but
+Riley had. Then he gave Riley's wife $2,500, and told her to be present
+at the interview between the lawyer and her husband. At the interview
+Riley told him he would give him $2,500 if he cleared him or $1,000 if
+he got him off with a sentence of two years or less. Stuart was hungry
+as a shark to finger the money, and writing out a receipt for the full
+amount inserted the conditions agreed upon. Putting the money in his
+pocket he started back to New York with Mrs. Riley. Stoneman was on the
+train waiting for them, and as soon as they started he joined them. It
+happened the train was crowded, and they had to stand. It seems some
+pickpocket saw Stuart pull out the money, and determined to get it from
+him. On the arrival of the train in New York he succeeded in doing so.
+Stoneman had hurried out of the station, and, of course, knew nothing of
+the loss. So soon as Stuart discovered his loss he blamed him for it,
+and, being in a fury, he flew to Police Headquarters, secured the
+services of a friendly detective, and, going to the hotel that he knew
+Stoneman frequented, had him arrested on a charge of robbing him. The
+end of it all was that Stuart and the detectives got all his money, and
+then, knowing him to be a daring man, one that would neither forget nor
+fear to avenge his wrong, to get him out of the way they betrayed him to
+the Connecticut police as one of the express robbers. He was sent to
+Norwalk to stand his trial, was convicted and sentenced to five years,
+and sent to Weathersfield. Being a good mechanic, he was put in the
+blacksmith shop, and there, with an eye to the future, he did what is
+frequently done by professional gentlemen in our prisons, made a
+complete and most finely tempered set of burglar tools. They were too
+bulky to be smuggled out by friendly warders, so he secreted them in the
+shop where he worked and ruled. Many of the prisoners in Weathersfield
+are expert workmen, and from the machine shops there a high class of
+work is turned out. Among other workshops, there is one for the
+manufacture of silver-plated ware. Stoneman had made chums with one of
+the prisoners who held a confidential position in the silverware
+manufactory. As Stoneman's sentence was the first to expire, he gave him
+points, and it was plotted between them that the prison itself should be
+burglarized by Stoneman on a certain night after his release. The
+confidential man was to leave the way clear to the safe where the silver
+bars used in the business were stored. He in due time was liberated,
+with the customary injunctions from the warden and officers "not to come
+back any more." He did come back, but in a way entirely unanticipated by
+them.
+
+He, of course, knew the whole routine of the place, the stations of the
+guards, and that the wall after 8 p.m. was left entirely unguarded. The
+second night after his liberation found him beneath the wall with no
+other implements than a light ladder of the right height. In a minute he
+was on top, had pulled his ladder up and lowered it inside.
+
+Once inside, every inch of the place was familiar to him, and he had a
+clear field. The shops, although inside of the boundary walls, were
+quite separate from the main building, where the men, closely guarded,
+were confined. He entered the familiar room where he so long had worked,
+and easily placed his hands on his (to him) precious kit of tools, and
+carried his jimmies, wedges, sledges, bits, braces, drills, etc., to the
+wall, and then landed them safe outside. Then he returned and entered
+the room where the plunder he sought lay. Thanks to his friend, the way
+was easy, and his art was not required to secure it. There were 600
+ounces in silver bars, a pretty good load in avoirdupois, but he only
+made one journey of it, mounted the wall and speedily was over.
+
+Stoneman was a long-headed fellow. He had taken, without the owner's
+leave, one of the many boats on the banks of the near-by river. He
+carried his plunder and tools down to the boat, and pulled across the
+river, two miles down, to where quite a stream empties into the
+Connecticut. He pulled some distance up it; then putting everything into
+bags he sank them in the creek. Then drifting back into the Connecticut
+River again he threw his ladder over and turned the boat adrift. At 7
+o'clock the next morning he was in New York.
+
+In due time, in the idiom of the professionals, he "raised his plant,"
+and the burglar's kit manufactured in the Connecticut State Prison did
+what Stoneman considered yeoman service. With all his art and cunning,
+justice would not be cajoled by him, but weighed him in her balance, to
+a good purpose too. His success in his particular line was great, but he
+paid dearly for it all. Many times he escaped detection, but not always.
+Not to escape, but to be brought to the bar, means a fearful gap in the
+life of a criminal. He was, as I say, famous in certain circles for his
+success in his lawless course, yet in the twenty years between 1865 and
+1886 he passed sixteen years in captivity. In that year he went to
+England with a confederate, and a few hours later in London they
+snatched a parcel of money from a bank messenger in Lombard street. Both
+were caught in the act, and sentenced at the Old Bailey to twenty years
+each. To-day Stoneman is toiling under brutal task-masters, and it is
+all but certain he will perish at his task, friendless, alone, unpitied.
+Better so even, for should he ever be freed it will not be until the
+twentieth century is well on its way to the have beens of time, then
+only to find himself a battered hulk stranded on a shore from which the
+tide has ebbed forever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+I FIND THE FENIANS WITH ME IN THE TOILS.
+
+
+I had, of course, for many years heard much of the Fenian prisoners in
+the English prisons, particularly Sergeant McCarty and William O'Brien.
+Soon after my arrival at Chatham I was placed in the same party with
+them. We were all three strongly drawn together, but were shy of being
+the first to speak. Of course, it was strictly against the rules to
+talk, but as a matter of fact the prisoners find many opportunities for
+talking, particularly if they do their work. The officers are reported
+and fined if their men fall behind in their task, so if a man is any way
+backward in working the officer keeps his weather eye open, and reports
+him for any infraction of the rules.
+
+One day, soon after they were put in my party, I gave O'Brien a hand in
+fixing his run. We spoke a few words. The ice was broken; we soon became
+fast friends, and our friendship remained unbroken until their happy
+release some years after. They were fine, manly fellows, and I in time
+came to have a warm affection for them.
+
+McCarty had for nearly twenty years been a sergeant in the English army.
+He had come out of the Indian mutiny with a splendid record, and had
+been recommended for a commission. But while wearing the British
+uniform, his heart was warm for Ireland and her cause, so when, in 1867,
+his battery being then stationed in Dublin, he was informed many devoted
+adherents to the Fenian cause had determined to try and seize Dublin,
+with a view of starting a wide revolt against English domination,
+perilous as it was, he cast his lot in with them, and speedily found
+sufficient adherents in his own field battery to seize it and bring it
+into action against the English. The plan miscarried. Sergeant McCarty,
+along with many others, was arrested and tried for treason; as a matter
+of course was speedily convicted, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and
+quartered. This sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life.
+
+O'Brien was an enthusiastic youngster of 17, and an ardent patriot. He
+had enlisted in a regiment then stationed in Ireland for no other reason
+than to familiarize himself in military affairs, also to win over
+recruits to the Fenian cause, and when the revolt began to be in a
+position to seize arms. The result of it all, so far as my two friends
+were concerned--they found themselves by my side in the great Chatham
+ship basin loading trucks with mud and clay, and that upon a diet of
+black bread and potatoes. The cars, or trucks, held four tons, there
+were three men to a truck, and the task was nineteen trucks a day, and
+between the urging of officers, frightened themselves for fear the task
+might not be done, and the mud and starvation, it was despairing work.
+
+The punishments were not only severe, but were dealt out with a liberal
+hand. The men, as a rule, were willing to work, but between weakness,
+brought on by perpetual hunger, and the misery of the incessant bullying
+of the officers, some few suicided every year, but many more did worse
+to themselves; that is, the poor fellows, seeing nothing but misery
+before them, would when the trucks were being shifted on the rail
+deliberately thrust an arm or leg under the wheels and have it taken
+off. No less than twenty-two did this in 1874. Of course, the object was
+to get out of the mud. When once a man's leg or arm was off he would no
+longer be able to handle a shovel, and would necessarily be placed in
+an inside or cripples party and set to work picking oakum or breaking
+stones, with the result that, being free from severe toil and sheltered
+from the storms, they would not be so hungry. Then, again, they could
+more easily escape being reported, and that meant much.
+
+[Illustration: CONDEMNED TO BE HANGED.]
+
+[Illustration: WEIGHING OFFICE, BANK OF ENGLAND.]
+
+There was never anything but black bread for breakfast and supper, save
+only one pint of gruel with the bread for breakfast. For dinner every
+day we got a pound of boiled potatoes and five ounces of black bread;
+three days a week five ounces of meat--that is, fifteen ounces a week
+for a man toiling hard in the keen sea air. We were always on the verge
+of starvation; our sufferings were terrible. In our hunger there was no
+vile refuse we would not devour greedily if opportunity occurred.
+
+O'Brien was a slight, delicate fellow, quite unfitted for the hardships
+and toil he was subjected to, but he was a high-spirited, brave
+youngster, and his spirit carried him through, while many a man better
+fitted physically to endure the toil gave in and died, or became utterly
+broken down, and would be sent away to an invalid station a physical
+wreck. McCarty and I used to do extra work so as to shield O'Brien, and
+so long as our trucks were filled on time the officer made no complaint.
+The prisoners were certainly very good to each other, and usually did
+all in their power to help and cheer up the weaker men.
+
+In 1877 my two friends were liberated. I was glad to see them go, but I
+missed them sadly. But McCarty had suffered too much. He only survived
+his liberation a few days, dying in Dublin, to the grief of all Ireland.
+O'Brien started a tobacco store in Dublin, where he still is.
+
+I knew all of the dynamiters--Curtin, Daily, Dr. Gallagher, Eagan, etc.
+However misguided, yet they meant to serve their country, and dearly
+have they paid for their zeal. I pitied poor Gallagher. The strain on
+his spirit was too great. He soon broke down, and his dejected, forlorn
+looks, his stooping shoulders and listless walk made me and all think
+his days were numbered; but he had immense vitality and still lived when
+I was liberated; but he was truly a pitiable object, and if he is ever
+to live to breathe the air a free man then his friends must secure a
+speedy release, for he is slowly sinking into his grave.
+
+[Illustration: RETROSPECTIONS.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+IN MOOD AS LONELY, IN PLIGHT AS DESPERATE AS HIS.
+
+
+I have related how, the Sunday after my sentence, in my despair I took
+the little Bible off the shelf. The other books I had at Chatham besides
+the Bible were a dictionary and "The Life of the Prophet Jeremiah."
+Once, soon after my arrival in Chatham, I took the Jeremiah down from
+the shelf, but speedily put it back and made a vow never to take it down
+again; and I never did. It remained in view on the little shelf for
+nineteen years, while I sat there watching it rot away. The dictionary
+is a good book, but grows tiresome at times. As for the Bible, there is
+no discount on that. For fourteen years I was a careful student of its
+sacred pages. Every Sunday of that fourteen years, from 12 o'clock until
+2, I used to walk the stone floor of my cell preaching a sermon with no
+audience but my dictionary and "The Life of the Prophet Jeremiah." I at
+first began my Bible studies and my sermons as a means to occupy my
+thoughts and keep my mind bright. It saved my life and reason. I need
+hardly say that I became tolerably familiar with the book, and I had the
+great advantage of studying the Bible without a commentary.
+
+I thought in my enthusiasm I should never tire of the Bible, but after
+ten or twelve years I began to grow weary of it, and grew very hungry
+for other mental food. I wanted a Shakespeare, for with him to keep me
+company I could no longer be in the desolation of solitude. At last I
+determined to get my friends to try for me. I had learned the Bible
+almost by heart; the smallest incidents in the life of the Prophet
+Jeremiah were much more familiar to me than the history of the civil
+war, and Anathoth took on proportions which made it as real as New York
+and far more important. The desperate efforts I had made to keep myself
+from falling into the condition of so many I had seen drooping to idiocy
+and death were, I felt, successful, and any occupation which kept alive
+the intellect could not but be beneficial. I was hungry, starving for
+mental food. Never had books appeared so attractive, never was kingdom
+so cheerfully offered for a horse as I would have offered mine for an
+octavo. My friends had written for me to the Government, but with no
+success. At last they had interested the American Minister in London,
+who promised to write to the Home Secretary for me, but a year had
+slipped by and I had heard nothing.
+
+Jeremiah continued with me, and it seemed he was to remain with me to
+the end. But a change was coming.
+
+Can I ever forget the day it happened! Can I ever cease to remember the
+delight, the incredulity, the astonishment of that happy day! I had come
+in at night hungry, cold, wet and miserable. I made my way a little
+depressed to my cell. As I was about to step across the threshold I saw
+a book lying on my little wooden bed. Amazed and astonished, I hesitated
+to enter. Small as such a circumstance appears, the very sight of the
+book brought on a weakness. I feared to pick it up, a horrible dread
+seized me that it might be a new Bible, and I was unwilling to risk
+another disappointment. The footprint on the sand was not more
+suggestive nor more awe-inspiring to Robinson Crusoe than the appearance
+of that book was to me. In mood as lonely, in plight as desperate as
+his, there lay before me a sight as unlooked for and, as it seemed, as
+full of meaning as the footprint was to Robinson.
+
+At last I pulled myself together, determined to end the suspense and
+know what was before me. I picked up the book, and who can understand
+the delight, the joy, the rapture even, with which I read on the title
+page, "The Works of William Shakespeare." In an instant I became a new
+man. If ever one human being felt gratitude to another I felt it at that
+moment for the American Minister. To him I owed it that henceforth a new
+light was to stream through the fluted glass of my window, that
+henceforth a new world was opened up for me to live in, and the world
+seemed lighter to me. Many a month and year afterward my cell was filled
+and my heart cheered by the multitude of friends the divine William
+provided for me.
+
+About the time I received my Shakespeare another piece of happy fortune
+befell me. A smallpox scare was existing outside, and all hands in the
+prison were ordered to be vaccinated. When the doctor came around a few
+days afterward to examine the effects of the operation he found my arm
+so swollen that he directed me to be taken to the hospital.
+
+For twenty-five days I had full opportunity to learn what the girl in
+Dickens' "Little Dorritt" meant when she called the hospital an
+"'eavenly" place. It was the first time I had ever been admitted, and
+the change from the horrible mud hole to the rest and comfort of a cell
+in the hospital was indeed almost "'eavenly." With nothing to do but to
+read my Shakespeare, the cravings of hunger for the first time since my
+imprisonment satisfied, I was tempted to believe--I did partly
+believe--that the world had few positions pleasanter than mine.
+
+Godliness with contentment is undoubtedly great gain. Contentment alone
+without the godliness is no poor thing, and was I not content? Few,
+indeed, of all the thousands who have toiled in that torturing prison
+house have ever been or are likely ever to be so content as I was.
+
+How true it is that happiness is altogether relative, and that it is
+divided much more evenly among men than we are willing to believe! A
+mere respite from an intolerable position, a single book to keep the
+mind from cracking, transformed gloom and misery into light and at least
+comparative happiness.
+
+After a time I began to watch the effects of the unnatural life upon
+others. They arrived full of resolution, buoyed often by hopes which
+they were soon destined to find delusive. The short-time men, those with
+seven or ten year sentences, could face the prospect hopefully. To them
+the day would come when the prison gate must swing back and the path to
+the world be open once more. But no such hope cheers the long-timers,
+the men with twenty years and life, who quickly learn how great the
+proportion is of their number who find relief only in the box smeared
+with black which incloses what is left of them in the grave. Every day I
+used to see the effects on them of hunger and torment of mind. The first
+part visibly affected was the neck. The flesh shrinks, disappears and
+leaves what look like two artificial props to support the head. As time
+wears on the erect posture grows bent; instead of standing up straight
+the knees bulge outward as though unable to support the body's weight,
+and the man drags himself along in a kind of despondent shuffle. Another
+year or two and his shoulders are bent forward. He carries his arms
+habitually before him now, he has grown moody, seldom speaks to any one,
+nor answers if spoken to. In the general deterioration of the body the
+mind keeps equal step; and so unfailing is the effect that even warders
+wait to see it, and remark to each other that so and so is "going off."
+When the sufferer begins to carry his arms in front every one
+understands that the end is coming. The projecting head, the sunken eye,
+the fixed, expressionless features are merely the outward exponents of
+the hopeless, sullen brooding within. Sometimes the man merely keeps on
+in that way, wasting more and more, body and mind, every day, until at
+last he drops and is carried into the infirmary to come out no more.
+
+Truly I was looking on life from the seamy side.
+
+Before my own experience had taught me I used to think at times when
+such a subject ever came into my mind at all: "What must be the thoughts
+and anticipations of a man condemned to separation from other men, to
+lead an unnatural life under the strained and artificial conditions of
+prison?" The change is so violent, it comes so suddenly, the unknown
+possibilities are so terrible, the sufferings naturally implied are so
+inevitable, that had any one gifted with a knowledge of futurity shown
+me that such experience was to be mine I would have thought it utterly
+impossible that such horrors could be withstood by ordinary strength.
+
+The delights of pleasure are seldom equal to the anticipation of them,
+and it is probable that the pain of suffering is more unbearable in the
+shrinking expectation than when affliction actually opens her furnace
+door and commands us to enter. Perhaps there is a compensation of some
+kind in nature, a provision to deaden feeling when a death stroke
+falls--some merciful dispensation by which we fail to realize or to
+understand in its exactness the meaning of the stroke which is crushing
+us.
+
+The man rescued from drowning or from asphyxiation has felt no pain. The
+animal that falls beneath the rush and the murderous claws of a beast of
+prey seems to fall into a torpor-like indifference, under the influence
+of which he meets with no great suffering the death his captor brings
+him. Probably all great suffering comes accompanied with a reserve of
+strength or with a power of resistance which may even spring from
+weakness, but which invests the sufferer with courage, and perhaps, too,
+with hope, to meet it. [Transcriber's note: words are missing here on
+the original] but the pitiless application of a discipline designed with
+consummate skill to find out all the weak points of a man's inner armor
+and to inflict the utmost possible suffering upon him, I used to ask
+myself if it could be possible that I was really the man upon whom so
+hideous a fate had fallen.
+
+The blackness of darkness was round about me. Infinite despair stood
+ready to seize me. It seemed an amazement that life should be forced to
+remain with him who longs for death, who would rejoice exceedingly and
+be glad could he find the grave. But when the first horrible numbness of
+the shock was disappearing, when the first glimmering perception came to
+me that "as a man's day so shall his strength be," I began to suspect,
+and soon to know, that in many ways the reality was not so terrible as
+imagination pictured it.
+
+However ample the provision be which men may make to inflict suffering
+upon other men, however well and successfully they may apply the
+provision, they cannot alter men's nature. That will assert itself under
+all circumstances. The fact that a man is restrained of his liberty by
+no means alters his nature. The things he liked or disliked when he was
+at liberty he will like or dislike when a prisoner, and he is not long
+in finding that "whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap" is
+just as certainly true of the seed he plants in inclosed ground as it is
+of what he scatters in the open field.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+IF PAIN IS NOT AN EVIL, IT CERTAINLY IS A VERY GOOD IMITATION.
+
+
+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. Such a man
+will rarely be molested.
+
+Patient, uncomplaining endurance always excites pity and sympathy. The
+most ignorant, the most brutal warder will scarcely oppress the man who
+goes quietly and unresistingly along the thorny road stretched out
+before him; who, not taking the thorns for roses, is not disappointed at
+finding few roses among the thorns.
+
+Those, however, who are determined to see the rough side of prison life
+may easily do so; the appliances are there and they will certainly be
+accommodated. An English prison is a vast machine in which a man counts
+for just nothing at all. He is to the establishment what a bale of
+merchandise is to a merchant's warehouse. The prison does not look upon
+him as a man at all. He is merely an object which must move in a certain
+rut and occupy a certain niche provided for it. There is no room for the
+smallest sentiment. The vast machine of which he is an item keeps
+undisturbed upon its course.
+
+Move with it, and all is well. Resist, and you will be crushed as
+inevitably as the man who plants himself on the railroad track when the
+express is coming. Without passion, without prejudice, but also without
+pity and without remorse, the machine crushes and passes on. The dead
+man is carried to his grave and in ten minutes is as much forgotten as
+though he had never existed.
+
+The plank bed, the crank, the bread-and-water diet, unauthorized but
+none the less effectual clubbing at the hands of warders, the cold in
+the punishment cells penetrating to the very marrow of the bones,
+weakness, sickness and unpitied death are the certain portion of the
+rebel.
+
+Some are found idiotic enough to invite such a fate, though fewer now
+than formerly. The progress of education in England during the last
+twenty years, and the philanthropic efforts of many societies and
+private persons, but above all the covert but successful efforts of the
+authorities to deport them to this country instantly after their
+release, have had an immense effect in thinning the ranks of prison
+inmates. The Judges, too, have been forced by public opinion to be much
+less severe than they used to be, and that counts for much even in the
+inside of prisons.
+
+Nothing can be more capricious than the sentences they pass. In very few
+cases does the law set any limit. "Life or any term not less than five
+years" is the usual reading of the statute books, and the consequence
+naturally is that one Judge will give his man five years, while another
+will condemn his to twenty years for precisely the same crime committed
+under precisely the same circumstances as the first one.
+
+Another great blot on the English judicial system is that no court of
+appeal exists to which a sentence might be referred for review, so that
+the most unjust and unequal sentences are constantly passed from which
+there is no appeal but in the forlorn hope--rather, entire
+hopelessness--of a petition to the Home Secretary. I have often seen a
+man who had been sentenced to five years for murder working by the side
+of another whose sentence was twenty years for some crime against
+property. Such contrasts, of course, excite great discontent, and in
+some cases are the reason why men set up a hopeless resistance to what
+they feel to be persecution and injustice.
+
+It always seemed to me that the standpoint of the Board of Directors,
+established in 1864, and which continued without change until very
+recently, was altogether wrong. They appeared to think that in their
+dealings with other men the only course was to be the application of
+"force, iron force," as one of the governors expressed it. The very
+great majority require no such application, and the few difficult ones
+could easily be managed in another way. Certainly it is necessary that
+all prison discipline be penal, but it is not necessary that it be
+ferocious and inhuman, as certainly is the English. Starvation, the
+crank, the plank bed, the fearful cold of the cells are not measures
+necessary in dealing with any man.
+
+Whatever they could think of to harden, to degrade, to insult, to
+inflict every form of suffering, both physical and mental, which a man
+could undergo and live, was embodied in the rules they made. Their
+prisons were to be places of suffering and of nothing but suffering.
+
+So far as the directors were concerned the regulations were carried out
+to the letter, but each prison is under the control of a resident
+governor, with a deputy governor to assist him. These gentlemen are
+always men of good social position, retired officers of the army, who
+have seen the world and have experience in controlling men. They are
+rarely inclined to unnecessary severity, but are generally willing to
+apply the rules with as much consideration as such rules admit. The
+governor's discretion, however, is limited, but daily contact more or
+less with men whom he sees to differ very little from free men, and whom
+he sometimes finds to be even better than many he knows who are not, but
+who perhaps ought to be, on the wrong side of the bars, makes him
+unwilling to throw too many sharp points on the path which has to be
+trodden by men for whom he often cannot help feeling considerable
+sympathy.
+
+I have more than once heard governors express their disapproval of the
+starvation system and of the ferocity of treatment toward men who some
+day or other must go back to society.
+
+Under such governors the new arrival speedily finds out that to a
+certain extent his comfort depends upon himself. No man can make a bad
+thing good or trick himself into believing that suffering is pleasure.
+If pain be not an evil, it is an exceedingly good imitation, and the
+wisest philosopher is just as restless under the toothache as the most
+perfect idiot.
+
+[Illustration: PENTONVILLE PRISON.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+HIS ROW BECOMES FILLED WITH VERY SHARP-EDGED STONES INDEED.
+
+
+The inhabitant of a cell has a very rough row to hoe under any
+circumstance, and it has to be hoed, but there is no necessity for him
+to fill his row with stones and to plant roots in it himself. He soon
+finds his level, and the impression he makes on his arrival is the one
+which, as a rule, clings to him to the end.
+
+When prison air and prison influence have succeeded in incasing a man
+with the sort of moral hardbake that renders him callous to those
+feelings which at first so gall the raw spots, he finds himself watching
+with curiosity the shapings of newcomers. Some announce immediately on
+arrival that they cannot possibly be there more than a month or two;
+their arrest was a mistake, and their uncle, the member of Parliament,
+is now busily engaged making representations to the Home Secretary. One
+of the very few amusements prisoners have is in watching the important
+fellows, the men whose friends could do so much for them if they would
+only let them know where they are. Sometimes a chap who has perhaps been
+a body servant or something of the kind, who has picked up the kind of
+veneer he could catch by aping his master, will furnish food for smiles
+to every one he comes in contact with during his stay. He never receives
+a letter without explaining confidentially to every one that another
+aunt whose favorite he was has just died, leaving him L10,000 in cash,
+not to speak of a trifle or two in the shape of half a dozen houses.
+These gentlemen are immediately furnished with a name which becomes much
+better known than their own, and whenever they have delivered themselves
+of their periodical brooding of lies the news goes smiling round that
+Billy Treacle's aunt has died again and left him another fortune.
+
+So long as their inventions do no more harm than make them ridiculous,
+they are only laughed at and let alone, but when one of them develops a
+talent for invention which molests or injures others, especially when it
+takes the form of confidential communication to the governor of what he
+sees, and still more of what he does not see, such retribution as both
+prisoners and officers can inflict is not long in falling. His row
+becomes filled with very sharp-edged stones indeed, and roots which tear
+his hands painfully. Nearly always these boastings are fathered by an
+absurd vanity--a desire ever to appear what they are not, and while they
+think they are deceiving others they deceive no one but themselves.
+
+One case I remember, though, was an exception. One young fellow made
+such use of his invention, and the story is so interesting and
+instructive as showing with what lofty respect English gentlemen are
+educated for the rights of property, that I shall relate it.
+
+Four or five years after I went to Chatham a young fellow named
+Frederick Barton arrived with a ten years' sentence for forgery. His
+appearance and manners were very much in his favor, and his conduct so
+confirmed the good first impression that he speedily became a favorite
+with everybody from the governor down.
+
+Some three years had slipped by when one day he asked me if I would
+prepare a petition which he might send to the Home Secretary in the hope
+of obtaining a commutation of sentence. I liked the youngster very well
+and readily consented, but told him that I doubted very much if he
+would get anything. The petition was sent, and in a few days the usual
+answer was returned, "No grounds." He told me of his ill luck, and I
+said to him: "Look here, so long as you send up whining petitions asking
+for mercy both you and they will be treated with contempt. If you wish
+to get that English gentleman in the Home Office to do anything for you,
+make him believe you are a millionaire; you will see whether he will do
+anything then for you or not." He laughed merrily at that. "A
+millionaire! Why, I haven't a sixpence. My father is only a private
+coachman at Tunbridge Wells." "That is nothing at all," I said; "if you
+will be guided by me, and let me manage things for you, I will have a
+petition sent in for you from the outside, and I feel sure we can get
+you out." An idea had just flashed into my mind, and I was eager to try
+it.
+
+At first he was a little timid about the venture, fearing that I might
+get him into trouble, but when he became convinced that I would do
+nothing of the kind he consented. I had a warder in the prison who in
+consideration of an occasional tip used to act as my postman, sending my
+letters to my friends and bringing in theirs to me. This was a deadly
+offense against the rules, but as the permitted correspondence was
+outrageously limited I saw no reason why I should deprive myself of
+letters when I had the chance to have them, and as I took good care that
+the great men in London should get no inkling of my misdeeds I dare say
+their hearts did not grieve after what their eyes did not see.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+HE TELEGRAPHED THE NEWS TO MY WARDER, AND BARTON WENT ON HIS WAY
+REJOICING.
+
+
+My warder friend supplied me with writing materials. I prepared one
+letter, which I had him copy, and another in my own handwriting. Both
+were directed to Barton, and informed him that his rich uncle had lately
+died and had left him one hundred and sixty thousand pounds in money and
+sixteen thousand acres of cotton land in India. He was also informed
+that his father had gone to India to look after the property, and that
+upon his return a petition would be presented to the Home Secretary, who
+it was hoped would grant his release. These two letters my warder sent
+to a friend of mine in London with a note from me requesting him to post
+them immediately. I told Barton what I had done, at the same time
+cautioning him to guard the closest secrecy. Two days afterward the
+letters arrived, and I directed my protege to spread the news as much as
+possible, to tell all the warders he saw and to show them his letters.
+We had at that time in the prison a wideawake but tricky fellow named
+George Smith. He had been clerk to an important firm of auctioneers in
+London, and had been sentenced by probably the most savage judge on the
+bench, Commissioner Ker, to fourteen years' imprisonment for receiving a
+quantity of stolen silverware, which he had his employers sell for him.
+He was about to be released, and I determined to make use of him, but
+without letting him know the truth, for I knew that if he suspected he
+was merely doing a good turn for the chum he left behind him, he, like
+the Home Secretary himself, without the right kind of inducement would
+have left his friend to stop where he was until the bottomless pit was
+frozen over hard enough to hold a barbecue on it. Barton, by my
+directions, told Smith of his good fortune, and that he hoped on his
+father's return to be liberated. Smith then did exactly what I expected
+and wanted him to do. He said there was no need to wait until then; he
+was going to be released in a few days, and "if you like I will send in
+a petition for you; it can't do you any harm, and it may get you
+released immediately." Barton at once accepted the offer, and told him
+that if successful the post of manager on the Indian estate would be at
+his disposal. He also suggested to ask me to write the petition. Smith
+managed to see me in the course of the day, and, supposing me to have no
+knowledge of the matter, explained the situation and asked me to write
+the petition. Needless to say, I promised everything asked for, and
+added that I would make it my business to have the petition in London at
+some place where he could find it the day of his discharge.
+
+[Illustration: BANK-NOTE STORE-ROOM, BANK OF ENGLAND.]
+
+[Illustration: VISITORS AT NEWGATE STANDING OVER THE BURYING-VAULT DOOR
+LEADING TO THE BLACK-MARIA.]
+
+The petition was prepared, setting forth all the interesting facts for
+the edification of the right honorable gentleman in the Home Office, and
+after being submitted to Barton and Smith, sent to the latter's address
+in London.
+
+Millbank is a gigantic prison in the heart of London every one of the
+thousand cells of which cost the Government L300 to build. This is the
+establishment where David Copperfield visited Mr. Uriah Heep when that
+gentleman was under a cloud, and heard him express the wish that
+"everybody might get 'took up' so that they could learn the error of
+their ways." For many years all London men whose sentences had expired
+were brought here for release, and here Smith came a few days after the
+petition was posted. On the morning of his discharge and within an
+hour after passing through the gates of Millbank he left the petition
+personally at the Home Office. Two days afterward one of the clerks
+acknowledged its receipt, accompanied with the gratifying assurance that
+it was under consideration. A week later Mr. Smith was notified that the
+release would be granted. He immediately telegraphed the news to my
+warder, who told me, and I told Barton. Two days more and the release
+came down, Barton went on his way rejoicing and every one was glad at
+his happy fortune. The only one who felt much disappointment was very
+likely poor Smith, who never heard of his friend again.
+
+[Illustration: SCHOOL AND A TRADE, OR JAIL.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+I FLUSTER THE GREAT JUPITER OF MY LITTLE WORLD.
+
+
+The successful issue of this little enterprise gave me great
+satisfaction. There was, of course, nothing in it for me, nor did I want
+anything, but it furnished me with an excellent standpoint from which to
+address the Home Secretary should the occasion ever arise.
+
+The occasion did arise some time after, and I utilized it in this way: A
+friend of mine had come over from America to see me and to try if it
+were not possible to obtain some reduction in the sentence. My postman
+warder was away at the moment, so letter-carrier facilities were cut
+off. I wanted very much indeed to communicate with my friend, and
+applied to the Home Secretary explaining the position and asking him to
+let me write two letters immediately. At the end of eight weeks an
+answer came back that the Home Secretary had carefully considered the
+application and could find no sufficient grounds for advising Her
+Majesty to grant the prayer thereof. The next day I obtained a petition
+sheet from the governor and wrote the following petition:
+
+"To the Right Hon. Sir William V. Harcourt, Secretary of State for the
+Home Department:
+
+"The petition of, etc., humbly showeth: That two months ago I petitioned
+the Home Secretary for permission to write two letters, explaining the
+urgency of the occasion and pointing out that the request was by no
+means unusual. Yesterday the answer arrived telling me, with as much
+truth, I have no doubt, as kindness, the anxiety with which the right
+honorable gentleman has been for eight weeks considering the petition.
+
+"I hasten to express to the Home Secretary the regret I cannot but feel
+at the thought of causing him so much concern, which I sincerely trust
+has had no prejudicial effect upon his health. I regret this the more as
+there was really no necessity for requiring eight whole weeks of his
+time to the inevitable great neglect of the public business, for no man
+who owns or who is known to be able to get a half sovereign ever has the
+slightest difficulty in sending out as many clandestine letters as he
+chooses. This, of course, is an infraction of the rules, and any
+reasonable man would rather get along in a friendly spirit with the
+prison authorities than be at war with them, but when trifling favors
+which it requires but to stretch out the hand to take are refused,
+rules, prison authorities and the Home Secretary himself are
+contemptuously set aside and the forbidden favor taken.
+
+"I trust that this knowledge will save the Home Secretary any repetition
+of the anxiety he has suffered on this occasion, but while regretting my
+want of success in petitions for myself I desire to thank the right
+honorable gentleman for the kind attention he pays to my petitions for
+others.
+
+"The Home Secretary will perhaps remember his merciful consideration of
+the case of Mr. Frederick Barton, whom he released some short time ago,
+but it will perhaps be news to him to hear that it was I who invented
+Mr. Barton's fortune and wrote the petition which furnished the grounds
+for advising Her Most Gracious Majesty to extend her royal clemency to
+the deserving young man. The result of my petition by no means surprised
+me, for I was always confident that an English gentleman could never be
+guilty of the solecism against English customs implied by keeping in
+prison a young gentleman who could perform so meritorious an act as to
+fall heir to many bags of gold and sixteen thousand acres of cotton land
+in India.
+
+"Mr. Barton had previously petitioned for mercy pointing out that he was
+but 17 years old at the time of his arrest, and asking that his extreme
+youth might plead for him. This petition the Home Secretary treated with
+very proper contempt, but it was really delightful to contrast that
+contempt with the respectful and instant attention shown to the
+petition of the young heir.
+
+"I have a difficulty in expressing the comfort with which I saw an
+English Home Secretary, with all the power of the Empire in his hands to
+protect him against imposition, releasing a criminal after reading a
+sheet of foolscap covered with lies, which had been left at the Home
+Office by a released convict within half an hour after passing through
+the gates of Millbank. It is but the merest justice, however, to add
+that poor Mr. Smith, the presenter of the petition, was as badly
+humbugged as the Home Secretary himself. The glitter of gold was flashed
+before his eyes as it was before the eyes of Sir William Vernon
+Harcourt, and with equal effect.
+
+"To me this effect was certain, as not the slightest doubt existed in my
+mind that the moment it became a question of great sums of money all
+distinctions would vanish and pickpocket and Home Secretary would
+scramble on to the same foothold.
+
+"The result, it is unnecessary to add, perfectly justified me. As I
+watched the lucky Frederick set out to return to the stable he came from
+it occurred to me that had he understood German, which he did not, nor
+English either, for that matter, he might have whispered joyfully to
+himself, in the words of another dealer in ways that are dark and tricks
+which are vain:
+
+  "'Es ist gar hubsch von einem grossen Herrn,
+  So menschlich mit dem Teufel selbst zu sprechen.'
+
+     "Doubtless, however, the Home Secretary will feel, as I do myself,
+     that he acted in this matter in accordance with the commonest
+     dictates of duty, and I beg to assure him that, having every
+     facility for sending out as many letters as I please, I shall never
+     again cause him weeks of anxious consideration. Respectfully
+     submitted,
+
+                                                  "AUSTIN BIDWELL."
+
+Whatever Sir William Vernon Harcourt may have thought about the
+petition, he said nothing, but I dare say he did not feel flattered. It
+required no small daring to send it, but as I knew I had nothing to hope
+from him I could look with perfect equanimity upon any consequences
+likely to follow.
+
+The governor of the prison did not dare to violate the regulations by
+refusing to send my petition, written as it was on an official form and
+duly entered on the books of the establishment, but he sent for me in
+hot haste. Assuming a threatening air, he demanded how I dared to play
+such monkey tricks. Officially the governor was a hot member and
+enforced an iron discipline both with wardens and the men, but
+personally he was not a bad fellow, so I merely laughed and asked him if
+he was a critic and reviser of petitions; therefore, a local Home
+Secretary. He saw I was not to be intimidated, and almost begged of me
+not to do so any more. As he was a pretty good fellow, and I had no wish
+to cause him any embarrassment, I readily promised, provided I was
+permitted now and then to write a special letter. This permission he
+intimated would not be withheld, and there, so far as the governor was
+concerned, the incident ended. But so unheard-of a document emanating
+from a prisoner created a sensation among the officers, who all came to
+know of the matter, and added several degrees to whatever respect they
+were inclined to have for me.
+
+As there is no attempt at humor in this book, and since I am on the
+subject of petitions, I will give here a copy of one sent by a fellow
+prisoner who was somewhat of a character and whose name was Niblo Clark.
+
+To some of the prisoners the art of reading and writing is an all but
+insoluble mystery. Every man is allowed a small slate, and many of the
+prisoners spend an incredible amount of painful toil and mental
+wrestling in preparing a petition, which, by the way, never does any
+good. Poor Niblo for a whole year, through all the Summer's warmth and
+Winter's frost, spent his spare hours producing this petition, and I
+think my reader will agree with me that it is a masterpiece of its
+kind.
+
+       PETITION.
+
+       Register No. Y 19.  Name, Niblo Clark,
+       Present Age, 40. Confined in Chatham Prison.
+       Date of Petition, January 15, 1890.
+
+           CONVICTED.          CRIME.        SENTENCE.     REMARKS.
+       When.   Where.
+       1880. Old Bailey,      Burglary.       15 Years.    In Hospital.
+                London.                                    Troublesome.
+
+     To the Right Honorable Henry Mathews, Her Majesty's Principal
+     Secretary of State for the Home Department:
+
+     The Petition of Niblo Clark Humbly Sheweth--
+
+     The Right Honorable Secretary the great benefit your humble
+     petitioner would derive by a speedy removal from this damp and
+     foggy inhospitable Climate to a milder one; the atmostphere here
+     his thoroughly prejudicial to your petitioners health and causes me
+     to be a great Sufferer i am Suffering from asthma accompanied with
+     bad attacks of Chronic bronchitis and have been now 3 long years
+     Confined to a bed of Sickness in a Sad and pitable Condition and
+     upon those Clear grounds and physical proofs your petitioner humbly
+     prays that it may please the Right Honorable Secretary to order my
+     removal to a warmer and milder Climate necessity also compels me to
+     complain of repeated acts of injustice and Cruely committed again
+     me, and which in some respects Might Justly undergo the imputation
+     of ferocity there are numbers and frivolous and false charges
+     conspired against me and every time i am discharged from here the
+     Governor takes them Seperate one each and trys to murder me: i have
+     been No less then Six weeks at one time on bread and Water
+     accompanied with a little penal Class and all the officers are
+     incouraged to practise all kinds of barbarious maltreatment against
+     me and other sick men--theres is one officer here place here for
+     the express purpose of tantelizing me and other his Name is Warder
+     Newcombe this officer sir has barbariously struck and assaulted
+     patients on there Sick bed and Several has complained of it to the
+     Governor--But i am Sorry to say its greatly fostered and incouraged
+     especially upon me it is quite useless to complain of anything to
+     the Governor.
+
+  Right Honourable Sir i humbly beg that you will listen to my woe
+  for what i Suffer in Chatham prison the one half you do not Know
+  From repeated attacks of this frightful disease i am getting worse
+   each day
+  So i humbly trust you will have me removed without the least delay
+
+  In making my request in poetry Sir i hope you wont think i am Joking
+  for the greatest favour you can bestowe upon me is to Send me back to
+    Woking
+  For in this damp and foggy Climate its impossible to ever get better
+  So i humbly trust in addition to this you will grant me a Special letter
+
+  Another little case i wish to State if you Sir will Kindly listen
+  has it would Cause a Vast amount of talk all round and about the prison
+  I mean if Niblo Clark Should be sent upon some public Works
+  it would cause more talk then the late dispute between the russians and
+   the turks
+
+  in foggy wheather with my disease it would be impossible to larst one
+    hour
+  and if you doubt the accuracy of what i say i refere to doctor Power
+  or any other naval doctor or one from the army garrison
+  they one and all would say the Same and likewise Doctor Harrison
+
+  Since my reception in this here prison i have been a most unfortunate man
+  and i will tell you the why and wherefore as well as i possibly Can
+  for every time i been in this hospital its the whole truth what i Say
+  for my medical treatment i assure Sir i have dearly had to pay
+
+  A regular marked man i have been for them all its well known to Captain
+   Harris
+  for the list of reports against me would reach from this place to paris
+  So i humbly beg Right Honourable Sir you will grant this humble petition
+  for i am sorry to State i have nothing to pay having lost both health
+   and remission
+
+  Such Cruel injustice to poor Sick men is far from being just and right
+  but to report Sick patients in hospital is the officers Chief delight
+  But perhaps kind Sir you might imagine that they only do this to a dodger
+  But its done to all--Austin Bidwell as well and likewise to poor Sir
+   Roger (Tichborne).
+
+  like Savage lions in this infirmary the Officers about are walking
+  to Catch and report a dying poor man for the frivolous Charge of talking
+  and when we go out from hospital our poor bodies they try to Slaughter
+  by taking these reports one at the time and Killing us on bread and water
+
+  I am suffering a Chest and throat disease a frightful Chronic disorder
+  and to go out from hospital is attempting Suicide to get heaps of bread
+   and Water
+  for it is such cruel treatment made me as i am and brought me to the
+   Verge of the grave
+  So in conclusion Right Honourable Sir a removal i humbly Crave
+
+if this petition should not be sent prisoners abstain from further
+writting who will explain his case more Clearly to the Visiting director
+and i wish to have this petition Submitted to the director by your truly
+humble servant Niblo Clark.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+IT WAS NIGHT; SILENCE AND GLOOM HAD SETTLED DOWN ON THE INMATES.
+
+
+By a refinement of cruelty we had been separated and sent to prison wide
+apart; for twenty years I had not seen the face of one of my friends.
+But there was an invisible bond between us that no tyranny could break.
+How blessed the happy forethought that made us, in that dark hour, amid
+our despair, make that promise!
+
+Ten years had slowly dragged by, 1883 came, and my devoted family felt
+that I, and my comrades, too, had paid, as was right, our due to
+justice, and we ought to be liberated. They determined that it would not
+be their fault if I remained in captivity. So that year my sister came
+to England and remained permanently there. She worked bravely and well,
+but year after year passed without result. None of us was prepared for
+the vindictive fury of the Bank of England--its power was all-potent
+with the Government. George had been bedridden for years, and was slowly
+dying. At length, in 1887, the medical officer of the prison certified
+his speedy death was certain, and the Government released him to die;
+but he resolved that he would not die until we were free. With liberty
+and hope health came slowly back, and he devoted every hour to working
+for our liberation; but for a time devoted in vain. More than once had I
+seen the prison emptied and filled again. Of all the life prisoners I
+had met there on my arrival, or who for years after had joined me, I was
+the sole survivor.
+
+One by one sickness or insanity, born of despair, had laid them in the
+prison graveyard or buried them in the asylum. Out of more than seventy
+life prisoners none had lived to be liberated, and determined appeared
+the Bank of England directors that I should not form an exception; but
+that if ever the prison doors were opened to me it should be only when
+so near death that I might join the many who had gone before.
+
+My fate seemed inevitable, but never for a moment did I cease to believe
+that Fortune's frowns would one day disappear and that I should yet
+again feel the warmth and sunshine of her smile. From his sick bed, and
+in his health, our comrade never ceased his efforts. He succeeded in
+interesting James Russell Lowell and many others in my behalf. The
+President asked the English Government officially to grant my release.
+Mr. Blaine, the Secretary of State, sent a very strong letter through
+Minister Lincoln in London, and I thought when told of it that my day to
+go was not far away.
+
+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.
+
+Still like one in a dream I went down that long hall listening only to
+the strange sound of my own footsteps and saying to myself: "It is all a
+dream. I will awake, as I have from thousands of like dreams, and find
+myself again in my dungeon."
+
+I was led into the outer office, where some papers were read to me, and
+then others given me to sign, but I listened or signed like one in a
+maze. Suddenly I saw Ross thrust the key into the outer door. That
+roused me, and the thought flashed into my mind, now I will see a star.
+
+The heavy door rolled on its hinges, the ponderous gate was flung back.
+Stepping out, I intuitively looked up, and a sudden awe fell upon me,
+for there, like a revelation, shone the Milky Way, with its millioned
+arch of radiant suns. At the sight of that miracle of glory, my heart
+beat fast. I realized that I was free, with health and strength, with
+courage to begin again the battle of life, and in my irrepressible
+emotion I cried aloud, and my cry was like a prayer--"God is good."
+
+[Illustration: A FIVE-POUND NOTE.
+
+The counterfeit plate.]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bidwell's Travels, from Wall Street to
+London Prison, by Austin Biron Bidwell
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