The morning call., 1892-02-22
AUSTIN BIDWELL'S RETURN.
One Of the Gang That Tapped The Bank Of
England.
ROBBERY OF ONE MILLION POUNDS.
Raising the Wind In Europe TFiCkiBg the
Brazilian Broker Working the
AStute LODdOneTS.
ROBBERY OF ONE MILLION POUNDS.
Special to THE MORNING CAL1

luiiy worked the Bank of England out OF
El,OOO,CO0 in the latter part Of 1872.
Ihls forgery. a crime which astonished
tLe financial world because of the tremen-
dous amount taken and because of the
almost impossible feat Of breaking through
me lmpregnable safeguards which the Bank
Oh England throws around its property,
was accomplished by Austin and George
Bidwell, George Mcdonald and Edward
Noyes. Or course the world was not large
enough for such gigantic criminals 10 hide
IN, and their arrests soon followed. George
Bidwell was taken In Scotland, his
brother Austin in Havana, Moves in Lon
don and Mcdonald on board Of a steamer
off New York hsrbor. They were all SEM
fenced TO life Imprisonment August 18,
1873. George Bdwell was given ticket-of-
leave in 1887.
RAISING THE WIND IN EUROPE.
The story of the great forgery begins in
the sprirg OF 1872, when Mcdonald and the
Bdweils, who had all been engaged in some
cIooked-papeT work in New York, took a
trip to Europe with the view Of raising the
wind" out Of the foreign capitalists. They
had some money with them, and opened an
account In London with the Western Branch
OF the Bank of England, receiving from the
cashier checkhook instead Of a certificate
Of deposit. Austin Bdwell deposited the
money, giving his name as +. A. Warren.
They then prepared a scheme for the Bra
lillian bankers and George Bidwell, with
companion named Munson, sailed for Rio de
Janelro. VITA their false papers, letters Of
credit. etc, they readily got $4,000 out OF
one ba mixer and would have raised greater
sum If in the forged letter OF credit they
had not neglected 10 sign the sub-manager's
name. Ii was very fatal omission. and
only by the shrewdest work did they escape
from Brazil after suspicion was aroused.
PREPARING THE FRAUD MACHINE.
The cOnsprators got safely to Lisbon with
their booty, spent short time In Vienna
and were soon back in London. BidweH
went 10 Amsterdam for Que more deal, but
be did not make any impression on the
Dutch bankers who would have nothing to
do with strangers without proper letters Of
Introduction. lie was contemplating a visit
70 Frankfort to work the R0thSchildS, when
he received telegram from Mcdonald call
ing him TO London. There he learned q
piece of news that made the subsequent
haul on the Bank OF England possible. Nc
Donald had presented a bill on Barring Bros.
and the cashier of that institution instead
Of paying it in gold or notes stamped, had
stamped across the face OF the bill Pay
able at London and Westminster Bank
huu iuQNiccu lts A 10 Dltl WAC NtHhCN az
this bank without question and the con-
spiratOrs reasoned that forged bills Of eX-
change could be worked of in the same
manner. as from this Il seemed to be the
custom in England TO transfer blils from
hand to hand without sending them to the
aCceptors to be Initiated"
THEY COPIED EVERYTHING N SIGHT
BY way of preparation for the contem-
plated fraud Austin Bidwell on December
Q, 1872, opened an account at the Continental
Bank in the name OF c. j. Horton, deposit
ing 9t300 in bank notes. There also existed
the account at the Western Branch of the
Bank OF England in the name of +. A. War
ren Checks drawn on the Warren account
were deposited TO the credit Of Horton, and
the operation was repeated at intervals to
give an air OF general business. Bills of eX-
change were purchased, and the supposed
Warren took tuem To the Western Branch Of
the Bank OF England Tor discount. The backs
of these bills were covered with the indOrse-
meuts of the various firms through which
they had passed. The plUtters copied these
Endorsements In fac-simile, so that the false
bills in contemplation should have all the
characteristics Of genuine bills. Every va
riety OF writing and printing ink, and every
form Of blank bill Of exchange known on
the Continent and printed in different Ian
guaGes, was also provided.
Mcdonald was sent 10 Paris to get the
necessary fac-simileS OF various bank and
DTlNdLb lNNUIbtnltht bthIlpo CnE1dNOu Oii
wood. He returned with the surprising in
formation that there were 10 wood
engraYers in Paris. This obliged George
Bdwell TO risk the dangerous experiment
of having the necessary blocks cut III Lon
DON They were engraved without any
undue suspicion having been excited.
As another step in the plot, NOyeS came
from America in response TO q cabiegram
and assumed the duties of clerk TO Horton.
On December 2S. 1872, George Bdwell,
under the name of Warren, mailed from
Birmingham to the Bank of England gen.
uine bills of exchange amounting to 94307
for discount, in order to ascertain II the
fraud machine" was in working order, and,
as these bills we're discounted without ques-
tion, such proved to be the case.
THE MACHINE AT WORK.
The working of the fraud machine COM
menced on January 80, 1873 -Four thou
sand two hundred and fifty pounds in false
bills had been prepared. They were taken
to Birmingham by George Bidwell, who,
writing under the name OF +. A. Warren,
sent the false bills to the manager of the
Western Branch OF the Bank of England
to be discounted and placed to Warren's
credit.
Bidwell then took train to London, gave
TO Noyes, the clerk, checks ON the Warren
account for 9l000 on which NOyes drew
that sum from the Bank of England and
deposited it in the Continental Bank 10 the
credit of Horton. Bidwsl then drew HOr-
ton checks for some 93000 which were
cashed, aud the money used to buy United
States bonds, which bonds were ultimately
shipped to the United States TO be held till
called for. All the other transactions of
the eOnSplratOrs were essentially similar
to this. Occasionally the account at the
Continental Bank was reduced by drawing
out Bank Of England notes. which were
taken to that bank and exchanged for
gold in bags of $1,000 each. This gold
WAS then carried back and exchanged
for notes by another person. The object of
this was to break the connection between
certain parties and banknOteS having num-
bers, the Bank of England keeping record
Of parties 10 whom It's notes were delivered.
To such an extent was the scheme worked
that the income OF the fraudulent associates
was at times more than $4,000 per day.
And when one package OF bonds was cap
tured in America, when the deal had ended
in disaster, it contained nearly quarter OF
a million dollars in United States securities.
On February 27, 1873, the cOnfederates
consulted as to whether one or more batch
Of bills should be put in. 1t was decided that
this should be the very last lot. George Bid
well nraled to the branch Bank OF England
500, 900 in false bills. If these passed, the
next day would see ali the parties set sail
for America.
AFATAL NEGLECT
But the best laid plans OF mice and men
fall and so did Bidwell's plot He had
failed to put the date of the acceptance on
two of the forged bills. They were sent to
the supposed acceptor to have the date put
in, and were discovered to be forgeries.
Instant measures were taken for the arrest
of the perpetrators. This was on March l,
1873
Anticipating success with this last lot of
bills, Bidweil had given the clerk, NOyes,
certain checks amounting to $4,000, drawn
on the Warren account, with which to pur-
chase United States bonds. He also gave
him Warren checks for $4,000 to deposit TO
the credit of the Horton account. This ac-
compliShed. the only thing remaining to be
done was to draw out the Horton account
and skip. AS Noyes went to the Conti-
mental Bank to draw out the $4,000 he was
arrested and taken to Bow-street Police