The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-11-14
BOLDEST OF ALL fORCERS
BidWell and Mcdonald, Who Hit the
Bank Of England, Are Here.
THEY TELL OF PRISON LIFE
Sentenced for Life in England for Forging
$s,OOOOOO in ls73-They Have Reg.
formed and Are Selling Book
on Their Prison Experiences.

| Mcdonald and Edwin Noyes, the yOunl
| Americans who pulled the leg of the
Bank Of England until it was SO SORE
that all John Bulldom roared with
agony. The story Of this astonishing
raid upon the sacred money bags o
Threadneedle street Is known to almost
everyone and the presence in Scranton
| of the actors revives the interest it ex.
| cited. They bear no trace of the fero.
cious treatment they underwent during
| the twenty frightful years in English
| prisons, an unheard-of brutality never
| inflicted for any such offence on Brit.
ish subject, but kept in reserve for the
benefit of Americans who may chance
to fall into the tender mercies of En-.
glish judges.
When a Tribune reporter visited them
| at the Wyoming House last night he
found young-looking men, pleasant In
address and manner and most enter
tanning conversationalists. They were
asked If men behind the bars differ very
much from those who have not yet got
there.
ut would be a great mistake" Mr..
Bidwell said, "to suppose that q man
changes his nature because he passes
through an iron gate which faces a
path where the footsteps are all direct
ed inward A prison Is a little world
| where some are better than others, but
where very few are as bad as some good
people think them. This world inside
of the walls has public opinion of its
own and it is at least quite as often just
like the public opinion whose sphere is
not circumscribed by stone walls and
iron bars.
Patient. uncomplainig evidence al
ways eXcites pity and sympathy. The
most ignorant, the most brutal warden
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 Thorough side
of prison life may easily do SO.
Prison a McrciIcss Machine.
AN English prison is a vast machine
In which man counts for just nothing
at all. He is to the establishment wha,
a bale of merchandise is to merchants 8
warehouse. The prison does not look
upon him as man; he is merely an OBJ
ject which must move in a certain rut
There Is no room for the smallest senti-
ments. The vast machine Of which he
is an item keeps undisturbed upon its
course. Move with 1t and all Ia well.
resist and you will be crushed. With
out passion, without prejudice, but also
without pity and without remorse, the
machine crushes and passes on. The
plank bed, the crank, the bread and
water diets. unauthorized but none the
less effectual clubbing at the hands Of
wardens, the cold In the punishment
cells penetrating to the very marrow of
the bones, weakness, sickness and un-
pitied death are the certain portion of
the rebel.
''The inhabitant of cell has a very
rough row to hoe under any circum-
stances and 1t has to be hoed, but there
is no necessity for him to fill his row
with stones and to plant roots in 1t him.
self. He soon finds his level and the
impression he makes on his arrival is
the one which as rule clings to him
to the end.
Novel Amusement of Prisoners.
"One Of the very few amusements
prisoners have Is in watching the i'm
portant fellows-the men whose friends
could do so much for them II they
would only let them know where they
are. Sometimes chap who has per-
haps been body servant or something
OF the kind, who has picked I'D the
kind Of veneer he could catch by aping
his master, will provide smiles for ev-
cry one he comes in contact with during
his stay. So long as their inventions do
no more harm than make them ridicu-
lous they are only laughed at and let
alone, but when one Of them develops
a talent for invention which molests
or Injuries others, especially when It
takes the form Of confidential commu-
nication to the governor Of what he
sees and still more of what he does not
see, such retributiOn as both prison.
ers and officers can inflict is not long in
falling.
II have met men from every class of
society from the highest to the lowest,
acting just as they would outside, some
carrying all those little indescribable
mannerisms of well-bred meI., uncom-
planning, enduring and self Prospecting.
From them the grades go down to the
lowest, the beetle-browed ruffian of
melodrama, in all but the shape, wild
beast amenable to no argument but
one which addresses him in the shape
of thump over the head from q war
denis club.
Dcgradcs. Brutalizes and Hardens.
An English prison Is place de-
signed with consummate skill to de-
grade, brutalize and harden. Some
manage to escape its influence partly,
but most of those who fall under 1t go
out far more dangerous to society than
the day the judge pronounces his gen.
orally atrocious sentence. In any case
whether they live through the torture
and come out to face the desperate
problem Of how to fit themselves into
the world again or whether they faint
under 1t and disappear into a prison
grave with prison funeral to instan-
taneous oblivion, ! do not remember
one who would not agree with me in
that success IN wrongdo-
Mr.. Bidwell and Mr.. Mcdonald ex-
press themselves as delighted with
Scranton. The last time Mr.. Mcdonald |
was here was at the close Of the war
and his remembrance Of the city was
Of small thriving town. He is as
tonished to see the great business ac- |
tivity and the buildings, both COM
pleted and In process Of erection which |
would be an honor even to New York |
and he contrasts the enterprise and |
push Of Scranton citizens with the lam }
quor and want Of enrgy ne has noticed
In other places.
They have published a book which
conveys many q lesson to young ,nen |
and which is full OF value to business
men. The letters they have from iead- |
Ing bankers like ]. Pierpont Morgan. |
Of New York, and Lyman j. Gage. 81 |
Chicago, speak warmly Of its great In |
terest. Only men Of their ability who
have undergone their tremendous er-
perience could produce anything 40 |
dramatic. John W.. Mackay, 'The Bo-
nansa King" declared that he sat up |
Two nights reading Il and he ordered |
.snt one % each Of the employees In his
View York once
"a