The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-11-12
DID THE BANK OF ENGLAND
Bidwell, Mcdonald and Noyss Now In
This City.
WE'RE TWENTY YEARS IN JAIL
They Sold the Bank Of England . Gold
Brick for $1,000. .OOO-They Say
That Success In Wrong
Doing II Failure.

$4,000, 900, arrived in town yesterday on
business. Our reporter found them at
the wyoming. All three are splendid
specimens Of hearty manhood, who
after serving twenty years In an En-
glish dungeon, bear no outward trace
Of the suffering they underwent. No
one, to see them, would suspect that
their lives had been passed In other
than congenial surroundings. When
asked il they he'd had all they wanted,
MIR. Bidwell promptly said:
"Yes, more than / wanted, but not
much more than we asked for and de-
served"
They all came of good Puritan an
cestry, and one maturity marvels now
men of refinement and good ancestry
would deliberately enter upoE scheme
that If discovered would invite sacn y,
serious consequences. Mr.. Mcdonald Is
somewhat reserved and taciturn, and
when our reporter questioned him he
was referred to his partner.
Austin spoke freely upon the matter,
and very much like philosopher as
well. In effect he said, Getting Off the
track explains everything No man
knows how far he may go in wrong do
ing IL he once gets off the track. And
on the way to the devil one Is pretty
sure to get there II he only has energy
enough, and the greater the energy
the sooner Is he at his journeys end.
Thinks 1t Is a Fraud.
The flower wreathed Primrose way
beer drinking Bohemian artists love to
print is a fraud. I have been there
myself and I can say from experience
that is 1t a tormenting and unhappy
thoroughfare. When one has once gone
to the devil, as we did, few or none ever
come back in health, strength and cour-
age as we have, but our return was by
the path of suffering. For twenty
years." Mr.. Bidwell said, "the walls or
my dungeon frowned on me, whlie
every hour, I had to fight for my reason
as drowning men fight for their lives"
Here our reporter told Mr.. Bidwell
that as a newspaper man ne would
never dare to return to his chief with
more than ten lines Of philOsophic the
orizing to one of facts, and requested
him to give what the public is hungry
for, not theory, but fact. Austin re-
piled pleasantly enough:
I'm brief, l went into an Office In Wall
street, New York, in "a, an innocent
boy Of 16. Not long after drifted into
stock speculation and soon became
known as one of the most successful as
well as one Of the fastest of the younger
men about the Stock Exchange. The
time came when, like others, 1 found
myself on the wrong side of the market
and pressed for money to meet enjoy
ments. Just about this time had the
chance offered me to make a large sum
of money by negotiating big block Of
stolen bonds. Under circumstances of
great temptation l consented to do 1t,
secretly promising myself that this
first step into the borderlands Of crime
1Nn In CT
ernment bonds and were in the possess
sion Of Captain James Irving, chief Of
the New York detective force. and two
others of the detective bureau. I con-
sented and resolved to take the bonds to
Europe, this did and successfully dis
posed of them there.
Good Resolutions Departed.
II need hardly say that successful In
the first criminal transaction all my
good resolutions never to do 30 any
more were speedily blown to the
winds, and I found myself coolly con-
templating transactions that but a
short time before 1 would have shrunk
from. The result of it all was that
being in London in 1872 with my two
friends and with $4,000 in the party, 1t
was suggested that we could easily
make our $4,000 million by an attack
upon the money vault Of the Bank Of
England, and we also argued 1t could
be carried out in q way to leave at
least two, If not all three of US, safe from
any chance Of conviction, even II an ar
rest should ever follow.
what at first had been only a sug-
gestion, q hazy theory of a happy pos
sibilty soon crystalized into deliberate
purpose and determined resolve, and
being men Of considerable energy we
had the matter to focus right speedily.
How we'll we succeeded in obtaining q
few Of the banks many millions is a
matter of history, but how dearly we all
paid for our wrong doing can never be
known but to ourselves. The New
York detectives received their first div
idend and were ferociously hungry for
second, and when the English detec-
ives arrived in New York hunting for
some trace of the bank forgers. our hon.
est friends fooled them nicely, but
clever as. in our folly, we fancied we
were, justice had determined to weigh
us in her balances, and she did 1t pretty
effectually, too.
Pinkertons on the Trail.
"Finally the Bank of England EN-
ployed the Pinkertons, and they speed
lily let daylight into the whole business.
Under their clever astuteness the safe
crumbled into dust. Noyes was ar
rested in Europe, Mcdonald in America
and I was traced to the West Indies
and arrested by the Pinkertons in my
own house In the presence of a score Of
guests. and never again do I want q
take down so near zero as my arrest
was. We three soon after were in New
gate and one summer night In 1873, still
in our early prime. we stood up at the
bar of the old Bailey in London while
the Judge hurled at us the fearful SEN
tence of Imprisonment for life. The
Primrose way to death had come to an
end, ana fearful was the retribution.
"We knew we deserved a severe SEN
tence, but all felt that such a sentence
on us youngsters for an offence against
property was brutal, and our minds
rose in revolt against 1t. The moment
It fell we shook hands and vowed that,
though beaten, we were not conquered,
and that we would never despair, let
John Bull do his worst.
Under the circumstances 1t looked q
foolish thing to do, for in England life
sentence means life We had some
fortitude though, and for over twenty
years we endured the pelting of that
pitiiess storm. Then by an extraordi-
nary accident I was liberated. came
back in vigorous health, but a stranger
in the world and at once set about pro-
curing the liberation Of my friends. At
length, something more than a year
after my release, had the satisfaction
of welcoming them as they stepped
from the steamer on to the dock in New
York. For all of us youth had dis
appeared and as we saw the marks of
time upon our faces felt almost more
strongly than ever before that in the
world Of wrong doing success is fail
ure."
Buy your watches from Turnquest. -