The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-03-08
AUSTIN BOWEL DEAD
He Succumbed to an Attack of
Pneumonia.
THE STORY OF HIS LIFE
Engineered Gigantic Scheme Whereby
the Bank of England Was De-
frauded Of sc, 100000 Many
Years in Prison.


Bidwell brothers who created stir in
the world about 26 years ago through
gigantic fraud perpetrated on the Bank
of England, by which they raised So
100000, died in Butte at $3.50 o'clock last
night of pneumonia. Bidwell, with his
brother, George Bidwell, came to Mon
tana about three weeks ago for the
purpose of selling their book, From
Wall Street to Newgate,' and for two
weeks they have been in Butte, where
many people become interested in
them. 1t had been the intention of
Austin Bidwell, who is the younger of
the two brothers, to locate in Mon
tana. Five or six days ago he was
taken down with the grip, and he never
left his room in the Mantle block after
that. The sickness developed INTO
pneumonia, resulting in DEATH For
several days he had been delirious, and
his brother, who had great affection
for him, was constantly at his side
and is almost crazed by the sudden
death of the man who has suffered SO
much with him as the result of the
great mistake they had made in early
life.
The body of the dead man was re-
moved to Richards undertaking rooms
and will be shipped to Chicago, where
he was born So years ago. 1t is under
stood that the deceased has no family
and since his release from the English
prison in 1893 he had made his home
with his brother at East Hartford,
Conn.
He had once been married, but his
wife deserted him upon his conviction
for the forgeries, and few days later
married another man in England. The
woman was an English lady, and Bid
well, who was then only about "a years
of age, married her with great cere
mony at the American embassy in Par
is. 1t was but a short time after the
first successful raid on the Bank of
England. He had unlimited money at
his command, and his bride knew him
only as f. A. Warren, a millionaire
American. The members of the gang
were making preparations to get back
to America by different routes, and
young Bidwell took his bride and start
ed for Mexico by the roundabout way
of Cadiz, and after many exciting adj
ventures and encounters with Carlist
rebels in Spain they finally landed in
Havana, Cuba, where Bidwell first
learned that the torgerieS had been
discovered and that a big reward had
been offered for himself and partners.
The PinkertonS We're put to work on
the case and Captain John Curtin, now
living in San Francisco, located Bid
well in Havana and effected his arrest.
William Pinkerton himself was in Ha-
vana directing the search for Bidwell
alias Warren. and when cornered Bid
well offered him $4,000 for 10 minutes
of time, but Pinkerton refused it and
Bdwel shot at him and hit Curtin,
but only slightly wounded. him, and
he was overpowered, and after a great
deal of international negotiations be-
tween Spain, England and the United
States he was taken back to England
| and with his partners, George Bidwell,
Edwin NoyeS and Mcdonald was tried
and sentenced to life Imprisonment.
After serving Is years George Bidwell
was. on the certificate of the prison
physician that he could not live much
longer, discharged and he returned to
America He did not die, however On
the contrary, he recovered his health
and then set about to secure the release
of his brother and the other two ac-
| completes. He wrote a book of the
| crime and his awful punishment and
sufferings in prison and by selling it
| raised the money necessary to pay the
| expenses of his fight He interested the
| secretary of state and other eminent
| men and women in official and social
life in this country and secured their
assistance In England Lady Somerset
took up his fight and through her all
| England if not the world, became in
| tereSted in the case. and there was a
revusion of feeling in favor of the for
gers and the people began to say a life
sentence was too severe a punishment
| for crime committed against prop
| IL
| secretary took the matter up and the
| three remaining forgers We're pardoned
after having served 20 years in prison
| They returned to America and Noyes
and Mcdonald have led a quiet fife
| since but the Bidwells have been be-
| fore the public more or less ever since.
| They have written a thrilling book,
From Wall Street to Newgate," and
| that has served to keep them and the
| story of their career fresh in the public
| mind.
| There are few newspaper readers who
| are not familiar with the career of these
| men. Before they started out to break
the Bank of England they were we'll
known and successful men on Wall
street. and the elder had made several
fortunes in business but money was not
coming in fast enough. so they con-
ceived the gigantic fraud which they SC
nearly and successfully carried out
They forged the names of the Roths-
childs and other great European finan-
ciers and bankers and had over five
million to show for it, when, by the
simple error of emitting a date from
what was meant to be their final one
the whole fraud was discovered. Moves
who presented the check, was arrested
| and the others were captured and near
" all of the five millions We're recovered
Since their return to the United States
the Bidwells, by their uprightness and
| honesty, have won a standing at theil
home in the East and the respect of all
with whom they have come in contact