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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.