Forging his chains; autobiography

Front matter

FT

MEPDE

4HV

CHAPTER I. Explanatory, ........ 17

CHAPTER n.

My Ancestors — My Parents and Their Religion — The Ups and Downs of a Pioneer’s Life in Michigan — My Father’s Business Failures — I Turn Peddler and Wood-sawyer to Support the Family — Nautical Experiences — The Grand Rapids Disaster—I Go to New York City and Become a “Drummer”—My Untimely Marriage — Signs and Portents, ........ 25

CHAPTER IH.

Overweighted at the Outset — A Struggle to Support Dependent Ones — My First Dishonest Act — The ‘‘ Patent Globe Coffee-Roaster ”— Arrest on Charge of Embezzlement — Examination at the Tombs Police Court, and Discharge by “Big” Justice Connelly — The Philoso¬ phy of Crime — Twenty Minutes out of Prison — A Suicidal Re¬ trospect, . . . . . . . .38

CHAPTER IY.

In Business on Broadway — A Typographical Villain — Hilton Floods the Confederate States with Spurious Notes and Bonds—His Arrest and Confinement in Fort Lafayette — Life in Ludlow Street Jail — Oils the Wheels of the Judicial Chariot with $40,000 — A Farcical Punishment — A Question for Casuists, . . . ,47

CHAPTER Y.

I Invent a Steam-kettle and Obtain a Patent — The Broadway Business Broken Up — My Temporary Discouragement — Attempt to Establish a Factory in Toronto — Confidence in U. S. Greenbacks — Gold on the “Rampage”—$10,000 Reduced by Exchange to $3,000 — Retreat to Chicago — Frank Kibbe, the Merchandise Swindler —I Meet him in Buffalo and Baltimore — Kibbe, Fearing Arrest, Induces Me to Collect $1,000 — A “Crook’s” Chances of Escaping Imprison¬ ment, ........ 56

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI.

A Swindling Commission House — Kibbe Absconds with $20,000 — I Trace Him a Thousand Miles — The Bogus Firm of Henry Harvey Short & Co., Buffalo — “The Rogue” Run to Earth — His Race for Liberty — Arrested by a Detective — $600 Worth of “ Palm-grease ”— The Detective Assists Him to “ Skip” to Canada — Injured Innocence of the Chief of Police — Kicked Out — I Bring Kibbe to Bay — Some of His “Commercial” Transactions Extracted from the “New York Tribune,” ........ 64

CHAPTER VH.

Partner-swindling — “Doctor” Samuel Bolivar— How He “Raised the Wind”—Up a Tree—The Way He Roped in Greenhorns — The Bogus Reference “Dead Beat”—Jones’s Grand Piano—The Empty Box — The Elm City Enterprise comes to an Untimely End — Musical “Notes”—Diamond Cut Diamond — Beaten by an Ex-associate, who Disappears into Obscurity, . . . . .74

CHAPTER VIII.

In the Tobacco Business at Wheeling, West Virginia —Eldridge and the Cumberland Swindle — Eldridge’s Arrest — Post and Telegraph Offices “Worked”—A “Header” out of a Car Window, and Escape in Irons — An Angel in the Wilderness — A “Rise” taken out of Pender — Eldridge Re-arrested and Lodged in Wheeling Jail, . . 85

CHAPTER IX.

My Arrest in Evansville — Delivered Upon a Requisition Charging Me with Felony — Tried for Misdemeanor and Given Two Years in the County Jail — Unequal Sentences — A “ Model ” Jail — Adams Express Robbers — Shelton Plans an Escape, . . . .91

CHAPTER X.

Eldridge, Shelton, Green, and Morgan Break out of Wheeling Jail — Morgan Shot Dead — Leap and Run for Liberty — Wanderings in the Forest —“Borrowing” a Horse-blanket — Starvation and a Goose-chase— A Dinner Won — Eldridge Loses His Companions in Crossing the Ohio — A Narrow Escape - 1 - A Fearful Ride — Freedom at Last and a Pilgrimage — The Good Quaker Lady — Arrival in New York, . . . . . . . .98

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XI.

A Futile Plan — An “Old Saw”—A New Conspiracy to Escape — A Traitor — I am “ Bucked ” and Horsewhipped — To Heal My Wounded Spirit I Set the Jail on Fire — Christmas Dinner in Jail — My Party Escape — Cross the Ohio in a “Borrowed” Boat — A Stolen Ride — A “Tramp” — Good Luck and Good Samaritans—Meet Peney in New Orleans, ....... 108

CHAPTER Xn.

Forgers Wilkes and Sheridan — A Big Gold “ Operation ” in Wall Street Frustrated — Other Gold Forgeries — Engles, “The Terror of Wall Street ”— Fighting the “Tiger ”— The Forger and Gambler at Home— Further Transactions — A Model Constable, . . . 121

CHAPTER XIH.

George McDonald’s Early Life — Goes to Harvard College — His Parents — He Leaves Home — Meets Kibbe, ‘ ‘ The Rogue ” — Gets into the ‘ ‘ Tombs ”— I Make His Acquaintance — Sketch of Austin Bidwell — A “Male Quartet” off for Europe — Arrival in London — A “Duet” Visit Ireland — “ Freaks ” Endorsed on Bank of England Notes — Mr. Green — He Introduces “Warren” to the Bank — Mr. Francis and Mr. Fenwick, Bank Managers — Warren Opens an Account at the Bank of England, . . . . . . .132

CHAPTER XIV.

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 — Reunion in London — Cowardice or “Prudence” of George Engles, . . 144

CHAPTER XV.

“The Terror of Wall Street” Returns to New York—Takes Parties of Forgers to England and the Continent — He is Arrested — Fruitless Examples — Starts a Faro Bank — Fights Strange “Tigers”—His ^Premature Death in 1886—Voyage to Rio Janeiro—The Lady of the iMcitania — A Swedish Colonel’s Party of English Engineers — A Bibulous Chaplain — $50,000 on Bogus Letters of Credit — Mr. Solomons — An Anxious Time — Munson in a “Fix” — Strategic Movements to Extricate Him, ..... 154

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XYI.

Technicalities of Brazilian Law — In a Tight Spot — I Resolve on a Bold Coup — Efficacy of a Suitable “Douceur” — A “Doctored” Passport

— A Detective on Trail, Who Ingratiates Himself into Munson’s Confidence — Maneuvers — The Detective on a “Wild Goose Chase”

— Safely on Board — A Distinguished Party in a Rowboat — A

Stern Chase — Off at Last, . . . . .165

•

CHAPTER XVII.

Idle Days at Rio — Imperial Honors — Visit to a Coffee Plantation — Slaves — A Trip to the La Plata — Ten Days’ Quarantine on the Island De Flores — Montevideo and Buenos Ayres — The “La France ”

— Out in a Pampero — Return to England, . . . 173

CHAPTER XVIII.

I Meet Munson in Paris — His Account of the Voyage From Rio — A Pleasure Trip to Vienna—Orpheus and Eurydice — An Electric Phenomena — I Air My German — Return to London — Incidents of Travel in Germany, . . . . . .180

CHAPTER XIX.

Unsuccessful Attempt to “Beat the Dutch” — Mac’s “Great Discovery”

— London Again — First Inception of the Great Bank of England Forgery — Deductions from McDonald’s “ Great Discovery ” — Verifi¬ cation of Commercial Notes and Bills of Exchange — Letter From a Bank Manager — I Cable to America for Noyes — Sir Sidney Waterlow’s Clerks — Mistaken Identity — A Key to the Mystery — No Wood Engravers in Paris — I Put My Neck in the Halter — Horton Account Opened at the Continental Bank— The “Fraud Machine” in Working Order — I Resolve to Give Up the Contemplated Fraud and Go Home

— A Fatal Compliance — Don’t. . . . . .185

CHAPTER XX.

A Headlong Marriage — Tragic End of a Bridal Tour — First Letter to the Bank of England — $50,000 a Day — Am Puzzled What to Do With So Much Gold — A Trio at the St. James Hotel, Piccadilly — Forebodings — A Joke on the Prince of Wales — Garraway’s, . 199

CHAPTER XXI.

The Fraud Discovered—Noyes Arrested — A Clearance — An Important Piece of Blotting Paper — Flight of McDonald — Examination of Noyes at the Mansion House, before Lord Mayor Waterlow — The Bank Solicitor, C. K. Frashfield, M. P. — Dr. Kenealy, . . 210

CONTENTS .

CHAPTER XXn.

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, . . . 220

CHAPTER XXIII.

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’s Blessing — I Turn Russian, and Later Become a Frenchman — Belfast Detectives — Escape into Scot¬ land— The Other Side of the Story — A Bow-street Detective’s Adven¬ tures 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,” .... 232

CHAPTER XXIV.

Arrival in Edinburgh — A Mystery Unveiled — Editorial from the ^Lon¬ don Times” — I Am Arrested — M’Kelvie and McNab — Diamonds — Bailie Wilson — Crowds to See Me Off—Transferred to London — A Night at Bow-Street Police Station — Before the Lord Mayor of Lon¬ don — The Mansion House — Consigned to Newgate, . . 244

CHAPTER XXY.

Extradition of Austin Bidwell from Cuba and George McDonald from New York — Austin Arrested in Havana — A “New York Herald” Editorial—Sympathy with “ Fillibusters ” — Cable Dispatches to “The Herald” and “The London Times” — General Sickles’s Inter¬ view with Senor Castelar at Madrid — Bidwell Escapes — Recapture — He is Surrendered to The British Government — Arrival in England — McDonald Arrives in New York — Detectives Irving and Farley Trick Sheriff Judson Jarvis — Board the “Thuringia” at Quarantine — Curious “Search” of McDonald—Sheriffs Jarvis and Curry Too Late — No Bonds Recovered — Seize Watches and Diamonds — Mc¬ Donald at Ludlow Street Jail — Extradition Proceedings — Startling

CONTENTS.

tifies — William Cheshire, Engraver, Paternoster-Row, Does Fancy Work for George Bidwell — Other Witnesses Cross-Examined by George Bidwell — James Dalton, a Deaf and Dumb Engraver, is Ex¬ amined— The Bidwell Coat-of-Arms — A Police Constable and a London Detective Sergeant in the Witness-Box—A Scotch Boarding- House Mistress Recognizes — More Detective Testimony — A Glas¬ gow Fellow Passenger on the Lucitania — Mr. Charles Chabot, the Expert in Hand-Writing, Testifies — Another Hotel-Waiter Gives Evidence, ........ 355

CHAPTER XXXY.

The Trial Continued — Eighth and Last Day, Tuesday, August 26th — An Affecting Letter — Noyes Tries to Save The Old Homestead— “ He Likes to Stay in Europe ” — A Letter of Condolence — My Letters from Edinburgh — The Case for the Prosecution Closed — Mr. Metcalf, Q. C., Takes a Formal Objection, which is Overruled — Mr. Giffard, Q. C., Sums Up the Evidence on the Part of the Prosecution — McDon¬ ald’s Statement to the Jury — George Bidwell’s Remarks Cut Short by Judge Archibald — Mr. Mclntire’s Plea for Austin Bidwell — Mr. Ribton Addresses the Jury on Behalf of Noyes — Judge Archibald Sums Up—Jury Retires — Bring in a Verdict of “ Guilty ” — Austin Bidwell Exonerates the Bank Manager — Last Appeal of the Prisoners — Sen¬ tenced for Life, . . . . . . . 365

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Plan of Escape From Newgate During the Trial at Old Bailey — Article From London Times — A Tempest in a Teapot — Arrest of Warders Leach, Smidt, and Norris — The “Pattern Solicitor” Howell Again — A Faithful Brother — A Soap Prison Key — 300 Sovereigns Thrown Away — Solicitor Howell’s “Benevolent” Visits to Newgate — His Astute Plan — A Prison “Tool” — His Treason and Its Results—A Body-Guard of Policemen — Norris Gets Three Months for Acting as a Postman — John Bright’s, Chamberlain’s, Spurgeon’s, Churchill’s, Morley’s, Marquises Lymington’s and Hartington’s Letters — Charles Dud¬ ley Warner, Mrs. H. Beecher Stowe, and Mark Twain’s Petition for Austin Refused — John Bidwell Flies From England — Success of Howell’s Rascality — He Is Expelled The Profession, . . 384

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Penal Servitude For Life — First Night After the Sentence — Despair — Attempted Suicide Saved By a Supernatural Warning — In Chains — The Black Maria — Newgate Burying-Ground — Arrival at Pentonville Prison — An Ominous Reception — Medical Inspection — Picking Oakum — Exercise — Remarks on Prison Life — The Nine Months Soli¬ tary System an Absurdity — Inequality of Sentences, . . 399

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

doctor Vane C. Clarke — Effects of Solitude on My Mind — A Desperate Plan to Escape — A Convict Imbecile — Star Men — Other Classes of Convicts — Their Dress and Food — Remission Marks, . . 413

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Prison Authorities — Governors — Doctors — Duties of the Chief Warder

— Why Warders Are False to Their Duties — A Perfect Convict Sys¬

tem on Paper—Corrupt Warders—Brutalities — Kill and Leave No Marks — Convict Robinson Kicked to Death — An Honest Warder Discharged as Insane For Exposing It — Result When Convicts Com¬ plain— Charles Dudley Warner’s Opinion—Abstract of Prison Regu¬ lations — Progressive Stages — Dietaries, .... 427

CHAPTER XL.

How (Not) to Obtain “Porridge” — Prospecting For a Plan of Escape

— Too Much Heat Evaporates the Idea — Despair Demands Death or

Liberty— “ Old” Varney, the Snorer — I Dig Out Bricks in Search of Porridge, but Find Chains — Official “Investigation” With a Ven¬ geance— Chained — Bread and Water — Am Found Insensible — An Electric Shock — How a Convict Can Prove Sickness Not to Be Shammed — Under Observation — In “Hot Water” — A Cold Water Shock — ‘ ‘ Old ” Bones — Transported to Dartmoor, . . 437

CHAPTER XLI.

Dartmoor Convict Establishment — Prison Association — Niblo Clark — His Story — Steals Two Coats — Takes Refuge on the Roofs — A Dar¬ ing Leap — A Terrified Woman — Fifteen Years for “Cheeking” the Judge — The “ Pipps ” — He is Ambushed by the Medical Officer, 448

CHAPTER XLII.

Doctor Power — Governor Harris — Hard Life and Terrible Death of an Italian Convict — Lord Kimberly in My Cell — Phillips, the Con¬ vict Imposter — A Perambulator — Ingratitude — Another Imposter “Raised” by Galvanic Shocks — Boozer’s Story — Soap as an Article of Diet — How Convicts Get Into the Hospital — Beef Steaks as Breastplates—“Reliable” Convicts on the Look Out—“Whopper”

— How to Get a Good Dinner in Prison — Sacrificing an Eye for a

Few Weeks in Hospital — Taggart, a Prison “Faker” — An Incurable Abscess, . . . . . . . . 456

CHAPTER XLIII.

Kill or Cure — Punishment Cells — The Tailors’ Shop — Before the Gov¬ ernor— Bread and Water — The Crank — Grinding the Wind — Prin¬ cipal Warder Westlake—I Obtain “Porridge” at Last — On the Bare Boards — Desperation — Cut My Throat — In Handcuffs — Rescued by

44 CONTENTS.

the Chaplain, A. H. Ferris — A Good Samaritan — A Governor’s, Chaplains’, and Prisoners’ Letters — A Prison “Shave” — An Elec¬ tric Cannonade — In Extremity — Governor Avery and His Noble- Hearted Wife — Warder Westlake Brought to Book — A Convict Shot Dead — Another Badly Wounded, .... 467

CHAPTER XLIY.

Doctor Smalley — Transferred to Woking Invalid Palace—A Gang of Chained Convicts at Plymouth Station — A Delightful Journey to End in a Living Grave — Description of Woking Prison Palace — Major- Gen. Sir Joshua Jebb — Doctor Campbell — Gangs of Living Skeletons from Chatham — Chatham Prison and Great Basins — The Revolt at Chatham — Remorseless Severity Against the Revolters — No Investi¬ gation as to the Cause of Revolt — Sneaking Part of Our Food to the Skeletons — A Month out of Prison, .... 482

CHAPTER XLY.

Prison Tortures — The Cat-o’-Nine-Tails — Flogging — The Birch — Squire Morris — How He Obtained Promotion — The Galvanic Battery

— The Straight-Jacket— “ Screw Him Up” — Unauthorized Brutality

— How They Feed a Man in the Jacket — Two Brutes, Warders Yile and James — The Humane Principal Warder Fry — Crippled For Life by the Jacket — The “Cleaner” Mackey — Retribution for Yile, 494

CHAPTER XLYI.

Books — Prison Pets — Rat Performs on the Trapeze — Rat Jealousy and Rodent Reasoning — An Intelligent Mouse — Its Betrayal and Death — A Beetle the Sole Companion of My Solitude — Tame Flies—Setting a Fly’s Disjointed Leg — Champion Encounters Between Flies — My Mosquito Friends — General Remarks, .... 504

CHAPTER XLYII.

Doctor Campbell Retires — Remarks About Warders — Doctor Von Mar¬ tin— A Four-Bedded Dormitory — Electric Shocks “Restore” Bed- Ridden Cripples — Strange Characters — A Cadger and a Pickpocket

— Selwin’s Story — Whopper’s Life — An Honorable Pickpocket — Lo-

comoto Praxis — A Pickpocket’s Sons — Ex-Solicitor D- : Mor¬

alizing — A Little Light Followed by Deeper Gloom — Doctor Braine

— Abbot’s Brutality — Governor Bones Again — Under Him Woking Becomes a Den of Horrors — He is Superseded — A Restoration Under Doctor Yane C. Clarke — Pennock, the Epileptic — 34 Years in Prison

— His Sad Story — A Promise Yet Unfulfilled, . . .511

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Woking Convict Lunatic Asylum — Self-Made Lunatics — Vile and James Again — Vile’s Reception of a Lunatic— “We Can Kill a Man and Leave No Marks” — How They Do It — Lunatic Imposters and Their Doings—The Woking High Priest— “Life’s Action” — Robbed of Three Years Remission — Governmental Inconsistencies — Justice vs. Injustice, ....... 523

CHAPTER XLIX.

(Not) “Uriah Heep” — A Sketch of His Life — At 15 Escapes From a Lunatic Asylum — Obtains a Situation — Robs His Employer — Es¬ capes from Raynell Asylum — Steals an Attendant’s Suit — Gets Five Years Penal Servitude at Chatham — Sent from Prison Back to The Asylum — Escapes Nude with Shaved and Blistered Head — How He Got a Suit — How He Learned the Painters’ Trade — How He Got a Second Term of Seven Years— “Fetches” the Woking Lunatic Wing — Discharge and Departure for America — He Returns — Gets a Third Term of Ten Years — Bleeding—Straight-Jacket — Fourteen Months Without Eating, ....... 533

CHAPTER L.

The Ultimate Fate of Forgers— “Old Patch,” the First Bank of England Forger — Wilkes, the Railway Man — He First Becomes a Gambler, then a Forger — George Engles’ Finale — Wilson, Vanderpool, alias Brockway, Charles Becker, Joe Chapman, George Bell, Robert S. Bal¬ lard, Thomas Ballard, Walter Sheridan, Frank Kibbe, Little Elliott, W. H. Lyman, Stephen Raymond, Perrine, Dan Noble, Williamson, Rosencranz, alias Wise, etc., Spence Pettis, George Watson, Van Etten, Lewis Cole, Charles Lister, and Johnny Miller, Forgers, . 544

CHAPTER LI.

The “ Ticket-of-Leave ” Man — Facsimile of an Ordinary Ticket-of- Leave — Requirements and Regulations Printed on Its Back — Prisoner’s Aid Society — Prisoners’ Opinions of That Society — No Chance for Ex-Convicts in England — How Prison Gratuity Money is Used — Buying a New Suit — Prisons the Best Homes Many Ever Had — Ex-Convicts Blackmailed — Welch, “The Truss of Straw,” and Parker, “Model” London Detectives—By Perjury They Get Piper and Shaw Fourteen Years — Parker Arrested and the Truth Becomes Known — Piper and Shaw Discharged After Serving Eighteen Months of the Fourteen Years — Piper Leaps From London Bridge — Gets £100 Damages for Wrongful Imprisonment — The Right Honorable Henry Matthews — Conclusion, ..... 550

TICKET OF LEAVE.

^77 / .

Order of Licence td'a Convict made Under the Statutes 16 & 17 VicG > c. 99, 8. 9, and 27 & 28 Viet., c. 47, 8. 4.

Whitehall, /f day of HER MAJE grant to

Who was convicted of

/lTLju!

on the /<7*7' of

then and there sentenced to be kept in R

18 %/, and was)

and #£ now confined in the Convict Prison,

Her Royal Licence to be at large tg0A the day of his liberation under this order, during the remaining portion of hissaid term of Penal Servitude, unless the said

Shall, before the expiration of the said term, be convicted of some indictable offence within the United Kingdom, in which case, such Licence will be immediately forfeited by law, or unless it shall please Her Majesty sooner to revoke or alter such Licence*

This Licence- is given subject to the conditions endorsed upon the same, upon the breach of any of which it will be liable to be revoked Whether such breach is followed by a conviction or not.

And Her Majesty hereby orders that the said

be set at Ubert^4nthin TbfifyDays

from the date of this Order.

Given under my hand and Seal,

Si tuned.

TRUE COPY.

Licence to he at large.

for

Chairman of the Direct of Convict Prisons .

GEORGE BIDWELL (From Photo, by Numa Blanc, Paris, 1872.)

AFTER IMPRISONMENT. (From Photo, by Stuart, Hartford.)

Chapter I.

EXPLANATORY.

URING the past twenty years, hundreds of columns

A-J have been published in the newspapers throughout the world regarding myself and my transactions. Having been so freely commented upon by press and public, while it was beyond my power to reply, now that I am again free, I feel it incumbent on me to publish the true story of my life, which will not only correct all mistakes or false reports which may have been circulated, but serve as a perpetual warning to the young men of America to avoid the temptations by which I was beset, and to restrain that inordinate thirst for gold which seems fully as insatiable to-day as it was a score of years ago.

The alleged $5,000,000 Forgery on the Bank of England, in 1873, is now a matter of history; and as I have been regarded the principal character in that transaction, I feel sure that no reader will question my ability to “ tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” regarding the gigantic fraud. My capture, and subsequent incarceration in English prisons, are facts as widely known as the forgery itself. Before commencing the narrative proper, I desire to picture a few of the realities of my prison life, and to explain my pres¬ ence in America, a free man.

Before I had been six months in prison, heavy band-irons were riveted around my ankles. These were connected by a chain, and I was condemned to wear them day and night, in bed and out, for six months. I was also forced to wear a parti-colored dress, one-half of the jacket and knee-breeches.

IN CHAINS.

being yellow and the other buff. I will hereafter describe in full, with illustrations, both the ordinary and the punishment suits worn by prisoners in the English prisons, and give the alleged reasons for my punishment, with an account of what I did to incur such a fate. The ultimate consequence of this treatment was that, throughout the next thirteen years, I was unable to stand upon my feet. During the first five years of that period I was never out of the cell in which I was confined, except once a month to the bath-room in the ward. After the expiration of the five years, I was taken out into the yard for an hour each day. This continued for a month, after which I was again in the solitude of a cell for the space of two years. All this occurred at the Pentonville and Dartmoor prisons.

In the month of November, 1881, I was removed to the Woking male prison, twenty-two miles from London, and con¬ fined in a cell about three years longer.

Throughout these various periods of solitary confinement, I never saw the blue sky, the sun, or the twinkling stars.

During the last five years of my imprisonment my friends had been making untiring efforts to obtain my release, but all petitions to that end had been rejected by the English govern¬ ment. It will be seen that it is exceedingly easy to get into an English prison, but almost impossible to get out again.

I had been incarcerated since March, 1873. On the 18th day of July, 1887, I heard hasty steps approaching my cell door. The key grated in the lock—the door opened — and a prison officer, stepping in, said:

“ You are free! and I am going to London by next train with you! A dispatch has come that you are to be sent at once! ”

This was about 1 p. m. Officers hurried about to get me fitted with a suit of citizen’s clothes, shoes, hat, etc. My photograph was taken. The medical officer was sent for in great haste to examine into my physical condition. In about one hour I was on the railway. Can the reader imagine my delight at this sudden resurrection from a living grave?

LIBERTY AT LAST.

More than fourteen years! Few can form an idea of what that means. Fancy yourself being obliged to remain shut up in your own house until you had read the Bible through three and one-half times, at the rate of one chapter a day. It would take 5,231 days. Though I began those years a black¬ haired, robust young man, at the end I found myself a gray¬ headed cripple; yet, on this first opening of the world anew before my ravished eyes, how beautiful everything appeared! Even dull-looking old London seemed glorious. And the throngs of people in the streets! I could not tire of looking at them. I thought to myself: “ These streets have been thronged the same each day through all the years that I have been in solitude; the lives of these people have been running on in various phases, while mine has been standing still! ”

The English authorities sent two officers in citizens’ clothes with me to Liverpool. They were very civil and attentive on the journey. They had orders to make the trip without attracting attention. I was taken by them on board the steamer, and they remained on the wharf until she was under way. The Government apparently feared that I, crippled as I was, might give them the slip and remain in England, and these officers were obliged to report that they saw me sail, and to bring a certificate signed by the captain to that effect.

On the voyage from Liverpool to Queenstown, I saw a man who landed at the latter place whom I believed to have been sent along to see that I did not leave the steamer there. But I was only too glad to take my last look at the coast of Ire¬ land, and to see the good steamship Wisconsin in the broad Atlantic with her prow turned toward the loved land of my nativity, so often visited in dreams through all my years of desolation.

Capt. Bently was the only one on the steamer who was informed of my history, and Pftiink he kept the secret. When I arrived on board, the warder gave me the first saloon ticket which my friends had purchased and given to the English authorities. This was taken under a false name, as it was not

POETRY IN MID-OCEAN.

desired that my release should become known to the public. It was done without my own wishes having been consulted on the subject. This proceeding placed me in a false position, and for some time I did not feel like joining with the other passengers in the various plans for whiling away the time at sea. For the time of year the voyage w r as a very rough one, and we were greatly delayed by fogs, so much so that the fog¬ horn was going most of the time for four or five days. The waves washed the length of the deck, and at times poured down upon the steerage passengers. On such occasions the women and children would scream with terror, believing that the ship was going down.

I passed most of my time during the voyage in writing out from memory some thousands of lines of verses which I composed in Woking prison. The nature of my occupation had been observed, and on the occasion of an evening concert got up among the saloon passengers, I was asked to compose some verses for the occasion. This request resulted in the production of the “Steamer Wisconsin Squibs”, the same being received with unexpected favor by the good-natured audience. At a subsequent entertainment I was again called upon to take a part. I had sent the committee several pieces to select from, and they put me down for three recitations. I recited “ The Sleigh-Ride ” and “ King Alcohol ”, both selec¬ tions from poems composed by me at Woking, which were vehemently applauded. Passengers at sea are very easily pleased.

Upon my arrival in New York, August 4, 1887, I found the question was being considered whether so dangerous a man should be permitted to land on his native soil. The conclusion appears to have been that, if I once set foot on shore, I could make a fight of it to prevent expulsion and exile.