A ROMANCE OF CRIME.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1507, 17 January 1901, Page 59

A ROMANCE OF CRIME.

— THE BID WELL SWINDLE ON THE BANK OF ENGLAND. (By John G. Rowe.) Of all the frauds perpetrated upon the Bank of England, and there have been not a few—considerably more, indeed, than most people dream of—none caused a greater sensation, or came so near creating a panic in commercial circles, as that of the Bidv.ell gang of forgers. The gang consists:! of four men— George Bidwell, Austin Bidivell. George MacDonnel and Ernest Noyes, all young —Austin Bidwell was twenty-seven, and George Bidwell, the eldest of the party and the master-criminal, only thirty-four —gentlemanlv-looking and of unmistakeable culture. Their system of forgery was most cunningly devised and executed, and, but for the smallest of oversights that led to their detection, t might have netted millions, instead of the £103.000 they did. All four were Americans. The Bidwells and MacDonneii came to Lngland with no less a capital between them than £lO,000, the proceeds of successful forgeries in the land of their birth. With so much money, one would think the roomes would have been satisfied. But the- werei not; they meant if possible to increase it a hundred-fold by judicious and dishonest manipulation of it. To defraud the Bank of England was their object, and immediately on their arrival in London they set to work to achieve it.

The first manoeuvre of the gang was as follows : —Austin Bidwell went to the establishment or a first-class firm of West End tailors in Saviue Bow, and was measured for a suir of clothes. Ho paid for the suit; then, on pretence of being a stranger in London, and afraid of being robbed, asked the manager to give liim a cheque on the firm’s bankers for fifty odd pounds he had on him. He produced the amount mentioned, and the! tailor, though somewhat surprised, wrote him out a cheque for it on the Western Brancaof the Bank of England, with whom the firm had an account.

A month or so passed, and Mr “Warren,” the name Austin, Bidwell had given the tailor, called again at the> shop and ordered another suit. He told the tailor he was about to run over to Ireland, and had a couple of thousand pounds he! wished to deposit somewhere.

“I should be obliged if you introduced me to your bankers,” he said.

The tailor saw no reason why lie shear refuse so simple a request, and they went together to the bank. Mr “Warren” deposited £1,200, and the following day paid in £IOOO. Scon after “Air Frederick Albert Warren,” as he styled himself, brought the bank manager Portuguese Three per Cent. Bonds to the amount of several thousands, and wanted them sold. The bonds were sold, and Mr “Warren” drew out £2OOO of his account. Mr “Warren 5 ' represented himself as an agent of Mr Pullman, of Pullman Sleeping Car fame.

' The scheme of the swindlers was to pose as honest business men, and when they had won the thorough confidence of the Bank to forge bills of exchange upon well-known foreign houses, and get these discounted by the Bank, iiie three rogues —for at this stage the-' gang only consisted of the Bidwells and MacBonnell —knew that the commercial paper of all reputable firms maue tliel circuit of house after house and bank after bank without any enquiry being made as to drawer and acceptor until it fell due. Meanwhile, George Bidwell and MacBonnell were not idle. George was buying commercial paper in Holland, MacDonnell in Paris. They selected foreign firms, knowing that, if any discovery were made, the inquiry into the'matter would: take more time. The bills oh foreign firms were payable at the Bank of England to “Frederick Albert Warren,” who was speedily, on account of the numerous transactions, regarded as a man of substance and influence. These bills, of course, were all genuine ones, and were setot purposely to increase the bank’s confidence in “Frederick Albert Warren,otherwise Austin Bidwell. When once the confidence of the Bank was deemed to be fully established, and the officials would unhesitatingly discount any bill he presented, forged bills would be sent.

Well primed with good foreign commercial paper, George Bidwell and MacDonnell returned to England, and the three swindlers set to work to prepare the false bills. They got plates engraved, without the engraver suspecting m the slightest degreie the use these were to be put to, and then they bought a small printing press and ran off forged bills in plenty, drawing them, accepting them, and endorsing them. The forger--ie3 were all at thr6e months. When these were to be discounted, it was necessary the money should he paid in gold', and not in notes, which might be traced. It would, however, be certain to excite suspicion if they cashed the same notes at the Bank as they received from it, for, of course, they could not receive the full amounts of the bills ill gold. George BidwelTs ingenuity surmounted the difficulty. He oonceived the idea of putting through some other Jt>ank the notes they received from the Bank of England, and making withdrawals froTh time! to time, cashing the fresh notes at till© Bank. Accordingly, Mac Donnell opened an account at the Continental Bank as

“Charles Johnson Horton.” To lend colour to Mac Donnell’s pretensions to being a reputable “manufacturer, ’ and to still further facilitate thei realisation of the illgotten notes, it was necessary he sho aid have a clerk. No man of any pretentious line of business would be aUvajs running to the bank himself. The fourth member of the gang, Noyes, was therefore! now brought upon the scene. He was summoned from New York by cable. There is no doubt he was cognisant of his accomplices’ schemes throughout, and was exacting the summons. But- the o-ang were too astute to take a single step without elaborate, precautions against discovery. Their idea Avas, if discovered, to pretend they did not know each other, and so they made it a point not to be seen together any more than they could possiblj' help. To safeguard Noyes-, who would have to remain behind when the others fled, it was important to lead everyone to imagine he was the dupe and innocent cat’s paw of “Horton.” The plan to achieve this does further credit to George Bidwell’s ingenuity. Noyes was directed to play the part of a young gentleman possessed of a little means and eager for a good investment in some business. He inserted the following advertisement in thei “Times” :

Clerkship or Partner.—The advertiser, a gentleman of active business habits, ancl with a capital of £3OO, desires a situation as above. —Address, A. 8., Durrant’s Plotel. Numerous replies were received, but only one was entertained, and that was from “Charles Johnson Horton,” alias MacDonneii. Noyes made an appointment with “Horton” at Durrant’s Hotel, and the pair went through a mock palaver, purpose-lv allowing the waiter who attended their table to overhear scraps of their conversation with respect to tne proposed partnership. The: interview was most satisfactory of course to botn, and “Edwin Noyes, of Durrant’s Hotel, merchant’s clerk,” was duly, regularly and formally indentured to “Charles Johnson Horton, of London Bridge Hotel, manufacturer,” as managing clerk and prospective partner at a salary of £IoO. Noves deposited the £3OO, supplied him by the Bidwells, as securitv for his honesty, and the! due fulfilment of his duties, “such sum,” so the agreement ran, “to be returned without interest on leaving.” The, indentures were drawn up by a solicitor and witnessed by him.

The time was now ripe for the issue of the forged bills. The bank appeared to have every confidence in “Mr Warren,” who gave out lie had come to England to build Pullman cars at Birmingham. To make assurance doubly sure, thougn, tlie swindlers plotted to obtain a genuine bill in the Paris house of Messrs Rothschild, and Austin Bidwell went over to France for that purpose. Fortune played into his hands in a truly remarkable way. The train he was travelling by met with a slight accident, and as Baron Alphonse de Rothschild was one of the directors of the railwav company.. Bidwell pretended lie had been badly hurt. Swathed in bandages he presented himself at Messrs Rothschild’s bank and asked for a bill for £4,500 at three months’ date, payable in London. The clerk replied it was not the custom to give a bill for so long a date. Bidwell talked of the accident, and asked if he could see the Baron. That gentleman, however, was not in, so Bidwell said he would call again. He did, and was shown into the presence: of Baron Rothschild, who, on hearing his tale of the accident, agreed to make an exception in lus case, an I give the bill at three months. Austin paid the mcney, received the bill, and, returning triumphantly to London, swaggered into the Western Branch of the Bank of England and showed Rothschild"’s paper to the manager. The latter’s respect tor his customer was unbounded then.

The forged bills were now put into circulation. They all bore J «he names of foreign firms of undoubted reputation, and were sent from Birmingham to the Bank, which unhesitatingly discounted them for Mr “Warren.” The' first one or two wer.- for small amounts, and sent as tests. Finding they were not questioned. bills for bigger, and still bigger, amounts were sent down. On January 21st, 1872, forgeries amounting to between £4OOO and £SOOO were presented by Mr “Warrein” and discounted without inquiry by the Bank. A fortnight later, on February 4th another batch of bogus bills, for £11,072 this time, were presented by “Warren.” The Bank discounted these also, and filed them away for presentation when due. All notes received in payment were put through “Horton's” account in the Continental Bank, and Noyes exchanged the notes obtained in return from the Continental Bank, when withdrawals were made, ror gold at the Bank of England. Hard and fast upon each other’s heels, the forged bills poured into the Bank. On February 10th a third batch of £14,642 was discounted; on February 13th, £14,696; on February 20th, £14,686; on February 24th, £19,253; on February 28th, £24,265; in all £102,814. The gang had engage! rooms near Piccadilly Circus, and thither ail the gold obtained by Austin-Bid-well and Noyep was conveyed, and George Bidwell and MacDoiiell welre buying with it United States’ Bonds, through Messrs J. Cooke ana Company. On March 25tli, the first of the forged bills would fall due. The swindlers melant to make one more coup, their grandest, for something like £50,000 in one day, and then clear out.

But a slight oversight, we have said, upset this arrangement. In the batch of £G4,2bo discounted oil February 2oth. there were two bills bearing the acceptance of Air \Vh 13. Blydenstein, a well-known foreign meirchant. The dates of the acceptances had been omitted. The bank officials on discovering the omissions sent the bills round to Air Blydenstein’s London office for correction. The manager of the firm said they knew nothing of the bills and pronounced them forgeries. The bank was filled witli consternation. Scotian 1 Yard was promptly notified, and messengers were despatched to the Continental Bank to inouire, into the relations between ‘Warren” and “Horton.” While the hu ssengers were there, Noyes walked in to make another withdrawal. Ha was immediately arrested on suspicion. Though taken by surprise lie vehemently’ protested Ins innocence, affirming lie was “Horton's” clerk, and knew nothing of hi- employer’s transactions. He held to his first statements, resolutely refusing to letrav his associates, even when offered his freedom. George Bidwell was outside the banx, and witnessed liis confederate’s arrest. He hnmediatelv notified his brother, who was in Paris on his honeymoon, having only a few weeks before', married in English lady. George Bidwell and AlacDonneli fled to St. Leonards with the plates of tne forged bills, and destroyed, them there. But the detectives were already upon their track. When “Horton’s” lodgings were searched, a sheet of clean blotting paper had been found upon a Inch a letter to George.’ Bidwel' had Iken (dotted. Furnished with this clue, the police wired George BidwelTs description everywhere, and succeeded in rr-iemg him to Ireland. He was cliasad thence to Scotland, where he was eventually run to earth. Austin, otherwise Mr “Warren” was tracked to Havana, and caught there ; AlacDonne'l was nuested in New York.

Tl: r gang were tried in the Central Criminal Court. Owing to the elaborate Dreoa itions they had taken, it was extremely difficult to prove the connections between them, and they vigorously assorted they were strangers to each other. But tiie detectives traced the various stages of the fraud, and proved their guilt- up to the hilt. Forty-four thou-

sand pounds worth of United States’ se:eurities were found hidden away in a box of dirty linen sent by George Bidwell to New York. When the swindlers saw conviction was inevitable they tried to bribe three warders of Newgate Gaol to l connive at a 2ilot that was afoot to enable them to break prison. News of this plot, however, reached the ears of tlid authorities, and every precaution was taken to prevent any attempt at rescue. The! approaches to the court were lined with police, the doors were locked, and no one was admitted to the court without a keen scrutiny. In the face of these preparations, the swindlers’ friends made no overt sign, and all four men were! sentenced to penal servitude for life. They Avere, hoAvever, released in 1887 on tick-et-of-leave, having served fourteen years. —“Sheffield Telegraph.”