the interior of a gentleman's
residence near Bradford a word or two was dropped which made him believe
his fellow workman had become aware of his being an ex-convict. Quitting
work, he went to a public house, passing the rest of the day in
carousing. About midnight, while on his way to his boarding house, it
occurred to him that he had noticed a good many valuable things about
the gentleman's house which he could obtain. No sooner thought than
done; the entrance was in a moment gained; he had just consciousness
enough left to gather a few things, then lie down by the side of them
and fell into a drunkard's sleep, in which the servants found him when
they came down in the morning. A constable was sent for, he was given in
charge, tried, convicted of the crime of burglary and sentenced to seven
years' penal servitude.

His former term of five years had made him proficient in all the dodges
of prison life, and he felt justified in his own mind in using all his
craft in order to put in his seven years as easily as possible. As he
had been in Raynell asylum, he knew that by "putting on the balmy" so as
to be sent to the lunatic department he would not be subjected to the
prison rules and be as well off as he had been in the free asylum.
Persistent attempts at suicide by cutting himself in the arms and legs
with a piece of glass so as to bleed freely accomplished his purpose.
Being placed with the other convict lunatics, he made himself useful,
but on account of his bad temper and overbearing, quarrelsome
disposition, obnoxious to his fellow prisoners.

Eventually he was discharged with an eighteen months' ticket-of-leave
and $2.50 as capital for a new departure.

He went to Liverpool, procured a passage on board a freight steamer to
America, which he paid for by working at painting. Landing at New York,
he made his way to Norfolk, Va., where he procured work as a painter.
Owing to his infirmity of temper he did not keep his place long, and
after knocking about for a few months he took a freak to return to
England--the last place of all for any man who has once been a prisoner.

[Illustration: George Bidwell

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

Once more in his native land, he procured work without difficulty at
house painting, but, as usual, remained in one place but a very short
time. His earnings, like those of a great majority of the working
class in England, were squandered in the public house