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diff --git a/1318-0.txt b/1318-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..16fac85 --- /dev/null +++ b/1318-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5871 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1318 *** + +THE TWIN HELLS + +A Thrilling Narrative of Life in the Kansas and Missouri Penitentiaries + + +By John N. Reynolds + +ATCHISON, KANSAS. + + + TO MY DEAR OLD MOTHER + AND + TO THE MEMORY OF MY SAINTED WIFE + THIS BOOK + IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY + THE AUTHOR. + + + +PREFACE + +The following pages treat of hell--A Kansas hell and a Missouri hell. +Those who desire to peruse works that tell about Heaven only, are urged +to drop this book and run. I was an inmate of the Kansas penitentiary +for sixteen months, and make mention of what came under my own +observation in connection with what I experienced. While an inmate of +this prison I occupied cells at various times with convicts who had +served terms in the Missouri prison. From these persons I gathered much +useful material for my book. After my release I visited the Missouri +penitentiary, and verified the statements of those criminals, and +gathered additional material from the prison records and the officials. +I have written chiefly for the youth of the country, but all ages will +be deeply interested in the following pages. A large majority of the +convicts are young men from sixteen to twenty-five years of age. They +had no idea of the terrible sufferings of a convict life, or they surely +would have resisted temptation and kept out of crime. The following +pages will impart to the reader some idea of what he may expect to +endure in case he becomes entangled in the meshes of the law, and is +compelled to do service for the State without any remuneration. Every +penitentiary is a veritable hell. Deprive a person of his liberty, +punish and maltreat him, and you fill his life with misery akin to those +who wander in the darkness of "eternal night," I think, when the reader +has perused the following pages, he will agree with me, that the book +has the proper title. That this volume may prove an "eye-opener" to the +boys who may read it, and prove interesting and instructive to those of +mature years, is the earnest wish of the author. + + + + + +A KANSAS HELL + + + +CHAPTER I. MY INITIATION AND CRIME + +Guilty! This word, so replete with sadness and sorrow, fell on my ear on +that blackest of all black Fridays, October 14, 1887. + +Penitentiary lightning struck me in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas. I +was tried in the United States District Court; hence, a United States +prisoner. + +The offense for which I was tried and convicted was that of using the +mails for fraudulent purposes. My sentence was eighteen months in +the penitentiary, and a fine of two hundred dollars. I served sixteen +months, at the end of which time I was given my liberty. During the +period I was in prison I dug coal six months in the penitentiary coal +mines, and was one of the clerks of the institution the remainder of the +term. Getting permission to have writing material in my cell, I first +mastered short-hand writing, or phonography, and then wrote my book: "A +Kansas Hell; or, Life in the Kansas Penitentiary." My manuscript being +in short-hand, none of the prison officials were able to read it, and +did not know what I was doing until I obtained my liberty and had my +book published. + +This, no doubt, will be the proper place to give some of my antecedents, +as well as a few of the details of the crime for which I was sent to +the penitentiary. I spent my youth and early manhood at Indianola, Iowa, +from which place I removed to Nebraska. After residing for some time in +Columbus, of that State, I was appointed by the governor to assist in +organizing the Pawnee Indian Reservation into a county. When organized +it was called Nance County, being named for Hon. Albinus Nance, then +governor of the State. I held the position of county clerk of that +county for four consecutive years. During this time I organized +the Citizens' Bank. I was its cashier at first, and, later on, its +president. I had a lucrative business and was doing well. My wife's +health failed her; she became consumptive. My family physician advised a +removal to the South. I closed out my business at a great sacrifice, and +came to Atchison, Kansas. Here I located, and made it my future home. +Soon after my arrival I commenced the publication of a daily newspaper, +known as the "Times." In the county in which I located I found one of +the worst and most corrupt political rings on the face of the earth. +This combination had controlled the politics of the county for almost a +quarter of a century. Soon I became involved in a terrific newspaper war +with the members of this political organization. An election of county +and State officials was soon to take place. In order to test the +strength of the contending elements, in my newspaper, I presented +the name of Hon. W. D. Gilbert as a candidate for district judge in +opposition to the ring candidate. A sharp fight ensued. Mr. Gilbert +was elected by an overwhelming majority. This was the first time for +twenty-five years that this ring had been defeated. The members of +it were very sore. Looking upon me as the principal spirit, I was the +object toward which they directed all their shafts of spite. + +Some time before this an insurance company had been organized in the +city of Atchison. I was invited to become its president. I examined the +books of the corporation, and found it to be organized according to the +laws of Kansas; that the company had a charter from the State, and also +certified authority to issue policies of insurance, granted by the State +insurance commissioner. I accepted the presidency on condition that +the company was simply to have the use of my name, and that I was not +expected to give any of my time to the company, as I was otherwise +engaged. I was editor of a daily newspaper, and could not attend to +anything else. While this company was doing business a printed circular +was used, stating that the corporation had one hundred thousand dollars +PAID up capital. This circular was sent out through the mails over +the State advertising the business. It was charged this circular was +fraudulent; that the company did not have that amount of capital paid +in. My name was attached to this printed circular. For this, I was +indicted in the United States District Court, on the charge of using +the mails for fraudulent purposes. The advertised capital of this +corporation was SUBSCRIBED, but not all paid in, as it was not needed in +the business of the company. After indictment I was arrested, and gave +bonds for my appearance at the next term of court, which was held soon +after. + +Not being able to secure the attendance of all my witnesses, my attorney +wrote the prosecuting attorney asking his consent that my case be +continued. The request was granted. When the case was called, my +attorney appeared and introduced a motion to continue the case, filing +affidavits necessary in such cases. The prosecuting attorney having +given his consent, there was no doubt in the minds of those interested +as to the continuance of the case. For some cause best known to himself, +the judge would not grant the continuance, and forced me to trial +without having a single witness. It was my intention to have some fifty +witnesses subpoenaed, to prove that the insurance company of which I +was president was not a fraud. Not being allowed to have my witnesses, +I was, under the instructions of the court, which were, indeed, +exceedingly pointed, found guilty, and sentenced to eighteen months' +imprisonment and to pay a fine of two hundred dollars. The political +ring now triumphed for a brief period. In order to prove conclusively +to the reader that this was a piece of spite work, I have only to state +that I was the only one of all the officers of that company that was +ever tried for running a bogus insurance company. Why was it that I +was the only one sent to the penitentiary when there was the secretary, +treasurer, and six directors equally as guilty as myself? + +To prove more conclusively that it was political spite work that sent me +to prison, let me inform the readers that about the time the insurance +company at Atchison was organized, a similar one was organized in +Topeka. They were similar in EVERY RESPECT. I was president of the one +at Atchison, while a distinguished gentleman by the name of Gen. J. C. +Caldwell was president of the one at Topeka. Both of these companies +failed. The president of the Atchison company was sent to the +penitentiary, while the president of the Topeka company was appointed by +the governor of the State to the responsible position of chairman of the +State Board of Pardons. Many persons have asked why this difference in +the treatment of the presidents of these two companies. The only answer +that can be given is that General Caldwell stood in with the Kansas +political ring, while I did not. Every sensible man must admit that if +it was just for me to serve a term in prison for the offense charged +against me, General Caldwell should have been prescribed for in the same +manner. I have no fight to make upon Mr. Caldwell. He is an excellent +gentlemen. He was in luck. The fates were against me. Had I been a State +instead of a United States prisoner, no doubt Mr. Caldwell, as chairman +of the Board of Pardons, would have used his influence to secure for me +my liberty. That I was sent to prison is wholly due to politics. It is +unnecessary, therefore, for me to inform the reader that I am now +"out of politics." Having served out my term I returned to my home in +Atchison. As to the ring that sent me to prison, some of them are dead, +others have left Atchison to make their homes in other places, others +have failed financially, and still others have fallen so low that they +have scarcely friends enough to bury them should they happen to die. + +The big wheel of life keeps on revolving. Those who are up to-day may +be down to-morrow, and vice versa. But to continue my narrative. +Immediately after my conviction and sentence I was taken to the +Leavenworth County jail. Here I remained until the following Tuesday +in the company of a dozen or more prisoners who were awaiting trial. On +Sunday, while in this jail, my wife, who died during my imprisonment +of a broken heart, and an account of which is given in a subsequent +chapter, came to see me. I can never forget this visit. She remained +with me during the entire day. During the conversation of the day I said +to her that, it seemed that the future appeared very gloomy. That it +would be a miracle if I ever was able to survive the disgrace that had +been so cruelly placed upon me. That all ambition and hope as to the +future had fled, and that I could not blame her if she should now free +herself by means of divorce, as my conviction of crime was a legal +ground for divorce in Kansas. In reply to this, the noble little woman, +her face aglow with the radiance of womanly devotion, said, that for +twenty years of married life our home had been one of sunshine; that I +had been kind to her and made her life one of happiness, and that now, +when misfortune came, it was not only a duty, but the highest pleasure, +to prove her fidelity. She kept her word. She was true to the last. When +dying, her last words were a petition for the blessings of God upon +her husband who was far away behind frowning prison walls. On Tuesday +morning a deputy United States marshal came to the jail and gave me +notice that in a few moments we would leave for the penitentiary. This +officer was a gentleman, and did not seek to further humiliate me by +placing irons on my person. I have often thought of this act of kindness +on the part of this humane official. We took the train at Leavenworth, +and in a very few moments were at my future place of residence. Lansing, +the small village where the penitentiary is located, is about five miles +from the city of Leavenworth. The entrance to the prison is from the +west. Under the watchful care of the officer who had me in charge, I +passed under a stone archway, to the left of which was a small office, +where a guard was on duty during the day time. We were halted by this +officer, who inquired if we had any firearms. No one visiting the +penitentiary is allowed to carry fire-arms within the enclosure. The +marshal who had me in custody handed over a large navy revolver. Between +this archway and the western wall of the prison is a beautiful lawn. The +walks are lined with fragrant flowers; beautiful fountains send aloft +their silvery sprays. Passing up the roadway leading to the entrance +door, and looking about me upon the rich carpet of green, the flowers +and fountains, I came to the conclusion that the penitentiary was not so +bad a place as I had imagined. I changed my mind, however, as soon as I +had seen inside the walls. + +The prison enclosure contains about ten acres of ground. This is +surrounded by a stone wall some fifteen feet high, and six feet thick at +the base. It is not more than four feet at the top. At each of the four +corners may be found a tower rising some ten feet above the wall. A +guard is on duty in each of these towers during the day. He carries a +double-barreled shotgun loaded with buckshot. In case a prisoner tries +to escape he is liable to get a dose of lead, provided the officer on +duty is a good marksman. The western wall is almost entirely made of a +large stone building with its two long wings. The main building is four +stories. The wings stretching to the north and south, each two hundred +and fifty feet, contain the cells. On the first floor of the main +building are the offices of the warden, clerk, deputy warden and +turnkey. The upper rooms are used by the warden's family. + +I was first conducted into the clerk's office and introduced to Mr. +Jones, the clerk. He is a very pleasant gentleman, and spoke kindly to +me, which I can assure all was very acceptable, for just about that time +I was feeling very badly. His remark was: "I am very glad to meet you, +Mr. Reynolds, but sorry to meet you under these sad circumstances." On +his invitation I took a chair and sat down to await the next part of the +progamme. As I sat there and thought of the kind words spoken to me by +the clerk, I quickly reached the conclusion that if all the officers +of that institution were as kind as Mr. Jones, it would not be as bad a +place as I had anticipated. I had no experience then that would justify +any other conclusion. Soon a side door of the office opened and in came +the deputy warden, Mr. John Higgins. Mr. H. is the sourest appearing man +I ever met in my life. At least, it seemed so to me on that day. He can +get more vinegar on the outside of his face than any other person in the +State of Kansas. He did not wait to be introduced to me. He never craves +an introduction to a criminal. As soon as he came into the room he got +a pole with which to measure me. Then, looking at me, in a harsh, gruff +voice he called out: "Stand up here." At first I did not arise. At the +second invitation, however, I stood up and was measured. My description +was taken by the clerk. In this office there is to be found a +description of all the criminals that ever entered the Kansas +penitentiary. I was asked if I was a married man, how many children +I had, and how much property I possessed. These questions were easily +answered. After the deputy warden had discharged his duty he retired. I +soon discovered that it was according to the rules of the prison for +the officers to talk in a harsh and abrupt manner to the prisoners. This +accounted for the way in which I was greeted by the deputy warden, who +is the disciplinarian of the prison. I may say, in passing, that all the +harsh manners of Mr. Higgins are simply borrowed for the occasion. Away +from the presence of prisoners, over whom he is to exert his influence, +there is not to be found a more pleasant and agreeable gentleman. In +came a second official, and, in the same gruff manner, said to me, "Come +along." I followed him out to the wash-house, where I took a bath. A +prisoner took my measure for a suit of clothes. After he had passed the +tape-line around me several times, he informed the officer that I +was the same size of John Robinson, who had been released from the +penitentiary the day before. "Shall I give him John Robinson's clothes?" +asked the convict. In the same gruff manner the officer said, "Yes, +bring on Robinson's old clothes." So I was furnished with a second-hand +suit! The shoes were second-hand. I am positive about this last +statement, judging by the aroma. After I had been in the penitentiary +some four months, I learned that John Robinson, whose clothes I had +secured, was a colored man. Being arrayed in this suit of stripes I was +certainly "a thing of beauty." The coat was a short blouse and striped; +the stripes, white and black, alternated with each other, and passed +around the body in a horizontal way. The pantaloons were striped; +the shirt was striped; the cap was striped. In fine, it seemed that +everything about that penitentiary was striped--even to the cats! Being +dressed, I was next handed an article that proved, on examination, to +be intended for a handkerchief. It was covered with large blue +letters--"Leavenworth Mills. XXX Flour," etc. It was a quarter section +of a flour sack! Nine hundred prisoners very soon empty a great many +flour sacks. After the flour has been consumed the sack is cut up into +quarter sections, washed, hemmed and used for handkerchiefs. No better +handkerchief can be invented. They are stout, stiff and durable! They +will bear all manner of nasal assaults! There is no danger of blowing +them into atoms, and the officials are not afraid to give them out to +convicts sent there charged with the use of dynamite! One of them has +been known to last a prisoner for five years. + +After I had donned my suit and taken possession of my handkerchief, I +was ordered to fold my arms. Prisoners marching in ranks, or going to +and fro about the prison enclosure, are required to have their arms in +this position. The object is to prevent them from passing articles. I +was marched to the building known as the south wing of the cell house. +In this building, which is two hundred and fifty feet long, there are +cells for the accommodation of five hundred convicts. The prisoners who +occupy this wing work in the shops located above ground, and within the +prison enclosure. + +The officer in charge conducted me to cell number one. Click went the +lock. The door was pulled open, and in his usual style, he said, "Get +in." I stepped in. Slam went the door. Click went the lock, and I was in +a felon's cell! These rooms are about four feet wide, seven feet long, +and seven feet high. In many of the cells two men are confined. These +rooms are entirely too small for the accommodation of two prisoners. +A new cell house is being built, which, when completed, will afford +sufficient additional room so that each prisoner can have a cell. In +these small rooms there are two bunks or beds when two convicts occupy +the same cell. The bed-rack is made of iron or wood slats, and the +bed-tick is filled with corn-husks; the pillow is also filled with the +latter material, and when packed down becomes as hard as a board. When +the beds are not in use they are fastened to the side of the wall with +a small chain. When down and in use they take up nearly the entire space +of the cell, so that it is impossible for the two occupants to pass each +other in walking to and fro. The other furniture consists of a small +tin bucket, holding about two quarts of water, and a wash-basin. A +short-handled broom is also found in one corner of the cell, with +which the convict brushes it out every morning. The walls are of stone, +decorated with a small looking-glass and a towel. Each cell contains one +chair and a Holy Bible. There is no rich Brussels carpet on the floor, +although prisoners are allowed one if they furnish it themselves. No +costly upholstered furniture adorns these safe retreats! Nothing in +that line is to be discovered except one cane-bottomed chair for the +accommodation of two prisoners, so that when one sits on the chair the +other stands, or occupies a seat on the stone floor. There is not room +for two chairs, or the State would furnish another chair. These rooms +are built of stone. The door is of one-half inch iron bars, crossing +each other at right angles, leaving small spaces about two by six +inches; through these spaces come the air, light and heat for the health +and comfort of the inmates. When I entered my cell on that eventful +morning I found it occupied by a prisoner. He was also a new arrival; he +had preceded me about an hour. When I entered he arose and gave me his +chair, taking a seat on the floor in the opposite corner. After I had +been locked in, before going away the officer said, "Now I don't +want you fellows to get to talking, for that is not permitted in this +institution." We sat in silence, surveying each other; in a few moments +my companion, seeing something in my personal appearance that caused him +to lose his self control, laughed. That he might give full vent to his +laughing propensities, and not make too much noise, he drew from his +pocket his quarter section of a flour bag and put it into his mouth. He +soon became as red in the face as a lobster. I was curious, of course, +to know what it was that pleased him so much. Rising from my chair, +going to the door and looking through the openings I could see no +officer near, so I asked my companion, in a whisper, what it was that +pleased him so. It was with difficulty and after several trials before +he could succeed in telling me what it was that caused him to be so +convulsed. I told him to take his time, cool off gradually, as I had +eighteen months, and could wait patiently. At last, being able to +control his feelings sufficiently to tell me, in the midst of his +outbursts of laughter, he said, "You look just like one of them zebras +in Barnum's Circus!" When my attention was called to the matter, sure +enough, I did look rather striped, and I, amused at his suggestion, +laughed also. Soon an officer came gliding around in front of the cell, +when our laughing ceased. My companion was a young fellow from Doniphan +County. He got drunk and tried to rob an associate, still drunker, of +a twenty dollar gold piece. He was arrested, tried and convicted of +robbery, receiving a sentence of one year. Directly an officer came, +took him out of my cell and conducted him to another department. All +alone, I sat in my little parlor for nearly an hour, thinking over the +past. My reverie was at length broken by the turning of my door lock. A +fresh arrival was told to "git in." This prisoner had the appearance of +just having been lassoed on the wild western prairies. He resembled a +cow-boy. His whiskers were long and sandy. His hair, of the same color, +fell upon his shoulders. As soon as the officer had gone away and +everything had become quiet, I asked this fellow his name. "Horserider," +was his reply, from which I inferred that he was a horse-thief. "How +long a term have you?" was my next question. "Seven years," was his +reply. I comforted him by saying it would be some time before he rode +another horse. + +The next part of the programme consisted in a little darkey coming in +front of our cell with a rudely constructed barber's chair. The cell +door opened, and an officer said to me, as if he would hit me with a +club the next moment, "Git out of there." I went out. Pointing to the +barber's chair, he said, "Squat yourself in that chair." I sat down. +"Throw back your head." I laid it back. It was not long before my raven +mustache was off, and my hair cut rather uncomfortably short for fly +time. After this tonsorial artist had finished his work then came the +command once more, "Git in." I got in. It now came Mr. Horserider's turn +to bid a long farewell to his auburn locks. He took his place in the +chair, and the little darkey, possibly for his own amusement, cut off +the hair on one side of the head and left the other untouched. He then +shaved one side of his face without disturbing the other. At this moment +the bell for dinner rang, and the little colored fellow broke away and +ran to his division, to fall in ranks, so that he would not miss his +noon meal. Once more Mr. Horserider entered his cell and we were locked +in. A more comical object I never beheld; he did not even possess the +beauty of a baboon; he might certainly have passed for the eighth wonder +of the world. When he came in I handed him the small looking-glass and +asked him how he liked his hair-cut. Remember, one side of his head and +face was shaved close, and the other covered with long sandy hair and +beard. Looking into the glass, he exclaimed: "Holy Moses! and who am +I, anyway?" I answered his question by stating that he favored Mr. +What-Is-It. He was very uneasy for a time, thinking that he was going to +be left in that condition. He wanted to know of me if all horse-thieves +of the penitentiary wore their hair and whiskers in this style. I +comforted him all I could by imparting the information that they did. He +was much relieved when the darkey returned after dinner and finished the +shaving. + +I was next taken out of my cell to pass a medical examination. Dr. +Mooney, the gentlemanly officer in charge of the hospital, put in an +appearance with a large book under his arm and sat down by a table. I +was ushered into his presence. He began asking me questions, and +wrote down my answers in his book, which proved to be the physician's +register. + +"Have you any decayed teeth?" was his first question, + +"No, sir," was my reply. + +"Have you ever lost any teeth?" + +"No, sir." + +"Have you ever had the measles?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Have you ever had the mumps?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Have you ever had the chicken-pox?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Have you ever had the thresh?" + +Well, I didn't know what was meant by the thresh. I knew that I had been +"thrashed" a great many times, and inferred from that fact that I must +have had the disease at some time or other in my youth, so I answered, + +"Yes, sir." + +"Have you ever had the itch?" + +"What kind?" said I. "The old fashioned seven year kind? Y-e-s, sir, I +have had it." + +He then continued asking me questions, and wanted to know if I ever +had a great many diseases, the names of which I had never heard before. +Since I catch almost everything that comes along, I supposed, of course, +that at some period during my childhood, youth or early manhood I had +suffered from all those physical ills, so I always answered, + +"Yes, sir." He wound up by inquiring if I ever had a stroke of the horse +glanders. I knew what was meant by that disease, and replied in the +negative. + +He then looked at me over the top of his spectacles, and, in a rather +doubting manner, said, "and you really have had all these diseases? By +the way," he continued, "are you alive at the present moment after all +that you have suffered?" Mr. Mooney is an Irishman. He was having a +little cold-blooded sport at my expense. Whenever you meet an Irishman +you will always strike a budget of fun. + +His next question was, "Are you a sound man?" + +My reply was to the effect that I was, physically, mentally and morally. +So he wrote down in his book opposite my name "physically and mentally +a sound man." He said he would take my word for being sound morally, but +that he would not put that down on the books for the present, for fear +there might be a mistake somewhere. Before discharging me, he calmly +stated that I would make a good coal miner. All the prisoners undergo +this medical cross-examination. + +After I had run the doctor's gauntlet, I was conducted from the south +wing of the cell-house to the north wing. Here I met for the first time +Mr. Elliott, who has charge of this building during the daytime. It is +a part of this highly efficient officer's duty to cross-examine the +prisoners as to where they have lived and what they have been doing. His +examinations are very rigid. He is a bright man, a good judge of human +nature, and can tell a criminal at sight. He would make an able criminal +lawyer. He is the prison detective. By means of these examinations he +often obtains clues that lead to the detection of the perpetrators of +crime. I have been told by good authority that on account of information +obtained by this official, two murderers were discovered in the Kansas +penitentiary, and, after their terms had expired, they were immediately +arrested, and, on requisition, taken back to the Eastern States, where +the crimes had been committed, and there tried, convicted and punished +according to the laws of those States. After I had been asked all manner +of questions by this official, he very kindly informed me that I came to +the penitentiary with a bad record. He further stated that I was +looked upon as one of the worst criminals in the State of Kansas. This +information was rather a set-back to me, as I had no idea that I was in +possession of any such record as that. I begged of him to wait a little +while before he made up his mind conclusively as to my character, for +there might be such a thing as his being mistaken. There is no man that +is rendering more effective service to the State of Kansas in the way of +bringing criminals to justice than Mr. Elliott. He has been an officer +of the prison for nearly nine years. As an honest officer he is above +reproach. As a disciplinarian he has no superior in the West. + +After this examination I was shown to my cell. It was now about two +o'clock in the afternoon of my first day in prison. I remained in the +cell alone during the entire afternoon. Of all the dark hours of my +eventful history, none have been filled with more gloom and sadness +than those of my first day in prison. Note my antecedents--a college +graduate, a county clerk, the president of a bank, and an editor of +a daily newspaper. All my life I had moved in the highest circles of +society, surrounded by the best and purest of both sexes, and now, here +I was, in the deplorable condition of having been hurled from that high +social position, down to the low degraded plane of a convict. As I sat +there in that desolate abode of the disgraced, I tried to look out down +the future. All was dark. For a time it seemed as if that sweet angel we +call hope had spread her wings and taken her departure from me forever. +The black cloud of despair seemed settling down upon me. But very few +persons possess the ability to make any thing of themselves after having +served a term in the penitentiary. Having once fallen to so low a plane +it is almost impossible to rise again. Young man, as you peruse this +book, think of these things. Once down as a felon it is a miracle if one +ever regains what he has lost. I sat brooding over these things for an +hour or more, when my manhood asserted itself. Hope returned. I reasoned +thus: I am a young man. I enjoy good health. There will be only a few +months of imprisonment and then I will be free. I thought of my loving +wife, my little children, my aged mother, my kind friends, and for their +sake I would not yield to despair. Soliciting the aid of a kind Heavenly +Father, I resolved to do the best I could toward regaining what I had +lost. My father was a minister of the gospel for fifty years prior to +his death. He was not blessed with much of this world's goods. For this +reason I began in very early life to aid myself. I spent seven years +in college preparing for the struggles that awaited me. I earned every +dollar of the money which paid my expenses while securing my education. +I carried the hod to assist in building the college in which I afterward +graduated. Few men can truthfully make this statement of themselves. +While working my way through the institution where I received my +education, I learned one useful lesson--self reliance. I learned to +depend upon my own efforts for success. Every one must learn this useful +lesson before he can become anything in life. After I had met with +misfortune and found myself in a prison cell, I was glad that I had +learned to rely upon my own efforts. + +The question: "What shall I do in the future?" now came to me. That +afternoon I laid my plans which I would carry out out in the years to +come. I was financially ruined in the great battle I carried on with +the Atchison ring. I was aware of the fact that, when I got out of the +penitentiary, all the money that I would have with which to make another +start in life would be five dollars. The United States presents her +prisoners, when discharged, with a suit of citizen's clothes and five +dollars. This was my capital. What could I do with five dollars, in +the way of assisting me in getting another financial foot-hold in life? +After my release it was necessary for me to do something at once to get +money. It never entered my mind to borrow. It will be interesting to +the reader to know what I did, after my prison days were past, to make +a "quick raise." Sixteen months of imprisonment slipped away. I regained +my liberty on Monday. I received my five dollars and immediately started +for my home, in Atchison. On my arrival, Monday night, I had four +dollars and ten cents. On Tuesday morning I went to the proprietor of +the Opera House, in Atchison, and inquired how much money was necessary +to secure the use of the building for the next evening. "Fifty +dollars," was his reply. I gave him all the money I had, and persuaded +him to trust me for the rest. I informed him that I was going to deliver +a lecture on my prison life. He asked if I thought anybody would come to +hear a convict talk. In answer, I told him that was the most important +question that was agitating my mind at the present moment, and if he +would let me have the use of the Opera House we would soon settle that +question. I further told him that if the receipts of the evening were +not enough to pay him for the use of the house, that I would pay him as +soon as possible. He let me have the use of the house. I advertised in +the daily papers of the city that I would lecture in the Opera House the +following evening on my prison life,--admission fifty cents. I thought +if the good people wanted to come at all they would come even if they +had to pay well for it. I was very restless from the morning that I +engaged the Opera House until the next evening, at which time I was to +speak. I did not know whether I would have any audience. If not, I was +fifty dollars deeper in debt. The evening for the lecture came, I went +to the Opera House prepared to interest anyone that might put in an +appearance; I entered the building in the rear, and took my position on +the platform. The signal was given and up went the curtain. I was highly +pleased when I saw my audience. The building was packed. The lecture was +a financial success. In this manner I secured a nice "stake" for future +use. I delivered that lecture for several weeks in Kansas, and made a +thousand dollars above expenses. To return to my first afternoon in +the cell. I thought of another scheme. I conceived the idea that a book +about, a penitentiary, giving its history, and also the history of many +of the leading criminals, modes of punishment, escapes, etc., would be +very interesting, and would sell. I decided to write such a book while +in prison. In order to write a book it became necessary to have +writing material. How was I to secure this? It was against the prison +regulations for a prisoner to have a lead-pencil or scrap of paper. The +officials were very strict on this point. It was essential they should +be. If the prisoners could pass notes, it would not be long before a +prison insurrection would be the result. The plan that I adopted to +secure writing material was rather unique, and perhaps the reader will +like to know how I managed this difficult matter. It is wonderful what a +man can accomplish, with adverse surroundings, if he wills it. As I have +stated before, I had much to do in securing the election of Hon. W. D. +Gilbert to the district judgeship. This made him feel very kind toward +me. He came often to visit me at the prison. One day while visiting me, +I asked him to use his influence with the warden to secure for me the +privilege of having writing material in my cell. "What do you want with +writing material," said he. The answer I gave was, that I might pass +away my leisure hours in learning to write short-hand. He called on +Warden Smith, and got his consent. He told the warden that if I would +master this useful art while in prison, on my release, he would appoint +me his district court reporter, at a salary Of $2,500 a year. The scheme +was a success. I sent and got my short-hand books and writing material. +I mastered short-hand, and can now write as fast as one would care to +dictate. It was not long before I began writing my book in short-hand. +The officials, as was their custom, would examine my cell daily to see +if anything had crept in that did not belong there. They could not read +short-hand. They did not know what so many little straight marks and +curves indicated. I persevered, and one month before my time expired +I had my book completed, and sent it out by a friend who visited the +prison, who kept it for me until I secured my liberty. As before stated, +I lectured until I got money sufficient, and then I published my first +book on prisons, giving it the impressive title of "A Kansas Hell." This +book sold rapidly, and soon the first edition was disposed of. I made +enough money out of this book to place me on my feet, financially. But, +to return to my cell the first afternoon. I remained alone until time +for the prisoners to come in from their work, when I found that I was to +have a "life man" for my cell-mate, whose name was Woodward R. Lopeman. +I have given his history in a subsequent chapter. I remained in my cell +during the evening, until the prison bell rang for retiring. Strange to +say, after going to bed, I soon fell asleep, and did not awake until the +prison bell rang on the following morning. When I did awake, it was to +find myself, not in my own pleasant little home in the city of Atchison, +Kansas, but in a felon's cell. I arose and dressed, and then waited and +wondered what would be the next thing on the programme. + + + +CHAPTER II. THE COAL MINES + +I was next taken to the coal mines. These mines are located just outside +of the prison enclosure, and are surrounded by high stone walls and +stone buildings, which, by their location, take the place of walls. The +coal yards are separated from the prison campus by a partition wall, +which constitutes the south wall of the coal department and the north +wall of the prison. + +Passing from one of these departments to the other, through a large +gateway, the gate being kept by a convict, an old man who murdered his +son, and who has a life sentence. Reader, how would you like to spend +your entire life, day after day, week after week, month after month, +year after year, in the monotonous employment of opening and closing a +large gate? When my escort and myself reached the mines, I was placed +in charge of Mr. Dodds, the official in control of the mines at the +surface. Mr. Dodds is a very competent officer, and has been on duty at +that place more than twenty years. From this officer I received a mining +cap. This piece of head-wear was turban-shaped, striped, of course, with +a leather frontlet, on which was fastened the mining lamp. This lamp, in +shape, resembled an ordinary tea-pot, only it was much smaller. In place +of the handle was a hook, which fastened to the leather frontlet. The +bowl of the lamp contained the oil; a wick passes up through the spout, +at the end of which is the light. The miner carrying his lamp in +this position has it out of his way. With the cap on my head and lamp +lighted, I stood on the verge of a ten by twelve hole in the earth, that +was almost eight hundred feet deep. We think that a well one hundred +feet deep is quite a distance down into the ground, but here was a +hole eight times deeper. In the mining vernacular this hole is termed a +shaft--the term that will be employed in speaking of it hereafter. There +are two of these shafts, about one hundred yards apart. Each shaft is +divided by a wooden partition which descends from the top to the bottom. +Two elevators, or cages, as they are called, ascend and descend along +the shaft. While one cage is coming up the other is going down. They +derive their motor power from two large engines, one for each shaft. The +officer in charge inquired, before making my descent into the mines, if +I ever fainted. "Never," was my reply. Persons sometimes faint in going +down this shaft. "Step into the cage," was the order given. I obeyed, +and, reaching up, took hold of some iron bars that went across the top. +The signal was given, down I started. After I had descended a few feet +a current of air coming up from below put out my light, which left me in +the darkness of an Egyptian night. Down, down, down I went. There are a +great many things in life that I have forgotten. There are a great many +more that I expect to forget, but that first ride down the coal shaft +I never can forget. Thug! I had struck bottom. It is said that when +one starts down hill in this world he keeps on going until he strikes +bottom. My readers will certainly agree with me that reaching a resting +place eight hundred feet under the surface I had found the lowest round +of the ladder. Whatever I may be in the future, to whatever heights +I may ascend, I shall not forget that my starting point was nearly a +thousand feet under the Kansas penitentiary. Water seeks its level. You +may force one below the surface, and to whatever depth you please, to +the extent of your power, but if he does not belong there, you cannot +keep him down: in the course of time he will rise. + +It was six long, dreary months before I was able to reach the first +round in the ladder. Through that period I lay in the penitentiary +mines, or at the bottom of "The Kansas Hell." It is said the old +fashioned Hell has fire and brimstone; while the "Kansas Hell" has no +fire, one thing is certain, it has plenty of material out of which to +make it, and an abundant supply of sulphur. + +At the end of my descent I found an officer there on duty. He told me +to step off and occupy a seat on a small bench near by. He desired +to impart some information. He advised me that while I was there, a +convict, it would not be proper to assume the warden's privileges or +endeavor to discharge his duties. In other words, the best thing to do +was to keep my place, revolve about in my own orbit, carefully regarding +all laws, both centripetal and centrifugal; otherwise, I might burst by +the natural pressure of too highly confined interior forces! I confess +that, though not subject to such infliction, I very nearly fainted over +these ponderous polysyllables! He also informed me that the beautifully +paved highway to popularity in the coal mines was to excavate large +quantities of the carboniferous substance contained in the subterranean +passages of the mine; the more coal I got out the more popular would I +be! + +After his lecture was over the officer gave a low whistle, and out from +a dark recess there emerged a convict in his stripes. His face and hands +were covered with coal dust. He came out grinning, showing his white +teeth. As I caught sight of him I thought, surely, this is a fiend from +the lower regions. Take one of those prisoners with his striped clothes, +a light burning on his head, his face black and shining like ebony, +behold him in the weird darkness of the mines, and if he does not call +to your mind the picture of one of the imps of Eternal Night there +is nothing in this world that will. This prisoner was the runner or +messenger for this officer at the foot of the shaft. Each officer in the +penitentiary who has charge of a division of men has a messenger to run +errands for him. When this messenger came up to the officer he made his +obeisance. Convicts are taught to observe good manners in the presence +of the officials. He was told to take me to another officer in a distant +part of the mines, a Mr. Johns, who would give me work. From the foot of +the shaft there go out in almost all directions, roadways or "entries." +These underground roadways are about six feet in width and height. I +could walk erect in most of them. Along these entries was a car track, +over which the small coal cars pass to and from the rooms where the coal +is taken out, to the shaft, and hoisted to the top with their load of +coal. Some of these entries extend more than a mile out into the earth +from the base of the shaft. As my fellow-prisoner and I were passing +along one of these roadways to the place where I was to work, he asked +me my name and the nature of my offense. At this place let me inform, +the reader that the prisoners are given permission to converse with each +other in the mines. Their instructions are to the effect that they are +not to talk about anything but their work, but in the penitentiary the +same rule holds good as on the outside: "Give a man an inch and he will +take a yard." So, when permission is given to the convict to talk about +his work, he talks about everything else. In answer to my escort's +question as to the length of my sentence, I informed him that I had +eighteen months. He dryly remarked that was nothing, and if the judge +who sent me up could not give me a longer term than that, he should have +sent me home to my family. He also remarked that he was afraid I would +get into trouble in the mines on account of my short sentence. There +were a great many long-term fellows down there, who were envious of +short-term men, and were likely to put up jobs on them by reporting +their mistakes and violations of regulations to the officer in charge, +and thus get them punished. I informed my guide that I thought I would +get along some way with the prisoners, and keep out of trouble. I then +inquired of him as to the length of his sentence. + +"Twenty-five stretches," was his reply. I did not know what he meant by +the term "stretches" and asked for information. "That is the prison term +for years, a stretch meaning a year," was his reply. I learned that my +companion, having twenty-five stretches, was carrying about with him a +twenty-five years' sentence. A quarter of a century in prison! This was +a young man. He had been in the prison for three years. When he entered +this living tomb he had the bloom of youth upon his cheek. When he goes +out, at the end of his term, if he lives so long, he will be an old, +broken down man. He will not be likely to live that long. The average +life of a convict is but fourteen years under the most favorable +surroundings, but in the coal mines it cannot exceed five years at most. + +Let me tell you of this man's crime, and then you can determine for +yourself how easy it is to get in the penitentiary. This young fellow is +the son of one of the most respectable farmers in the State. He attended +a dance one night in company with some of the neighbor boys at a village +near by. While there, he got under the influence of strong drink, became +involved in a quarrel over one of the numbers with the floor managers, +and in the fight that ensued he drew his knife and disemboweled the man +with whom he was fighting. In a few moments the wounded man died. +The young fellow was tried, convicted of murder, and sent to the +penitentiary for twenty-five years at hard labor. It is awful to +contemplate. Young man, as you read this, had you not better make +up your mind to go rather slow in pouring whisky down your throat in +future? + +As we passed along through the mines I thought about that word +"stretch," and as I did not like the idea of having jobs put up on me, +came to the conclusion that I would render myself popular by telling the +prisoners in the mines who might ask me as to my sentence, that I had +eighteen "stretches." I did not think that calling a month a "stretch" +would be "stretching" my conscience to such a degree as to cause me +any particular distress, for I knew that by the time I had served out a +month it would seem equivalent to a year on the outside. + +After following along the entry for some distance, almost a mile, we +came to that portion of the mines where I was to work. Coming up to the +place where the officer was seated, the headquarters of this division, +my guide made a low bow, and informed the officer in charge that he had +brought him a man. Then bowing himself out, he returned to his place at +the foot of the shaft. + +The officer in whose division I was to work now signaled his messenger, +and there came out of the darkness another convict, stripes, cap, lamp +and all. + +"Get Reynolds a set of mining tools," said the officer. + +These were soon brought, and consisted of a pick, a short-handled +shovel, two iron wedges and a sledge hammer. + +"Take him," said the officer, "to room number three, and tell George +Mullen, who is working in that room, to teach him how to mine." + +I got my arms around those implements of coal warfare, and following my +escort, passed along the entry for some distance, possibly two hundred +yards, when the roadway in which we were walking suddenly terminated, +and instead, there was a small hole that went further on into the earth. +When we came to this place my guide dropped down on his hands and knees +and passed into the room. I halted. I had never been in such a place +before. I did not know what there was in that dark hole. Soon my escort +called out, "Come along, there is nothing in here to hurt you." So I +dropped down on my hands and knees and into the dark hole I went. + +These rooms where the miners work are about twenty-eight inches in +height, twenty-four inches wide, and about fifty feet long. Think of +working in such a place as that! Oh, how often have I sighed for room +enough to spread myself! How I would have made that coal fly had the +vein been on top where I could have stood on my feet and mined. George +Mullen, the convict who was to teach me to mine, was at the farther end +of the room at work when we entered. We crawled on our hands and knees +to him, and when my guide had delivered his message he withdrew and +hastened back to his headquarters near the stand where his officer sat. + +After he had gone and my room-mate and myself were left alone, about the +first question that George asked me was, "How long have you got?" + +"Eighteen stretches," was my quick reply. + +George loved me dearly from that moment. I very soon discovered that I +was very popular with him on account of my long sentence. + +"How long are you in for?" said I to him. + +"Always," was his answer. + +He was a life prisoner. At one time he was marshal of a Kansas town, and +while acting in that capacity he killed his man. He was trying to arrest +him, so he informed me, and the fellow showed fight, when he took +out his gun and shot him. It was claimed by the authorities that the +shooting was unprovoked, and that the man could have been arrested +without killing him. Aside from the fact that he had killed his man, I +must say that I never met a man for whom I had a higher regard. He was +very kind to me, very patient, and made my work as easy for me as he +possibly could. I remained with him for nearly a month, when, having +learned the business, I was taken to another part of the mines and given +a task. + +"Have you ever mined any?" inquired my instructor. + +"No; I never was in a coal mine before coming here." + +He then gave me my first lesson in mining. I lay on my right side in +obedience to his orders, stretched out at full length. The short-handled +shovel was inverted and placed under my right shoulder. This lifted my +shoulder up from the ground a little distance and I was thus enabled +to strike with my pick. The vein of coal is about twenty-two inches in +thickness. We would mine out the dirt, or fire-clay as it was called, +from under the coal to the distance of two feet, or the length of a +pick-handle, and to the depth of some six inches. We would then set our +iron wedges in above the vein of coal, and with the sledge hammer +would drive them in until the coal would drop down. Imagine my forlorn +condition as I lay therein that small room. It was as dark down there +as night but for the feeble light given out by the mining lamp; the room +was only twenty-eight inches from the floor to the ceiling, and then +above the ceiling there were eight hundred feet of mother earth. Two +feet from the face of the coal, and just back of where I lay when +mining, was a row of props that held up the roof and kept it from +falling in upon me. The loose dirt which we picked out from under the +coal vein was shoveled back behind the props. This pile of dirt, in +mining language, is called the "gob." I began operations at once. I +worked away with all my might for an hour or more, picking out the dirt +from under the coal. Then I was tired completely out. I rolled over on +my back, and, with my face looking up to the pile of dirt, eight hundred +feet thick, that shut out from me the light of day, I rested for awhile. +I had done no physical work for ten years. I was physically soft. To +put me down in the mines and set me to digging coal was wicked. It was +murder. Down in that dark pit how I suffered! There was no escape from +it. There was the medicine. I had to take it. I do not know, but it +seems to me that when a man is sent to that prison who has not been in +the habit of performing physical labor, he should not be put to work +in the mines until he becomes accustomed to manual labor. It would seem +that it would be nothing more than right to give him an easier task at +first and let him gradually become hardened to his work at coal digging. +Nothing of this kind is done. The young, the old, the middle-aged are +indiscriminately and unceremoniously thrust into the mine. Down there +are nearly five hundred prisoners. Among them are boys from seventeen to +twenty years of age, many of whom are in delicate health. Here are to +be found old men, in some cases sixty years of age. I do not wish to +be understood as casting any reflections upon the officers of this +institution. They cannot help these things. If Warden Smith could avoid +it there would not be a single man sent down to that region of death. +The mines are there and must be worked. Let this blame fall where it +belongs. I must say injustice to our common humanity, that to work these +two classes, the boys and old men, in those coal mines is a burning +shame and outrage. It is bad enough, as the sequel will show, to put +able-bodied, middle-aged men to work in that pit. The great State of +Kansas has opened those mines. Her Legislature has decided to have them +worked. It becomes the duty, therefore, of the prison directors to work +them as long as they are instructed to do so, even if scores of human +beings are maimed for life or murdered outright each year. The blame +cannot rest on the prison officials, but upon our lawmakers. + + + +CHAPTER III. THE COAL MINES (Continued) + +After we had mined some twenty-five feet we took down the coal. To do +this the wedges are set and driven in at the top of the vein of coal, +with the sledge hammer. After my companion had struck the coal several +times it began to pop and crack as if it would fall at any moment. I +became alarmed. I was never in such a place before, and I said: "George, +had I not better get out of this place? I don't want the coal to fall on +me the first day." His reply was, that if I wanted to learn how to mine +I must remain near the coal and take my chances of being killed. This +was indeed comforting! Then he informed me that he was going to knock on +the coal and wanted me to catch the sound that was produced. He thumped +away, and I got the sound--a dull, heavy thud. Now, says he, "when coal +sounds in that manner it is not ready to drop." So he continued to pound +away at it. The more he pounded the more the coal cracked and the more +alarmed I became. I was afraid it would drop at any moment and crush me. +I begged of him to cease pounding until I got into the entry out of the +way of danger. He tried to make me believe there was no danger. I was +hard to convince of that fact. There I lay stretched out on my side next +to the coal, he driving in the wedges, and the coal seeming to me to +be ready to drop at each stroke of the hammer. "Now listen," said +he, "while I knock on the coal once more." I listened. The sound was +altogether different from the first. "Now," said he, "the coal is about +ready to fall." It is necessary for the miner to know this part of his +business. It is by the sound that he determines when it is ready to +fall. If he is ignorant of this part of his work, he would be in great +danger of getting killed from the coal falling unexpectedly. "Well," +said I, "if this coal is about ready to drop, had I not better get out +of here into the entry, so that I may be out of danger?" "No," was his +reply; "just crawl up behind that row of props and remain in the 'gob' +until after the coal falls." In obedience to his command I cheerfully +got up behind the props and embraced that pile of dirt. He struck the +wedges a few more blows and then darted behind the props out of danger. +No sooner had he got out of the way than the coal came thundering down. +"Now," said my room-mate "go out into the entry and bring in the buggy." +"All right." And out I went on my hands and knees. I soon found my way +into the entry, but found no buggy; so back I crawled into the room and +reported. At this my instructor crawled out to see what had become of +that singular vehicle known as a mining buggy. I followed after. I did +not want to remain behind in that coal mine. I did not know what might +happen should I be left there in that dark hole alone. After we had +reached the entry where we could stand erect my teacher pointed to an +object which lay close to our feet, and said to me, "Man, where are your +eyes?" "In my head," I calmly replied. "Do you see that thing there?" +"Of course I see that thing." "Well, that is the buggy." "Indeed!" I +exclaimed. "I am certainly glad to know it, for I never would have taken +that for a buggy." It had a pair of runners which were held in their +places by a board being nailed across them. On this was a small box; at +one end there was a short iron handle. On our knees we pushed the buggy +into the room, took up the hammer, broke up the coal into lumps we +could handle, filled up the small box, dragged it out into the entry and +emptied it into a heap. This is called "buggying" coal. It is the most +laborious part of mining. Whenever a new man would be placed with the +convicts for instructions in mining he would have to buggy coal just as +long as it was possible to get him to do so. After a time, however, he +would want to take turn about with his teacher. + +After we had finished getting out what we had down the noon hour had +arrived. At certain places in the entries or roadways there are large +wooden doors which, when shut, close up the entire passage. These doors +are for the regulations of the currents of air which pass through the +mines. The loud noise produced by pounding on one of these doors was +the signal for dinner. It was now noon. Bang, bang, bang, bang, went the +door. I had now put in one-half day of my sentence in the mines. Oh! the +many long, dreary, monotonous days I passed after that! At the call for +dinner the convict, ALWAYS HUNGRY, suddenly drops his tools and makes +his way at a rapid pace along the entry until he comes to the place +where the division officer has his headquarters. Arriving at this place +each convict takes his position in a line with his fellow-convicts. +All talking now ceases. They sit on the ground while eating, with their +lower limbs crossed. There are no soft cushioned chairs on which the +tired prisoner may rest his weary limbs. When seated, a small piece of +pine board, about a foot square, is placed across his knees. This is +the table. No table cloth, no napkins, no table linen of any kind. Such +articles as these would paralyze a convict! Thus seated in two rows +along the sides of the entry, with their mining lamps lighted and +hanging in their caps, they present a weird and interesting sight. The +dinner had been brought down from the top about an hour before on coal +cars. Three of the prisoners are now detailed to act as waiters. One +passes down between the two rows of convicts, carrying in his hand a +wooden pail filled with knives and forks. These culinary instruments +have iron handles. Were they made of wood or horn, the convicts would +soon break off the handles and make trinkets out of them. This waiter, +passing along, drops a knife and fork on each table. He is followed by +another who drops down a piece of corn bread; then another with a piece +of meat for each man, which he places on the pine board. There is no +"Please pass the meat," or "Hand over the bread." Not a word is spoken. +After the knives and forks have been passed around this waiter returns +and gives each man a quart of water. THIS IS DINNER. The bill of fare is +regular, and consists of cold water, corn bread and meat. Occasionally +we have dessert of cold cabbage, or turnips or cracked corn. When we +have these luxuries they are given to us in rotation, and a day always +intervenes between cabbage and turnips. In the coal mines the prisoner +never washes himself before eating. Although he gets his hands and face +as black as the coal he has been digging, yet he does not take time to +wash himself before eating. Reader, how would you like to dine in this +condition? The old saying is, we must all eat our "peck of dirt." I +think I have consumed at least two bushels and a half! I can never +forget my first meal in the mines. I was hungry, it was true, but I +couldn't manage to eat under the circumstances. I sat there on the +ground, and in silence watched the other prisoners eat. I thought, +"You hogs! I can never get so hungry as to eat as you are now eating." +In this I was mistaken. Before ten days had gone by I could eat along +with any of them. The first day I thought I would do without my dinner, +and when supper time came go to the top and enjoy a fine meal. I +imagined that after digging coal all day they would surely give us a +good meal in the evening. My mouth "watered" for some quail on toast, or +a nice piece of tenderloin, with a cup of tea. Think of my surprise, +when hoisted to the top at the close of day, after marching into the +dining-room and taking our places at the table, when I saw all that was +put before the prisoners was a piece of bread, a cup of tea without +sugar or milk, and two tablespoonfuls of sorghum molasses. It did not +require a long time for me to dispose of the molasses, as I was very +hungry, and handed up my cup for an additional supply; this was refused. +It is considered in the penitentiary an excess of two tablespoonfuls of +sorghum is unhealthy! There is danger of its burning out the stomach! So +at each supper after that I had to get along with two spoonfuls. As far +as the tea was concerned, it was made of some unknown material whose +aroma was unfamiliar to my olfactory; the taste was likewise unfamiliar, +and in consequence of these peculiarities of the prison tea I never +imbibed of it but the one time, that being amply sufficient to last +through the entire period of my confinement. From that day on I took +cold water, which, after all, is God's best beverage for the human race. +The penitentiary, so far as I know, is the only place in the State of +Kansas where prohibition actually works prohibition as contemplated by +the laws of the State! There are no "joints" in the Pen. No assistant +attorney generals are necessary to enforce prohibition there. I never +saw a drunken man in the prison. The Striped Temperance Society of +Kansas is a success. + +For breakfast in the prison we have hash, bread, and a tin cup of +coffee, without sugar or milk; no butter, no meat. The hash is made of +the pieces of bread and meat left over from the preceding day. We had it +every day in the year for breakfast. During my entire time in the prison +I had nothing for breakfast but hash. One day I was talking to an old +murderer who had been there for eighteen years, and he told me he had +eaten hash for his breakfast during his entire term--six thousand five +hundred and seventy days. I looked at the old man and wondered to myself +whether he was a human being or a pile of hash, half concluding that he +was the latter! + +In conversation with the chaplain of the prison I received the following +anecdote, which I will relate for the benefit of my readers. It is +customary in the prison, after the Sunday exercises, for such as +desire to remain and hold a sort of class meeting, or, as some call it, +experience meeting. In one of these, an old colored man arose, and said: +"Breddren, ebber since Ize been in dis prison Ize been tryin' to git de +blessin'; Ize prayed God night and day. Ize rascelled wid de Almighty +'till my hips was sore, but Ize nebber got it. Some sez its la'k ob +faith. Some its la'k of strength, but I b'l'eves de reason am on 'count +ob de quality ob dis hash we hab ebbery day!" + +Accidents are occurring almost daily. Scarcely a day passes but what +some man receives injuries. Often very severe accidents happen, and +occasionally those which prove fatal. Many men are killed outright. +These accidents are caused by the roof of the little room in which the +miner works falling in upon him, and the unexpected drop of coal. Of +course there are many things that contribute to accidents, such as bad +machinery, shafts, dirt rolling down, landslides, etc. + +One day there was a fellow-prisoner working in the room adjoining me; he +complained to the mining boss that he did not want to go into that +room to work because he thought it was dangerous. The officer in charge +thought differently, and told him to go in there and go to work or he +would report him. The prisoner hadn't been in the place more than a half +hour before the roof fell and buried him. It took some little time to +get him out. When the dirt was removed, to all appearances he was dead. +He was carried to the hospital on a stretcher, and the prison physician, +Doctor Neeally, examined him, and found that both arms were broken in +two places, his legs both broken, and his ribs crushed. The doctor, +who is a very eminent and successful surgeon, resuscitated him, set his +broken bones, and in a few weeks what was thought to be a dead man, was +able to move about the prison enclosure, although one of his limbs was +shorter than the other, and he was rendered a cripple for life. + +On another occasion a convict was standing at the base of the shaft. The +plumb-bob, a piece of lead about the size of a goose egg, accidentally +fell from the top of the shaft, a distance of eight hundred feet, +and, striking this colored man on the head, it mashed his skull, and +bespattered the walls with his brains. + +I had three narrow escapes from death. One day I lay in my little room +resting, and after spending some time stretched out upon the ground, +I started off to another part of my room to go to work, when all of a +sudden the roof fell in, and dropped down just where I had been lying. +Had I remained a minute longer in that place, I would have been killed. +As it happened, the falling debris just struck my shoe as I was crawling +out from the place where the material fell. + +At another time I had my room mined out and was preparing to take down +the coal. I set my wedges in a certain place above the vein of coal and +began to strike with my sledge hammer, when I received a presentiment +to remove my wedges from that place to another. Now I would not have +the reader believe that I was in any manner superstitious, but I was so +influenced by that presentiment that I withdrew my wedges and set them +in another place; then I proceeded to strike them a second time with the +sledge hammer, when, unexpectedly, the vein broke and the coal fell +just opposite to where my head was resting, and came within an inch of +striking it. Had I remained in the place where I first set my wedges, +the coal would have fallen upon me; it had been held in its place by a +piece of sulphur, and when it broke, it came down without giving me any +warning. + +On still another occasion, my mining boss came to my room and directed +me to go around to another part of the mine and assist two prisoners who +were behind with their work. I obeyed. I hadn't been out of my room more +than about half an hour when there occurred a land-slide in it, which +filled the room entirely full of rock, slate and coal. It required +several men some two weeks to remove the amount of debris that had +fallen on that occasion. Had I been in there, death would have been +certain at that time. + +Gentle reader, let me assure you, that although some persons +misunderstanding me, assert that I am without belief in anything, yet +I desire to say, when reflecting upon these providential deliverances, +that I believe in the Eternal Will that guides, directs, controls and +protects the children of men. While many of my fellow-prisoners were +maimed for life and some killed outright, I walked through that valley +and shadow of death without even a hair of my head being injured. Why +was this? My answer is the following: Over in the State of Iowa, among +the verdant hills of that beautiful commonwealth, watching the shadows +as they longer grow, hair whitened with the frosts of many seasons, +heart as pure as an angel's, resides my dear old mother. I received a +letter from her one day, and among other things was the following: + + "I love you now in your hour of humiliation and disgrace as I did + when you were a prattling babe upon my knee. + + * * * + + "I would also have you remember that every night before I retire to + rest, kneeling at my bedside, I ask God to take care of and watch + over my boy." + +Of the nine hundred convicts in the penitentiary not one of their +mothers ever forgot or deserted them. A mother's prayers always follow +her prodigal children. Go, gather the brightest and purest flowers that +bend and wave in the winds of heaven, the roses and lilies, the green +vine and immortelles, wreathe them in a garland, and with this crown the +brow of the truest of all earthly friends--Mother! Another reason I give +for my safe keeping in that hour of darkness and despair: In the city of +Atchison, on a bed of pain and anguish, lay my true, devoted and dying +wife. Every Sunday morning regularly would I receive a letter dictated +by her. Oh! the tender, loving words! "Every day," said she, "I pray +that God will preserve your life while working in the jaws of death." +The true and noble wife, the helpmeet of man, clings to him in the hour +of misfortune and calamity as the vine clings to the tree when prostrate +on the ground. No disgrace can come so shameful that it will cause the +true wife to forsake. She will no more forsake than the true soldier +will desert on the battlefield. For those imps in human form that +endeavor to detract from the honor belonging to the wives of the country +there ought to be no commiseration whatever. Let us honor the wifehood +of our native land. It is the fountain of all truth and righteousness, +and if the fountain should become impure, all is lost. One more +reason: Before I was sent to the prison I was an evangelist, and was +instrumental in the hands of God of persuading hundreds of people +to abandon a wicked life and seek the good. During my imprisonment I +received many letters from these men and women who had been benefited on +account of what I had said to them, and they informed me that they still +retained confidence in me and were praying God for my deliverance. + +Now, I believe, in answer to a mother's prayers, in answer to the +prayers of my sainted wife, in answer to the prayers of good men and +women, who were converts to "the faith once delivered to the saints" +under my earnest endeavors--in answer to all these prayers, God lent a +listening ear and preserved me from all harm and danger. + + +PATHETIC OCCURRENCES IN THE MINES + +It is a great consolation for prisoners to receive letters from their +friends. One day a convict working in the next room to me inquired if I +would like to see a letter. I replied I would. He had just received one +from his wife. This prisoner was working out a sentence of five years. +He had been in the mines some two years. At home, he had a wife and five +children. They were in destitute circumstances. In this letter his wife +informed him that she had been taking in washing for the support of +herself and children, and that at times they had to retire early because +they had no fuel to keep them warm. Also, that, on several occasions, +she had been compelled to put the children to bed without supper. But +this noble woman stated to her husband that their lot was not so bad as +his. She encouraged him to bear up under his burdens, and that the time +would soon come when his sentence would expire and he would be permitted +to return home again, and that the future would be bright once more +as it had been before the unfortunate circumstances that led to his +imprisonment. It was a good letter, written by a noble woman. A couple +of days after this, as I was mining, I heard a voice in the adjoining +room. I listened. At first I thought it was the mining boss, but I soon +discovered I was mistaken. Listening again I came to the conclusion +that the convict who was working in the next room was becoming insane, a +frequent occurrence in the mines. Many of the poor convicts being unable +to stand the strain of years and the physical toil, languish and die in +the insane ward. To satisfy my curiosity, I took my mining lamp from my +cap, placed it on the ground, covered it up as best I could with some +pieces of slate, and then crawled up in the darkness near where he +was. I never saw such a sight as was now presented to me. This +broad-shouldered convict on his knees, with his frame bent over, his +face almost touching the floor of the room, was praying for his wife and +children. Such a prayer I never heard before, nor do I expect to hear +again. His petition was something like the following: + +"Oh, Heavenly Father, I am myself a wicked, desperate man. I do not +deserve any love or protection for my own sake. I do not expect it, +but for the sake of Jesus do have mercy on my poor wife and helpless +children." + +I have been able, many times in my life, to spend an hour or more in the +prayer circle, and, unmoved, could listen to the prayers of the children +of God. But I could not remain there in the darkness and listen to such +a prayer as that going forth from the lips of that poor convict; so I +glided back through the darkness into my own room, and left him there +alone, pleading with his Creator for his lone and helpless ones at home. + +Reader, did God listen to the wails of that poor heart-stricken +prisoner? Yes! yes! yes! For though a prodigal, sinful child, yet he is +still a child of the universal Father. Who of us dare excommunicate him? +What frail mortal of passing time would dare lift up his hand and say, +this poor wanderer is forgotten of his God? + +What a glorious privilege is communion with God. What a sweet +consolation to know God hears, though we may be far removed from the +dear ones we love. And who can tell the glorious things that have been +wrought by the wonderful Father of the race by that strong lever of +prayer. How often has the rough ways of life been made smooth. How often +do we fail to credit the same to the kind intercession of friends with +the Father of us all. + +But to continue, it often happens that in the coal mines, persons, +no longer able to sustain the heavy load that is placed upon them of +remaining in prison for a long time, give way, and they become raving +maniacs. One day a prisoner left his room, and crawling out on his hands +and knees into the entry, sat down on a pile of coal and commenced to +sing. He had a melodious voice, and these were the words, the first +stanza of that beautiful hymn: + + "Jesus, lover of my soul, + Let me to Thy bosom fly." + +After he had completed the first stanza two of the officers came to him +and directed him to go back into the room to work. He replied that he +did not have to work; that he had religion, and that when a man had +religion he did not have to work. Said he, "We are now going to have +a prayer meeting, and" addressing one of the officers, "you you will +please lead us in prayer." The officer replied, "I don't pray in coal +mines; I pray above the surface so that God can hear." At this the +insane convict picked up a large piece of coal and was going to hurl it +after him, and threatened that if he did not get on his knees and go to +praying he would compel him to do so. While he was thus addressing +one officer the other slipped around in his rear and striking his arm +knocked the piece of coal out of his hand. Then the officers seized him, +one on each side, and forced him to go with them down the roadways to +the shaft, from whence he was taken to the top and placed in the insane +ward, where he remains at this writing. As he was passing down the +entries, away in the distance we heard him singing-- + + "Other refuge have I none, + Hangs my helpless soul on Thee. + Leave, oh leave me not alone, + Still support and comfort me." + +I can never forget the impression made upon me as those words rang down +through the dark passages, coming from the lips of that insane +convict as they led him away from the confinement of the mines to the +confinement of insanity. How true those beautiful words were in his +case! + + +THE COAL MINES A COLLEGE OF INFAMY + +The mines of this Penal institution are a college for the education +and graduation of hardened criminals, and for illustration, and the +instruction of those not familiar with the subject matter referred to, +I will relate what came under my personal observation, and some things +that I heard while in there. One day, in company with me while engaged +in mining, were two other convicts. One of these was a hardened old +crook. He was serving out a term on the charge of making and passing +counterfeit money. The other fellow-convict was a young man seventeen +years of age--a mere boy. Tired of mining, we laid off awhile, resting. +During this time the old convict gave us instructions in the manner +of making counterfeit money. He told us how he would construct his +counterfeit molds out of plaster paris, which he would use in the same +manner that bullet molds are used. He would purchase some britannica +metal. On some dark night he would go into the forest, build up a fire, +melt the metal, pour the melted liquor into the molds, and in this +manner make silver dollars. He informed us that it didn't take very long +to make a hatful of money. A few days thereafter this young man, who was +with us in the room at the time, informed me that when he went out again +into the world, if he was unable to secure work, he would try his hand +at making counterfeit money. I advised him not to do this, as it was +almost a certainty that he would be detected. He thought differently. +About a month thereafter he was released from the prison. He went out +into the world, and, unable to obtain work, DID try his hand at making +counterfeit money. Shortly before my time expired here came this young +man to prison again, with a sentence of three years at hard labor for +making and passing counterfeit money. He had received his criminal +instruction in the penitentiary mines, the result of which will be that +he will spend the greater portion of his life a convict. + +There are a great many instances where these young convicts, having +received their education in the coal mines, go into the world to become +hardened criminals. Down in this school of crime, in the midst of the +darkness, they learn how to make burglary tools, to crack safes, and to +become expert as pickpockets; they take lessons in confidence games, +and when their time expires they are prepared for a successful career +of crime. It is utterly impossible for the officers of the coal mines to +prevent these men from conversing with each other. If these mines were +sold, and the money obtained from the sale of them was used in building +workhouses on the surface, and these men placed at work there under the +watchful care of the official, they would then be unable to communicate +with each other, and would be saved from the debasing contamination of +the hardened criminals. They would be saved from all this that degrades +and makes heartless wretches. + +A scene occurred in the mines one day that illustrates the fact that +judges sometimes, in their anxiety to enforce the laws, overstep the +bounds of justice, and inflict excessive punishment and place burdens +upon human beings which they are unable to bear. One afternoon in the +city of Emporia ten tramps were arrested and thrown into the county +jail. During the succeeding night one of these persons thrust a poker +into the stove, and heating it red hot, made an effort to push the hot +iron through the door, thus burning a large hole in the door-casing. +The next morning the sheriff, entering the jail, perceiving what this +vagrant had done, was displeased, and tried to ascertain which one of +the ten was guilty of the offense. The comrades of the guilty party +refused to disclose the perpetrator of the act. Court was then in +session. The sheriff had these ten fellows brought into court, hoping +that when placed upon the witness stand, under oath, they would tell +which had committed the offense. Even in court they were true to +each other, and would not reveal the perpetrator. They were then all +convicted, and the judge passed a sentence of ten years upon each of +these vagrants for that trivial offense. They came to the penitentiary. +The day after their arrival they were all sent to the coal mines. For +two years they worked day after day down in the Kansas bastile. One +morning, after they had been in the mines for two years, one of the +number, at the breakfast table in the dining-room, unperceived secreted +a knife in his clothing and carried it with him down to his place of +work. He went into his little room and began the labors of the day. +After toiling for a few hours he took a stone and sharpened his knife +the best he possibly could, then stepped out into the entry where he +could stand erect, and with his head thrown back drew that knife across +his throat, cutting it from ear to ear, thus terminating his life, +preferring death to longer remaining in the mines of the Kansas Hell! +Who is there that is not convinced of the fact that the blood of this +suicide stains the garments of the judge who placed this unbearable +burden of ten years upon this young man, and who, I subsequently +learned, was innocent of the offense. I would advise the good people of +Lyons County, and of Emporia particularly, after they have perused this +book, if they come to the conclusion that they have no better material +out of which to construct a district judge, to go out on the frontier +and lassoo a wild Comanche Indian and bring him to Emporia and place him +upon the ermined bench. I do not even know the name of this judge, but +I believe, if I am correctly informed in this case, that his judgment +is deficient somewhere. But I must say in this connection, when the +good people of Lyons County heard of this suicide, they immediately +thereafter petitioned the Board of Pardons for the release of these +prisoners, and the board at once reported favorably upon their cases, +and Governor Martin promptly granted their pardons and they were +released from the prison. If the pardon had not been granted, others of +them had resolved upon taking their lives as did their comrade. One of +these prisoners was for a time a companion of mine in one of my mining +rooms, and told me if he was required to remain in the coal mines +digging coal another three months he had made up his mind to follow the +example of his comrade, preferring death to the horrors of the mines. + +For the further information of the reader, as to the dread of the +prisoners of work in the mines, I cite the following which I call to +recollection. The gentlemanly physician of the institution, Dr. Neeally, +told me that at four different times men had feigned death in the mines +and had been carried on stretchers to the hospital; the particulars in +one case is as follows: One of these men feigned death and was carried +to the hospital, and was reported by his comrades to be dead. He had +suppressed his breathing. The physician felt his pulse, and finding it +regular, of course knew he was simply endeavoring to deceive. In order +to experiment, the physician coincided with the statements of the +attending convicts who had carried him from the mines, and announced +that he would try electricity, and if he failed to restore him to life +he would then have to bury him in the regular way. The doctor retired +for the purpose of getting his electrical apparatus. In a few moments +he returned, bringing it with him, and placing the magnetic cups, one in +each hand, commenced generating the electricity by turning the generator +attached to the machine. After a few turns of the crank the prisoner +opened his eyes; one or two more and he sat up; a few more and he stood +on his feet; another turn or two and he commenced dancing around, and +exclaimed, "For God's sake, doctor, do quit, for I ain't dead, but +I can't let loose!" Reader, what do you suppose was the object this +convict had in view in thus feigning death? What did he hope to gain +thereby? Being well acquainted with this prisoner, a few days after the +doctor had told me of the circumstances I met him, and asked him what +object he had in feigning death the time that he was taken from the +mines to the hospital? His reply was that he hadn't the nerve to take +his own life, as he believed in a future state of punishment, and +that he did not desire to step from the Kansas Hell to the hell of the +future, and that by feigning death he hoped to be taken to the hospital, +placed in a coffin, then taken out to the prison graveyard, and buried +alive, so that he would suffocate in his grave! + +There is not a man in those mines but would leave them quickly for a +place on the surface. + +I now call to mind one instance where a heart-broken father came to +the prison and offered one of the leading prison officials one thousand +dollars if he would take his son out of the coal mines and give him a +place on the surface during the remainder of his term. A man who labors +in these mines simply spends his time, not knowing but the next hour +will be his last. + +As I have stated heretofore the prisoners are allowed to converse in the +mines, and as a result of this almost necessary rule, every convict has +an opportunity to listen to the vilest obscenity that ever falls upon +human ears. At times, when some of these convicts, who seem veritable +encyclopedias of wickedness, are crowded together, the ribald jokes, +obscenity and blasphemy are too horrible for description. It is a +pandemonium--a miniature hell! But worse than this horrible flow of +language are the horrible and revolting practices of the mines. +Men, degraded to a plane lower than the brutes, are guilty of the +unmentionable crimes referred to by the Apostle Paul in his letter to +the Romans, chapter I, verse 27, which is as follows: "And likewise also +the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lusts +one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and +receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet." +Every opportunity is here offered for this vile practice. They are far +removed from the light and even from the influences of their officers, +and in the darkness and silence old and hardened criminals debase and +mistreat themselves and sometimes the younger ones that are associated +with them in their work. These cases of self-abuse and sodomy are of +daily occurrence, and, although the officials of the prison take every +precaution to prevent such evil practices, yet, as a matter of fact, +so long as prisoners are permitted to work in the mines it will be +impossible to break up these terribly degrading and debasing practices. +Oh, Kansan! you that boast of the freedom and liberty, the strength of +your laws, and the institutions in your grand young State, what do you +think of this disclosure of wickedness, equalling if not excelling +the most horrible things ever pictured by the divine teachers of +humanity,--the apostles and their followers? A hint is only here given, +but to the wise it will be sufficient, and but a slight exercise of the +imaginative powers will be necessary to unfold to you the full meaning +of this terrible state of affairs. + +It is believed by the writer that if the people of the State of Kansas +knew under what circumstances men in the prison were compelled to work, +there would be a general indignation, which would soon be expressed +through the proper channels, and which might lead to a proper solution +of the difficulty. + +In many of the rooms of the mines there are large pools of water which +accumulate there from dripping down from the crevices above; this, taken +in connection with the natural damps of the mines, which increases +the water, makes very large pools, and in these mud-holes convicts are +compelled to work and wallow about all day long while getting out their +coal, more like swine than anything else. How can this be in the line +of reformation, which, we are taught to believe outside of the prison +walls, is the principal effort of all discipline within the prison. The +result of work under such unfavorable circumstances is that many of +the convicts contract rheumatism, neuralgia, pneumonia and other lung +troubles, and, of course, malaria. Many persons that enter these mines +in good health come out physical wrecks, often to find homes in the +poor-houses of the land when their prison days are over, or die before +their terms expire. In the judgment of the writer the coal mines should +be sold; until that is done, prisoners who contract diseases there that +will carry them to untimely graves should be pensioned by the State, and +thus kept from spending the rest of their natural lives in some of the +country poor-houses. + +Each person in the mines is assigned a task; he is required to get out a +certain amount of coal each week. In case the convict fails to mine the +task that has been assigned him he must endure punishment, a description +of which will be given later on. It is the opinion of the author that +something should be done to remedy this. The young men from seventeen +to twenty, together with the old men from fifty to sixty, and those +suffering from diseases, are often required to dig as much coal as +middle-aged and able-bodied men. I have seen old men marching to their +cells after a hard day's work scarcely able to walk, and many times have +I laid in the mines along with these young boys who would spend hours +crying like whipped children for fear they would be unable to get +out their regular task of coal, and would therefore have to spend the +Sabbath in the dungeon, suffering unspeakable anguish. + +Because of the dangers to which the inmate is exposed; because of the +debasing influences by which lie is surrounded, it is wrong, it is +WICKED to work our criminals in such a place as those mines of the +Kansas penitentiary. + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE PUNISHMENTS OF THE PRISON + +The discipline of this institution is of the very highest character, +and is unequaled in any similar institution of the United States. The +officers are very watchful and strict. The inmates who work on the +surface are not permitted to converse with each other only within the +hearing of an officer, and then only with regard to matters that pertain +to work. The convict attends to his duties, observing the strictest +silence. When visitors pass about the prison the inmate is not permitted +to lift up his head to gaze at them. Not even is he permitted to take +a drink of water or to leave his place of work for anything without the +permission of the officer in charge. As soon as a criminal enters the +prison and is clothed in stripes, a copy of the rules and regulations +is placed in his hands for perusal. If he cannot read, an officer reads +them to him. On the first day of his admission the prisoner receives +certain tickets, which are permits for privileges granted to him. One +of these tickets allows him to have tobacco if he used the same before +coming to the penitentiary; one allows him to receive visits from his +friends; another to write a letter, monthly, to his relatives; and still +another gives him the privilege to draw a book from the library, weekly. +These privileges are highly appreciated by the prisoners. For the first +offense in violation of any of the rules and regulations the refractory +prisoner is deprived of his ticket; and in extreme cases these tickets +have been kept from the prisoner for six months. To deprive the convict +of his tobacco for a month or two, if he uses it, and many do, is a +severe punishment. This kind of punishment is usually effectual in +securing good discipline. There are extreme cases, however, that require +severer punishment. To meet this contingency, dungeons are provided. As +their name implies, they are dark. They resemble an ordinary cell with +the exception of the door, which, in the common cell, contains open +spaces for the admission of light; but the dark cell admits neither +light nor a sufficient quantity of air. There is no furniture in this +dark cell. While undergoing punishment, if a prisoner desires to rest, +he can do so by reclining on the stone floor. No refractory prisoner +ever grows corpulent while confined in these dark cells, as he only +receives one meal of bread and water in twenty-four hours! The prisoner +is often kept in these cells from eight to ten days. Sleep is almost +impossible. When a prisoner enters the dungeon he is required to leave +behind him his coat, cap and shoes. During the winter months it is often +very cold in these cells, requiring the prisoner to walk up and down +the dungeon in his stocking feet to prevent his freezing, and this for +a period of ten days, in nearly every instance compels submission. After +the dark cells thaw out, during the summer months, they are excessively +hot. Sometimes in winter the temperature is below zero, and in summer +it often rises to one hundred degrees. They are then veritable furnaces. +Generally, after the prisoner undergoes the freezing or baking process +for eight or ten days, he is willing to behave himself in the future. +They are sometimes so reduced and weak when brought out of the dark cell +that they can scarcely walk without aid. I have seen them reel to and +fro like drunken men. They are often as pale as death. That in many +cases the prisoner contracts cold which later on terminates fatally, is +one of the principal objections to this mode of punishment. There is no +doubt that the dark cells of the Kansas Hell have hastened the death of +many a poor, friendless convict. If a person in the mines does not get +out his regular weekly task of coal, on Saturday night he is reported +to the deputy warden by the officer in charge, and is sent to the +blind cell before supper, and is kept there until the following Monday +morning, when he is taken out and sent to his work in the mines. While +in there he gets only bread and water once in twenty-four hours. This +is a great inducement to work; it certainly prevents criminals from +shirking their labor, and soon converts a lazy tramp into a rustling +coal miner. There is one thing, however, that is connected with this +system of punishment that I will criticise. The officer under whose +immediate control the prisoner is placed fixes the period of his +confinement in the dungeon. It gives the officer a good opportunity to +abuse a prisoner he may dislike. These subordinate officers are not all +angels. Some of them are lacking in sympathy. They have become hardened, +and frequently treat their men like beasts. These persons should not +possess such a dangerous power. The warden or deputy warden should +decide the character as well as the period of punishment. + +If in this dark cell ten days and nights is insufficient to subdue the +rebellious spirit of the convict, he is taken out and placed in the +solitary cell. This is similar to the ordinary cell, with the exception +that it contains no furniture. Here the convict remains on bread and +water until he is starved almost to death, or until he is willing to +submit and do his work as ordered. + +Another mode of punishment resorted to in a few cases, is even more +brutal than the dark cell. The obdurate prisoner is stripped naked and +tied to a post. The hose which is connected with the water-works is +turned upon his naked body. The water pressure is sixty pounds to +the square inch. As the water strikes the nude body the suffering +is intense. This mode of punishment is but rarely resorted to. It is +exceedingly wicked and barbarous. It is a shame to treat a human being +in such a manner. There are many hardened criminals and desperate +characters in the penitentiary, and it may sometimes be necessary to +resort to extreme measures, but there have been many instances when, as +it seemed to me, these excessive punishments might have been avoided +and still the good discipline of the prison maintained. "Blessed are the +merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." But the author would have you +recollect that the punishments of the Kansas penitentiary are not as +severe as the discipline in her sister institutions. Many of the +inmates of this prison who have formerly served terms in others of like +character, have shown him the scars and marks of brutal punishment. One +of these poor unfortunates showed me his back, which is covered with +great furrows in the flesh caused by the cat-o'-nine-tails in the hands +of a merciless official of the Missouri penitentiary. Another prisoner +carries thumbs out of joint and stiffened by the inhuman practice of +hanging up by the thumbs in vogue in a former place of imprisonment, +and still another carries about with him ugly wounds inflicted by +bloodhounds which overtook him when trying to escape from a Southern +prison. + +The foregoing is a view of the punishments inflicted from a prisoner's +standpoint. That the reader may arrive at just conclusions, I quote the +statements on the same subject made by the warden, Captain Smith, in +his able biennial report of last year. In doing so, I beg leave to state +that the convict who had ever been the object of the prison discipline, +or who had spent his ten days and nights in one of those dismal +dungeons, subsisting on bread and water, would readily say that the +warden had treated the subject in a manner "very mild." + +"The discipline has been carefully looked after, and as a general thing +prisoners yield to strict discipline quicker than most people think. +They seem to see and realize the necessity of rules, and very seldom +complain, if they violate them, at the punishment that is sure to +follow. Our punishments are of such a character that they do not +degrade. Kansas, when she established her penitentiary, prohibited +corporal punishment. She is one of the few States that by law prohibits +the use of the whip and strap; taking the position that it is better to +use kindness than to resort to brutal measures. I have often been told, +and that, too, by old prison men, that it was impossible to run a +prison and have first-class discipline without the whip. Such is not +my experience. We have had within our walls perhaps as desperate men as +ever received a sentence. We have controlled them, and have maintained +a discipline second to none in the country, How did we accomplish this? +Our answer is, by being kind but firm; treating a man, although he may +be a prisoner, as a man. If he violates rules, lock him up. Give him +an opportunity to commune with himself and his Maker; also give him to +understand that he is the executioner of his own sentence, and when he +concludes that he can do right, release him. It matters not how vicious, +how stubborn, or what kind of a temper he may have, when left with no +one to talk to, and an opportunity to cool down, and with a knowledge +that when he comes to the conclusion that he will do better he can be +released, he leaves the cell feeling much different than the prisoner +who leaves the whipping-post, after having received any number of +lashes that a brutal officer may desire to inflict. One goes to his +work cheerful, and determined to behave himself; the other dogged, +revengeful, completely humiliated, and only lives in hope that he may at +some time take his revenge upon the person that ordered or inflicted +the punishment, and upon the State or country that would, by its laws, +tolerate such a brutal or slavish practice." + + + +CHAPTER V. SUNDAY IN THE PRISON + +A prisoner is always thankful for the Sabbath. He has been working hard +all week, and Sunday affords the opportunity of resting. On the Sabbath +morning, the bell for rising rings at eight o'clock. At its ringing +each person must rise and dress; he is not permitted to do so before +it rings. If he gets tired of remaining in his bunk so late as eight +o'clock, and should wish to get up and dress, it would do him no good; +it would be a violation of rules and result in punishment. After the +prisoner is up and dressed, he washes and marches out in ranks to +breakfast. It is hash, hash, hash, for Sunday breakfast, the same as any +other day, except once a month it is codfish hash instead of beef hash. +After breakfast, instead of going from the dining-room to work, the +prisoners are marched back into their cells where they remain until time +for chapel exercises. + +There is a dining-room for the prisoners and another for the officers. +The room where the prisoners dine is a large hall capable of seating +fully twelve hundred men. Each table is long enough to accommodate +twenty men, and resembles an ordinary school-desk. There are no +table-cloths or napkins; nothing but a plain, clean board. The table +furniture consists of a tin quart cup, a small pan of the same precious +metal, which holds the hash, an iron knife, fork and spoon. No beautiful +silverware adorns this table; on the contrary, all the dining service is +very plain and cheap. The convicts are marched into the dining-room in +divisions, and seated at the table. Here they remain in perfect silence, +with their heads bowed. + +No talking or gazing about the dining-room is permitted. After all the +divisions are in and seated, the deputy Warden taps a small bell, and +the convicts begin the work of "concealing the hash." Before the men +enter the dining-room the coffee, bread and hash are placed on the table +for each man. The prisoners are given all the food they can eat. It is +not the quantity, but the quality, that is objectionable. + +If more bread is wanted, instead of calling out "Please pass the bread," +the convict holds up his hand, and the waiter comes along and puts a +piece of bread in it. He gets but a pint of coffee, and if he wishes +a second supply he holds up his cup and it is refilled--but with water +instead of coffee. If he wishes more hash he holds aloft his meat dish, +and an officer hands him a large pan of hash, out of which he fills +his dish. Not a word is spoken during the meal. Ample time is given the +convicts to get all the food they desire; then the deputy warden, who +occupies a raised seat at the end of the dining-room, taps a small +bell, and the men march out in divisions, back to their cells on Sunday +mornings, and to their work on week days. + +Breakfast over, and the men in their cells, the choir, which leads the +singing and furnishes the instrumental music for the occasion, is taken +out, and, under the watchful care of an officer, is conducted to the +chapel where they practice until time for the regular services. The +choir was composed of convicts who could sing, regardless of the crimes +for which they were sent to prison. I recollect at one time we had two +horse-thieves, two rapists--one with a sentence of forty years--three +murderers, two hog-thieves, and several others of equally villainous +records, and, last of all, the author! But this choir will compare +favorably with some of the high-toned church choirs outside! To return, +think of such a choir singing: + + "Oh, how happy are they, + Who their Saviour obey, + And have laid up their treasures above!" + +At eleven o'clock, the prison bell rings, and the men are marched in +ranks to the chapel. When the first division or company reaches the room +where the services are to be held, the string band commences to play, +and as the divisions march in one after another they are greeted with +music. The instruments used are a piano, organ, violin, cornet and bass +viol. Very fine music is rendered by the prison band. All being seated, +the chaplain, the Rev. Dr. Crawford, a genuine Christian and God-fearing +man, rises, and in his happy style reads some beautiful hymn which +is familiar to the congregation. The choir leads and the entire +congregation sings. Such singing! The convicts have only one opportunity +a week to try their voices in a musical way, and when that opportunity +comes around it is improved. Nearly one thousand voices unite in singing +those beautiful gospel hymns! A prayer is offered; more singing; then +the chaplain, or some visiting minister who may be present, preaches a +short discourse. There is a large field for usefulness, and for doing +good, in the penitentiary. The harvest is truly great. Chaplain Crawford +comprehends the situation, and is putting forth strenuous efforts to +save these men who have drifted thus far down the currents of sin. +His labors are abundantly blessed of God. Many men go out of that +institution a great deal better than when they first entered. Were it +not for the cruel treatment the prisoners suffer in the coal mines of +that institution many more of them would be reformed. This treatment +tends to harden the criminal. The chaplain has many evils to counteract, +yet he contends nobly for the right, and some of these men are being +redeemed from a sinful life. After the sermon, the choir and the string +band furnish more soul-stirring music, which enlivens the spirits of the +prisoners, and then the chapel exercises are over. The prisoners are +now returned to their cells. Occasionally the convicts are permitted +to remain after the chapel exercises proper are over and have a social +meeting. The chaplain remains with them. These men sing, pray and give +in their religious experience. It is novel to hear these Christian +criminals telling how they love Jesus. + +Immediately after the religious services are over the prison school +begins. Nearly one hundred of the convicts attend this school. The +common branches, reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, etc., are +taught. This school is graded, and under the management of the chaplain, +who is an excellent instructor, is a great blessing to the prisoners. +Numbers have fitted themselves here so that when they went out they were +able to pass examination and obtain certificates as teachers. + +On entering the institution many of the prisoners who are unable to read +and write soon acquire these useful arts if they have any ambition for +self-improvement. If there was room, and this school could be conducted +in the evening, as well as on Sunday afternoons, much more good could be +accomplished. I would suggest that it would be a good act on the part +of the State to employ an officer who should devote all his time to +teaching and imparting instruction in the common branches, and let a +room be fitted up for evening school, so that all prisoners who might +desire to improve themselves could attend this place of instruction +after the work of the day was over. Nothing could be done that would be +more advantageous to the convict. The teachers for the prison school +are selected from among the prisoners, some of them being very fine +scholars. + +After school is over the Sunday dinner is served. The prisoners once +more march into the dining-room and take their places at the table. The +Sunday dinner is the "crack" meal of the institution. At this meal the +prisoners have as a luxury, beans, a small piece of cheese and some beet +pickles, in addition to their regular diet. This meal is served at 2:30. + +The prisoners are then returned to their cells, where they remain until +the following morning. They spend their time in the cells which is not +taken up by sleeping, in reading. The prison has a fine library of +five thousand volumes. The State Legislature annually appropriates five +hundred dollars to be expended in purchasing books. This collection +consists of histories, scientific works and books of fiction. The +greater part of the criminals prefer the works of fiction. Were it not +for this privilege of reading, the Sunday afternoons and winter evenings +would seem very long and dreary. + +Several officers are on duty during the time the men are locked in their +cells on Sunday, and the cell houses are very quiet and orderly, there +is no talking, as officers are constantly walking backward and forward +in front of the cells. + +This is the manner and style of spending the Sabbath in prison. The +convicts who do the cooking for the officers and convicts, are compelled +to work on Sundays as any other day of the week. It would be nothing +more than right to give these men credit for this extra work, and in +this manner reduce their sentences. The law does not contemplate that +criminals in the penitentiary should work seven days in the week and +fifteen hours each day. There are more than fifty men who are forced to +put in this extra time in hard labor. + + + +CHAPTER VI. SCENES IN THE HOSPITAL + +When a prisoner gets sick he reports to the prison physician in the +morning, before working hours. As the men march out of their cells to go +to their breakfast, those who are sick and desire to see the doctor fall +out of the ranks and occupy seats in the cell house. Soon the prison +physician, Dr. Nealley, calls and examines them. Many try to deceive the +physician and thus get into the hospital, simply to avoid work. But +the shirkers are pretty well known, and have to be very sick and give +unmistakable symptoms of their illness before they can get excused. It +is very difficult to deceive Dr. Nealley. He has been with the prisoners +so long, nearly six years, that he knows them and can tell without much +effort when one of them is sick or is not in condition to work. At these +morning examinations, sometimes there are nearly one hundred who report +as being sick. Most of them, instead of being excused, get a dose of +medicine and are sent to work. When a prisoner takes sick during the day +while at work, he is excused by his officer, and permitted to go to the +hospital to see the physician. Fully nine-tenths of the sickness of +the prison is contracted in the coal mines. The principal physical +disabilities are prison fever, colds, pneumonia, lung diseases and +rheumatism. Very few contagious diseases ever find their way into the +prison, and those that do are quickly discovered and checked by the +prison physician. When a convict is unable to work he is sent to the +hospital. This department contains two wards, in the first of which +those remain who are not sick enough to be confined to their beds, while +the very sick are kept in the second ward. Convicts, detailed for that +purpose, are the hospital nurses. It is gratifying to know that these +convict nurses have a sympathy for their sick comrades truly admirable. + +Many of these sick men die. It is sad to die in the State's Prison! I +recollect one case that came under my own observation which was indeed +pathetic. A man had been sentenced for five years, and had served out +his time save one week, when, taken suddenly ill, he was sent to the +hospital and died the day before his term would have expired. This poor +fellow piteously begged of the doctor to try and extend his life so that +he could die a free man; but all in vain! On the day which would have +brought liberty he was borne through the large gate and buried in the +prison graveyard. It is heartrending to hear those men dying in the +hospital, call for their mothers, wives or sisters! The convict nurses +are as kind and sympathetic as possible, but in sickness and death there +is no one that can take the place of mother, wife or sister. + +There was one man who died a few days before my term expired, for whom I +felt the greatest sympathy. His name was Frank Rhodes. He was sent from +Holton. While in jail and awaiting trial at that place he was converted. +Several Christian ladies had visited the jail and left with the inmates +a few Bibles and other religious literature. At his trial Frank was +convicted of crime and sentenced to the penitentiary for five years. +When he came to the State's prison he brought his religion with him. For +two years this man performed his duties faithfully. He soon gained the +good will of the officers. He was a true Christian man; he showed it in +his life while in prison. After awhile his religion got the better +of him; he could not control his emotions. Often during the chapel +services, when the convicts were singing their Christian songs, overcome +by his feelings, Frank would weep like a child. Time passed. It was +a bright Sabbath morning. The prisoners were marching out of the cell +houses to the chapel, to attend divine service. All nature seemed to be +rejoicing. Frank could not longer restrain himself. The glowing sunshine +has much to do with causing a man's religion to boil over. All of a +sudden, clapping his hands, Frank shouted at the top of his voice, +"Glory to God in the highest I peace on earth, good will to men!" This +was too much for the discipline of the prison. Convicts are expected to +keep quiet. A couple of officers seized him and led him back into the +cell house, where he was placed in a cell of the insane ward and was +called a religious crank. He remained in this cell for the following +eighteen months. He told me afterward these were the happiest months of +his life. He would read his Bible, sing, pray, and exhort the officers +to be religious. The deputy warden would often tell him that when he +could control his religion enough to keep quiet he should be taken out +of the insane ward and sent to work again. When eighteen months had +passed he concluded he could keep quiet, and so informed the deputy +warden. He was immediately released from his place of confinement and +went to work. While at work he was honest and quiet. His only trouble +was, too much religion! Months went by. His wife came to see him +frequently. These visits were enjoyable affairs to them. On a certain +Friday his wife was to visit him. I met him the day before, and he was +overjoyed at the prospect of seeing his wife the next day. She came. +They had a joyful time. Little did either think they should see each +other in this life no more. When the hour of her departure came they +separated not to meet again until in the world of perpetual sunshine. +The next day this poor convict was taken with the prison fever, and in +one short week he was a corpse. He died trusting in his Saviour. The +chaplain, speaking of this man's death, said if officers or convicts at +death go from the Kansas penitentiary to heaven, then Frank Rhodes was +among the saved; he was a true Christian man. After death his body was +sent to his former home, Holton, where it was buried. + +The following is my experience with a poor friendless colored boy who +had a six years' sentence for burglary. I took the prison fever and was +sent to the hospital. This colored convict was detailed as my nurse. +He had been sick, but was then convalescent. He was very kind to me; +because of this kindness and good care I began to like him. He seemed +anxious to make me comfortable. "Be kind to the sick and you will win +their friendship." I was quite sick for two weeks, but began to recover +slowly. About this time my nurse suffered a relapse. He grew worse and +worse. The doctor gave him up. "Bob must die," he said to the head nurse +one day in my hearing. A day or two after this, Bob, for that was the +sick prisoner's name, sent for me to come to his couch. I sat down on +the edge of his bed and asked him what he wanted. He said: "I am going +to die, and want a friend. In all this wide world," continued he, "there +is not a single human being that I can look upon as my friend." He then +told me how he had lost his father and mother when a mere child, had +drifted out into the world an orphan boy, got into bad company, into +crime and into prison. As I sat there looking into the face of that +little darkey, I thought how sad his lot must be, and my sympathies were +aroused. I said, "Bob, is there anything I can do for you? I am +your friend, and will do all I can to aid you." I spoke words of +encouragement, and tried to cheer him up by saying that I thought he +would not die. In this I used a little deceit, but it was to assuage his +grief. I really thought he would die very soon. Then he told me what he +wanted. He said, "I am going to die; my angel mother came to my bedside +last night; I saw her as plainly as I see you now. She said she was +coming soon to take me out of prison and out of this world of sorrow. +Yes, I am going to die, but I am afraid to cross the dark river. When +I am dying I want you to sit by my bedside, take hold of my hand and go +with me down the vale of death as far as possible. It will do me so much +good. Will you do this for me? It is the only favor I ask." I told him +I would only be too glad to do so if it would aid him in the moment when +life shrinks from the shadow of death, but told him I thought he would +not die--another little fib on my part. However, that did no harm, for I +failed to convince him he would live. About 1 o'clock A. M. a couple +of nights after this, one of the watchers came to my cot and said +Bob wanted to see me immediately. I felt his time had come. Hastily +dressing, I went to his bedside. I found him dying. I sat down by his +side and took his hand in mine. I was going with him to the dark +river. He pressed my hand and a smile of satisfaction passed over his +countenance. He said, "You are so kind." I spoke words of hope and +encouragement suitable to the time and occasion. I sat thus for some +little time; his limbs grew cold; his eyes became glassy; the death dew +was dampening his brow. It was evident he would soon breathe his last. +Poor, helpless, friendless negro! What was your life's mission? Many +similar pious thoughts flitted through my mind. Without a friend! Among +all the millions of earth he could not call one by the endearing name +of friend! Sad, sad thought! After I had remained there some time, +expecting every breath to be his last, what was my astonishment to +discover his hands and limbs growing warmer. The crisis of his disease +was passed. No dark river this time! Soon his "glassy" eyes were closed, +and in a few moments he began to snore! Disappointed, I dropped that +black "paw," and went back to my cot. That little darkey is still alive. +He often asked me after that if I wanted to take another trip down to +"de da'k ribbah!" + +The prisoners who die in the penitentiary are buried in the graveyard of +the institution, unless they have friends who will pay for the removal +of the body. Just outside the prison walls is the cemetery. Its location +is a walnut grove in a deep ravine. The first graves were dug near the +eastern side of the cemetery and as near to each other as possible. As +fast as this space is filled with graves it is covered over many feet +deep with the slate and dirt taken from the coal mines, a few yards +distant. Beneath this rubbish will the prisoners sleep until the trump +shall sound and the dead arise. Prisoners dying are dressed in a neat +suit of black clothes, if the body is to be forwarded to the friends; +otherwise, the burial suit consists of a cotton shirt and a pair of +drawers of the same material. The coffin is very plain, and is made in +one of the prison shops. + + + +CHAPTER VII. ESCAPES FROM PRISON + +Occasionally there is a man shrewd enough to make his escape from +prison. When a convict has almost served out his time he is generally +selected to perform the duties of a "trusty," and allowed to go +outside the prison enclosure. By good conduct other prisoners gain the +confidence of the officials, and there are instances where these men, +though they may have several months to serve, are permitted to go beyond +the walls, doing duty for the prison. But they are rare. Generally a +convict, if he has long to serve, is not trusted to any great extent. +At times these "trusties," although they may have but a few weeks to +remain, cannot successfully resist the temptation to escape. Ordinarily +the escaped convict is overtaken and brought back. + +I recollect an instance where two young fellows were thus trusted. One +of them had two months to serve, and the other but twenty-seven days. +They were given employment at the reservoir, over a mile from the +prison. No officer was guarding them. They made an attempt to get away. +After being absent a few hours they were missed from their post of +duty. The alarm was given, and officers started in pursuit. They were +overtaken and caught about five miles distant, hid in the brush. They +had concealed themselves in this place, intending to make their escape +in the darkness of the coming night. The officers in search accidentally +came upon them in this brush patch. They were taken back to prison. They +were compelled to work for thirty days with a ball and chain attached to +each of their limbs, after which they were taken to Leavenworth, to the +District Court, where they plead guilty to the charge of attempting to +escape from the prison. Each of them received a sentence of one year at +hard labor in the penitentiary for this foolishness. After their present +sentence has expired, they will have to enter immediately upon the +other for trying to escape. At this writing, both of these convicts are +digging coal in the mines. They are not trusted now. + +Another prisoner, a much older man than these two whom I have described, +tried to escape; he got as far as Ohio before the officers secured him. +During the late rebellion this man was a captain in the army. He became +involved in a quarrel with some of his relatives and was sent to the +penitentiary for forgery. On account of his previous good character, on +coming to the penitentiary he was immediately set to work as a "trusty." +Some few months after he was sent to the Missouri River, over a mile +from the prison, to do some work. No officer was with him. Going down +to the banks of the river he discovered a boat tied to the shore. In a +subsequent conversation, he told me when he saw that boat it suggested +the thought of escaping. His wife and children were in the State of +Ohio. They had removed there since his conviction. "The boat," said he, +"seemed to say, 'get in and cross the river.' I thought of my family. +Oh, how I longed to be with them! I could not resist the temptation. I +had some old overalls, and I drew these on over the stripes. I got into +the boat, rowed across, and hid in the woods on the Missouri side until +night. During the night-time I walked, and during the daytime would lay +by in the woods, occasionally going out to a house begging something +to eat. At last I reached my home in Ohio. I was footsore and almost +starved when I arrived." Continuing his narrative, he informed me that +he had no peace of mind. He was in constant dread of pursuing officers. +Every man he saw he took to be a detective in search of him. At last, +so great was his alarm and uneasiness, that he telegraphed the prison +officials where he was. The warden went and brought him back, For +punishment he remained in the dungeon several days and nights, and wore +the ball and chain for over a month. This man has not been tried yet for +making his escape. It will probably be overlooked because of the change +in the prison administration. His original sentence was five years. + +Another prisoner made his escape, was away for five years; was then +discovered, brought back, and is at present eight hundred feet below the +surface, digging coal. + +One day a young man was brought to the penitentiary under three years' +sentence. He was handsome and had winning ways. It was not long before +the officers had learned to like him. He was a natural confidence man. +It was difficult to resist his influence. After he had been in the +penitentiary a short time he was made a "trusty." For awhile he was very +dutiful and obedient. He was no fool. He gained the confidence of the +officers so that many of them would have confided their pocketbooks +to his care. He was permitted to go beyond the prison walls to quite a +distance. Finally he walked off. That convict has never been heard of +since. He was a slick one. After his departure it was found out that he +had walked away from the Colorado prison in the same manner. + +The following is an instance of the shrewdness practiced in effecting +escapes. A hog-thief was convicted and sent to the prison. He related +that while traveling through the southern part of Kansas, a mere tramp, +passing by a farmer's residence, he saw a number of hogs in a lot +adjoining a grove some distance to the rear of the house. Passing up +through the grove, unperceived, he removed one of the boards and drove +the hogs out through the woods into a small pond where they covered +themselves with mud. Then driving them around on to the main traveled +road, he started with them for town some five miles off. As he was +driving along the highway, the owner of the hogs met him and inquired +where he was taking them. He replied that he was going to market. The +farmer said he was making up a car load and would give him as much as +he could get in town. After some further conversation the parties agreed +upon the price, the farmer buying his own hogs from the tramp, who went +on his way rejoicing. An hour or two thereafter the farmer, going out +into his field to see his hogs, found they were gone, and upon examining +those recently purchased, which by this time had rubbed all the mud off, +he discovered it was his own hogs he had purchased from the tramp. He +immediately set out in pursuit of the thief, whose whereabouts were soon +determined. The thief, after receiving the money, went to town, took +a train, but stopped off at a little place nearby, and instead of +secreting himself for a time, began to drink. While dissipating he was +overtaken, arrested, and held for trial. Had he left whisky alone, he +could have escaped. At the trial, which soon followed, he was convicted +of grand larceny, and on his arrival at the prison was immediately +put into the coal mines. After working there for a week or ten days he +became dissatisfied, and decided to secure a position on the surface. +One morning, as the prisoners were being let down into the mines, +apparently in a fit he fell into the arms of a prisoner; when he landed +at the bottom he was in the worst part of his spasm; the officer +in charge ordered him sent to the top as soon as he had partially +recovered, stating that it was dangerous to have a man working in the +mines who was subject to fits, as he might not only kill himself but be +the cause of the death of others with him in the cage. To make his case +more plausible, when the convict learned that the officer had ordered +him to the top, he began pleading to remain in the mines and work, +stating that he enjoyed the work and would rather do service there than +on the top. But the officer persisted; he was sent up and reported to +the deputy warden, who set him to quarrying rock. This was no better job +than working in the coal mines. Providing himself for the occasion, by +putting a piece of soap in his mouth, assuming a frenzy and frothing at +the mouth, he would almost deceive a physician as to the nature of his +malady. Later, it was decided that he was unable to do duty on the +rock pile, and was placed in the "Crank House" with the cranks. Those +prisoners, who have either lost their mind or are suffering with +temporary insanity, not incurable insane, or wholly idiotic, are classed +as "cranks," and have an apartment by themselves. As a rule this class +of individuals are harmless and not guarded very closely. Their cells +are not locked up until nine o'clock at night; the others at six +o'clock. During the noon hour the officers leave them alone, in fact, +being of a supposed harmless disposition they are at no time closely +guarded. This fellow improved the opportunities afforded by the noon +hour. He would go into one of the towers and work as long as he dared +cutting the bars with a saw he had made out of a knife. He labored in +this manner until one of the bars was sawed so near off that a little +push would remove it. One afternoon he bade the other cranks good-bye, +telling them he was going to fly that night. They made sport of him, +thinking he was growing more insane. He went so far as to say good-bye +to the officer, stating that he had received a revelation from God +the previous night, and that an angel was coming to liberate him. The +officer, of course, thought he was getting more and more insane. When +night came he slipped out of his cell and secreted himself in a portion +of the cell house where it was dark, and when the officer came to lock +up, the crazy hog-thief was not missed. Along in the night he pushed +aside the bars and made his escape. This was the last the prison +authorities heard of him until they learned he was arrested at St. +Joseph, Missouri, and held there on a charge of grand larceny for the +same thing that he was in the Kansas penitentiary--stealing hogs. +An officer went up there to get and bring him back to the Kansas +penitentiary, but the St. Joseph authorities refused to give him up. He +was tried there and sent to the Missouri penitentiary. After his term +expires in that place he will have to serve out his original term in the +Kansas penitentiary. "The way of the transgressor is hard," even if he +does pretend to have fits. + +One of the most interesting and perilous attempts at escaping from the +penitentiary was the following: In the evening, after the day's work +is over in the mines, the convicts are all lifted to the top, as before +stated, and remain in their cells over night. One Saturday night a +convict, with a twenty years' sentence, resolved that he would remain in +the mines, and try to effect his escape. He had supplied himself with +an extra lot of bread and meat, and hid himself in the darkness of the +mines when the men were marched out in the evening at six o'clock. When +the count of the prisoners was made at the evening lock up, this man was +found missing. As he had not been seen since the prisoners were taken +from the mines, it was believed, correctly, that he had remained below. +There was nothing done about the matter that night, the officers +knowing there would be no opportunity of effecting his escape during the +night-time, as they had carefully closed the shafts at the top. They did +not set any watch until the next day. During that Saturday night this +convict climbed eight hundred feet to the top of one of the shafts. +The wooden beams running across the shaft are about five feet apart. +Standing erect on one of these beams he threw his arms over the one +above his head, and would swing up to it. In this manner he worked his +way to the top of the shaft. When he reached the surface how great +was his disappointment, for instead of finding the shaft open, as he +supposed it would be, he found that the cover was down and that he was +unable to get out of the shaft, and thus out of the coalfields into the +woods adjoining. When he discovered this there was nothing to do but +descend, This was a perilous undertaking. The cross-beams were covered +with oil which, dripping down from the machinery above, made them very +slippery. A number of times he came near falling, and if he had done so, +he would have reached the bottom a mangled mass. It required nearly the +entire night for the ascent and descent. When he reached the bottom he +took a lunch of bread and meat, went to the base of the other shaft, +which is about one hundred yards distant, and began his ascent of it, +with the hope he would find it open. It was daylight when he reached the +top. Two officers had been stationed there to watch him. Arriving at the +surface and just ready to get out, they took charge of, and marched him +into the presence of the deputy warden. When the convict related the +narrow escapes from death in his efforts for liberty, the deputy warden +was so affected he refused to punish him. + +Out in the world, with the blessings of liberty all around us, we do +not realize the priceless boon they are to us; but when we stand in the +presence of the perils that are undertaken in order to gain them when +deprived of their benefits, we begin to comprehend the real value of +these sacred immunities of citizenship. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE PRISONERS + +Thinking that it may be interesting to some of my readers, I will now +give, in brief form as possible, a history of some of the most noted +inmates of the penitentiary. + + +FEMALE CONVICTS + +He must be of a very unsympathizing nature who does not feel for his +brother, who, though sinful and deserving, is imprisoned, and excluded +from the society of friends. While we are sad when we behold our +fellowmen in chains and bondage, how much sadder do we become when, +passing through the prisons, we behold those of the same sex with our +sisters, wives and mothers. In this land, blessed with the most +exalted civilization, woman receives our highest regard, affection +and admiration. While she occupies her true sphere of sister, wife or +mother, she is the true man's ideal of love, purity and devotion. When, +overcome by temptation, she falls from her exalted sphere, not only +do men feel the keenest sorrow and regret, but, if it is possible, the +angels of God weep. + +In the Kansas penitentiary, just outside the high stone wall, but +surrounded by a tight board fence some fifteen feet high, stands a stone +structure--the female prison. In this lonely place, the stone building, +shut out from society, there are thirteen female prisoners. During the +week these women spend their time in sewing, patching and washing. But +very few visitors are allowed to enter this department, so that the +occupants are permitted to see very few people. Their keepers are a +couple of Christian ladies, who endeavor to surround them with all the +sunshine possible. For these inmates the week consists of one continual +round of labor. It is wash, patch and sew from one year's end to the +other. The Sabbath is spent in reading and religious exercises. In the +afternoon the chaplain visits them and preaches a discourse. Several +of these women are here for murder. When a woman falls she generally +descends to the lowest plane. + +A few days before I was discharged, there came to the prison a little +old grandmother, seventy years of age. She had lived with her husband +fifty-two years, was the mother of ten children, and had fifteen +grand-children. She and her aged husband owned a very beautiful farm +and were in good circumstances, probably worth $50,000. Her husband +died very suddenly. She was accused of administering poison. After the +funeral, she went over into Missouri to make her home with one of her +married daughters. She had not been there but a short time when her +eldest son secured a requisition, and had his aged mother brought +back to Kansas and placed on trial for murder. She was convicted. The +sentence imposed, was one year in the penitentiary, and at the end of +which time she was to be hung by the neck until dead, which in Kansas is +equivalent to a life sentence. The old woman will do well if she lives +out one year in prison. She claims that her eldest son desires her +property, and that was the motive which induced him to drag her before +the tribunal of justice to swear her life away, During her long life +of three score and ten years, this was the only charge against her +character for anything whatever. She always bore a good name and was +highly esteemed in the neighborhood in which she lived. + +Another important female prisoner is Mary J. Scales. She is sixty-five +years of age, and is called Aunt Mary in the prison. She is also a +murderess. She took the life of her husband, and was sentenced to be +hung April 16, 1871. Her sentence was commuted to a life imprisonment. +For eighteen years this old woman has been an inmate of the Kansas +penitentiary. While she is very popular inside the prison, as all the +officers and their families are very fond of Aunt Mary, it seems that +she has but few, if any, friends on the outside. Several old men have +been pardoned since this old woman was put into prison, and if any more +murderers are to be set at liberty, it is my opinion that it will soon +be Aunt Mary's turn to go out into the world to be free once more. + + +MRS. HENRIETTA COOK + +This woman was twenty-five years of age when she came to the Kansas +penitentiary to serve out a life's sentence. She was charged with +having poisoned her husband. For fifteen years she remained in close +confinement, at the end of which time she received a pardon, it being +discovered that she was innocent. When Mrs. Cook entered the prison she +was young and beautiful, but when she took her departure she had the +appearance of an old, broken-down woman. Fifteen years of imprisonment +are sufficient to bring wrinkles to the face, and change the color of +the hair to gray. This prisoner made the mistake of her life in getting +married. She, a young woman, married an old man of seventy. She was +poor, he was rich. After they had been married a short time she awoke +one morning to find her aged husband a corpse at her side. During +the night he had breathed his last. The tongue of gossip soon had it +reported that the young and beautiful wife had poisoned her husband +to obtain his wealth, that she might spend the rest of her days with +a younger and handsomer man, After burial the body was exhumed and +examined. The stomach showed the presence of arsenic in sufficient +quantity to produce death. The home of the deceased was searched and +a package of the deadly poison found. She was tried, and sufficient +circumstantial evidence produced to secure her conviction, and she was +sent to prison for life. A short time before this sad event happened, a +young drug clerk took his departure from the town where the Cook family +resided, where he had been employed in a drug store, and took up +his abode in California. After fifteen years of absence he returned. +Learning of the Cook murder, he went before the board of pardons and +made affidavit that the old gentleman was in the habit of using arsenic, +and that while a clerk in the drug store he had sold him the identical +package found in the house. + +Other evidence was adduced supporting this testimony, and the board of +pardons decided that the husband had died from an overdose of arsenic +taken by himself and of his own accord. The wife was immediately +pardoned. How is she ever to obtain satisfaction for her fifteen years +of intense suffering. The great State of Kansas should pension this poor +woman, who now is scarcely able to work; and juries in the future +should not be so fast in sending people to the penitentiary on flimsy, +circumstantial evidence. + +The other female prisoners are nearly all in for short terms, and the +crime laid to their charge is that of stealing. + + +INDIANS IN THE PENITENTIARY + +John Washington and Simmons Wolf are two young Indians tried and +convicted in the U. S. District Court on the charge of rape. They were +sentenced to be hung. After conviction these Indians were taken to the +penitentiary to await the day set for their execution. In the meantime +an application was made to the President to change the sentence of death +to that of life imprisonment. The change was made. These two Indians +were placed in the coal mines on their arrival, where they are at the +present time getting out their daily task of coal. They both attend +the school of the prison, and are learning very rapidly. Prior to +this, Washington served out a one-year sentence in the Detroit house of +correction for stealing. He is a bad Indian. + +At present there are fourteen Indians incarcerated in the Kansas +penitentiary. The Indian pines for his liberty more than the white man +or negro. The burdens of imprisonment are therefore greater for him to +bear. One young Indian was sent to the penitentiary whose history is +indeed touching. Ten Indians had been arrested in the Territory by U. S. +marshals for horse-stealing. They were tried and convicted in the U. S. +District Court. Their sentence was one year in the State's prison. On +their arrival at the penitentiary they were sent to the mines to +dig coal. This was a different business from being supported by the +government and stealing horses as a diversion. The Indians soon wanted +to go home. One of them was unable to get out his task of coal. The +officer in charge thought he was trying to shirk his work and reported +him to the deputy warden. The young Indian was placed in the dungeon. He +remained there several days and nights. He begged piteously to get out +of that hole of torture. Finally the officers released him and sent him +back to the mines. While in the dungeon he contracted a severe cold. +He had not been in the mines more than a couple of days, after being +punished, when he gave suddenly out and was sent to the hospital, where +in a few days he died. That young Indian was murdered, either in that +dungeon or in the mines. A few weeks before, he came to the penitentiary +from roaming over the prairies, a picture of health. It did not take +long for the Kansas penitentiary to "box him up" for all time to come. +He now sleeps "in the valley," as the prison graveyard is called. + +Another one of the same group did not fare quite so badly as his +associate. The one I am now describing was sent with the rest of his +companions to the bottom of the mines. He remained there during the +first day. A short time after he went down on the following morning +he became sick. He began to cry. The officer in charge sent him to the +surface. He was conducted to the cell-house officer, Mr. Elliott. I was +on duty that day in the cell house, and Mr. Elliott, on the arrival of +the Indian, ordered me to show him to the hospital. After we had started +on our journey from the cell house to the hospital building to see +the doctor, and had got out of hearing of the officer, I said, "Injun, +what's the matter with you?" This question being asked, he began to +"boo-hoo" worse than ever, and, rubbing his breast and sides with his +hands, said, between his sobs, "Me got pecce ecce." I was not Indian +enough to know what "pecce ecce" meant. In a few moments we reached the +hospital building, and I conducted my charge into the nicely furnished +room of the prison physician, and into the immediate presence of that +medical gentleman. Removing my cap, and making a low bow, as required, +I said, "Dr. Nealley, permit me to introduce a representative of the +Oklahoma district, who needs medical attention." + +While I was relieving myself of this little declamation the young Indian +was standing at my side sobbing as if he had recently buried his mother. + +"Reynolds, what is the matter with him?" asked the doctor. + +I then turned to my charge and said, "Injun, tell the doctor what ails +you." + +Mister Indian then began rubbing his sides and front, with tears rolling +down his face, and sobbing like a whipped school-boy, he exclaimed, "Me +got pecce ecce." + +"There, doctor," said I, "you have it. This Indian has got that dreadful +disease known as 'pecce ecce. '" + +The physician, somewhat astonished, frankly informed me that he never +had heard of such a disease before. I was in a similar boat, for I had +never heard of such words prior to this. The sick Indian was unable to +talk the language of the white man. The doctor then sent down into the +mines for another of the Indians who could speak English and had acted +as an interpreter. On entering the office, the doctor said to him, +"Elihu," for that was his name, "this Indian says he has an attack of +pecce ecce. Now what does he mean by that?" + +During all this time the sick Indian kept rubbing his body and sobbing. +What was our great astonishment and amusement when the interpreter +informed us that "pecce ecce" meant nothing more nor less than +"belly-ache." The doctor administered the proper remedy for this +troublesome disease, and the Indian was sent back to the mines. He had +not dug coal more than an hour when he had another attack, and began his +crying, and was sent to the top. He kept this up until he wore out the +patience of the officers, and they finally decided to take him out of +the mines altogether and give him work at the surface. Even here, every +few minutes the Indian would have an attack of "pecce ecce," and would +start for the hospital. At last, the chaplain, taking pity on the poor +outcast, wrote to President Cleveland, and putting the case in a very +strong light, was successful in securing a pardon for the Indian. That +"cheeky" red youth was no fool. He belly-ached himself out of that +penitentiary. I trust I may never have to spend any more of my time in +prison. If I do, I think about the first day I will get a dose of "pecce +ecce," and keep it up, and see if I can't get a pardon. + + +MALE PRISONERS + +Ed. Stanfield.--The history of this prisoner is as follows: He was about +nineteen years of age when he entered the prison, which was some five +years ago. His people reside in South Bend, Indiana. His father, prior +to his death, was a prominent judge. The family was wealthy, influential +and highly respected. It consisted of the parents and two sons. Ed. +proved to be the black lamb of the flock. At the early age of nine +years, being sent away to school, he bade all good-bye one day and +followed in the wake of a circus show which was holding forth in the +town where he was attending school, He was not heard of anymore for +several years. His parents spent vast sums of money attempting to +ascertain his whereabouts. They finally heard of him in the following +accidental manner: His father, Judge Stanfield, had been out in Nebraska +looking after some land he had recently purchased, and, on his return +home, sitting in the cars, purchased a newspaper of the newsboy as he +came around. Looking over the paper he caught the name of his prodigal +son. There, before him, was the account of his son who, having knocked +down a prosecuting attorney in broad daylight with a coupling pin, with +the intention of robbery, had been tried, convicted and sentenced to the +penitentiary for ten years, and was on that day safely lodged behind the +walls. The sad father, on reaching home, dispatched his elder son to the +Kansas prison to ascertain if it was his younger son who was a convict. +The young man came on and soon satisfied himself of the identity of the +long-lost brother. He returned home and made the report to his parents. +From that day Judge Stanfield was a broken-hearted man. He soon grieved +himself to death over the sad fate of his boy, and the disgrace he had +brought upon the family. In making his will, however, he gave Ed. an +equal share in the estate with his brother. After the death of the +father, the mother began to put forth efforts to secure a pardon for her +son. His crime was so heinous and so uncalled for that it was necessary +for some time to elapse before an application was presented. At the +earliest moment possible the wheel began to turn. The prosecuting +attorney of Bourbon County, who had been knocked down with an iron +coupling pin, was soon satisfied, for the family had wealth. It is of +course unknown how much money was passed to him to make his heart tender +and his eyes weep over the erring child that had come so near getting +away with his gold watch and chain. A petition was soon in circulation +for his release, signed by many prominent citizens. An open pocketbook +will easily secure a petition for pardon, it makes but little difference +as to the "gravamen" of the crime. The convict promised not to engage +again in this pleasant pastime for filthy lucre. The mother of the young +man came on from the East and remained until she had secured a pardon +for her boy. The young man stated in our hearing that it took one +thousand big dollars to secure his pardon. A great many who are +acquainted with the facts in the case are not slow in saying that if +Stanfield had been a poor, friendless boy, he never would have received +a pardon, but would have had to serve his time out. There are more +than five hundred men in that prison whose crimes are of a less serious +nature, and who are far more deserving of executive clemency than +Stanfield. It is said that "rocks talk" in the penitentiaries as well +as on the outside. The history of this criminal will show my boy readers +the future of many of those who, in early youth, ran away from home, and +go out into the world to mingle in bad company. + +Cyrenius B. Hendricks.--This man was sent from Chatauqua County. He was +twenty-seven years of age when sentenced. His crime was murder in the +first degree. The particulars are as follows: He had been down to the +Indian Territory looking after his own and his father's cattle. He +was absent on this business some little time. On his return his wife +informed him that a neighbor had been talking about her in his absence, +and had given her a bad character, and that on account of it she had +become the talk of the entire neighborhood. The enraged husband compels +his wife to go with him, and they proceed to the neighbor's house. +Hendricks took his gun with him. When they reached the neighbor's gate +they halted and called the unsuspecting man out of his home. Hendricks +then asked him if the charges were true as to his talking about Mrs. +Hendricks. The neighbor neither affirmed nor denied the statement. At +this Hendricks leveled his gun and shot him dead on the spot. He and his +wife in a few hours after were arrested, and, as it was too late to +take them to the county seat that night, they were guarded in an old +log house in the neighborhood. Hendricks was fastened to the wall with a +log-chain. During the night some one, supposed to be the brother of +the murdered man, came to the window of the house in which they were +confined, and, placing the muzzle of a gun through the window, shot +Hendricks. The ball struck him near one of the eyes, rendering him blind +in that eye, but did not kill him. The next day the two prisoners were +taken to jail. They were tried, and both found guilty of murder in the +first degree. The husband was sentenced to be hanged, while the wife +received a life sentence. They were both taken to the penitentiary. +After they had been there a short time Hendricks lost the other eye, +from sympathy, as they call it. For a time the husband and wife remained +on good terms. They were allowed to visit each other once a month. After +a while she tired of him and would have nothing more to do with him. +She served four years, and received a pardon. Hendricks still remains in +prison, and is a pitiable and helpless wreck. He is totally blind, and +his nervous system entirely shattered. He can scarcely lift food to +his mouth. He is so weak that it is with difficulty he walks about the +prison park. An aged prisoner waits on him constantly to care for his +wants, and to see that he does not commit suicide. Abandoned by his +wife and friends, left to his own sad fate, totally blind and physically +helpless, he is another testimonial to the truth that "the way of the +transgressor is hard," and it also illustrates how much trouble +may arise from using that little member called the tongue in an +indiscriminate manner. Since my discharge from the prison I have learned +of the death of Hendricks. + +Ed. Miner.--One of the men whose history will be interesting to the +general reader is Ed. Miner. This man is forty-nine years of age. +He served in the Missouri penitentiary two years on the charge and +conviction of assault and battery with intent to kill. After the +expiration of his sentence, drifting down the current of crime, he next +embarked in stealing horses. He was arrested, tried and convicted. He +received a five years' sentence, served his time, and went out into the +world a free man. Again falling into bad company, he tries his hand +once more at the same old trade of riding fast horses, is again caught, +tried, convicted, and received another sentence of five years in the +prison, which he is now serving out. As a prisoner, Miner is one of the +very best. He never violates a prison regulation and was never known to +be punished. During the war he served his country faithfully for four +years as a member of the 12th Illinois Infantry. At the close of the +war, and just before the troops were discharged, one day on review, the +governor of the State of Illinois being present, Miner was asked by the +commanding officer to step from the ranks, and was introduced to the +governor as the bravest and most daring man in the command. The governor +gave him a hearty shake of the hand, and afterward sent him a neat +little golden medal as a token of his esteem. Miner now wears this +suspended on a small gold chain about his neck. He is very proud of it. +One of our prison officers, Mr. Elliott, was in the army with Miner, and +says there never was a braver man. It may be a surprise to the reader +that such a brave man, such a bold defender of his country's rights, +would now be filling a felon's cell. The answer to this is easily given. +It is all contained in the one word--liquor. Miner loves strong drink, +and when he is under its influence appears to have no sense. He is then +ready for the commission of any offense, ready to participate in any +kind of deviltry. Were it not for this baneful appetite there is every +reason to believe he would be a highly respected citizen. I asked him +one day what he would do when he got out. His reply was, "I don't know; +if I could not get the smell of whisky I could be a man; it has downed +me so many times that I fear my life is now a wreck; the future looks +dreary; awful dreary." With this remark Ed. went away to attend to his +duties. My eyes followed the old soldier, and, reader, do you blame me +when I say to you that from within my heart there came forth the earnest +desire that God in some way would save that man, who, away from strong +drink and the influence of wicked companions, is a good-hearted, +generous man. + +Gordon Skinner.--A young man of twenty, possessed of an innocent, boyish +appearance, whom none would take for a murderer, was sent up from Ellis +County. His victim was Andrew Ericson, a respectable and worthy citizen +about thirty-seven years of age. Skinner claims the shooting was purely +accidental; that he was carelessly handling a six-shooter when it went +off, the ball striking Ericson. He claims, also, that he and his victim +were good friends, and that he never had any intention of killing +him. The other side of the story is that there lived near Hayes City a +beautiful girl, and that Skinner and Ericson were rivals for her heart +and hand. Ericson, being much older than young Skinner, possessed of +some property, and doubtless more skillful in the art of winning hearts, +was beginning to crowd his rival to the wall. Young Skinner, not being +able to endure the sight of his fair one being thus ruthlessly torn away +by an old bachelor of thirty-seven, met him one day and the two engaged +in a spirited controversy, when Skinner drew his revolver and shot him. +Ericson lived several days afterward. Just before death, Ericson begged +of his friends not to have Skinner arrested, stating he was not to +blame. Skinner, moneyless, friendless, a comparative stranger in the +neighborhood, his people all residing in Phillips County, this State, +and, with the prejudices of the Ericson people against him, was tried, +convicted and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. If the Board of +Pardons ever takes the trouble to investigate this case, with a view +of tempering justice with mercy, they will find it worthy. Skinner is +a good prisoner, and has ingratiated himself in the good opinion of +the officers. But the weight of a twenty years' term is heavy, and is +visibly affecting his health. Death should not be left to accomplish +what the Board of Pardons should take pleasure in doing. This delicate +boy should be sent home to his parents. + + +FREAKS OF JUSTICE + +Robert W. Corey was sent from Wyandotte County with a sentence of three +years for stealing cattle. This is a remarkable case. Corey is a blind +man, and had been totally blind for thirteen months prior to his arrival +at the prison; he was a taxidermist, and some years ago had taken a +contract for furnishing stuffed birds for the museum of the Agricultural +College of Ames; Iowa. This business requires the use of arsenic; +carelessly handling it destroyed his eyesight. How a man, blind as he +is, and was, at the commission of the alleged offense, could drive off +and sell these cattle, is a mystery. The man who swore that he committed +the theft is now an inmate of the institution, sent here for stealing +since the arrival of blind Corey. This man now says that he is not +positive that Corey took the cattle. On the trial, however, he swore it +was Corey, and that he was positive of that fact! About the the truth of +the matter is, he was the villain that took the cattle and swore it on +the blind man. Corey has only a few months to remain in prison at this +writing. It is terrible to heap such a disgrace upon as helpless a +creature as Corey. + +His case calls to mind another in the penitentiary. He is a colored man +who cannot write, by the name of Thomas Green, from Fort Scott, serving +out a five years' sentence for forging a check for $1,368. He was tried, +convicted, and sentenced. Taking an appeal to the Supreme Court, the +judgment of the lower court was set aside; but at his second trial, he +was found guilty again, and is now in prison serving out his sentence. +How can one commit the crime of forgery who cannot write? Probably some +"Smart Aleck" of a district judge can explain. I admit that it is beyond +my powers of comprehension. It may be law, but there is not much COMMON +SENSE in it. + + +OH! RIGHTEOUS JUDGE! + +Gus Arndt is the next. The history of this man will show the freaks of +whisky when enclosed in the hide of a raw Dutchman. Gus came to this +country a number of years ago, and went to work for his uncle in +Wabaunsee County. Not being able to speak English, his uncle took +advantage of him, no doubt, for he paid him only ten dollars a month for +his services as a farm hand during the summer season, and nothing but +his board during the winter. Gus remained here for some time, three or +four years, working at these wages. He had learned and could understand +and speak English a little. One day as he was pitching grain in the +field an Irishman came by who resided on a farm a few miles distant. +Needing a hand and noticing that Arndt handled himself in a satisfactory +manner, he offered him twenty dollars per month to go and work for him. +Arndt accepted his proposition, and agreed to report at the Irishman's +farm the following Monday, this being Thursday when the bargain was +made. That night the German settled up with his uncle, and received the +balance of his wages, some $75. He had been in America long enough to +reach that point in our civilization that, after working awhile, and +getting a balance ahead, he must take a rest and go on a "spree." He +started for the nearest town. For a couple of days he fared sumptuously, +constantly drinking. He at length reached a point below zero. Half +crazed, he staggers off to the fence across the way where the farmers +who had come to town to do their shopping on Saturday had hitched their +teams, and, untying a horse that was hitched to a buggy, Gus thought he +would take a ride. Lumbering into the buggy, as a drunken man can, he +drove down the main street of the town in broad daylight and out into +the country. In an hour or so the owner getting ready to return, misses +his horse and buggy. Making numerous inquiries about them and getting +nothing satisfactory, he places the matter in the hands of a sheriff, +who commences a search for the missing property. Not finding it in town +he sends men out on the roads leading to the country, himself taking +one. In a very short time he overtakes the noted horse-thief. Gus was +sitting in the buggy sound asleep; the lines were hanging down over the +dashboard, and the old horse was marching along at a snail's pace. He +was out some two miles from town, and, no doubt, had traveled at this +gait all the way. He was faced about, and, assisted by the sheriff, +drove back to town. He was then placed under arrest and sent to jail, +subsequently had his trial, and for this little drive was sent to the +penitentiary for five years. Of a more unjust sentence I never heard. +Gus served his time out and a better behaved person was never behind the +walls. When he regained his liberty, instead of returning to Wabaunsee +County, and to his uncle's house, he finds his way to Marysville, +Kansas. Here reside a number of prosperous German farmers, and the +ex-convict soon got work. When he applied for work he forgot to tell +his employer that he had just finished up a contract for the State +of Kansas. Some months had elapsed and Gus had worked hard and +industriously, had accumulated a neat little sum of money, and began to +feel happy once more. At this time a man passed through the country +that was acquainted with Arndt's antecedents, and being a dirty dog he +thought it was his duty to inform the farmer that his hired man was an +ex-convict, horse-thief and a desperado of the worst type. Some men are +so officious and are so anxious to do their duty when it is in their +power to injure a fellow-man who is trying to earn an honest living. Gus +immediately got the "bounce." He was informed by his employer that he +did not want to make his home a harbor for horse-thieves. Gus took his +wages and clothes and started for Marysville. He could not bear the idea +of being discharged because of his former misfortune. He again applies +to the bottle for consolation. He goes on another spree. When crazed +with liquor he acted just as he did before; he goes to a hitching post, +and unties a team of horses attached to a buggy. One of the horses had +had its leg broken at some former time, and was almost worthless, while +the other one was very old. He seemed to select the very worst team he +could find. Maybe it was the buggy he was after! He was probably very +tired and wanted an easy place to rest. He unhitched them just as if +they had been his own. It was in the afternoon. The streets were full +of people. Gus crawled into the buggy in his half drunken manner and +started off down the road. When found by the sheriff some two hours +after he had gone, about half a mile from town, the old horses were +standing at one side of the road and the drunken Dutchman was lying in +the buggy sound asleep, with one bottle of whisky uncorked, the contents +of which had run out and over his clothes, and another bottle in his +pocket untouched. He had evidently gone out for a drive. He was taken +to jail, and the news soon spread that he was an ex-convict and +horse-thief. He was tried on a charge of stealing horses, and was +returned to the penitentiary for a term of two years. Here were seven +years' service for two drunks! Ancient Jacob, "how tuff!" After Gus had +completed his narration to me he wound up by saying, "Ven I shall oudt +git this time, I let von visky alones." + + +BOVINE TROUBLE + +Woodward R. Lopeman was sent up from Neosho County for murder in the +first degree. Under his sentence he was to be hanged at the close of the +first year. This part of the sentence is never carried out in Kansas. +The particulars of his crime are as follows: He was a well-to-do farmer +residing in Neosho County, and never had any difficulty to amount to +anything before this time. He was an old soldier and served his country +faithfully and bravely for four years. For some trivial cause he and +one of his neighbors had a little difficulty, but it was thought nothing +would ever come of it, as each of them had been advised by their friends +to bury their animosity before it should lead to graver results. Lopeman +seemed willing to do this, but his irate neighbor would not meet him +half way. One day a calf of Lopeman's, worth but a few dollars, got +through the fence and over into his neighbor's pasture. Word was sent to +the owner of the calf that if he would come over and pay damages for the +trouble of penning it up he could have his property. This had a tendency +to arouse a bad feeling in the heart of Lopeman; so, placing his +revolver in his pocket, and asking his grown up son to accompany him, +they went to the house of the neighbor and directly to the lot where the +calf was shut in and commenced to lay down the bars to let it out, when +the neighbor came from the house with his son, and Lopeman was ordered +to leave the bars alone. The neighbor, who was a strong, muscular +man, proceeded to chastise Lopeman; the two sons also got ready for an +encounter. Lopeman, being by far the smaller man of the two, began to +retreat slowly as his enemy advanced brandishing a club. When almost +near enough Lopeman to strike him with the uplifted club, Lopeman, in +self-defense, as he claims, drew his revolver and shot him. He fell +lifeless to the ground. The son of the murdered man perceiving what was +done, ran quickly into the house, and getting a double-barreled shotgun, +came out and fired twice at Lopeman and his son. The shots did not take +effect. Lopeman fired two shots at him. At this the son retired into the +house, and Lopeman and son taking the almost worthless calf, which had +been the cause of so much trouble, went to their home. Lopeman then went +to the county seat and gave himself up to the authorities. As soon as +the news spread over the neighborhood, excitement ran high and there +was loud talk of lynching. The murdered man was very popular. His old +neighbors smelled blood, and it was with some difficulty that they were +prevented from taking the law into their own hands. Better judgment +prevailed, however, and after six months the trial came off and the +murderer was convicted and sentenced as aforesaid. THIS MAN WAS MY CELL +MATE. He is something over sixty years of age, of medium height, and +during his younger days must have been very hard to handle. The first +evening we occupied the cell together he told me of all his troubles, +and I learned from his own lips that I was to room with a murderer. I +felt I would much rather be at home, than locked in that 4x7 cell with +a man whose hands were dyed with the blood of his neighbor. My alarm +somewhat subsided when the time came for retiring. The old man, as +solemnly as the Apostle Paul would have done, took down the Bible, +read a few verses, and then knelt down and prayed. I sat there in mute +astonishment at the proceedings of this gray haired criminal. How was it +possible for a man who was guilty of such a grave crime to be devout. +He often told me that he had no consciousness whatever of guilt, nor the +fear and dread of a murderer. I asked him if in his dreams he could +not often see the face of his victim. With a shrug of the shoulders he +admitted that he could. For six months this old man and myself occupied +that small cell together, so small that it was very difficult for us to +get by each other when the sleeping bunks were down. We never had the +least trouble during the entire time. A kinder hearted man I never met. +Whenever he received any little delicacies from home he would always +divide with me, and in such a cheerful spirit that I soon came to think +a good deal of the old man. If we had both been on the outside world +I would not have desired a kinder neighbor. His son, later on, was +convicted as an accomplice, and sent up for two years. The old man has +hopes of a pardon in a few years. He has a wife and several children +who are highly respected and much beloved in the neighborhood where they +reside. They have the sympathy of all their neighbors in this affliction +and bereavement. + + +WHISKY AND WOMEN + +Doc. Crunk.--One of the many desperadoes now behind the prison walls +of the Kansas penitentiary is this noted Texas outlaw. He is a native +Texan, now nearly fifty years of age. After years of crime he was +finally caught in the Indian Territory while introducing whisky among +the Indians. He had his trial in the U. S. District Court, was convicted +and sent to the penitentiary for three years. For a time during the war +he was a confederate soldier. Becoming dissatisfied with the profession +of arms, he deserted and entered upon the life of an outlaw. He gathered +about him a few kindred spirits with which Southern Texas was infested, +and organized a band of cattle and horse thieves. This band of banditti +became so numerous that after a time it extended along the lower line of +Texas into the Indian Territory and up into Kansas. Their ravages were +also felt in Arkansas. They had a regular organized band, and stations +where they could dispose of their stolen property. The cattle that +were stolen were run to the frontiers and sold to cattlemen who were in +collusion with them, and which latter were getting immensely rich out of +the operations of these thieves. They would steal horses, run them off +and sell them to buyers who knew they were purchasing stolen property. +For years this gang flourished. Another mode of securing stock was the +following: A great many estrays would be taken up and advertised. In +every instance some member of the Crunk gang would claim the property +under oath and take it away. The leader of these outlaws stood trial for +nineteen different murders, and was acquitted each time. He could always +prove an alibi. His assistants would come in and swear him clear every +time. He was an intimate acquaintance and on friendly terms with the +James boys, and related many trips that he had made with these noted and +desperate men in their work of "seeking revenge," as he styled it. He +has no love for a colored man, and as he works now in the prison with +a number, pointing to them one day he said to me, "I wish I had a +five-dollar note for each one of them black skunks I have killed since +the wa'." He said he considered "a 'niggah' that wouldn't vote the way +decent people wanted him to should not vote at all." Said he: "I know +of a number that will not vote any mo'. I saw them pass in their last +ballot." "The most money, made the easiest and quickest, was made by our +men," said he, "as moonshiners in Montague County. We carried on this +business successfully for a long time, but finally the U. S. marshals +became too much for us, and we had to close up shop. We had several +engagements with them; men were dropped on both sides, until finally we +concluded to quit the business and return to our old trade of stealing +cattle and horses. The way our moonshiner's nest was found out was very +romantic. A young woman came into the district, and tried to get up a +school, seemingly, but failed. I guess she did not try very hard to get +scholars. At any rate she remained with a family in the neighborhood +for some time, whom she claimed were her relatives. One of my men fell +desperately in love with this young woman. He would be out riding with +her, and, as none of us suspected anything, he would at times bring +her over to our camp, and we taught her how to make whisky. She seemed +deeply interested in the business. I told the boys several times that +I was a little afraid of that 'gal,' but they laughed at me, and so I +said, 'I can stand it if the rest of you can.' She even went so far as +to become familiarly acquainted with all of us. We all got to thinking +that she was a nice young woman, and her lover simply thought he had +secured the finest prize in the world. But alas! At the proper time she +fixed our camp. She proved to be a female detective from New York city. +She gave away our fellows, and soon we were surrounded by a posse of U. +S. marshals and their deputies. Her lover was captured and is now in +the Texas penitentiary. Several of our boys were killed or wounded, and +those of us who escaped made up our minds to go back to the old cattle +trade." "What are you going to do, Doc.," said I, "when you get out of +this place?" "Going back to Texas; hunt up the boys, and see if we can't +find some more horses and cattle. One thing is certain I will never go +to another penitentiary. I will swallow a dose of cold lead first." + +And, with this, the famous outlaw went off to his room in the mine +to get out his task of coal to keep from being punished. Of the nine +hundred criminals in the prison, probably there is not one of them who +has seen so much of a life of crime as the famous Doc. Crunk. + + +EIGHT TIMES A CONVICT + +Thomas A. Currens.--One of the most unique characters to be found in +the striped ranks of the Kansas penitentiary is that of the man who is +herein described. This convict is fifty-two years of age, and a native +of Kentucky. His life, save a short time spent in the army, has been one +of crime. He was a courageous lad. Leaving his home at the early age of +ten years, thus deprived of all parental protection and restraints, he +formed bad associations, and soon his future career was in the direction +of crime. The greater part of his boyhood was spent in city and +county jails and reform schools. At the age of twenty-two years he was +convicted on a charge of horse-stealing and sent to the Frankfort, Ky., +penitentiary for six years. After serving four years he was pardoned by +the Legislature. He remained out of prison for the two following years. +We next find him in "limbo" in Indiana. He was arrested, and twenty +different charges were preferred against him. By pleading guilty to the +count of stealing a wagon, the court dismissed the other cases and gave +him a sentence of three years at hard labor. He was taken to the State's +prison. Shortly after his arrival he was put to work running an engine +during the night-time. After five months had passed away, Thomas, +reaching the conclusion that he did not enjoy watching over an engine +during the lonely hours of the night, determined to escape. Stealing an +old suit of clothes belonging to an officer, which he drew on over his +suit of stripes, he scaled the walls and was once more a free man. It +was a cold winter's night. After traveling some distance through the +woods his feet were almost frozen. Daylight was now approaching. He must +find a place of hiding during the coming day. In a few hours he would +be missed at the penitentiary. The alarm being given, the usual reward +being offered, scores would be on the lookout for him. Approaching a +farmyard, he sat down and cut up his striped pantaloons and wrapped up +his almost frozen feet. He then crawled under a hay-stack. In this place +he came near being discovered, for in a couple of hours the farmer came +out to feed his cattle, and as chance would have it took the hay from +the stack under which the convict was secreted. As he was removing the +hay, several times prongs of the fork sank deep enough to penetrate the +flesh of the runaway. He endured this pitchfork probing heroically while +it lasted, and was thankful when the cattle had received sufficient +provender. Here he remained until nightfall. He did not renew his +journey until the farmer and his family had retired and were in the land +of dreams. Almost starved, uninvited he enters the kitchen and helps +himself to what he can find. His hunger being appeased, his old habit of +taking things that he should leave alone, forced him into the bed-room +of the sleeping farmer, and forced his hand into the pocket of the +aforesaid granger's pantaloons, from which he took his pocketbook +containing twenty dollars in money. He was now prepared for traveling. +Continuing his journey for several miles, becoming very tired, he +decided not to walk any longer as there was so much good horse-flesh in +the vicinity. Near the hour of midnight, this weary tramp entered the +farmyard of a wealthy old Indiana farmer, and going into the barn led +out one of his fleetest steeds. Once more astride a good horse, Thomas +felt like a free man. During the rest of the night he made good headway, +and by the morning sun was up the rider and horse were many miles away +from the place where first they met. Entering a small village, the horse +was fed and nicely groomed. At the same time Thomas partook of a good +breakfast, which he heartily enjoyed. The fates seemed to favor the +man of crime. It is an old saying: "The devil looks after his own." A +horse-buyer had arrived in the village a few days before. When the noon +train came whistling up to the station, the convict having converted his +horse into one hundred and twenty-five dollars, purchased a new suit of +clothes, a silk hat, and a pair of kid gloves, and, representing himself +to be a traveling salesman, getting aboard, soon reaches Chicago, +where, soon after his arrival, he joined a band of crooks. He was never +discovered by the Indiana prison officials. Fifteen years after +his escape, he got a "pal" to wire the authorities of the Indiana +penitentiary, and inquired of them what reward they would pay for the +return of Thomas A. Currens, a convict who had effected his escape many +years before. An answer came that if he would remain out of the State, +he would never be molested. + +Wandering about several months after his escape, he arrives in Sedalia, +Missouri. Among other little articles he was accused of stealing at +this place was an eight hundred dollar barouche, the property of +Judge Ferguson, of that place. Again this noted thief was arrested +and confined in the county jail to await trial. He was not anxious for +trial, for he knew the "yawning pen" was waiting to receive him. For +eleven months he remained in this jail, having his trial continued from +term to term. When his case was called up for the first time he feigned +sickness. The next time one of the principal witnesses was absent, and +thus for eleven months his case was continued. Thomas now yearned for +freedom. How to get out of that jail was the problem. Another term of +court would soon convene. He had no grounds for further continuance. +Fortune favored him. At this time a man was arrested and placed in the +same cell with Currens. The face of the new arrival was covered over +with blotches. The next morning Currens in a confidential manner stated +to the sheriff that his cell mate had the small-pox. Being interrogated +the prisoner said he had been exposed recently, and a physician being +called, on examination it was decided to remove him to the pest-house. +Currens was sent along on account of his exposure to the contagion. An +officer was placed in charge of the two jail-birds at the pest-house. +During the night following their arrival at this out-of-the-way place, +the officer was pounced upon by the two desperate criminals, bound hand +and foot, and with a large cork placed between his teeth, was gently +laid on the floor. His gold watch and chain, and all the loose change he +had with him were taken from his person, and the two small-pox patients +walked forth into the darkness and gloom of that night unattended by any +friendly official. + +Thomas never believed in criminals traveling in groups, so he bade his +companion an affectionate farewell. Wending his way to the southwestern +portion of the State he was arrested for additional crimes and +misdemeanors. Knowing that the officers had not sufficient evidence +against him he bravely stood trial and was acquitted. However, as he was +going forth from his prison cell a free man, much to his surprise, an +official from Sedalia put in an appearance and took him back to the +scene of his small-pox escapade. At his trial he was convicted and +received a sentence of six and one-half years. He now took a cell in +the Jefferson City penitentiary. After four years of imprisonment this +notorious criminal makes an application for pardon, setting up an +alibi as the basis of the application, and succeeded in influencing the +Governor to believe the testimony, and was set at liberty, promising +that he would leave the State of Missouri, never to return. The +conscience of the said Thomas never troubled him over failing to keep +his word with the officers of the law. He did not leave Missouri, as +he agreed, but betook himself to the pleasant little city of Carthage. +Scarcely three moths had elapsed before he found himself again in +durance vile for stealing horses. He was tried, convicted and returned +to Jefferson City penitentiary under a sentence of six years. He took +an appeal to the Supreme Court. The judgment of the lower court was +reversed. He was taken back to Carthage for another trial, and was +convicted the second time, and again received a sentence of six years at +hard labor in the penitentiary. As before, he appealed the case, and the +governor, thinking the State was getting the worst of the matter, and +that a large amount of costs were being made, pardoned the convict under +another promise that he would leave the State. Currens, now following +Greeley's advice, turns his eyes toward the setting sun. He crosses the +Big Muddy, and plants his feet upon the sacred soil of Kansas. He makes +a raid upon Lawrence, breaks into a house, and is caught in the act of +trying to carry off the household goods. A courteous policeman takes +charge of him--now deeply steeped in crime--soon landing him behind +the bars. In the presence of the court he next makes a solemn statement +that, prior to this, he had been a Sunday-school teacher; that +misfortune had overtaken him, and he was forced to enter some friend's +kitchen or starve. Those who listened to his pathetic appeal inform +me that the stern judge was moved to tears, and that while he had +contemplated giving the wayward Thomas six years, he made it three. +This was the first introduction of our hero to the principal brown +stone front of Lansing. It was not long after his arrival at the Kansas +penitentiary before he gained the confidence of the authorities, and was +made a "trusty." He had an easy place given him. + +His three years' sentence soon passed away. His term was reduced three +months because of his excellent conduct while in prison. Bearing with +him the good wishes of a majority of the prison officials, and followed +by the prayers of the pious chaplain, he goes forth to engage in life's +battle again. Thomas could not fully enjoy the sweets of liberty unless +on horseback. He makes his way to the capital of Kansas, and engages at +once in the dangerous business of stealing horses. He had not continued +this course long before he was arrested, tried, convicted and returned +to Lansing for five years more. Thomas had not been in the Kansas +penitentiary the second time but a few months, when he called upon the +chaplain, and with tears rolling down his face confessed he was a great +sinner, promised to lead a different life, and urged the chaplain to +pray for him. Delighted at the prospect of snatching such a brand from +the eternal burning, the man of God took Thomas into a private room, +and the two knelt down. The chaplain offered a fervent prayer that the +loving Father would take to His embrace the returning, sinful prodigal. +At the conclusion of this prayer the chaplain called upon the "sin +sick soul" to pray for himself. This was an unexpected movement by the +chaplain, and Thomas was hardly prepared for the emergency. However, he +prayed. He was converted on the spot. At least, the chaplain thought so. +Strange as it may appear to my readers, instead of this noted convict +having to remain and serve out his five years' sentence, through the +influence of this minister he secured a pardon. At the expiration of +eighteen months the shrewd convict was a free man. That chaplain was +"worked." + +The fortunate Thomas next visits Atchison. A farmer came to the city one +day, driving a beautiful horse. The temptation was too great, and the +man who had been an inmate of a penitentiary seven different times +followed the unsuspecting farmer to his home, and that night rode away +the coveted prize. The Atchison County Vigilance Committee traced and +soon caught the guilty horse-thief, landing him in Atchison County's +beautiful jail. Shortly after, Thomas had an interview with the county +attorney, and it was agreed by and between them, if the horse-thief +would plead guilty, he should be let off with one year in the +penitentiary. To this the grave offender agreed, and, presenting himself +before the tribunal of justice, Hon. W. D. Gilbert presiding, plead +guilty. The county attorney being absent, the court gave Thomas, instead +of twelve months, a year and a half at hard labor. I met him in the +penitentiary a few days ago, and learned that he is putting forth an +effort to secure a pardon on the ground that had he not been promised +only a one year's sentence, he would have stood trial and been +acquitted. He claims that he should be given his liberty when his one +year is up. + +Thomas was out of the penitentiary long enough to go into the army +and get a bullet through his ankle, and therefor draws a pension of +twenty-four dollars per month. He takes good care of his money, and has +enough on hand to enable him to get a good start in life when he obtains +his freedom. He is a well-behaved prisoner. He is true to his pals in +crime, never having been known to turn State's evidence. He has a mania +for taking things that do not belong to him. He claims that he never +would have been caught the last time had not his housekeeper "given him +away." The two had a domestic quarrel, and in her efforts to get even, +she told the authorities of his theft. After his trial and conviction, +womanlike, she repented in sackcloth and ashes, but Thomas would have no +more to do with her. Later, she went over into Missouri, where she has +since died. One of the first things Thomas will do on regaining his +liberty will be to secure another housekeeper, and probably the the next +thing will be to steal some farmer's horse. + +This convict is now serving out his eighth term in the penitentiary. +It is fearful to contemplate these human wrecks. A wasted life, golden +opportunities unimproved, a dark and dismal future will constitute the +death knell of such fallen beings. Young man, remember the life of this +convict, and shun such a course. + + +SKILLED LABOR + +William Hurst.--Some of the narratives in this book read like the story +of Aladin's Lamp, and we have no doubt some of them so reading are +absolutely true, while for the Lamp story nothing is claimed. For +many ages men, and particularly those engaged in the literary field +of thought, have discanted on the baseness of the passion of jealousy. +There is no sense in being jealous. You are either loved or you are not, +and hence the absolute foolishness of indulging the passion. + +William Hurst, whose history we now relate, is a man of rough personal +appearance, Irish descent, and his age is now about fifty-five. Coming +to Kansas at an early day, he settled in Doniphan County, and there +courted and subsequently married one of Doniphan County's pretty girls. +Time went along as usual, and in a few years there were several little +cherubs that blessed the household of Hurst. But, as sometimes happens, +the husband began to drink, love grew colder, the necessities of the +family hourly grew greater, poverty in all its hideousness came to curse +the home once so happy. The poor, distracted wife and mother did all she +could, by taking in washing and ironing, to prevent the starvation of +her little ones. The husband through his bleared eyes imagined he could +see that other men were too friendly to his wife. He charged her +with unfaithfulness to the marriage vows. She denied the charge. Only +incensed by this he would beat and mistreat her out of all reason. For +protection she had him arrested, intending to bind him over to keep +the peace, but on the advice of officers, who are so full of it, she +withdrew the charge and he was set at liberty. For a few days he was +quiet, but soon the red liquor poured down his throat, and like a +mountain devil stirred all the dark passions of his lost and ruined +nature. He attempted to debauch his own daughter, and was only prevented +by the physical force of the ever-watchful mother. The father (great +God! is such a human being entitled to the endearing term?) turned upon +her, and again, as had often happened, abused, kicked and mistreated her +in a most shameful manner. She had him arrested a second time with the +intention of binding him over to keep the peace. He pretended, while +in charge of the officer, that he must see his wife, and together they +started toward the hovel where they lived. They met the wife and mother +at the outskirts of the little village, had some words, and before the +officer could prevent it, Hurst sprang upon the woman and cut her throat +from ear to ear jumped away, and made good his escape to the woods, +the officer, meanwhile, deeming it more important to aid the woman, not +knowing, for a moment, that the cutting was fatal. That fact was very +soon apparent. Others were called who took charge of the body, and the +officer struck out in hot pursuit of the murderer. He was followed +to the woods a few miles from White Cloud, in Doniphan County, there +overtaken and conducted to the county seat, tried, convicted of murder +in the first degree, sentenced to be hung, sent to the penitentiary to +await the final execution, which, in our State, never comes. He remained +in there about twenty months when he became insane, and was sent to the +asylum; was there about three and a half years, when he was pronounced +cured and returned to the penitentiary. He is now insane a second time. +You have all in your younger-days read the story of the maniac that +paced his cell, repeating "once one is two," and now comes the queerest +part of this narrative. Hurst seems anxious to talk to every one that +calls, and especially anxious to shake hands; but if you say anything to +him, or ask any question, his only answer is "skilled labor," and +keeps on repeating these words as he walks up and down his place of +confinement. + +Who knows but the infinite God has destroyed reason to prevent the power +of darkness over this poor, unfortunate being. Or who knows but the +demands of justice are met in the terrible conscience blows which have +staggered and shattered that which originally was in the image of God. + + +LIFE INSURANCE AND MURDER + +McNutt and Winner.--These are two of the most noted criminals in the +penitentiary, rendered so because of the dastardly crime committed +by them, and the high social relations of the latter. They came from +Wichita, and have been in prison almost fifteen years. McNutt is a fine +artist and painter. He had his paint shop in Wichita, and was doing a +very successful business. Winner was his associate, and the two plotted +and carried into execution the following horrible crime: McNutt got his +life insured for $5,000, his wife being his beneficiary. It was a dark, +stormy night when McNutt and Winner enticed into this paint shop an +unsuspecting mutual friend. Here they murdered him in cold blood. They +then set fire to the paint shop and took to flight. After the fire +was put out, the charred remains of the murdered man were found, and +supposed to be those of McNutt, the owner of the building. The wife, +cognizant of the awful deed which her husband had committed, followed +the remains of the murdered man to the grave, dressed in her garb of +mourning. + +Shortly after this she applied for the insurance money on her husband's +life. Some doubts were raised as to the identity of the body. Detectives +were employed to make an investigation of the case. They made use of a +deception, and thus got the woman to confess. They told her that they +had found an accomplice who had confessed the crime, and was in jail. +They promised the wife that if she would tell the truth they would not +prosecute her. She consented. She narrated the sickening events as they +had been plotted in her presence and under her roof. Officers were now +despatched to find the murderers. McNutt was found in Missouri plowing +corn. Winner was found near Wichita. They were brought to trial, +convicted, and sent to prison for life. Winner was unmarried at the time +of his conviction. His father and only brother are very wealthy, and +living in Kansas City. I have been told they offer $20,000 for Winner's +pardon. McNutt is a very useful man in the prison. He has charge of +the painting department. He has done some fine work on the walls of the +prison chapel, covering them with paintings of the Grecian goddesses. +Both of these prisoners hope to receive pardons. Whether they will +regain their liberty is a question which the future alone can answer. + + +THE HOG-THIEF + +In the coal mines, as before stated, the convicts are permitted to +converse with each other. I improved this opportunity of acquiring the +histories of the five hundred criminals with whom I daily worked, eight +hundred feet below the surface. I would talk with a fellow prisoner, +and get the details of his crime as we sat together in the darkness. +Understanding "short-hand," I would go to my cell in the evening and +jot down what I had learned during the day. I had no fears of any +one reading my notes, as I was the only short-hand writer about +the institution. Day after day I kept this up, until I had material +sufficient of this nature to fill a book of more than two thousand +pages. My readers should also know, that a convict will tell a +fellow-prisoner the details of his crime, when he would not think of +saying a word about it to others. As a rule they deny their crimes to +those who are not, like themselves, criminals, pleading innocence. It is +not difficult for a prisoner to get the confidence of a fellow-prisoner. +In fact, criminals love to unburden their minds to those who possess +their confidence. The truth is, convicts have related their crimes +so often to me that it became tiresome. They say it relieves them +to communicate their troubles. Pinkerton, of Chicago, the prince of +detectives stated at one time that a criminal could not keep his secret. +It is true. I know it to be a fact. It has been demonstrated a hundred +times in my association with these convicts in the Kansas penitentiary. +Securing their confidence, these men have not only told me of the crimes +for which they have been sent to prison, but also of crimes that they +have committed, and, in the commission of which, they had not been +detected, which, if I should make them known, would cause a number of +them to remain in the penitentiary the rest of their lives. I am not in +the detective business, and will therefore keep what was confided to +me. I have met but few criminals in the mines that would not admit their +guilt. I have thought in many cases, convicts received sentences too +severe, and not at all commensurate with the crime committed. I have met +a few men, however, who would stubbornly deny their guilt and stoutly +affirm their innocence. I have worked upon these men day after day, and +never got anything out of them but that they were innocent. At times, +in tears, they would talk of their sufferings, and wonder if there was a +just God silently permitting the innocent to suffer for the guilty. I +am satisfied these men are innocent, and they have my sympathy. They are +exceptions. Others, while admitting their guilt on general principles, +and assenting to the justice of imprisonment, yet maintain that they +were innocent of the particular crime for which they stand convicted. +I trust the reader will not get his sympathies wrought too high, as +comparatively few angels find their way into modern prisons. I will give +you a few illustrations. These are just samples of scores of histories +in my possession. + +A hog-thief worked in the mines with me for a few days. His dose was +five years at hard labor. He had stolen an old sandy female swine with +six pigs. I asked him if he was really guilty of carrying on the pork +business. "Yes," said he, with a low chuckle, "I have stolen pigs all my +life, and my daddy and mammy before me were in the same business. I got +caught. They never did." He then related the details of many thefts. He +made a considerable amount of money in his wicked traffic, which he had +squandered, and was now penniless. Money secured in a criminal manner +never does the possessor any good. I asked him if he had enough of the +hog business, and if it was his intention to quit it, and when he got +out of the pen to earn an honest living. "No," he replied, "as long as +there is a hog to steal and I am a free man, I propose to steal him." +Imprisonment failed to reform this convict. Although a hog-thief he was +an excellent singer and a prominent member of the prison choir. + +There are many murderers in the mines. In fact, nearly all the life +men are there. Some of them speak of their crimes with a bravado simply +astonishing, showing their utter depravity. Others, admitting their +guilt, say but little of details. The following will give the reader +some idea of the stories that greeted my ears almost daily, and led me +to conclude that the coal mines of the penitentiary are not inhabited +exclusively by Sunday-school scholars. This cruel and heartless wretch +had murdered an old man and his wife. The old people lived on a farm +adjoining the one where this criminal, who was then a hired man, worked, +It was the talk of the neighborhood that they had money. This human +fiend undertook to secure their "loose change," as he called it. He +procured a shotgun and an axe, and, in the dead hour of night, went to +the house of the old people. He forced open the kitchen door and went +in. He had also brought with him a lantern. He quietly stole to the +bedside of the innocent and aged sleepers. He had no use for his lantern +as the moonlight shone through the window opposite and fell upon the +faces of the unconscious victims. Setting his gun down by the side of +the bed, so that he could have it handy for use, if necessary, he took +the axe and struck each of his victims a blow upon the head. He said, +with a demoniac chuckle, that it was more difficult to kill a woman than +a man, as it required two blows from the axe to kill the woman, while +one was sufficient for the man. He then ransacked the house, and, +between some blankets underneath the straw-bed upon which the old folks +were sleeping, he found a small bag, which contained some gold, +silver and paper money, amounting to over one thousand dollars. In a +cold-blooded manner he further stated (and as I pen his words my blood +nearly freezes in my veins), in order to search the bed upon which his +victims were lying, it became necessary for him to remove the bodies; +so he lifted them up one at a time, and placed them upon the floor, face +downward, for the reason, as he said, that their eyes bulged out and +seemed to stare at him. + +After securing the money he fled and returned to the farm where he +worked. He slept in the barn, as is very often the case with farm +laborers during the summer season. Entering the barn he procured an old +bucket, places his money in it, covers the top with a piece of board, +and buries it in the earth east of the barn. He also buried the axe near +the bucket. He said there were clots of blood and hair on the axe, and +he thought best to put it out of sight. He then returned to the barn, +and, strange to say, soon fell asleep and slept sweetly until morning. +He went to work the next day as usual, and his mind was taken up more by +thinking of what a good time he would have after a little, spending that +money, than in worrying over the terrible crime he had committed. He +reasoned that the money would do the old people no good, but that he +could use it to advantage. + +The discovery of the murder was made the next day about noon. The alarm +was given. The whole country was aroused and excited over the commission +of such a horrible crime two innocent, helpless and highly-respected old +people murdered for their money. A couple of tramps had passed through +the neighborhood the day before, and, of course, everybody thought it +must have been the tramps that committed the murder. The object now was +to find them. They were overtaken the next day and brought back to +the scene of the murder. They both stoutly denied any knowledge of +the crime. They were separated, and each was told that the other had +confessed. This was done that a confession might be forced from them. +They continued in their affirmation of innocence. They were then taken +to the woods near by and each hung up until life was almost extinct, but +they still denied the commission of the crime. They were at length taken +to the county seat, not far distant, and, on a preliminary examination, +were bound over to appear at the next term of the District Court, and +put in the county jail. The majority of the people believed that the +perpetrators of this crime had been arrested and were now in durance +vile; the excitement soon passed away, and very little was said about +it. + +"It was at this time," said my informant, "that I made the mistake of my +life. I had worked hard on the farm for several months, and thought I +would take a lay off. I felt it was due me. I now made up my mind to +have a time. I went to town and soon fell in with a harlot. I got to +drinking. I am very fond of strong drink; it has been my ruin. I became +intoxicated, and during this time I must have betrayed my secret to this +wicked woman. A large reward had been offered for the murderer of these +old people. This woman who kept me company having thus obtained my +secret, went to the city marshal and made an arrangement that for half +of the reward offered she would show him the man who had committed the +crime. This was agreed to. While I was drinking and having a good time +with my 'fast woman' three men were on the road to the farm where I had +been working. They found and dug up the old bucket containing what money +I had left in it, and the axe. All this I learned at the trial. I was +arrested and bound over to the District Court on a charge of murder in +the first degree. The officers had to keep me secreted for some time, as +there was strong talk of lynching. In due time I had my trial and got a +life sentence." + +I asked him if he had any hope of pardon. + +"Oh yes," said he, "in the course of eight or ten years I will be able +to get out once more." + +"What became of the tramps that came so near being compelled to suffer +the penalty of your crime?" + +"They were released as soon as I was arrested, a snug little sum of +money was raised for them, a new suit of clothes purchased, and they +went on their way rejoicing, thinking themselves creatures of luck." + +As we sat together in a secluded place in the mines, with the faint +light of my miner's lamp falling on his hideous face, the cool, +deliberate manner in which he related his atrocious doings, the fiendish +spirit he displayed, led me to regard him as one among the most debased +and hardened criminals I had met in the mines--a human being utterly +devoid of moral nature--a very devil in the form of man! + + +A NOTED COUNTERFEITER + +One of my companions in the mines, and with whom I worked a couple of +weeks, lying almost side by side with him as we dug coal in the same +room, was a noted counterfeiter. He had plied his trade for many +years successfully. Whisky finally sent him to the penitentiary. If +professional criminals would only let strong drink alone not half so +many of them would get caught. They get drunk, and in this condition +expose themselves. We don't mean to use this as an argument against +the prohibitory law! It is, perhaps, proper for them to drink. This +counterfeiter makes his dies out of plaster paris. They are very simple +and easy of construction. He explained to me the manner in which they +were made. I would give his method of making these dies were it not for +the fact that some smart boy getting hold of this book and learning the +method would undertake the business, and as a result his good old mother +would be going to the penitentiary to visit him. When this counterfeiter +would run short of funds he would purchase the necessary material, go +into the woods on a dark night, and in a very short time would have +plenty of bogus money. He taught the trade to his brother and to some +bosom friends, and it was not long until they had a regular organized +gang. Getting drunk one day one of them displayed too many shining new +pieces of money. He was "spotted." A detective was put on his track. +He was traced to the headquarters of the gang, and in a few hours +thereafter the entire posse were locked up in jail on a charge of +counterfeiting and passing "bogus money." They now formed plans for +their escape from jail. They adopted the plan of seizing the jailor, +as he brought in supper, thrusting him into a cell, locking him in, and +then making good their escape. They made the attempt. The jailor was +locked in the cell according to the programme, but so much noise was +made in the struggle that the sheriff put in an appearance with a +loaded revolver. The prisoners made a dash for liberty. A brother of my +informant was killed; another of the gang was wounded and dragged back +into his cell in the jail; the others got away. It was in the winter +time. The succeeding night was extremely cold. Wandering about all night +in the snow, their feet were frozen, and they were easily recaptured the +next day. They had their trial, and all were sent to the penitentiary. +They got eight years apiece, three for counterfeiting and five for +breaking jail. In this manner was broken up one of the worst counterfeit +gangs of the West. Whisky has trapped many a criminal. There are but +very few that do not "indulge." In fact, I cannot now recall a single +professional criminal but would take a drop if he could get it. They +must have whisky to nerve them for their iniquitous business. When +the crime is committed they drink again to soothe their wounded +consciences. + + +YELLOW BACK LITERATURE + +A boy was brought into the hospital one day while I was there, whose +history is worth relating, as it shows the fatal effects of bad +literature upon the human mind, and to what sad results it may lead. +This youth had become suddenly ill in the mines, and had to be assisted +from his place of work to the ward for the sick. He was very ill for +several days, but began to grow convalescent. An opportunity presenting +itself, I got into conversation with him, and he told me the history +of his crime. He was an orphan. At the death of both his parents in the +East he had come to Kansas to make his home with an uncle. This relative +was very kind, and after a time adopted the boy. He had a pleasant home, +and his prospects for the future were bright. How often is it the case +that the sky of the future becomes overcast. This young criminal was +a constant reader of the Life of Jesse James, and kindred literature, +until he made up his mind to go on the "war path" and become Jesse James +No. 2. With this in view, he provided himself with two large revolvers. +One night, after all the household had retired, he crept stealthily into +the bed-room of one of the hired men and stole seventy dollars. He +goes to the barn and takes one of his uncle's horses and starts for the +Indian Territory. The uncle was awakened an hour later on account of +some unusual sound at the barn, and going thither discovered that one +of his best horses was gone, and also that his nephew was away. He got +together several of his neighbors and started in pursuit, and the next +day, about noon, the youthful thief was overtaken and surrounded. +The uncle rode up to him and began to question him as to his strange +conduct, when the boy drew one of his revolvers, and, pointing at his +uncle, shot him dead. He was going to play Jesse James to the last. When +he saw his uncle fall dead from his horse, now realizing what he had +done, the bravado spirit forsook him, and he began to quake with fear. +The neighbors closed in upon him and soon took his firearms from him. In +due time he had his trial and was sent to the penitentiary for life. + +Bad books are our worst companions. I have narrated the history of +this young murderer, and now urge my boy readers to let yellow back +literature alone. It wrecked the future of this youth, and what it did +for one it may do for another. + + +A YOUTHFUL MURDERER + +Willie Sells.--In the prison, this convict is called the "baby convict." +When he came to the penitentiary in 1886, he was but sixteen years of +age, and in appearance much younger. One of the most sickening murders +committed in Kansas is charged to the account of this boy. His home is +in Neosho County. His father, a prosperous farmer, lived happily with +his wife and three children. Willie was the oldest of the children. +Early one morning he rushed from his home and made his way to the +nearest neighbor, about half a mile distant, and with his face and hands +covered with blood conveyed the startling intelligence that the entire +family had been murdered, and he only had escaped. Soon an excited crowd +of neighbors gathered at the home of the murdered victims, and the +sight that was presented has but few parallels in the fatal and fearful +results of crime. The victims had been murdered while asleep. In one +room lay the father and mother of the youthful murderer, on their bed of +death. Their heads had been split open with an axe that lay nearby, +and the blood of one mingled with that of the other. In an adjoining +bed-room, covered with their own life's blood, were found the little +brother and sister. They had been foully murdered with the same +instrument that had caused the death of the parents. Who was the monster +that had committed this terrible and atrocious act? A search of the +premises disclosed the fact that robbery was not the motive. No property +was missing. The survivor was questioned again and again. He said that +a burly-looking tramp had effected an entrance into the house through a +window during the night; that he being awake at the moment, and becoming +alarmed, hid himself, and, unperceived, beheld his father and mother, +his brother and sister, thus foully murdered. A thorough and extensive +search was made, but no clue could be obtained that would warrant the +arrest of any one. + +Finally, the surviving child was taken into custody. It was claimed that +his statements of the circumstances connected with the crime varied, and +in several instances were contradictory. The evidence introduced at his +trial was purely circumstantial. After much deliberation and hesitancy, +the jury decided on a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree, +and this child criminal was sentenced to imprisonment for life. + +He conducts himself well in the prison. On account of his extreme youth +he is given a great deal of liberty. It is with great reluctance that he +talks about his crime, and longs for freedom. + +Is this boy guilty? This question has never been satisfactorily answered +in the affirmative. I am informed there was a grave doubt in the mind of +the judge who tried the case and imposed the sentence as to the guilt of +this alleged youthful offender. A chill of horror creeps over us as we +think of the members of this family weltering in each other's blood. +Should he be innocent, it would be awful for this boy to remain in the +Kansas Hell for a lifetime. + + +A MOST REMARKABLE CASE + +William Baldwin furnishes the history of one of the most remarkable +cases in the criminal annals of Kansas. He was charged with the +atrocious crime of murdering his own sister. William and his sister were +the only children of a widowed but wealthy mother. It is claimed +that the son had received his portion of the estate prior to this sad +occurrence, and that by taking the life of his sister he would become +the sole heir of the Baldwin estate, which was supposed to be very +large. Mary, the beautiful and accomplished sister was discovered dead +one morning lying upon her bed in her chamber with a chloroform bottle +at her side. A panel of the outside door of the house was found removed. +Immediately upon the discovery of the murder it was supposed that the +house had been burglarized, and that the thief had committed the murder. +Upon an examination of the premises by the proper officials it was found +that nothing had been taken from the house. In looking for a motive that +would prompt a person to commit such a fiendish act, and it being known +that William Baldwin, the brother, would be the sole heir in case of the +death of his sister, he was at once suspected of having committed +the crime. His arrest was prompt and immediate. He was bound over on +preliminary examination, and in due course of time had his trial and +was convicted. He was sentenced to the penitentiary for one year, at the +expiration of which he was to be hung until dead. His case was taken on +appeal to the Supreme Court of the State. Baldwin, in the meantime, +was removed to the penitentiary. Here he was placed in the tailor shop, +where he has remained since. He is a very obedient prisoner, and is +highly esteemed by the prison officials. The judgment in his case upon +hearing in the Supreme Court of the State was affirmed. From the Supreme +Court of Kansas his case was taken by appeal to the Supreme Court of +the United States; in this highest tribunal, the judgments of the lower +courts were affirmed, and the fate of William Baldwin is forever sealed +so far as the judiciary of the country is concerned. If he is permitted +again to inhale the air of freedom, it must be through the clemency of +the pardoning board and of the governor of Kansas. During one hundred +and ten years of American jurisprudence, there had been only two similar +cases taken to the Supreme Court of the United States. But a few days +before my release I was talking with Billy Baldwin in the penitentiary, +and he seemed to be very hopeful that after a time he would secure his +pardon. + +His wife is one of the most highly respected ladies of Atchison; +is true, faithful and devoted to her husband. She has enlisted the +sympathies of the entire community in her behalf, because of her youth +and great bereavement. His aged mother, who has been called upon to wade +through deep waters of affliction because of the great calamity that +has befallen her son and daughter, will also exert great influence in +getting signers to a petition for his pardon. + +The question has often been asked me, because of my intimate relation +with Baldwin in the penitentiary, whether I believed that he is guilty. +I can answer as to my own belief. I have watched him carefully as I have +the other fifty-five lifetime convicts, and I am free to say that I do +not believe that William Baldwin ever committed the crime of killing his +sister for the malicious desire of obtaining filthy lucre, or the estate +of his sister. He does not conduct himself as scores of other criminals +who have confessed their guilt. In conversation with him, while I was +"in stripes," he has time and again told me, with tears rolling down his +cheeks, that he was innocent of the terrible crime of which he stands +accused, and that there was no brother had greater love for his sister +than he, and that he had such faith in an overruling Providence that +eventually he would be exonerated from the crime; and that the real +perpetrator would be made known. If he is innocent and it should ever +be clearly proven, his will be one of the saddest and most mysterious +events ever recorded. There is beyond doubt an unsolved mystery hanging +over this remarkable case. + + + +CHAPTER IX. FORTY-EIGHT HOURS IN HELL + +One of the most interesting cases of resuscitation that ever came to +my knowledge was that of George Lennox, a notorious horse-thief of +Jefferson County. He was serving his second term. Sedgwick County +sent him to the prison, the first time for a similar offense--stealing +horses. + +During the winter of 1887 and 1888, he worked in the coal mines. The +place where he was laboring seemed dangerous to him. He reported the +fact to the officer in charge, who made an examination, and deciding +that the room was safe, ordered Lennox back to his work. The convict, +obeying, had not continued his work more than an hour, when the roof +fell in and completely buried him. He remained in this condition fully +two hours. Missed at dinner-time, a search was instituted for the +absent convict, and he was found under this heap of rubbish. Life seemed +extinct. He was taken to the top, and on examination by the prison +physician was pronounced dead. His remains were carried to the hospital, +where he was washed and dressed preparatory for interment. His coffin +was made and brought into the hospital. The chaplain had arrived to +perform the last sad rites prior to burial. A couple of prisoners were +ordered by the hospital steward to lift the corpse from the boards and +carry it across the room and place it in the coffin. They obeyed, one at +the head and the other at the feet, and were about half way across +the room when the one who was at the head accidentally stumbled over a +cuspidor, lost his balance, and dropped the corpse. The head of the dead +man struck the floor, and to the utter surprise and astonishment of +all present, a deep groan was heard. Soon the eyes opened, and other +appearances of life were manifested. The physician was immediately sent +for, and by the time he arrived, some thirty minutes, the dead man +had called for a cup of water, and was in the act of drinking when the +physician arrived. The coffin was at once removed, and later on was used +to bury another convict in. His burial robes were also taken from him, +and the prison garb substituted. On an examination he was found to have +one of his legs broken in two places, and was otherwise bruised. He +remained in the hospital some six months, and again went to work. I +learned of his peculiar experience while apparently dead, soon +after, from a fellow miner. Prompted by curiosity, I longed for an +acquaintance with Lennox to get his experience from his own lips. This +opportunity was not offered for several months. At last it came. After +being removed from the mines I was detailed to one of the prison offices +to make out some annual reports. The subject of this man's return to +life was being discussed one day, when he happened to pass by the office +door and was pointed out to me. It was not long until I had a note in +his hand, and asked him to come where I was at work. He did so, and +here I got well acquainted with him, and from his own lips received his +wonderful story. He is a young man, probably not over thirty years +of age. He is not a hardened criminal; is possessed of a very good +education, and naturally very bright. + +The most wonderful part of his history was that during the time he was +dead. Being a short-hand reporter I took his story from his dictation. +Said he: "I had a presentiment all the morning that something terrible +was going to happen. I was so uneasy on account of my feelings that I +went to my mining boss, Mr. Grason, and told him how I felt, and asked +him if he would not come and examine my 'coal room,' the place where I +was digging coal. He came, and seemed to make a thorough examination, +and ordered me back to work, saying, there was no danger, and that +he thought I was going 'cranky.' I returned to my work, and had been +digging away for something like an hour, when, all of a sudden, it grew +very dark. Then it seemed as if a great iron door swung open, and I +passed through it. The thought then came to my mind that I was dead and +in another world. I could see no one, nor hear sound of any kind. From +some cause unknown to myself, I started to move away from the doorway, +and had traveled some distance when I came to the banks of a broad +river. It was not dark, neither was it light. There was about as much +light as on a bright star-lit night. I had not remained on the bank of +this river very long until I could hear the sound of oars in the water, +and soon a person in a boat rowed up to where I was standing. I was +speechless. He looked at me for a moment, and then said that he had come +for me, and told me to get into the boat and row across to the other +side. I obeyed. Not a word was spoken. I longed to ask him who he was, +and where I was. My tongue seemed to cling to the roof of my mouth. I +could not say a word. Finally, we reached the opposite shore. I got out +of the boat, and the boatman vanished out of sight. Thus left alone, I +knew not what to do. Looking out before me, I saw two roads which led +through a dark valley. One of these was abroad road, and seemed to +be well traveled. The other was a narrow path that led off in another +direction. I instinctively followed the well beaten road. I had not gone +far when it seemed to grow darker. Ever and anon, however, a light +would flash up from the distance, and in this manner I was lighted on +my journey. Presently I was met by a being that it is utterly impossible +for me to describe. I can only give you a faint idea of his dreadful +appearance. He resembled a man somewhat, but much larger than any human +being I ever saw. He must have been at least ten feet high. He had great +wings on his back. He was black as the coal I had been digging, and in +a perfectly nude condition. He had a large spear in his hand, the handle +of which must have been fully fifteen feet in length. His eyes shone +like balls of fire. His teeth, white as pearl, seemed fully an inch +long. His nose, if you could call it a nose, was very large, broad and +flat. His hair was very coarse, heavy and long. It hung down on his +massive shoulders. His voice sounded more like the growls of a lion in a +menagerie than anything I can recall. It was during one of these flashes +of light that I first saw him. I trembled like an aspen leaf at the +sight. He had his spear raised as if to send it flying through me. I +suddenly stopped. With that terrible voice I seem to hear yet, he +bade me follow him; that he had been sent to guide me on my journey. I +followed. What else could I do? After he had gone some distance a +huge mountain appeared to rise up before us. The part facing us seemed +perpendicular, just as if a mountain had been cut in two and one part +had been taken away. On this perpendicular wall I could distinctly see +these words, 'This is Hell.' My guide approached this perpendicular +wall, and with his spear-handle gave three loud raps. A large massive +door swung back and we passed in. I was then conducted on through +what appeared to be a passage through this mountain. For some time we +traveled in Egyptian darkness. I could hear the heavy footfalls of my +guide, and thus could follow him. All along the way I could hear deep +groans, as of some one dying. Further on, these groans increased, and +I could distinctly hear the cry for water, water, water. Coming now +to another gateway, and, passing through, I could hear, it seemed, +a million voices in the distance, and the cry was for water, water. +Presently another large door opened at the knock of my guide, and I +found that we had passed through the mountain, and now a broad plain +layout before me. At this place my guide left me to direct other lost +spirits to the same destination. I remained in this open plain for a +time, when a being somewhat similar to the first one came to me; but, +instead of a spear, he had a huge sword. He came to tell me of my future +doom. He spoke with a voice that struck terror to my soul. 'Thou art in +hell,' said he; 'for thee all hope is fled. As thou passed through the +mountain on thy journey hither, thou didst hear the groans and shrieks +of the lost as they called for water to cool their parched tongues. +Along that passage there is a door that opens into the lake of fire. +This is soon to be thy doom. Before thou art conducted to this place of +torment never more to emerge--for there is no hope for those who enter +there--thou shalt be permitted to remain in this open plain, where it is +granted to all the lost to behold what they might have enjoyed, instead +of what they must suffer.' With this I was left alone. Whether the +result of the terrible fright through which I had passed I know not, but +now I became stupified. A dull languor took fall possession of my frame. +My strength departed from me. My limbs longer refused to support my +body. Overcome, I now sank down a helpless mass. Drowsiness now took +control of me. Half awake, half asleep, I seemed to dream. Far above +me and in the distance I saw the beautiful city of which we read in the +Bible. How wonderfully beautiful were its walls of jasper. Stretching +out and away in the distance I saw vast plains covered with beautiful +flowers. I, too, beheld the river of life and the sea of glass. Vast +multitudes of angels would pass in and out through the gates of the +city, singing, oh, such beautiful songs. Among the number I saw my dear +old mother, who died a few years ago of a broken heart because of my +wickedness. She looked toward me, and seemed to beckon me to her but I +could not move. There appeared to be a great weight upon me that held me +down. Now a gentle breeze wafted the fragrance of those lovely flowers +to me, and I could now, more plainly than ever, hear the sweet melody +of angel voices, and I said, oh, that I could be one of them. As I was +drinking from this cup of bliss it was suddenly dashed from my lips. I +was aroused from my slumbers. I was brought back from happy dreamland by +an inmate of my dark abode, who said to me that it was now time to enter +upon my future career. He bade me follow him. Retracing my steps I again +entered the dark passage way, and followed my guide for a time, when we +came to a door that opened in the side of the passage, and, going along +this, we finally found ourselves passing through another door, and lo! +I beheld the lake of fire. Just before me I could see, as far as the eye +could reach, that literal lake of fire and brimstone. Huge billows of +fire would roll over each other, and great waves of fiery flame would +dash against each other and leap high in the air like the waves of the +sea during a violent storm. On the crest of these waves I could see +human beings rise, but soon to be carried down again to the lowest depth +of this awful lake of fire. When borne on the crest, of these awful +billows for a time their curses against a just God would be appalling, +and their pitiful cries for water would be heartrending. This vast +region of fire echoed and re-echoed with the wails of these lost +spirits. Presently I turned my eyes to the door through which I had a +few moments before entered, and I read these awful words: 'This is thy +doom; Eternity never ends.' Shortly I began to feel the earth give way +beneath my feet, and I soon found myself sinking down into the lake of +fire. An indescribable thirst for water now seized upon me. And calling +for water, my eyes opened in the prison hospital. + +"I have never told this experience of mine before, for fear the prison +officials would get hold of it, think me insane, and lock me up in the +crank-house. I passed through all this, and I am as well satisfied as +I am that I live, that there is a Heaven and there is a Hell, and a +regular old-fashioned Hell, the kind the Bible tells about. But there is +one thing certain, I am never going to that place any more. As soon as +I opened my eyes in the hospital, and I found that I was alive and on +earth once more, I immediately gave my heart to God, and I am going to +live and die a Christian. While the terrible sights of Hell can never +be banished from my memory, neither can the beautiful things of Heaven I +saw. I am going to meet my dear old mother after awhile. To be permitted +to sit down on the banks of that beautiful river, to wander with those +angels across the plains, through the vales and over the hills carpeted +with fragrant flowers, the beauty of which far surpasses anything that +mortal can imagine; to listen to the songs of the saved--all this will +more than compensate me for living the life of a Christian here on +earth, even if I have to forego many sensual pleasures in which I +indulged before coming to this prison. I have abandoned my companions in +crime, and am going to associate with good people when I am once more a +free man." + +After he got through with this wonderful story I asked him if he was +going to tell others of his experience when he got out. His reply was +that people would not believe him, and he would keep it to himself. +Should this little book fall into his hands, and he should read of +his experience while in Hell for forty-eight hours, it will no doubt +surprise him. We give the account to the reader just as we received it +from Lennox. We do not pretend to solve the mystery. + + + +CHAPTER X. STOLEN HORSES + +Justice should be meted out to many who, though guilty, are shrewd +enough to evade it. From one of the most notorious horse-thieves in the +Kansas penitentiary I learned of the manner in which stolen horses were +disposed of. + +This convict's name is John Watkins. He served a term of three years in +the Missouri penitentiary, and is now serving out a ten years' sentence +in the Kansas State's prison. He is the chief convict steward in the +hospital, and an able assistant of the prison physician, by whom his +services are highly appreciated. This prisoner has immediate care of all +the sick. His heart is tender as that of a woman. To listen to this man, +as he sat with tearful eye at the bedside of the dying prisoner, and +spoke words of cheer to him, one would scarcely believe him to be the +most daring and one of the shrewdest horse-thieves that ever visited our +State. In conversation with him one night as I lay on my sick bed in the +hospital, he gave me an outline of his life's history that reads much +like a romance. + +I said to him, "John, tell me how many horses you have stolen during the +time you have been engaged in that line of business?" + +His reply was, that if he had stolen one more he would have been +successful in having stolen an even two hundred. + +"What did you do with them after you had stolen them?" + +He told me his headquarters were in Kansas City; that he would go up in +the neighborhood of Omaha and Lincoln and get his horses, and tie them +in the woods until he had picked up a number of them, and then he would +make his way to the south. Horses stolen in Nebraska he would run south +to sell. Those stolen in Missouri and Kansas he would take to the north. +He told me that in Omaha, St. Joseph, Atchison, Leavenworth and Kansas +City there were dealers, usually keepers of livery stables, who would +purchase these stolen horses. He gave me the names of a number of these +men, some of whom I know personally. Little would I ever have suspected +that these men were engaged in such a wicked traffic as knowingly to +deal in stolen property. "When I had a number of horses," he continued, +"and wished to dispose of them in St. Joseph, for instance, I would +ride into the suburbs of the city and send a note to the man who usually +purchased my stock. I would never be seen about his barn. After night +he would make his way to where I was and purchase my horses, paying me +about one-half what they would really bring in the general market. I +would get about fifty dollars for an average horse. After purchasing +my stolen horses he would not take them to his livery barn, but to a +private stable, usually at his residence. When he would pay over the +money for this stolen property he would make out a bill of sale for each +one, and would step into a store or grocery, and in the presence of some +business man he would say to me, we will sign the bill of sale for +that horse I bought of you, and have this gentleman to witness the +transaction. I gave you fifty dollars at the barn, and now here is fifty +dollars more, which makes the hundred, the sum I was to pay for the +animal." I would take the money, sign the bill of sale, which would +be witnessed by the business man in whose presence the trade was +consummated. We would then go to another place of business and sign +a bill of sale for another horse, and have that witnessed by another +business man, and would continue this until all the horses I had sold +were paid for. In this manner he would shift all responsibility of crime +upon me. Securing my money I would rest for a time until 'I went broke,' +and then I would make another trip. The horse merchant would sometimes +keep his horses until he had picked up a car load, and then he would +ship them out of the country to Chicago, St. Louis or some other horse +market. Sometimes the horse buyer would run stolen property out into the +country and exchange it for other property in which he would have a good +title and which he could take to his livery barn and feel safe with it +there. + +"What did you do with your money, John?" I inquired. + +To this question he answered that in Kansas City he had a suite of rooms +fitted up in elegant style, and kept a mistress. Upon this woman he +squandered all his money, obtained honestly and dishonestly. In addition +to his horse-thieving raids he had several other sources of criminal +revenue. One of these sources he described as follows: "I kept a horse +and wagon, the wheels of which were covered with india rubber. The feet +of the horse were also encased in the same material. I could move about +the streets of the city in the late hours of the night without making +any disturbance, and would pick up anything I could lay my hands on that +I could convert into money. I have carried away many a stove and broken +it up and sold it for old iron. I would also make my way out into the +country and pillage. Often I would enter small towns and load up my +noiseless wagon with stolen goods, which I would take out of the stores. +All of this money I would foolishly spend on the woman I loved." + +"How did you happen to get caught?" + +"One day on the streets of Kansas City I accidentally met an ex-convict +whom I knew while in Jefferson City penitentiary. He was penniless and +somewhat shabby. He suspected me of crooked work, and wanted to go with +me on a 'horse raid.' At first I refused to take him with me, as it +has always been my rule to go alone when in the crooked business. He +persisted and urged me to let him go along. At last I yielded to his +appeals, and we started from Kansas City. I have never been back since. +My 'pal' was caught on this trip and offered to turn State's evidence if +he could regain his liberty. He was allowed to do this. I was tried and +got a ten years' sentence. He went free." + +"What became of the woman?" I asked. + +"When in jail at Leavenworth and in need of money to pay my lawyer, I +wrote her a letter informing her of my trouble, and begged her to send +me some money. She forgot to answer that letter, and I have never seen +or heard from her since that time." + +"I suppose when your time is up you will hunt her up and fit up another +suite of rooms, won't you?" + +"Never," said he. "When I get out I am going to lead an honest life and +take care of my money. It does not pay to get money by crookedness. Such +money never does one any good." + +Having imparted this information he bade me good night and went over to +another part of the ward, where he took his place beside the cot of a +dying convict. + + + +CHAPTER XI. CANDIDATE FOR THE STATE SENATE + +The author of this book has been guilty of a great many bad breaks +during the course of his earthly pilgrimage up to the present date. +Making the race for State senator from the Atchison district while an +inmate of the Kansas penitentiary, actually an occupant of a felon's +cell, and robed in the livery of disgrace, probably eclipsed anything +that maybe charged to my account in the past. + +One Sunday afternoon, after the usual exercises of the day were over, +I was sitting in my little 4x7 of stone. The outside world was in +convulsions over the presidential campaign. There were no convulsions, +however, where I was. It was painfully quiet. Everywhere, all over the +broad land, except behind prison walls, politics was the all-absorbing +topic. As I sat there in my solitude the question came to my mind as +to what part of the great political play I would be engaged in were I +a free man. Some months prior to this a petition signed by 5,000 people +had been forwarded to President Cleveland for my pardon. Had I secured +my liberty it was my intention to make the race for State senator in +my district for vindication. Mr. Cleveland interfered with my plan by +refusing my pardon. + +Thinking over the matter in my cell that Sunday afternoon, I determined +that while the President had the power of keeping me in prison he should +not keep me from making the race for the position I coveted. Immediate +action followed my decision. Within thirty minutes I had written a +letter for publication, stating my intention of becoming an independent +candidate. But how was I to get this letter out of the prison and into +the newspapers of my district. + +It is expected of the convict that during Sunday afternoon he will sit +quietly in his cell and meditate about his past misdeeds. I would be +dishonest if I did not state that my thoughts were now more taken up +with the probable outcome of the course I had adopted than of lamenting +over my past shortcomings. I reasoned that I was not only pursuing an +original, but a safe course. Original, in that no one, so far as my +knowledge extended, had ever made the race for office while a convict; +safe, in that I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I will +frankly confess that when the thought, suppose I should not get more +than a dozen votes, would rush into my mind, I would feel as if I +had better not be so fresh while in limbo. Several times during the +afternoon and evening I took up the piece of paper, on which was written +my announcement, to tear it into shreds, and as often I would lay it +down. I viewed the subject from almost every conceivable standpoint. I +reasoned as follows: Prior to this I had decided to write a book on my +penitentiary career, as well as to deliver a lecture at various points +in the State on the same subject. To be successful in these enterprises +I must be advertised. And I knew that should I announce myself as a +candidate for such an important office while in the penitentiary I +would get a good ventilation. In this I was not mistaken. When the +announcement appeared in the Leavenworth "Times" it was quickly copied +and commented upon by the newspapers all over the country. Some of these +newspapers in their comments stated that I had more "cheek" than should +be allotted to ordinary mortals. Some said "he is a nervy cuss." Others +said his back isn't broken. Now and then one could be found that +predicted my election. So the matter was discussed, pro and con, for +several weeks, not only by the newspapers of Kansas, but whole columns +would appear in the St. Louis, Chicago and Denver papers, as well as +those of other cities. I was advertised. It would have cost me thousands +of dollars to pay for the ventilation I received just for making that +little simple announcement, had I been forced to pay the regular rates +of advertising. + +But to return. It was at a late hour of the night when I closed my eyes +in slumber. Before doing so I had made the final decision; I had +crossed the Rubicon; I had looked the ground over, and had my plans well +matured. The next morning, after the day's work had commenced, and the +warden had come down to his office, I asked permission of my officer to +see Captain Smith. The officer wanted to know what my business was with +the warden. My reply was, "Official and strictly private." My request +was granted. I was soon standing in the presence of the big-hearted +Warden Smith, and being asked as to what I wanted, I said, "Captain, I +thought I would come in and get your opinion as to whether I was crazy +or not, and if you think I am not beside myself I would like to make a +statement to you and ask your advice." A few days before this I had had +several interviews with him as to my pardon, and other business matters, +and I suppose he thought he was going to get something more along the +same line. "Go ahead, John," he said, "and let me know what it is." I +then told him of my intentions and plans. He made no reply until I had +gone over the whole subject. Then he said. "You are certainly on the +safe side, for you can lose nothing. I always thought," continued he, +"that it was practical to engage in any enterprise where all was gain +and nothing to lose. And, furthermore, knowing your standing at home, +it would not surprise me very much if you would receive more votes than +your competitors." + +This was encouraging. I then asked permission to write letters to a +number of my friends, and also to receive letters from them. He informed +me he could not do this, as it would be a violation of the rules of +the prison, but if any of my friends should come down I could send out +anything by them I wished. I then wired a personal friend, A. S. Hall, +Esq., of Atchison, who called at the prison, to whom I gave my letter of +announcement, and several letters I had written to political friends. + +The news spread rapidly, and in a few days I was squarely before the +people as an independent candidate. Shortly after this announcement +I wrote an article for the papers, stating my reasons for making the +senatorial race. When writing this communication I forgot I was a +prisoner, and said some things that reflected seriously upon some of +the warden's personal friends. Here, I made a mistake. The warden, on +reading this article, became enraged, and took away my writing material. +At this juncture the senatorial outlook was rather discouraging. My +friends championed my cause. Being an independent candidate, and my name +not printed on any ticket, I received no accidental votes. An elector +voting for me had to erase the name of my competitor and insert mine. +There were four candidates in the field. While I was not elected, I was +far from coming in last in the race. I received twice as many votes +as one of my competitors. He is one of the best men in the senatorial +district, one of the old settlers, and a gentleman highly esteemed. To +receive twice as many votes as this man was highly complimentary to me, +I certainly felt flattered. When the vote was made known I received an +official copy of the returns, and forwarded it to President Cleveland. +My term was then almost ended, and I felt confident that because of the +splendid vote I had received, and consequent endorsement of the people +who were personally acquainted with me, Mr. Cleveland would certainly +grant a pardon. He did not so much as answer my communication. + +No one can imagine the anxiety I felt during that campaign. Had I +received but a small vote it would have required more nerve than I +possess to have induced me to return to my old home. But when the vote +was counted, and I received the returns, I must write it down as one +of the happiest hours of my life. I had many true friends, and they +demonstrated that fact by voting for me. Although in the garb of a +felon, was not the vote I received a grand vindication? Any person of +sense must answer in the affirmative. + +Looking over the past, I can now see that I made no mistake in carrying +into effect the scheme to which my mind gave birth on that Sunday +afternoon as I sat in my little-cell. + +I will close this chapter by tendering my friends who voted and worked +for me at the time when I so much stood in need of their aid, my +heartfelt gratitude. + + + +CHAPTER XII. A DARK HOUR + +It was a bright Sabbath morning. I had been detailed to assist the +prison choir in their preparation for the religious services of the day. +While engaged in this duty, the deputy warden sent for me. Meeting this +official, he said to me, "John, I have sad news for you. Governor Martin +has just telephoned from Atchison that your wife is dead, and that it +was his wish to have you sent home at once." This was a great surprise +to me. I had heard from my wife only two days before this. At that time +she was quite sick, but was thought to be improving. With a heart filled +with sadness I now prepared for my journey home. The warden was absent, +and the deputy warden said, "There was no precedent for permitting +a prisoner to go home on a visit, as such a thing had never occurred +before in the history of the State, but," continued he, "if you will +give me your word that you will return to the prison I will let you +go." I told him to set the time for my return and I would be back. Mr. +Morgan, the turnkey of the prison, was my guard. My journey from +the prison was the saddest of my life. It was a bright May morning. +Everything around seemed joyful and happy, but to me the world was +gloomy. I imagined my wife lying at home a corpse, surrounded by my +weeping, motherless little ones. She had passed away without my being at +her bedside to go with her to the brink of the dark river. Mr. Morgan, +my attendant, had lost his mother but a short time before this, and +he could sympathize with me in a manner that aided me in bearing my +burdens. + +After riding for a couple of hours we arrived at Atchison. The train on +reaching the city passes on some two blocks beyond the depot; then backs +down. As I thus passed by the depot I saw numerous friends who had heard +of my coming, and were there waiting to welcome me to my home. They +saluted me as I sat in the car at the window and passed on by the depot. +I thought they exhibited too much joy in receiving a friend who was +coming back to see his dead wife. I wondered at it. When the train +stopped to back down to the depot, I got off and took the nearest cut to +my residence. Walking some four blocks I reached my home. When nearing +the gate, one of my little daughters came bounding across the street, +full of joy and gladness, welcoming me home. I thought she acted rather +strange for her mother to be lying in the house a corpse. Without saying +anything I stepped to the door; it was standing ajar. Looking in, I saw +my wife lying in the adjoining room--not dead! Thank God! It seemed as +if I had stepped into another world. My wife was very sick, but still +conscious. Oh! what joy I felt at once more being able to see my wife +and to talk with her. All the way from the prison to the door of my +residence I was laboring under a false impression. I drank the cup to +its very dregs. I could have suffered no more on that journey home if +she had been dead. In fact I supposed she was. Governor Martin had made +a mistake in transmitting the message, or had been wrongly informed. + +I do not know how it came that I was permitted to return home. I was a +United States' prisoner. As such, Governor Martin had no control over +me. No one had authority to send me home on such a furlough except +President Cleveland. But I care nothing about this. I did not stop to +inquire about the authority; when the prison doors came open I left for +home. I was furnished a citizen's suit of clothes. I remained at home +for nearly a week. Many friends came to see me. This to me was one of +the best weeks of my life. + +A little occurrence took place, during this short stay at home, which I +will mention here. I have a legal friend at Atchison by the name of Hon. +D. C. Arnold. This man, when tested, proves himself true to those who +have gained his good will. He conceived the idea that sending me out of +the penitentiary, IN CITIZEN'S CLOTHING, was without WARRANT IN LAW OR +PRECEDENT IN FACT, and that, by releasing me in that way, they had lost +control of me. Unknown to me he had prepared an application in "habeas +corpus." The judge of the District Court, Hon. W. D. Gilbert, who was on +the bench at the time, was a personal friend of his and mine also, as +I had something to do in his election, and had the application been +presented to him, the judge would have inclined to turn me loose, and +I would have been a free man. When Mr. Arnold informed me as to what +he was doing, I told him that I had given my word of honor that I would +return to the prison, and that I would keep it. + +At the expiration of a week I returned to my prison cell. A petition, +signed by nearly five thousand people, had been forwarded to President +Cleveland for my pardon. I had some hopes of securing relief. I bade my +wife good-by. I thought sure I would be sent home in a few days. My wife +hopefully entertained the same opinion. We were both deceived. When I +reached the prison, the deputy warden, Mr. Higgins, when he was informed +by the officer, Mr. Morgan, who attended me home, how I refused my +chances of liberty by means of the proceedings in "habeas corpus," +contemplated by my friends, choosing imprisonment rather than breaking +my word, called me into his office, and said that there was not one man +in ten placed in my circumstances that would have done as I did. He then +said to me: "Reynolds, I will see that you have no more hard work to do +while you are in the penitentiary; I would give you your liberty if I +could, but that is beyond my power. I will make it as agreeable for you +as possible in the prison." He got another man to take my place in the +mines, and I was given an easy task from that on. I was detailed to make +out reports for the prison officials, and was kept busy, and was, as I +was informed, a very valuable man in that capacity. This kind of work +was in keeping with my labors when on the outside, and was not hard on +me like digging coal. I was given the liberty of the prison; was allowed +to converse with the prisoners, and because of these favors shown me, I +was able to secure the material for this book. + +The month following my return to the prison was the darkest, the most +desolate, and the most sorrowful portion of my earthly pilgrimage yet +experienced. My wife was at home dying! I was behind the prison walls! +During that month I was entirely unfit for any kind of work. The prison +officials, knowing my sorrows, took pity on me and did not insist upon +my performing any kind of labor. I was left alone with my grief. None +but God and the angels knew what I suffered. During the day I could +think of nothing but my dying wife; in the night-time, when the angel +Sleep closes the eyelids down to rest, none came to me; in my dreams the +pale face of my dear one at home in the agonies of death was before me. +I would but drop sometimes into a dull slumber when I fancied that I +could hear her calling for me, and thus aroused, it seemed to me that +I must burst the prison bars and go to her. Knowing how much deeper and +stronger, purer and sweeter the affections and sympathies of woman are +than those of man, what must my poor, dead wife have borne! For thirty +days and nights I endured these torments. At last the hour came when her +sufferings ceased. Reader, doubtless you have lost a loved one. If so, +you were permitted to go down to the very brink of the River of Death; +you were permitted to sit at the bedside and administer words of comfort +and cheer. Not so with me. My loved one passed away, her husband kept +from her side by prison bolts and bars. And, reader, when you buried +your loved one, kind friends condoled with you, and in some degree +assuaged your grief. Not so with me. When the news came that my wife +was dead I sat down in my solitary cell and shed my tears alone. The cup +that was placed to my lips was indeed a bitter one, and I drank to the +dregs. My wife was one of earth's purest and best. We lived together as +husband and wife the fifth of a century. During those twenty years of +married life my wife never uttered a cross word to her husband. What +greater eulogy could be pronounced! In the sunshine, and as certainly +amid the storms of life, she was constant and true. Because of her +goodness of heart my home was cloudless. Many times during life have the +storms and waves swept against my trembling barque, but in that little +harbor called home no storms ever came. Oh, how much a man loses when a +good wife dies! So great was my distress that, had it not been for the +strength imparted by a pitying God, I never could have passed through +that long night of suffering. Gone, never to return. + +When my prison days were over, I returned to my old home in Atchison, +but how changed it was. My wife in her grave; my motherless children +among strangers; my home desolate. As I pen these lines, surrounded by +the fogs and mists of time, the question comes to me ever and anon, when +the hour shall come for me to close my eyes to the scenes of earth, will +I be permitted to greet my sainted wife in the beautiful city above? +Yes. I have the faith that the loving Galilean--the man of sorrows, who +was acquainted with grief--will in that hour open the gates of pearl, +and let me in. Until that happy hour--until we meet in the land where +none of life's storms ever reach, my darling wife, farewell! + + + +CHAPTER XIII. FREEDOM + +To all things earthly there comes an end. Sixteen long, dreary months of +imprisonment finally passed away. The dark clouds of sadness and gloom +that for so long hung above me now parted, and folding themselves +together rolled away in the distance. The large iron doors swung upon +their hinges, and once more I breathed the air of freedom. Drowsy Nature +was just being aroused from her wintry slumber by the gentle touch of +Spring, as I began life anew. On that, to me, eventful morning the sky +appeared brighter than I had ever beheld it before. O liberty! No one +can ever appreciate thy blessings save him upon whose limbs have pressed +the cruel fetters of slavery. The sunlight of freedom falls with its +greatest refulgence upon him who has been surrounded for months and +years by the baleful mists and darkness of abject bondage. The air of +liberty comes doubly surcharged with the fragrance of the rarest flowers +to him who has inhaled the feted breath of serfdom. Grateful to God that +my life had been spared; retaining all the ambition of former years; +possessed of my manhood; conscious of no guilt, I felt that, under the +guiding hand of Providence, there was for me a bright future. With a +determination to succeed, that can never be satisfied short of success, +I returned to my home. I concluded that instead of going to some distant +place, among strangers, it was best for me to return to the locality +where all knew of my misfortunes and the true causes that led to them. +On my arrival at the depot I was met by a multitude of friends. By the +reception that was given me no one, ignorant of the facts, would have +for a moment imagined that I had but a few hours before vacated the cell +of a criminal. I pen these lines three months from the day when I began +life anew, and during that time I have met with no one so base as to +"snub" a man, who, having met with misfortune, is honestly endeavoring +to regain what he lost. + +Is there any hope for the ex-convict? Is it possible for him to be +clothed in the garments of respectability who once has been attired in +the habiliments of disgrace? Can he ever be a man among men who has for +a time been numbered with the debased of earth? To these questions, with +all the powers of my being, I answer, YES! I do not know how the outlook +may appear to others who have met a similar misfortune; but as for +myself I can truthfully say I was never more hopeful in my life. There +may be storms in the future, obstacles to meet and overcome, but self +reliant, and trusting in Him who observes the struggles even of the +worm, I hope to soon reach my proper place among men, and in the end +reap the golden harvest of success. The world is full of kind-hearted +people who are ready to help those who, though unfortunate, are willing +to help themselves. Scores of men annually go out from the "Kansas +Hell," having paid the penalties of their crimes, who are not so highly +favored as myself, and whose struggles will have to be greater than mine +if they ever secure a foothold of respectability in life. In behalf +of these in their efforts to become better men I appeal to the great, +loving heart of the true Kansan. HELP THE FALLEN IN HIS STRUGGLES TO +RISE AGAIN. + +Since my return home, several times have I visited the grave of my wife, +and often on these occasions would the hot blood go surging through my +veins, and my baser nature would demand that I avenge the death of her +who was so heartlessly sent to an untimely grave. A better judgment has +prevailed, and as I drop the tear of affection upon the grave of her +who is the mother of my children, I leave the wrongs of the past in the +hands of an avenging God. May there fall upon those who were so kind to +my sorrowing family and myself while we were passing through the deep +waters, the radiant smiles of Him who says, "Inasmuch as ye have done it +unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me." + + + + + +A MISSOURI HELL + + + +CHAPTER XIV. THE CONVICT'S HOME + +"Jefferson City is the next station," called out the train man as the +Missouri Pacific rolled into the capital of the great commonwealth of +Missouri. It was two o'clock in the morning. From an easy reclining +chair, to an omnibus, and to a cozy room in the Madison House, was the +work of but a few moments. It being rather an unseasonable hour to begin +the investigation of a large penal institution, I made a brief journey +to the land of dreams, and there remained until a noisy porter +knocked at my bed-room door, and shouted, "Nine o'clock, last call for +breakfast, old man; if you want any thing to eat you had better get a +move on you." Being of the opinion this was rather a cheerful morning +salutation, I arose, dressed, and soon felt better because of a good +breakfast. I am now ready for my work--an investigation of the Missouri +penitentiary. Before leaving my home in Atchison, Kansas, I procured a +letter of introduction from Hon. B. P. Waggener, mayor of that city, to +Governor Francis of Missouri. I found my way to the capitol, and to the +office of the governor. After a brief delay I was shown into the private +apartment of the obliging executive, where I presented my letter, stated +the object of my visit, and received a letter to the warden of the +prison, containing a request that the bearer be shown every thing there +was to be seen in and about the penitentiary. + +From the capitol to the prison is a walk of but a few minutes. On my +way there I met a one-legged ex-convict who was just leaving the +institution. His pale face, shoddy suit of clothes and light-colored +felt hat all spoke but too plainly of the fact that he was very recently +"let loose," Entering into conversation with him, I found that he had +a few moments before completed a term of five years at hard labor. From +him I gathered a great deal of important information as to the treatment +of the prisoners, of which he had been an eye-witness for five years. He +also gave me his own history. In a saloon brawl, he became involved in +a fight with a drunken comrade, half-crazed with drink. Pistols were +drawn, and shots were exchanged. He received a bullet in his thigh, that +caused the amputation of his limb. His antagonist was killed. On a trial +for murder he received a sentence for manslaughter. Said he, "Whisky +sent me to prison. Had I not been drunk I would never have taken the +life of the man whom I shot. He had been, for years, a good friend of +mine. I will never take another drink as long as I live. It has been my +ruin." In the conversation he informed me that he had left behind him, +when sent to prison, a wife and three children. During his confinement +they had to depend for the most part on their relatives and public +charity for support. On account of their poverty they had not been able +to visit him at any time during his imprisonment. They had continued to +love him, notwithstanding his misfortune; had been true to him during +his days of bondage; and he was now anxious to reach his home to meet +them. How true it is that the blow which falls upon the culprit, and +which justice intends for him alone, often falls with equal force and +effect upon wife, child or other helpless and dependent relative! I +asked him how he felt on recovering his liberty after being in prison +for five years. + +"Oh!" said he, "this is the happiest day of my life thus far; I never +knew the blessings of liberty as I do now. I never saw the sun shine so +brightly before. Everything about me seems so beautiful. From this time +I will appreciate more than ever I have done, this beautiful world. It +almost pays a man to be penned up for a time to enable him to appreciate +what there is in the world for him. Behind the walls, however, banished +from the presence of loved ones, it is a veritable hell. I cannot find a +term that expresses my views of a prison life that is more suitable than +that word--hell. Those long, dreary days of monotonous work--the same +thing must be gone over, day after day; the food we eat, the treatment +to which we are subjected, our loneliness and solitude, all combined, +make prison life almost unbearable." "Do you know," I asked, "of any +prisoners who are so satisfied with their condition as to be willing to +remain in the penitentiary, did they have an opportunity of obtaining +their liberty?" "There is not a person in that institution," he replied, +"who would not hail with joy his release. Some of them are physical +wrecks, and would have to go to the almshouse to be taken care of in +case they should obtain their freedom, yet they would prefer any place +to that of a prison cell, deprived of their freedom." After spending +more than an hour in conversation with this ex-convict, and bidding him +"good bye," I proceeded on my journey to the prison. As I walked along +thinking of the poor ex-convict I had just passed, my imagination +pictured for him a rather gloomy future. He is a cripple, and has a +large family to support; he must bear with him along life's journey the +heavy load of disgrace that whisky placed upon him. An ex-convict! +Who will give him work to do? Who will lend him a helping hand in his +struggle to regain a foothold in the outside world? After a few vain +efforts to regain what he has lost, will he not yield to despair, as +thousands have done before him, and, becoming a pitiless wreck, pass on +down the current of crime until he drifts over Time's last precipice +and drops into the arms of Death? To the average ex-convict there is but +little hope for success in this life. + +The painful history of a majority of them is, after they have fallen +into the meshes of a criminal life, they never have the moral power +to extricate themselves. My musings are now at an end, for I have just +reached the entrance to the penitentiary--"A Missouri Hell." A prison +official on duty at the entrance conducted me into the presence of the +warden, Hon. John L. Morrison. This genial gentleman is a resident of +Howard County, where he was born and spent the greater portion of his +life. He is sixty years of age, and by occupation a farmer. For four +years he was sheriff of his county. He received his appointment as +warden less than one year ago. He is without any prison experience. The +reason, no doubt, for his being appointed warden of so great a penal +institution is, that outside from his being a man of unimpeachable +integrity, he exerts no little political influence in that portion +of the State where he resides. We have no cause for criticising the +governor's selection. Perhaps he is one of the very best men that could +have been procured for the place. At any rate, he is credited with +starting out well. But it is not every honest, upright man that makes a +good warden. It requires a man with a special fitness to be a success +in handling prisoners and making a penal institution beneficial to all +interested. After Warden Morrison has been given a fair trial, and +it becomes evident that he is a successful prison man, he should be +retained many years in that responsible position. For the longer he is +kept at the head of the institution the more valuable will his services +be to the State. I remained several days, and through the kindness +of the warden and other prison officials, saw everything about the +institution that was noteworthy. + +The Missouri penitentiary is located in the southern suburbs of +Jefferson City. Its entrance is from the north. It covers an area of +seventeen acres. This tract of ground is surrounded by a stone +wall twenty feet high and four feet thick. The prison enclosure +is rectangular in form. At each of the four corners, and at stated +intervals, towers arise eight feet, which are occupied by officers +on duty. Occupying this elevated position, these officers can readily +observe all that occurs within the prison walls, outside the buildings. +At stated times the officers emerge from the towers and walk along on +top of the wall to see if anything unusual is taking place about the +prison. Loose stones are piled on top of portions of the wall that +surrounds the prison, to prevent the convicts from securing a fastening +for ladder hooks, should they attempt to escape. A portion of this wall +was erected fifty-four years ago, the prison having been established +in 1836. Could these towering stones speak, what scenes of misery and +wretchedness they might describe! O, ye rocks, that make up this barrier +between freedom and the worst form of human slavery, as you have been +occupying your silent position for the past half hundred years, had your +ears been unstopped, what countless groans of despair would you have +heard? Could your eyes have opened, when first you took your place +in that prison wall fifty years ago, how many indescribable scenes of +anguish would you have witnessed? A heavy iron door swings upon its +creaking hinges. Bolts fly back into their sockets. I step into a +revolving iron cage, which, manipulated by a guard, turns half way round +on its axis, and I emerge from this into the prison campus the space +surrounded by the walls. What wonderful scenes now are discovered! Many +of them, indeed, are heartrending. + +I will describe what I saw and make mention of what I heard. There are +four large buildings of brick and stone; honeycombed with cells--the +homes of the prisoners. The cells, in ONE of these buildings, are large +and commodious, and contain four criminals. In dimension they are nine +feet wide and thirteen feet long. The remainder of the cells are small +and contain but one man in a cell. The large cells are objectionable, +for the reason that the men, being locked up together in such small +rooms, get to talking, and often quarrels and fights result. A number +of convicts have been almost murdered in these larger cells, where there +were more than one occupant. Again, if there be three in a cell who +desire to have the fourth one removed, they combine against him and +render his existence while in the cell unbearable. They abuse him +constantly. If he reports them to the officer the three stoutly deny +all accusations, often bringing upon the innocent one punishment which +should have been meted out to the three guilty ones. + +It requires but little stretch of the imagination to enable one to see +how miserable a prisoner may be rendered in one of these cells when +three occupants of the same cell combine against him. The large cells +are a source of great annoyance to prison officials, and are now, after +trial, universally condemned. The small cells are about four feet wide, +seven feet long, and seven feet high. The doors are very low, and the +prisoner has to stoop as he enters. The low door gives to the cell a +more gloomy appearance than it would possess if the entrance was higher. +On going into one of these cells one has the same feeling as takes hold +of him when he crawls into a low, dark hole in the ground. The cells are +constructed of stone, with wooden floors. The cells of the Kansas and +other penitentiaries are higher and better ventilated. The furniture of +the cell consists of an iron rack, on which is placed a straw bed with +sufficient covering to keep the convict warm. There are also a bucket, +wash-basin and towel. The prisoner washes himself in the cell. He also +has a chair to sit on and a Holy Bible to read. This is about all the +furniture to be found in the cells. Occasionally a carpet covers the +floor, but the prisoner furnishes this out of his own means. If he has +no means he has no carpet. I was much surprised to learn that there was +no way provided for the convicts to take a plunge bath, and that many of +them became very filthy because of their not being compelled to bathe +at stated times. Other penitentiaries are supplied with bath-houses, and +once each week the inmates are required to take a bath. This certainly +is conducive to good health. The cell-houses are lighted by electric +lights, and each cell is provided with a lamp. Thus the prisoner has an +opportunity of reading during the evenings, which is a great blessing, +and should be highly appreciated. + +The prison is supplied with a large library of choice books to which the +inmates have access. They also are allowed to read daily newspapers, if +they have money with which to purchase them. The managing officials of +the Kansas penitentiary are possessed of a very foolish notion in +regard to the reading of daily newspapers. They will not under any +circumstances allow a prisoner to take his home paper, or have access to +any political daily. They claim that it excites the prisoner and makes +his imprisonment more difficult to bear when he knows what is going on +in the outside world. It seems that this custom smacks of barbarism, +and the prison directors of the Kansas prison should discard it at once. +Imagine the condition of a prisoner who has been in confinement for ten +years, having no access to the daily or weekly newspapers. He would be +an ignoramus of the worst type. Our penal institutions should try and +improve their prisoners, instead of rendering them more ignorant and +debased. We are glad to note that the Missouri penitentiary is in +advance of the Kansas prison in this respect. If the prisoner can take a +little pleasure in reading, daily or weekly, what takes place at his own +home, why not give him the privilege, since it is evident that such +a permission will not be detrimental to prison discipline? There are +school books to be found in the prison library, and the prisoners, if +they desire, can get these books and study them. A great many do improve +these opportunities, and a number have made great advancement in their +studies. They are also permitted to have writing materials in their +cells, a privilege which is considered very dangerous, and which but few +similar institutions grant. Many of the convicts who could not read +or write on entering the prison make considerable progress in these +studies. + +The Missouri prison does not go far enough in matters of education. It +should be provided with a school. In this matter the Kansas and Iowa +penitentiaries are far in advance. They have regular graded schools, and +many convicts have acquired an education sufficient to enable them to +teach when they went out again into the free world. It is to be hoped +when the Legislature meets again the members will see to it that ample +provision is made for a first-class school at the prison, with a corps +of good teachers. The State will lose nothing by this movement. + +In the Iowa prison at Ft. Madison the convicts are taught in the +evening, after the work of the day is over. In the Kansas prison, +instruction is given Sunday afternoon. These schools are accomplishing +great good. The chief object of imprisonment should be reformation. +Ignorance and reformation do not affiliate. Some will argue that if +prisoners are educated and treated so humanely they will have a desire +to return to the prison, in fact, make it their home. Experience +teaches us that, treat a human being as a prince, and deprive him of his +liberty, and the greatest burden of life is placed upon him, and he is +rendered a pitiable object of abject misery. There is no punishment to +which a human being can be subjected which it is possible to endure, +that is more to be dreaded than confinement. Those long, weary, lonely +hours that the prisoner spends in his cell are laden with the greatest +of all continuous sorrows. There is but little danger of surfeiting him +with kindness and advantages, so long as he is deprived of his freedom. +If there is any hope for the reformation of the vicious and depraved, no +better place can be found to commence that reformation than while he is +an inmate of the prison. While there, he is shut out from the society +of his wicked companions; he is not subjected to the same temptations +in prison as on the outside. Save being deprived of his freedom, he +is placed in the most favorable position for reformation that it is +possible for one to occupy. If he is not reformed here it is not likely +he ever will be. It is to the highest interest of the State that these +opportunities should be improved. Every effort should be put forth to +make these men better while they are in prison. They are worth saving. +It must not be forgotten that one of the essential features in a +thorough reformation of a man, is to drive away the mists of ignorance +by which he is surrounded. Other things being equal, he is the better +prepared to wage successfully life's warfare, who is educated. He will +be better able to resist the temptations which he will meet when his +days of bondage are over. Yes, by all means, let every prison have its +school. It is of the greatest importance to the prisoner, likewise to +the State. As I was passing through these cell-houses, reading the +names of the convicts, placed above the cell door, I came to one which +contained four brothers. Five brothers were convicted of robbery and +sent to the prison, but a short time ago one of them was pardoned, and +the four now remain. The liberated one was on a visit to his brothers +while I was at the prison. Reader, is it not a sad thought that these +four young men, brothers, should spend ten of the best years of their +lives in a prison? Surely the way of the transgressor is hard. + +Young man, you who have as yet never been an inmate of a prison, +imagine, if possible, the loneliness experienced as one spends his days, +weeks, months and years behind these frowning prison walls, shut up the +greatest portion of the time in these small cells that I have described +in this chapter. If you do not wish a life of this nature, shun the +company of wicked and vicious associates, and strive with all your power +to resist the tempter in whatever form he may approach you. It is not +force he employs to drag you down to the plane of the convict, but he +causes the sweet song of the syren to ring in your ear, and in this +manner allures you away from the right, and gently leads you down the +pathway that ends in a felon cell, disgrace and death. + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE WORK OF THE CONVICT + +It is a great blessing to the convict that he can have the privilege of +working. When prisons were first started in this country it was thought +best to keep the prisoner in solitary confinement; have him visited +daily by a spiritual teacher, place the Bible and other good books in +his hands, and in this manner reform him, and send him out into the +world a better man than he was on entering the prison. The great +penal institution of Auburn, New York, was for a time conducted in +this manner. The plan, at first thought to be a good one, had to be +abandoned. The criminal could not endure solitary confinement. HE MUST +HAVE WORK. Many of them became insane, while still others died for want +of the open air, out-door exercise, and some diversion for the mind. + +In all the penitentiaries of the country, at the present time, convicts +are required to perform some kind of useful labor. That is one point of +the prison question that is, doubtless, forever settled. All prison +men agree that the convict must perform some kind of work. Labor to the +prisoners means health of body and mind. Solitary confinement means the +reverse. But what kind of labor the prisoner should perform, and +what should be done with the results of his labor, is one of the most +difficult questions to decide. + +All the prisoners of the Missouri penitentiary are let out to +contractors, with the exception of those needed to do the work about +the prison. The work consists chiefly of making saddle-trees and shoes. +Several large three-story buildings are used in furnishing room for the +convicts while at labor. Those contractors who have been at the prison +for some time have grown rich. They get their men for forty-five cents a +day, on an average. They have their choice of prisoners as they come +in. Those convicts designated scrubs, do the work for the State. The +contractors are charged with controlling the prison. If one of the +officials, in the discharge of his duty, happens to do anything +displeasing to the contractors, they combine against him and have him +removed. They are charged with using their combined political influence, +and even money, to carry their points. We have been told by some of +the leading men of the State that it was a notorious fact that the +penitentiary was controlled by a political ring, a set of jobbers, and +this ring was largely influenced by the contractors. The contract system +is wrong, and should not have a place in any of the penal institutions +of the country. + +The contractor assigns the task. The prisoner must perform that task or +be punished. If an avaricious contractor, in his desire to make money, +places too great a task upon the prisoner, who is there to take the +prisoner's part and shield him from abuse? Fully nine-tenths of the +punishments inflicted is the result of the reports and complaints of the +contractors. See how unjust and how hard this contract system is upon +many of the prisoners! Two convicts enter the same day. In outward +appearance they are strong, healthy men. The same task is assigned them. +One of them being adapted to that line of work, and skilled, performs +his task with ease; while the other, equally industrious, cannot get +through with his. He is reported for shirking. He states his inability +to do the amount of work assigned him. The contractor or his foreman +makes a different report. The assertions of the convict amount to +but little, as against the statements of the rich and influential +contractor. He is punished and returned to his work. A second time he +tries, again fails, and is reported as before. This being the second +offense the prisoner is subjected to a more severe punishment. This +brutal treatment is continued until the officer, growing weary with +inflicting punishment upon the poor wretch, concludes he is unable to +perform the task assigned him. If this contract system is to continue +in Missouri, there should be some one whose duty it is to see that the +prisoner is humanely treated, and not let a brutal officer decide, who +is in league with the contractors. I have it from the lips of a prison +official who has been connected with the prison for thirty-six years, +that the treatment some of the prisoners receive because of the +avariciousness of the contractors, is simply heartrending. + +After all, is not this contract system a regular jobbing business? If +these men can employ the prisoners and pay forty-five cents a day +for them, and make money and grow rich, why cannot the State work the +convicts and save all these profits? Competent men can be secured as +superintendents to carry on this work. Some will say, that it will open +up too many avenues to jobbery; that the superintendents will get to +stealing from the State, and in the end the State will not get as +much benefit as under the present system. This seems like begging the +question. If these superintendents, after a time, become thieves, treat +them as thieves, and give them a term in the penitentiary. This kind of +medicine will soon cure all cases of jobbery. Again, prisoners should be +assigned tasks according to their ability. All men are not alike equally +skilled in the same kind of labor. All these things should be taken +into account. No prisoner should be forced to carry a burden that is +oppressive, in order to fill the coffers of avaricious contractors. +Again, I ask that there be some humane person, whose duty it is to see +that these helpless men, whose lips are sealed, are not oppressed +by this damnable contract system. Let us treat these unfortunate men +humanely, and never forget that, if stern justice was meted out to those +who had the control of convicts, as officers, guards, or contractors, +many of them would be doing service for the State, clad in a suit of +stripes. The penitentiary of Missouri is self-supporting, with the +exception of the officer's pay-roll. At each session of the Legislature, +an appropriation of $140,000 is made for this purpose. There are over +one hundred officers on the pay-roll. The records show that it requires +nearly a quarter of a million dollars annually to pay the expenses of +this institution. + +Crime is an expensive luxury! + +During the past two years $347,000 have been paid into the treasury as +the earnings of the prison. The goods manufactured are sold chiefly in +the State of Missouri. This brings convict labor, which is very cheap, +into competition with the labor of the poor, but honest man on the +outside. The average labor value of the convict is forty-five cents +a day. How is it possible for laboring men on the outside, who have +families depending upon them, to support themselves and families on an +amount, that will enable business men, for whom they work, to engage in +business and compete with this cheap convict labor? This is the great +argument against convict labor. The convict must be given work or he +will become insane. To bring this cheap labor into conflict with the +toil of honest but poor men on the outside, is unjust and cruel. What to +do with convict labor is one of the unsolved problems. It is a subject +that will furnish ample scope for the thinking mind. + +The prisoner is worked on an average of nine hours each day. He goes +about his labor in silence. It is against the regulations for him to +exchange a word or a knowing glance with a fellow-workman. When visitors +pass through the workshops he is not permitted to lift his eyes from +his work to look at them. An officer, perched upon a raised seat, who +commands a view of the entire work-room, is constantly on the watch to +see that no rule or regulation is violated. The convict cannot take +a drink of water, or go from one part of the room to another in the +discharge of his duties without permission from the officer. The +prisoner is always conscious of being watched. This feeling is no small +factor in making the life of a prisoner almost unbearable. Nearly all of +the inmates work in shops, and all the exercise they receive in the open +air is what they get in going to and from their meals and cells. It +is this sameness of work, this daily and hourly going over the same +routine, this monotonous labor, this being surrounded by hundreds of +busy fellow-workmen, and not permitted to exchange a word with any of +them, that makes the life of a prisoner to be so much dreaded. Young +man, as you read these lines, it is impossible for you to conceive the +misery that accompanies this kind of a monotonous life. + +In order to know all that it means, you must pass through it, as I have +done. Things are entirely different with you. While you are at work on +the outside of prisons, you can carry on conversation with those about +you and thus pass the time in a pleasant manner. After the day's work is +over, if you so desire, you can spend an hour or so with friends. Not so +with the criminal. After his day's work, done in silence, is past, he is +locked up in his solitary cell to spend the evening as best he can. + +There is no one to watch you constantly while at your daily toil, to see +that you do not violate some insignificant rule or regulation. When you +desire a holiday, and wish to take a stroll out into the woods, to look +upon the beautiful flowers or admire nature in all her loveliness, to +inhale the pure, fresh air--which is a stranger to packed workshops--to +revel in the genial sunlight, there is no one to forbid you. You are a +free man. + +Oh, what a wonderful difference between the laboring man who is free, +and him who is forced to work, clad in the habiliments of disgrace! He +who penned these lines has had to toil as a convict in the coal mines +of the Kansas penitentiary, eight hundred feet below the surface, lying +stretched out on his side, and he knows what he is talking about when +he says, he would rather die and be laid away in his grave than to spend +five years as a convict. + +Young man, think of these things when you are tempted to do those things +that will send you to a felon's cell. Of course, it is no intention +of yours ever to become an inmate of a prison. Permit one who has had +experience, to tell you that it is one of the easiest things in the +world to get into a prison, and that when once in, it is difficult to +secure your liberty, until Time turns the bolt and lets you out, or in +other words, until you serve out your term. May you never yield to a +temptation that will make you a prisoner. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. THE MISSOURI PRISONERS + +The Missouri penitentiary contains 1,894 convicts. This is the most +populous penal institution in the United States. Crime is on the +increase. The number of prisoners is gradually becoming larger. +Reformation is not the success that it should be. A great many of the +prisoners return a second, third and many the fourth time. There is one +old convict now an inmate who has served nine different terms in this +prison. The highest number that was ever at any prior time in this +penitentiary, was reached on Thanksgiving Day of 1889. In 1836, +fifty-four years ago, when this prison was founded, there were eighteen +prisoners received the first day. During the year one received a pardon, +leaving at the close seventeen prisoners. At the close of 1889 there +were nineteen hundred inmates. As the population of Missouri increases, +she is generous enough to contribute her quota to the felon cells within +her borders. The increase of from seventeen at the close of the first +year to that of nineteen hundred at the close of the last year, speaks +volumes. What can be done to lessen this fearful increase of crime? It +is true that the population of the State has increased amazingly since +1836, but crime has increased too rapidly in proportion to the increase +of population. + +When a man, accused of crime, is convicted and sentenced in any of the +courts of the State, a commitment is furnished the sheriff, by the +clerk of the court. This document is a writing, giving the name of the +prisoner, the crime of which he stands committed, and the term for which +he is sentenced. It is the authority given the sheriff to convey to the +penitentiary the person named therein, and to deliver him to the warden. +As soon as the warden receives the commitment he assumes control of +the prisoner, and retains it until his term of service expires, or is +liberated by pardon or some court decree. It is curious to note how +differently prisoners act on coming to the penitentiary. Some of them +quake with fear and tremble as the aspen leaf. Others weep like whipped +children. While others do not seem to mind it much. This latter class +is chiefly made up of those who have served terms before, and have had +experience. The officers try to crush the spirit of the criminal the +first day he enters. The poor culprit, already quaking with fear, is +spoken to in a cross and harsh manner, as if he was going to be struck +over the head with a club the next moment. He is locked up in the +reception cell, a low, dark dungeon. To use the expressive language of +the prison, he is left in this dungeon to "soak" for an indefinite time, +often for a day and a night. In this dreaded spot, in his loneliness and +shame he has an opportunity for meditation. I don't suppose there ever +was a person who, in this reception cell for the first time, did not +heartily regret the commission of his crime. Here he thinks of his past +life. The days of his innocent childhood come flitting before him. The +faces of loved ones, many of whom now dead, pass in review. It is here +he thinks of his loving mother, of his kind old father, of his weeping +sisters and sympathizing brothers. + +He travels, time and again, the road of his past life. In his reveries +of solitude he sits once more in the old school-house of his boyhood +days. It comes to him, now with greater force than ever before, what he +might have been, had he taken a different course, Alas! it is too late. +He is forever disgraced. There is but little hope for him now in the +future. Reader, behold this unfortunate youth as he sits in his lonely +dungeon, his first day in the penitentiary. On a low chair, his elbows +resting on his knees, his face buried in his hands, he sits and tries to +imagine what is in store for him. He endeavors to peer into the future, +and all is gloom. That sweet angel we call Hope, has spread her wings, +taken her flight and left him comfortless. The cloud of despair, black +as the Egyptian midnight, settles down upon him. He wishes that he +was dead. I can never forget my first day in a felon's cell. Of all my +eventful life, into which many dark days have crowded themselves, my +first day in prison was the darkest. After the "soaking season" is over, +an officer advances to the dungeon, throws back the bolts, pulls open +the door, and, in a harsh manner, commands the broken-hearted culprit to +follow. He is conducted to an apartment, takes a bath, and dons the suit +of stripes. Ye angels! did you ever behold such a sight? Is it not a +travesty on every thing that is good to dress a human being in such +a suit of clothes. A striped coat, striped pataloons, striped shirt, +striped cap, in fine everything he wears is striped. There is nothing +in this world so humiliates a person as being compelled to wear these +stripes. No language can describe the feelings of horror that took +hold upon me the first time I saw myself arrayed in these emblems of +disgrace. I passed through all the fiery ordeal of trial, sentence, +reception cell, undaunted, but when I made my first toilet in the +penitentiary, I must admit, I was "knocked out." Then I felt keenly the +sting of disgrace. The prisoner is next introduced to a convict barber, +who shaves him and "clips" his hair. By the time the barber gets through +with his part of the programme, the prisoner has but little hair either +on his face or head. The prison physician examines him and it is decided +where he is to work. He is next shown the cell he is to occupy, and +later on his place of work. Over his cell is placed his name and number. +He now enters upon that indescribable, desolate, and dreary life of a +convict. + + +THE TREATMENT OF THE PRISONERS + +The inmates of the Missouri penitentiary are well clothed. In this +respect, this prison has no rival. All the prisoners presented the +appearance of being cleanly, so far as their clothing is concerned. All +are dressed in stripes. None are exempt. Here are nearly two thousand +men on an equality. None of them can look down upon others, and say, +I am more nicely dressed than you. I never saw a convict dude in the +entire lot. The prisoners are well fed. For breakfast, the bill of fare +consists of bread, coffee, without milk or sugar, and hash. There is +no change of this bill of fare. If the prisoner has been there for ten +years, if not in the hospital, he has feasted upon hash every morning. +Boiled meat, corn bread, potatoes and water make up the dinner, and +for supper the convict has bread, molasses and coffee. The principal +objection to this diet is its monotony. Whenever a change of diet +becomes a strict necessity, the prisoner is permitted to take a few +meals in the hospital dining-room. Here he receives a first-class meal. +This is a capital idea. A great deal of sickness is prevented by +thus permitting the convict to have an occasional change of diet. On +holidays, such as Thanksgiving day, Christmas, etc., an extra dinner is +given, which is keenly relished by all. I have before me a statement of +the expenses for a Sunday breakfast and dinner. There are only two meals +given on Sunday. The hash was made up of 612 pounds of beef, 90 pounds +of bacon, and 30 bushels of potatoes. Fifty-one pounds of coffee were +used, and four and a half barrels of flour. The entire meal cost $68.38. + +For dinner, 1,585 pounds of beef, 30 bushels of potatoes, and 4 1/2 +barrels of flour, were used. This meal cost $100.61. It costs about ten +cents each a day to feed the prisoners. Some of the convicts, after they +get their daily tasks performed, do overwork. The contractors pay +them small sums for this extra labor. With this money the convict is +permitted to purchase apples from the commissary department, which he +can take to his cell and eat at his leisure. The commissary keeps these +apples on hand at all times in packages, which he sells to the prisoners +at twenty cents each. In prison, apples are the most healthful diet the +inmate can have. Should friends on the outside desire to send delicacies +to any of the prisoners, they are permitted to receive the same, and, +taking them to their cells, eat at their leisure. These luxuries are +highly appreciated by the men in stripes, whose daily food is largely +made up of hash and corn bread. The female prisoners must subsist on the +same kind of food as the males. In some penal institutions, Kansas for +example, the women have better diet than is furnished the men. Not so in +this penitentiary. All are treated alike, so far as food is concerned. + +Three times each day the men march into the large dining-hall, which +accommodates 1,500, and partake of their meals. The tableware is of tin +and somewhat meager. The tables themselves present the appearance of the +modern school-desk, being long enough that twenty men may be comfortably +seated at each. No table-linen is used. When eating, the convict is not +permitted to call for anything he may wish. When a dish is empty it is +held aloft, and an officer or a convict waiter replenishes it. Ample +time is given to eat. All have a sufficiency of food such as it is. +Every thing is clean. After the meal is over, the prisoners, in ranks, +return to their workshops, or to their cells in case it is the last meal +of the day. It is a very interesting sight to witness 1,500 convicts +eating at the same time. + +The officials are to be commended for the following privileges they +grant the prisoners: On all holidays, such as Fourth of July, Christmas, +etc., they are let out of their cells into a large open square, inside +the prison walls, and are allowed to converse with each other, and +are given full liberty to do as they wish. These are days of freedom. +Officers, of course, are among them to see that no fighting occurs, and +also to prevent any from effecting their escape by scaling the walls. +The prisoners do certainly enjoy these times. They shake hands with each +other, run about, shout, leap for joy, and have more real happiness than +a lot of school-boys who have been shut up in a room all day at their +studies and are in the evening turned out for play. The men are very +careful not to abuse this privilege which they prize very highly. There +never have been any disturbances, nor fights, nor attempts at +escape during these holidays. These privileges granted the prisoners +demonstrate the humaneness of the prison officials. + +The question often arises, why is it there are no more riots and +insurrections in this prison. Here are nearly two thousand men huddled +up together. They are prisoners, suffering the worst kind of bondage. +Why is it they do not make a rush for liberty whenever an opportunity +presents itself? Many of them are in for life, and may never again see +beyond their prison walls. Why are they so docile? These questions can +be easily answered. Many of the men are short-time prisoners, having +from one to three years, and cannot afford to get into trouble, as +their time is short. Added to this, if the prisoner behaves himself, +and obtains a good prison record, he obtains a pardon and restoration to +citizenship when three-fourths of his time has expired. If a man is sent +for ten years, by good conduct he will be pardoned at the end of seven +and a half years. This is a great inducement to good behavior. The +reason the life-men cause but little, if any, disturbance in the prison +is, that they all have a hope sometime or other of receiving a pardon, +and they know very well that, if they do not have a good prison record, +they can never obtain a pardon. A custom also prevails at the prison, +that has much to do in causing the long-time men to behave themselves, +and be obedient to the regulations of the institution. Every Fourth +of July and Christmas the governor of the State grants pardons to two +long-time men, so there are four chances annually for a man to obtain +his freedom. Before the governor will pardon one of these men, he must +be satisfied, among other things, that the convict has a good prison +record. + +Any one can readily see that this is a great inducement for the prisoner +to behave himself. Missouri is the only State, so far as my knowledge +extends, that has this custom. It should become, not only a custom, but +a law, in every State. It is founded on good sense. + + +THE PRISONER'S SENTENCE + +I believe in capital punishment. When a man falls so low as maliciously, +willfully and premeditatedly, to take the life of a human being, he +should be hung by the neck until he is dead. Before it is just to impose +such a sentence as this upon a human being he should have a fair and +impartial trial, which many persons charged with crime do not get. If +poor and unable to employ the best legal talent, the court should see +that it is furnished. Too often is it the case when a poor man, charged +with crime, makes affidavit that he is unable to procure counsel, that +some young and inexperienced attorney is selected, in order to give him +a start in practice. The consequence of this inexperience is that the +man charged with crime has to suffer for his lawyer's inability to +secure for him his rights. After the jury has brought in a verdict of +guilty he should have the privilege of taking his case to the Supreme +Court, and have it reviewed by that tribunal at the expense of the +State. No human being should be hung on circumstantial evidence, +unsupported by positive testimony. If the judgment below is confirmed, +then let the murderer be kept in close confinement in the penitentiary +for one year, and, if during that time no new evidence or mitigating +circumstances arise let him be hung by the neck until he is dead. + +Let the execution take place in the prison, let it be private and +witnessed by but few persons, designated by the executive of the +State. It is better for the criminal to be hung than to be sent to the +penitentiary for life. While serving out a lifetime sentence he suffers +ten thousand deaths. Those States where the death penalty is inflicted +have the least number of brutal murders, in proportion to their +population. The dread of death is a better protection to society than a +life of imprisonment. The fiend with murder in his heart thinks "while +there is life, hope remains," and if he is sent to the penitentiary for +life he may get a pardon after a time. But if he is aware of the fact +that if he strikes the fatal blow he must atone for his crime on the +gallows, he is more liable to think twice before striking his innocent +victim once. There should be no such a thing as a life sentence. No +criminal should be sent to the penitentiary for a term longer than +fifteen years. The suffering he endures during this long sentence is +enough to atone for any crime he may commit aside from a brutal murder, +and for this he should be hung. Fifteen years of imprisonment is +sufficient to break down almost any constitution. Having spent this +length of time behind prison walls a man is a physical wreck, and, +having atoned for his crime, let him have the last days of life in +the world of freedom. The greatest desire of a life man in our +penitentiaries is to die outside of prison walls. No criminal should be +sent to the penitentiary for less than five years. After giving him one +fourth off for good behavior, he has but little more than three years of +actual service. This will give him plenty of time to learn a trade, so +that when he goes out of prison he can make a living for himself and for +those depending upon him. For crimes that require lighter sentences of +imprisonment let jails or reformatories be brought into requisition. In +the eyes of the world a jail sentence is not so disgraceful as one in +the penitentiary. + +The plumage of a jail-bird is not so black as that of a penitentiary +bird. The disgrace of being sent to the penitentiary for one year is as +great as being sent for five or ten years. Whether he goes for one or +five years, for all the future he is set down as an ex-convict. People +do not stop to inquire as to the length of his sentence. The main +question is: Was he in the penitentiary? If so, he wears the mark of +Cain--the stamp of disgrace. Not so, if he simply has been in jail. +There are a great many young men, while surrounded by bad company, yield +to temptation and commit crime. A dose of jail service will do them as +much good as a year in the penitentiary. After they get out they do +not feel the disgrace so keenly, and there is some hope for their +reformation. Send them to the penitentiary and it will be a miracle if +they ever amount to anything in the future. If a jail sentence of a +year does not reform a young criminal, or a man of older years, who has +committed his first offense, then give a term in the penitentiary for +five years for the second offense. It is too true that a sentence to +the penitentiary for a first term is the irretrievable ruin of the young +offender. This becomes an obstacle which, during all the future, he +cannot surmount. This plan being adopted let everything be done to +reform the youthful offender while in jail. It is much easier to carry +forward the work of reformation in a jail or reformatory than in a +penitentiary. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. THE MISSOURI PRISONERS--(Continued) + +During the years 1887 and 1888, 1,523 prisoners were received into +the Missouri penitentiary. Of this number 1,082 were white males, 398 +colored males, 17 white females, and 26 colored females. These figures +show that the women of Missouri are a great deal better than the men, or +they do not get their share of justice. + + TABLE SHOWING THE AGES OF CONVICTS + RECEIVED DURING THE YEARS 1887 AND 1888. + + From 16 to 20.................320 + " 20 to 25.................441 + " 25 to 30.................344 + " 30 to 35.................143 + " 35 to 40.................113 + " 40 to 45................. 70 + " 45 to 50................. 34 + " 50 to 55................. 31 + " 55 to 60................. 15 + " 60 to 65................. 5 + " 65 to 70................. 4 + " 70 and upward............ 5 + ---- + + Total .......... 1,523 + +There is nothing that should interest the good people of Missouri more +than the foregoing table. These appalling figures I copied from the +prison records. Of the 1,523 criminals received during the past two +years, more than one-fifth of them were mere children. Would it not +be better to give these boys a term in the county jails, or in some +reformatory, instead of sending them to a penitentiary? Coming in +contact with hardened and vicious criminals, what hope is there for +getting these boys into the paths of honesty and uprightness? Then there +follows the large number of 441, representing the youthful age from +twenty to twenty-five years. These are the years most prolific of +criminals. Who can say these boys are vicious and hardened criminals? +Then follow the young men of from twenty-five to thirty. Three hundred +and fourty-four of this age find a home in felon cells. Are these boys +and young men not worth saving? What can be done to snatch them from +a career of crime, and to save them from becoming miserable wrecks? +Father, if one of these boys was a son of yours, you would think +seriously over this important question. + +Something should be done to save this large army of youth who are +annually finding their way into felon cells. + +Is the penitentiary the proper place to send those youthful offenders? +If so, then they should not come in contact with the older and hardened +criminals. One of the most essential things to be done in a prison is +the classification of the inmates. This is not done in the Missouri +penitentiary. Here the mere youth often cells with a hardened old +criminal of the worst description. I would rather a child of mine would +be boxed up with a rattlesnake. In this institution there are nearly +2,000 criminals huddled up together--an indiscriminate mass. The +officials are not to blame for this. They realize the terrible +condition of things at the prison. They have not sufficient room for the +classification and proper arrangement of the inmates. They know, perhaps +better than anyone else, that the prison is not what it should be. +Warden Marmaduke says, in his last report to the prison directors, "This +prison is now too much crowded and it becomes a serious question at +once, as to what disposition will be made of them in the future. If this +prison is to accommodate them, another cell building should be built at +once. If another prison is to be the solution, it should be commenced. +If a reconstruction of our criminal laws, looking to the reduction of +crime, it should be done now. And in any event, and whatever may be +done, certainly our management of prisons should be so modified or +changed that the practical, not the sentimental system of reform, +should be adopted. I believe that our present system is making criminals +instead of reforming them, and I believe that it is practicable to so +classify, treat, feed, work and uniform these people, as to make better +men instead of worse men out of them. I have profound respect for the +good purposes of the benevolently disposed men and women, and they +are numerous, who are devoting themselves to the effort of reforming +criminals. Yet their efforts must be supplemented by a practical +building up and the development of the better instincts of the man, +which cannot be done under our present system. The surroundings are +against it. We are constantly developing and stimulating the very +worst instincts. I believe it practicable to institute methods for this +reform, at once creditable to the State." Who can doubt our statements +on this subject when we quote such high authority as the above. The last +warden of this great institution comes out and officially announces that +awful fact that our present system of prison treatment is constantly +developing and stimulating the very worst instincts. Constantly making +men worse, and when a young man enters the prison he is morally tainted, +when he goes out he is completely saturated, with moral pollution. +After such statements from so high an authority will the great State +of Missouri, so well-known the world over for her numerous acts of +benevolence, continue to have an institution within her borders for the +complete demoralization and ruin of multitudes of her young men. Should +a youth of Missouri, surrounded by influences and temptations which +he could not resist, once fall from a position of honor and integrity, +although it is his first violation of the law, he will be taken into +custody of the State, hurled into a pit, where for a time he will inhale +the fetid breath of wickedness, then, later on, to be released and sent +out into the free world a moral leper. + +The State should not provide this machine for the moral destruction +of her unfortunate youth. If this be the real and true condition of +affairs, what can be done to change them? I would suggest the erection, +at once, of a reformatory. Classify the prisoners. Let those who are in +for the first offense be separated from those who are professional and +debased criminals. Give these youthful offenders the benefit of schools, +connected with the reformatory. Let them have moral instruction, and +many of these young men will be reclaimed, However well a criminal is +treated, when behind prison walls, however good the advantages granted +him, all this will avail but little, if some provision is not made to +aid him when he leaves the prison. Many prisoners, at the time of their +discharge, may be, in heart, as pure as angels, and resolve to lead +good lives, yet they are convicts, and carry out with them the shame and +disgrace of such a life. They must live even if they are disgraced. They +must have work. Who will employ a convict? Should a man, just from +the prison, come to you and frankly inform you that he was recently +discharged from a felon's cell, that he had been convicted of +horse-stealing, for instance, and wanted employment with you on the +farm, how many of you, my readers, would give him work? You would be +afraid of him. You would decline his services, and who could blame +you? But the convict must live, and it is easily seen, how, that after +applying to several for work and being refused each time on account of +his past trouble, he would, after a time, become discouraged and return +to a life of a criminal. Hunger drives him to deeds of desperation, and +more especially is this the case if he have a wife or helpless children +depending upon him. On his discharge from the prison the State presents +him, with a shoddy suit of clothes (very cheap), buys him a ticket +for the town from which he came, and then lets him shift for himself. +Disgraced, penniless, friendless, helpless, how is it possible for +anyone of them ever to secure another foothold in life. + +Something should be done, to help these men to secure work for a time +after their discharge from prison. This would prevent a vast majority of +criminals from returning to the prison after their first term. That my +views on this subject may not be considered visionary, and that I may +not be regarded as standing alone in my suggestions, I will give a +portion of the report of Rev. J. Gierlow, ex-chaplain of the Missouri +penitentiary. + +"The increase of crime is necessarily attracting the attention of all +thinking people, and there is abundant evidence that crime-causes are +increasing, for which there seems to be no adequate prevention. It has +been said, that nearly all crime originates in the saloon, but this +statement requires discrimination. Very few professional thieves are +inebriates. That class of criminals are sober men, they could not ply +their trade without a clear head, nor do they go with those who drink, +for they talk too much. No, intemperance to a considerable extent, is +only a secondary cause of crime which must be reached by well-ordered, +sanitary, hygienic and educational measures. Diseased bodies and +unbalanced minds are largely characteristic of criminals; and these are +two factors in producing crime. + +"There is a numerous class in whom crime seems to be hereditary, a taint +in the blood. In the same family there are generations of criminals. +Prison life adds another large section to the criminal class. By the +congregate system the prison becomes a school of crime, where the young +offender is both demoralized by contact with hardened criminals, and +initiated into the mysteries of professional villainy. It is a question +whether detention in prison, without remedial influences, is not more +of a loss than a gain. The critical time of a prisoner, desirous of +building up a new life, is when he crosses the threshold of the prison +and goes out into the world. He is met with distrust wherever his past +is known. He is in constant terror of exposure if he tries to keep it +secret. And what does the State do to put him on his feet or to give +him a chance? It gives him a few dollars to carry him here or there, +and bids him shift for himself. And finding every avenue of honest +employment closed against him, he is driven in desperation, however well +disposed he may be, to renew his criminal habits and associates. What, +then, are the remedies, as far as the prison system is concerned? +Chiefly, classification. Let not one who desires to reform be compelled +to associate with those who are almost sure to degrade and debase him. +The neglect of discriminating classification of offenders is a dark +stain upon civilization. Then, again, I believe it to be the duty of the +State to reinstate the penitentiary man in society. This may be secured +by a conditional discharge, the finding of work for him, and the +obligation to report himself at stated periods to the proper authority. + +I have regarded it as within the province of my office to thus briefly +set forth what I have gathered from experience in my intercourse with +convicts, as well as from sober conviction, after mature deliberation. +Let the State consider and act. + + TABLE SHOWING SENTENCES OF CONVICTS + DURING THE YEARS 1887 AND 1888. + + Years. Mos. No. + + 1 2 + 1 ... 14 + 1 6 1 + 2 ... 745 + 2 3 1 + 2 6 15 + 2 8 8 + 3 ... 296 + 3 6 8 + 4 ... 86 + 4 4 1 + 4 6 1 + 5 ... 164 + 6 ... 12 + 7 ... 21 + 8 ... 6 + 10 ... 72 + 11 ... 3 + 12 ... 8 + 13 ... 1 + 14 ... 1 + 15 ... 13 + 18 ... 2 + 20 ... 10 + 21 ... 2 + 22 ... 1 + 25 ... 13 + 30 ... 2 + 35 ... 1 + 38 ... 2 + 48 ... 1 + 50 ... 2 + 99 ... 4 + Life ... 4 + ---- + Total 1523 + +I have here inserted the foregoing table to show the reader about how +the sentences are. It will be observed that of the one thousand five +hundred and twenty-three prisoners admitted during the past two years, +seven hundred and forty-five of them, or nearly one-half, have but a +two-years' sentence. This shows that the crimes committed were not very +"horrible in their nature," or the sentences imposed would have been +more severe. This is probably the first offense for these offenders. By +good conduct in the prison one-fourth of their time will be deducted. +This will give them but eighteen months of actual service. What can they +accomplish in so short a time? The contractors care but little for them, +since their time will expire before they can master a trade and be of +any service. Had these youthful offenders been given a term in a county +jail or reformatory, would not justice been satisfied, and there would +have been more hope for the prisoner as to the future. HE WOULD NOT HAVE +BEEN A PENITENTIARY CONVICT. I hope soon to see the day when the great +State of Missouri will have a reformatory institution which will receive +the wayward youth of that great commonwealth, and, after keeping and +training them for a time, will send them out into the world stronger and +better men than when first received. So far as reformation is concerned, +the Missouri penitentiary is a dismal failure. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. PRISON DISCIPLINE + +The Missouri penitentiary ranks among the leading penal institutions +of the country in matter of discipline. The rules and regulations are +placed in the hands of the prisoner as soon as he enters. If an inmate +obeys these rules and regulations he will be let alone, and will go +through his term of service without being punished. If he becomes unruly +and disobedient he will be punished, and that, too, very severely. + +Each prisoner is allowed one pound of tobacco a month for chewing and +smoking purposes. In this prison the inmate is permitted to smoke in +his cell. This is the only institution with which I am acquainted that +permits smoking. The prisoners seem to enjoy their smoke very much, +and I do not see but that it is just the thing, for if a person on the +outside takes comfort from the use of his pipe, much more will the man +who sits in the solitude of a felon's cell. If a prisoner violates a +prison rule his tobacco is taken away from him for a time. The majority +of the inmates will obey the rules of the prison through fear of having +their tobacco, taken away from them. Each prisoner also has access to +the books of the library, and another mode of punishment is to deprive +the offender the use of the library for a time. This, also, has a very +salutary effect. Another mode of punishment, is to place the unruly +convict in a dungeon and feed him nothing but bread and water. The +prisoner on entering this dreary abode must leave behind him his hat, +coat and shoes, and in this condition he is required often to spend days +and weeks in solitary confinement. The dungeon contains no furniture of +any description save a night bucket. Prisoners do not remain in these +dark holes very long until they promise obedience. It is one of the +most successful modes of prison punishment. In case of a second or +third offense, and sometimes for the first, in case it is a bad one, the +offender is liable to receive a flogging. + +This is one of the few penal institutions in our country where the +cat-o'-nine-tails is used. When a prisoner's conduct has been such that +it is deemed advisable to whip him, he is taken from his cell and led +to a post in the rear of one of the large buildings, out of sight of the +other convicts. His clothing is then removed, with the exception of his +shoes. These are left on his feet to catch the blood that flows down his +limbs. In this nude condition he is tightly bound to a post with chains. +Standing at the post, in a helpless condition, he receives the lash. The +whip consists of several leather straps, or thongs, at the ends of which +small pieces of steel are fastened. Every blow brings the blood. I have +been told by reliable persons that, at times, prisoners have been so +severely flogged that the blood, flowing down their limbs into their +shoes would fill them and run out over the tops. This seems barbarous in +the extreme, and my humane reader at once cries out, "It should not be +tolerated." In Missouri this flogging of human beings in prison has been +going on for more than fifty years. After the punishment is over, the +prisoner, half dead with fright and pain, is led back to his cell, where +he remains for a day or two, that he may recuperate. He throws himself +down on his "bunk," and remains there for hours, the blood still flowing +from his lacerated back. Often the blanket on which he lies, sticks to +his bleeding back, and a fellow convict is asked, often, to assist in +removing it. Many a poor fellow carries with him through life the scars +which were made while a convict in this prison. One day while I was +working in the coal mines of the Kansas penitentiary, a fellow-convict +showed me his scarred back. He had served a term in the Missouri +penitentiary, and while there had been severely whipped. His back told +the story too plainly that his whipping had been a severe and cruel one. +It would seem that the day of the whipping-post had passed away; that +the doors of our advanced civilization were shut against it. + +Many of the prison officials claim that it is the most healthy mode of +inflicting punishment; that to place a convict in a dungeon and to feed +him on bread and, water is far more injurious to his health than to give +him a good "paddling," and it don't require so long to do the work. +The same results are reached more quickly. Others claim that it is +impossible to have good prison discipline without resorting to the lash. +This statement is not correct. There is no better discipline to be found +in any penal institution, than that in the Kansas penitentiary, where +no prisoner ever receives a stroke from a whip. The laws of that State +forbid it. In our humble judgment it would be the best thing that the +Missouri Legislature could do at its next session, to prohibit any +further use of the lash. Sometimes a paddle is used, with small holes +bored in the end, and every time this paddle strikes the nude flesh, +blisters are raised. Again, another instrument of punishment in use is a +thick, broad, leather strap, fastened in a wooden handle, at the end of +which lateral incisions are made that give it the appearance of a +saw. There is no trouble in raising huge blisters "with this engine +of warfare." All these modes are barbarous, and should be forbidden. +Whenever severe punishment becomes essential, let the prisoner remain in +the dungeon, living on bread and water until he promises, in good faith, +to behave himself. A great deal of useless punishment can be avoided +if the officer in charge of the prison discipline is a humane man and +a good judge of human nature, and no other should be permitted to +fill this important position. We must not, however, be too hasty in +condemning prison officials for harsh treatment of those under their +charge. They have some of the most desperate men on the face of the +earth to deal with, and at times it becomes a necessity to use harsh +measures. Notwithstanding this is all true, there are but very few human +beings but what have white spots in their otherwise darkened souls, and +often a word of kindness does more than a cruel blow from a merciless +officer. + +The excellent discipline of this institution is due, in the main, to +Captain Bradbury, the deputy warden. He is beyond doubt, one of the +best, and most experienced prison men in the United States. He has been +connected with the Missouri prison for thirty-three years. The warden +looks after the finances of the institution, and it belongs to Captain +Bradbury to hold in subjection the two thousand criminals that are +crowded together in that small prison enclosure. This celebrated deputy +warden is a Virginian by birth. He is sixty-two years of age. He served +in the Mexican war, and now draws a pension from the Government, because +of his services there. If a prisoner conducts himself properly, Captain +Bradbury will treat him as humanely as he can under the circumstances. +If he becomes willful and unruly, the Captain no doubt will take great +pleasure in giving the offender "a good paddling," to use his own +forcible expression. This official is a strong advocate of corporal +punishment. He claims that a "little loosening up of the hide" of an +obstreperous prisoner does the said prisoner a vast amount of good. +Among the convicts the deputy warden is austere. He is never seen +sauntering about the prison enclosure with his long arms entwined about +any of "the boys in stripes." He claims, that too great a familiarity +breeds contempt. This seeming harshness when in the presence of +the prisoners is only borrowed for the occasion, for, away from the +convicts, there is not a more social gentleman in the State of Missouri. +Great credit is due to Captain Bradbury for his excellent management +of this institution, under such unfavorable circumstances. Could he be +persuaded to quit the use of the whipping post, and use other measures +less barbarous, I think the same discipline could be secured, as now +exists. The officers here do not seem to be so exacting as in many other +prisons. In the Kansas penitentiary, when prisoners are in ranks going +to and from their meals, their cells, or workshops, they are required +to fold their arms, and keep their eyes fixed upon the back of the one's +head just in front. No gazing about is permitted, and should a prisoner +speak to one in the front of him and be detected, he would be summarily +dealt with. In the Missouri prison I noticed that the convicts while +marching would gaze about wherever they wished, and go swinging along +with their arms dangling at their sides. In many prisons the inmates are +required, while in ranks, to keep their hands on the shoulders of the +man in front. This would seem to be the most desirable way of having +the prisoners march. In this prison one can detect more of a homelike +feeling, not so rigorous and exacting as in many institutions of this +nature. Captain Todd, assistant deputy warden, is another official of +long standing. He has been with this prison for eighteen years, and is +very popular. In this connection we must not fail to mention Captain +Crump, who has been connected with this prison for thirty-six years, but +who was discharged during the last administration because of his making +statements to the effect that the prison was run by a "political ring." +He is now deputy marshal of Jefferson City, and is a faithful officer. +He incurred the displeasure of the contractors because of the grave +charges he made against them, because of their inhuman demands upon the +prisoners, requiring of them more work than they were able to perform. +Because of his humaneness, and because he wanted to see the helpless +prisoner treated as he should be, after thirty-six years of faithful +service was discharged from the institution. In 1883 there was an +investigation made of many serious charges preferred against the +contractors and some of the leading officials. The committee made their +report to the governor, and some five hundred pamphlets containing this +report were printed for distribution. When the Legislature met none +of these books could be found, and the whole matter was a specimen of +whitewash. The report contained some very damaging charges, but nothing +was ever done with the matter. I visited the office of the secretary of +state and asked to see one of these books, but even his office did not +contain a copy of this State document. The Legislature should keep a +watchful eye over this penal institution, and, while there should be +good discipline maintained, the prisoners should not be treated in a +barbarous manner. + + +A PARDONING BOARD + +The governor has the pardoning power. He extends executive clemency to a +number annually. He has not time to attend to the duties connected with +this prerogative. There are 2,000 prisoners. No doubt many of them have +excessive sentences. If a thorough investigation was made, many would +be found innocent. The governor has not the time to attend to these +matters. There should be a pardoning board appointed to investigate +these cases and advise with the governor. To show the necessity of such +a board, I have only to state that during the past year the Pardoning +Board of Kansas has advised executive clemency to fifteen criminals who +received their pardons on the grounds of innocency. One of the number +being a Mrs. Henrietta Cook, who was sentenced for life, and who had +served fifteen years of imprisonment, when, upon an investigation of her +case by the Pardoning Board, she was discharged, there being no doubt +as to her innocence. The great majority of these prisoners are poor +and friendless. They have no one on the outside to aid them in securing +their rights, and unless a pardoning board is appointed to investigate +these cases, many a man and woman entirely innocent, will have to serve +out a sentence in this prison. + +It is but natural for the contractors to use their influence to +prevent the men under their control from receiving pardons. If a man +is sentenced for ten years, and has been in one of the shops for two or +three years, and has learned to do his work well, the contractor will +want to keep him instead of letting him go, and will, no doubt, in an +underhanded way, do all against the poor prisoner he can. This strong +influence in many cases will have to be counteracted and overcome before +the prisoner can receive his pardon and obtain his liberty. A pardoning +board, when appointed, should be men who would not be in collusion with +the contractors, but be men who would see that the prisoner had justice. + + + +CHAPTER XIX. NOTED CONVICTS + +At the present time there are fifty-six females who find homes in this +living tomb. Two-thirds of them are colored. The greater portion are +kept busy making underclothing for the prisoners. They are detained, +during working hours, in a room, seated at tables, with a lady guard +watching them. They are not allowed to converse with each other, only as +they get permission from this officer. They are not permitted to see the +male prisoners. In fact there is no way of entering the female prison +from the male department. The dormitory is on the third floor. The +female convicts wear striped calico dresses, the stripes running +lengthwise. The female prison is kept scrupulously clean, which reflects +great credit upon those having the management of this department. + +In company with Doctor Lewellyn, the prison physician, I passed through +the dormitory. Here I found a great curiosity. It was a baby prisoner, +six months old. The little convict was born in the penitentiary. It is +a colored child--its mother being a mulatto, who was sent to prison for +fifteen years for murdering two of her children. When on the outside, +she lived with her paramour, a white man, and, as fast as children were +born to them, she would murder them in cold blood. The white man was +tried also as accessory to the murder, but, owing to her refusal to +testify against him, there was not sufficient evidence to convict him, +and he was set at liberty. He often visits her at the prison, bringing +her eatables, which are very much relished in the penitentiary. I saw +also the notorious Sadie Hayes, who was sent up from St. Louis for +killing a policeman. She was under the influence of strong drink, and, +thus crazed with whisky, the officer tried to arrest her. She drew a +razor, and began to slash away at the officer, and, in spite of his club +and large, muscular frame, she soon cut him to pieces. He expired on +the sidewalk, where the engagement took place. She was sent up for +ninety-nine years, and has now been in prison about three years. She +is one of the most desperate looking women I ever saw, and, when crazed +with drink, becomes an infuriated demon. She is an adept in the use of +the razor. + +The oldest female prisoner is an aged German woman by the name of +Oldstein, from Gasconade County. She has been in the penitentiary +thirteen years, and, doubtless, would get a pardon if she had any place +where she could make her home after securing her liberty. The old woman +is entirely broken down and is a physical wreck. She spends the most of +her time knitting. Aside from keeping her own bedding clean she is +not required to perform any labor. She was charged with a cold-blooded +murder. She, her husband and daughter murdered her daughter's husband. +The old man was hung, the daughter was sent up for life, and died in a +few months after entering prison. The old woman was sentenced to be hung +also with her husband, but the governor commuted her sentence to that of +life imprisonment. For thirteen long, dreary years she has lived behind +these prison walls. She longs for death, but death refuses, as yet, to +claim her as his own. Broken in health, friendless, penniless, this +poor old woman is but another proof that "the way of the transgressor +is hard." I also saw Anna Brown, another female prisoner, who, with her +step-brother, planned and carried into execution a terrible cold-blooded +murder. It was none other than the killing of her aged father. The +boy was sent to prison for life and the woman received a sentence +of forty-nine years. Her sentence might just as well have read "life +imprisonment" as forty-nine years, for she cannot live but a few years +longer in confinement. Nannie Stair is another interesting prisoner. She +came from Vernon County. An old and crippled man was driving through the +country. Night coming on found him near the house of the Stair family. +He stopped and asked for a night's lodging. His request was granted. +That was the old man's last night of earth. During the hours of the +night Stair and his wife made their way into the bed-chamber where the +helpless traveler lay asleep unconscious of his doom. It was not long +until the husband sent an axe crushing through his brain, his wife +standing by, a witness to the fearful deed. During the same night they +dug his grave in the garden back of the house, and buried him. Next day +the husband drove the murdered man's team to a town not far distant, and +sold it. In a couple of weeks friends began to institute search for the +missing man. He was traced to the home of the Stair family. The husband +and wife being separated, and the officers telling the wife that she +would be let out of the scrape without much punishment in case she would +tell all she knew, she informed them of all the details of the bloody +deed, where the victim lay buried, and what disposition was made of +the murdered man's team and money. The two were arrested, tried and +convicted. The husband was hung, and the wife sent to the penitentiary +for six years. Her time will now soon be served out, and she will once +more be a free woman. The desire of this family to obtain filthy lucre +was too great. Of the fifty-six female inmates of of the Missouri +penitentiary, fifteen of them were sent for murder. Kansas City has +several female representatives. It is stated, on good authority, that +the sentences imposed by the judges of the Kansas City district are far +more excessive than in any other portion of the State. I was told that +a number of these female convicts were very desperate characters, while +others of them, driven to deeds of desperation on account of poverty, +committed acts that for a time placed them behind prison bolts and +bars. Something should be done to aid these poor women, when their terms +expire, to get a start in life. If something is not done for them, it +will be but a short time when they will drift back again into crime and +prison. + +The author of this book believes that it is all right to send money +to India and other remote countries to aid the heathen, but instead of +sending it all away to lands beyond the seas, he thinks a portion of +it, at least, could be well expended this side the briny deep in helping +some of these poor unfortunate convicts to get another start in life, +and thus lift them out of a life of crime. + + +WHISKY AND CARDS + +Felix Bagan's history shows the career of many a boy, when thrown into +bad company. At an early age Felix was left an orphan. When his parents +both died he had not a relative living that cared anything for him. +Taken from the grave of his mother, who died shortly after the death and +burial of her husband, the unfortunate lad was placed in the orphan's +home in St. Louis. Here he remained for several years, and acquired all +the education that he possessed. After becoming old enough to do some +work, he was given to a farmer, who took him to his home in the country. +Possessed of a genial disposition, he soon made many friends. He was +highly esteemed by the lady and gentleman who adopted him. He was honest +and industrious. It was on election day that his down-fall took place. +In company with several young men, who resided on neighboring farms, +he went to a small town near by to pass the day. Being invited to +participate in a game of cards, he and several of his companions found +their way into the back part of a saloon, where the day was spent in +drinking and gambling. Toward evening a dispute arose about the cards, +a drunken fight was the result. Bagan, half crazed with drink, drew his +knife and stabbed to the death one of his companions. The young man whom +he murdered, prior to this had been one of his best friends. When he saw +the life-blood of his companion ebb away, he came to his senses, and +was soon sober. He wept like a child when he saw his friend sinking away +into, the arms of death. The awful deed was done, and nothing was left +to the unfortunate youth but to be led away to prison, with the blood of +a human being upon his garments. In due time he had his trial, and was +sent to the penitentiary for thirty years. He was twenty-two years +of age when he received the sentence. He has now been in the prison +thirteen years. For seven years he worked in the saddle-tree shop for +Sullivan, Hayes & Co., prison contractors. At the end of that time his +health failing, he refused to work. The prison authorities thought +he was trying to shirk his work. After being severely flogged, he was +placed in the dungeon and kept there in solitary confinement for three +months. Half dead, he was taken to the hospital and left in the hands +of the prison physician. For a time it was thought he would die. After +a while he began to recover; large patches of hair fell from his scalp, +leaving his head thickly covered with bald spots. When he entered +the prison he was a fine-appearing young man, but thirteen years of +imprisonment have converted him into a broken-down old man and physical +wreck. That was a sad day for that unfortunate youth when he entered the +saloon to take part in the game of cards. He will not live to the end of +his sentence, but will die in the penitentiary, and find his last, long +home in the prison grave-yard. Young man, as you read the history of +this convict, can you not persuade yourself to let whisky and cards +alone for the future? + + +BILL RYAN + +Passing through the cell houses, I was shown the room occupied by the +notorious Bill Ryan for seven years. He was a member of the James boys' +gang. Being convicted of highway robbery he was sent to the prison +for twenty years. After Jesse James had been killed by young Ford, and +Frank's crimes had been pardoned, Ryan's sentence was commuted to ten +years, and after serving seven he regained his liberty. + +Ryan was accredited with being one of the best prisoners in the +penitentiary. On the outside, if reports be true, he was one of the most +desperate men in Missouri. His time was spent in drinking, gambling, +quarreling, fighting and killing. He is charged with killing a number +of men. He was twice tried for murder, but proving an alibi, the jury +brought in a verdict of "not guilty." The prison officials speak in the +highest terms of his conduct while an inmate of the penitentiary. He was +an obedient and hard-working convict. Now that he is once more a free +man it is to be hoped that he will show himself as good a citizen on the +outside, as he was on the inside, of prison walls. + + +WILLIE HILDRUM + +This youthful convict is but sixteen years of age. He is the youngest +prisoner in the penitentiary. He was formerly a boot-black on the +streets of St. Louis. Getting into a fight one day with one of his +boot-black companions over a nickel that they had jointly earned +"shining up" a patron's boots, young Hildrum drew an old knife from his +pocket, which he had found a few days before, and sent the rusty blade +into the heart of the street Arab. The youthful murderer was tried and +convicted of manslaughter, and on account of his youth was given but two +years in the penitentiary. + + +S. D. HENSON + +This convict was at one time county judge of Stoddard County, and highly +respected. He is one of the finest appearing men I ever saw. His finely +shaped head bespeaks intelligence. It is sad to see such grand looking +specimens dressed in the garb of disgrace. Judge Henson became involved +in a quarrel with one of his neighbors over some trivial matter, and +killed him. His sentence is for twenty years, which for him at this +advanced age means death in the prison. Great efforts are being put +forth for his pardon, but it is a question left entirely with the +governor, and no one can tell how he may act. + +Judge Henson is not at heart a criminal. On that open countenance +there is no mark of Cain. Thinking of his sad case, more than ever am +I convinced that we are creatures of circumstances. How many of +my readers, had they in the past, been surrounded by the same +circumstances, subject to the same temptations, would not have acted in +the same manner, and like judge Henson found a home in a convict's cell. + + +FORTY-EIGHT YEARS A PRISONER + +John Hicks is the veteran penitentiary convict of the United States. +Under an alias he served one term in the Missouri penitentiary. Most of +his time has been spent in prisons further east. He is now eighty-four +years of age, and quite recently was released from the Michigan City +penitentiary. Prison authorities have compared notes and find that he +has actually served forty-eight years of prison life. He is the oldest +living criminal in this country. He has served ten terms, the greater +portion of them being in Indiana. His first crime was committed in 1839. +In some way he learned that a man named Bearder had $360 in his house. +While the family were at church Hicks rifled the house and stole their +money. A marked coin led to his conviction, and he got a three years' +sentence. He was never, afterward, out six months at a time, and was +sent up successively for burglary, criminal assault, robbery, larceny, +cattle-stealing and horse-stealing. At the expiration of his fifth term, +at Michigan City, he made his way to the office, where the directors +were in session. He begged them to allow him to build a shanty in a part +of the prison in which he could sleep and call his home. All that he +asked was that the scraps from the table be given him for food. The +board refused to allow him this, and Hicks bade them good-by. He walked +to a small town near by, where he soon was arrested for thieving, and +was taken to prison to serve what he declared to be his last term. His +head is as white as snow, and in keeping with his long, flowing beard, +and he looks like a patriarch, yet is not stooped a particle. His desire +now is to secure honest work, that will guarantee him a home. He wishes +to spend the rest of his days a free man. Had this man been assisted +just a little at the expiration of his first term, he might have become +a useful citizen, but as it was, his life was spent behind the bars. +When once the feet find themselves walking in the pathway of crime, +it is very difficult for them ever to walk in paths of honesty and +uprightness thereafter. + + +NINE TIMES + +As I was walking through the penitentiary, in company with Deputy Warden +Bradbury, he pointed out an old convict, and said, "There is a fellow +that has seen prison life. He is here this time under the name of +Gus Loman. He is now serving his NINTH term in this prison. At the +expiration of one of his sentences he went away and was gone over a +year, and when he came back I asked him where he had been so long. His +reply was, 'Simply rusticating at Joliet, Ill., with some friends.' +Every time he is sent to prison he gives in a new and different name +and, of course, no one but himself knows what his real name is." When +asked why he comes to the prison so often, he remarked that, when once +in prison it is impossible to get work to do on the outside, and he had +made up his mind to spend the rest of his days in prison. He claimed +that the fates were against him and he could not make a living on the +outside, as no one would employ him; that he had tried it several times +and failed, and now he had given up all hope. He is a bold, bad and +natural thief. As soon as his term is out he goes a little distance from +the prison, gets on a spree, gets into trouble, steals something, +and soon finds himself back again in the penitentiary. He is now over +seventy years of age, and is both a physical and moral wreck. What an +awful warning for the young is the history of such a wasted life. + + +DESPERADO JOHNSON + +This convict is the most daring and desperate criminal in the Missouri +penitentiary. The prison authorities have had more trouble with him than +with any other man who ever found a home behind the walls of this great +institution. He was sent up from Jackson County, and was charged with +murdering two men before he was finally convicted of crime. On trial for +these two murders be was successful in proving an alibi. The last time +he was not so successful, and received a sentence of twelve years. Soon +after his arrival at the prison he was set to work in one of the shops. +When he became a little acquainted, his innate cussedness induced him to +raise a riot in the prison. It was a desperate undertaking, but he was +equal to the emergency. For days and weeks he was on the alert, and when +a guard was not on the watch he would communicate with a convict, and +enlist his services, and give him his instructions as to what part he +should perform when the signal should be given. + +At last the day came when all was ready for the plans so well laid to be +carried into execution. Each of the convicts who were to act in concert +with him piled up a lot of kindling in their respective shops and +saturated it with kerosene. When the prisoners were being marched out +to supper, they threw matches into the piles of kindling-wood, and soon +several buildings were on fire. Intense excitement now prevailed among +the two thousand convicts. The ranks were quickly broken, and all was +confusion. Some of the better disposed convicts tried to assist the +officers in putting out the fires, and were in turn knocked down and +trampled upon by those who were in favor of the riot. In the midst of +this great excitement Johnson, the leader, with four of his associates, +knocked down one of the guards and stripped him of his clothing. Johnson +put on this suit of blue and started to one of the towers. Reaching the +same, he asked permission of the officer on duty to let down the ladder +and allow him to ascend and assist him in "holding the fort," as this +was Captain Bradbury's orders. Johnson's intentions were to get on top +of the wall and into the tower, where the guard opened the large gate +below by the use of a lever. The convict, once inside the tower, would +knock the officer down, seize his gun, raise the lever, throw open the +large gate in the wall, and permit the prisoners all to rush out. This +was a bold scheme, and it is a wonder, during the great excitement +that prevailed, that it was not successful. The officer on duty, when +requested by the convict to allow him to ascend the ladder, coolly drew +his gun, and told him if he dared to ascend he would send buckshot into +his body. + +Foiled in this, the desperado returns to where the officials are +fighting the flames, and began cutting the hose so as to stop the supply +of water. The fire raged furiously. A strong wind sprung up adding +intensity to the flames. Over $200,000 worth of property was soon +swept away in this direful storm of fire. After a fearful conflict the +prisoners were overpowered and driven into their cells. + +A number of them were severely wounded. Several died of the injuries +received. The prison directors had a called meeting and investigated +the riot. The blame fell upon convict Johnson. A criminal charge was +preferred against him in the courts, for arson. He was convicted and +served an additional sentence of twelve years. This, added to his former +sentence, makes twenty-four years of imprisonment for this desperado. +When he was taken out of the penitentiary to stand trial for setting +fire to the prison, he was heavily loaded with chains, and in the +custody of six prison officials. It was feared he would make a desperate +effort to escape during this trial. On his return to the prison he was +placed in a dark dungeon, and has been kept caged up ever since, like a +wild beast. When he is given exercise he wears a ball and chain and an +officer walks immediately behind him, with a loaded Winchester, ready +to shoot him down if he makes any bad breaks. The officials are very +careful when they enter his cell for any purpose, as he is liable to +kill them. Captain Bradbury, the deputy warden, in speaking of +him, says, he is the most desperate criminal he has met during his +thirty-three years of prison experience. + + +HENRY BUTLER, + +a colored representative of Pettis County, has served the longest +consecutive term of any of the male prisoners. Henry killed his man, +and for this mistake has been doing service for the State of Missouri +"without money and without price" for the past fifteen years. The story +of his downfall is very romantic. He was a married man, and the father +of an interesting family. There lived near him a young lady of color, +very handsome and attractive, so the story goes, and for whom Henry +had a great liking. There was nothing wrong about all this, perhaps, +if Henry had not permitted his affections to go too far. Instead of +admiring this dusky maiden at a distance, as he should have done, +he brought her to his home, and cared for her there in a manner +too affectionate for the tastes of his colored neighbors. Henry was +remonstrated with, but to no purpose. At the close of church services +one moonlight Sunday evening his neighbors held an indignation meeting, +and it was resolved to put a stop to Henry's little love scheme, as +it was now very evident that his wife was getting tired of having the +maiden about her so much. The meeting adjourned that evening to have the +next one the following night at Henry's front gate. During the ensuing +day he was apprised of the intentions of his callers, and was urged to +let the young lady depart from under his roof. Henry refused, since love +is blind. He got his shotgun in readiness to protect his home and his +rights. At the appointed hour some twenty-five or thirty neighbors +gathered at the place selected, and demanded of Henry that he should +give up the maiden loved, or pull hemp. At this juncture Henry called +into requisition his double-barreled shotgun and turned both barrels +loose on the excited throng. The result was a stampede, one negro killed +and two wounded. For this brave deed he was arrested, tried and sent +to prison for life. In solitude for fifteen years, Henry has had the +privilege of thinking of his illicit love, none of his former neighbors +daring to molest him or make him afraid. + +The case of a prisoner who was in the Missouri prison under the name of + + +GEORGE ELLIS + +is very remarkable. Over in Kansas a cold-blooded murder had been +committed. It seemed impossible for the authorities to discover any +trace of the murderer. Shortly after this murder had been committed, +Ellis was arrested and tried in Missouri on a charge of horse-stealing, +and got a two years' sentence. He heard of this murder having been +committed in Kansas, and, for some reason best known to himself, he +went to Deputy Warden Bradbury and confidentially told him that he +had committed the offense, and asked him to notify the authorities of +Kansas. This was done and a pardon was granted Ellis that he might be +taken to Kansas and tried for murder. No doubt, Ellis' motive in stating +that he was guilty of this offense was to get out of the penitentiary. +He supposed that after getting pardoned out of the Missouri prison, he +would have no trouble in proving an alibi in the Kansas murder case, +and in this way go free. He was taken to Kansas, tried, and failed to +establish his alibi, and was found guilty of murder and sentenced to the +penitentiary for life. If Ellis was guilty of murder, he surely would +not have told on himself and exchanged a two years' sentence in the +Missouri prison for a life sentence in the Kansas penitentiary. He is, +no doubt, innocent of this crime, but should serve a few years in the +Kansas institution because of his smartness. + + +THE SUICIDE + +A young man by the name of John Welch was sent from Stoddard County for +an heinous offense, under a sentence of ten years. His family were among +the best people of that county, and highly respected. John proved to +be a black lamb of the flock. He had not been in prison but a few weeks +when he got enough of that kind of living, and, being unable to have +his resignation accepted, he concluded to end his career by committing +suicide. It was on a beautiful Sunday morning, and the prisoners having +been to religious services, were on their way back to their cells to +spend the rest of the day in solitude. The chapel where the services +were held is in the third story of a large brick structure. An iron +stairway is attached to the wall on the outside of the building. It was +down this stairway the convicts were marching, one behind the other, +when John, stepping out of the door on to the stairway, instead of +following his comrades down and into his cell, as he had done on former +occasions, leaped out into space and fell to the ground. When he was +picked up, life was extinct. He received his pardon that day, but gave +his life as the ransom. No one can imagine how much this youth suffered +before he brought himself to that point when he decided to make that +leap into eternity. + + + +CHAPTER XX. THE EX-CONVICT + +Heavy are the burdens which men in prison must bear. They are deprived +of liberty, separated from friends, no social intercourse, and +constantly maintaining an unnatural position. The convict's place is +lower than the most degraded menial; he must ask for permission even to +get a drink of water. No serf of earth, no slave, however wretched, has +a sadder lot. These unhappy mortals have yielded to temptation, have +fallen, and are paying the penalty of violated law. Who can think of +these degraded beings, without, to some extent, its calling forth the +sympathy of the human heart, for we must not forget that they, too, are +children of one universal Father. However deplorable the condition of +these men while in prison, is it much better when they regain their +freedom? + +One morning about a month after my release from prison, as I was getting +ready for breakfast, there came a knock at the door. Opening it I saw +a young man--a tramp--who begged for something to eat. I recognized +him immediately as a former fellow-convict. He had forgotten me. It has +always been a rule in my home, when any one came to my door hungry, he +should have something to eat. At times, adhering to this practice has +almost converted my home into a hotel for tramps. I invited this young +man in, and requested him to take a seat with me at the table. He did +not wait for a second invitation. He was very hungry. During the meal I +inquired as to his past history. He gave me the same old tramp "racket." +I had listened to the same story many times. After breakfast was over +I asked him if he would have a cigar. With a smile, he said, if I would +furnish the cigar, he would be pleased to indulge. I invited him into +another room, closed the door and locked it. The turning of the key +rather took him by surprise. I reached out my hand to him, and said: +"Charley D----, don't you know me? Don't you remember the man who worked +with you for a couple of weeks in the penitentiary coal mines, room +No. 3? Have you forgotten the last day we worked together, when a large +piece of slate fell upon your leg, and I had to assist you in reaching +the foot of the shaft as you were being conveyed to the hospital?" + +"My God! Reynolds, is this you?" he exclaimed. "I would never have known +you in your pleasant surroundings. Had I met you in the penitentiary +coal mines, dressed in prison stripes, your face and hands covered with +coal dust, I would have recognized you." + +I gave him his much coveted cigar and invited him to a chair. I was +anxious to learn his history since he left the prison. He had regained +his liberty almost one year before I was released. + +After he had reached the quiet contentment which is the inevitable +result of a well appreciated breakfast and a good cigar, I said to him: +"Charley, just drop your tramp story and tell me your true history since +leaving the prison. I am anxious to know just what an ex-convict must +meet." + +This young fellow was twenty-five years of age. He served five years in +the penitentiary for stealing horses. He had an inferior education, and +might be considered an average ex-convict. His narrative will show what +the great majority of these men are called upon to endure. + +His story revealed the fact that when he left the penitentiary he had +thirteen dollars in money and a suit of inferior clothes, such as is +furnished the prisoner when discharged. Having been closely confined for +five years, without even a newspaper to read, with but few visitors, +he was entirely ignorant of what had occurred during his period of +incarceration. His parents had been dead for several years, and he had +no friends to whom he could apply for aid. The large iron doors swung +upon their hinges, and he went forth a free but bewildered man. He had +liberty, it is true, but liberty replete with such trials as awaited +this young man is certainly little better than prison confinement. +Passing under the big stone archway, and out beyond the prison +enclosure, he paused for a few moments upon the little eminence on which +the prison stands, and viewed the surrounding country, not knowing what +to do or where to go. Finally he takes the principal road that leads +across the country, and in a half hour's walk reaches a farm house. He +asks for work. The farmer needs a hand, but asks the applicant for whom +he worked last. + +"I am just out of prison," was the reply. + +"I thought so," said the farmer, "for I have seen so many of these men +coming out of that place wearing clothes similar to those you have on. +How long were you in prison, and what was your offense?" + +"I served five years, and my crime was horse-stealing." + +At this frank confession the farmer slightly coughed, and stated that +a man called the day before, and he had partially promised the place to +him, and he did not feel like employing any one until he heard from him. +Had the farmer been as frank as the convict he would have said, "I don't +want a penitentiary-bird about me, and particularly one that has been a +horse-thief." + +Finding no employment he moved on. For two weeks this friendless +ex-convict walked about the country, going from one farm house to +another, seeking employment. He practiced great economy, but at the +expiration of this time his thirteen dollars were gone. He was now +penniless, friendless and almost hopeless. For two weeks he had told the +truth, and frankly confessed he was an ex-convict. He had a desire to do +right. He felt that the first step down the hill toward the penitentiary +was lying. But two weeks squandered in trudging about the country +seeking employment and finding none, convinced him that it was +impossible to obtain work and tell the truth as to his past history, so +he imagined nothing was left but to practice deception, steal or starve. +Reader, what would you have done? He did what you probably would, +surrounded by the same circumstances--he made up his mind to lie. On +making further inquiries for work, he learns of a farmer living several +miles away, who desired hired help. He immediately set out for that +place. This farmer, like all the rest, put the question, "For whom did +you last work?" Instead of imparting the information that he was an +ex-convict, he invented a little story to the effect that he had worked +for a farmer living some miles distant, with whom he had become quite +well acquainted, having spent a Sunday at his home, and whose name he +gave his inquisitor. He received employment. A bargain was made, and our +now happy ex-convict went to work. Three weeks passed away. The employer +and the employee were mutually satisfied. The prisoner worked hard. He +felt that at last the clouds which had so long obscured his sky were +about to break away, and the sunshine of prosperity would soon be his. + +But how mistaken we sometimes are when forecasting the future! One +afternoon, at the end of three weeks, the old farmer rode up for +whom the ex-convict had stated that he worked. The ex-criminal was +recognized. The old farmer had some business with the employer of the +prisoner, and in the evening before leaving for his home, thinking to do +humanity a great favor, confidentially informed his neighbor that he had +an ex-penitentiary convict on his farm at work, and that he was an old, +hardened horse-thief, and beyond all hope of redemption. That evening, +after supper, the prisoner got the "grand bounce." The small amount of +money he received for his three weeks' services on the farm was expended +in paying his expenses while continuing his search for work. + +He at length arrives at Kansas City, with but a few cents, and +completely discouraged about securing work. At this place he met a +criminal, a former acquaintance. He, too, was without money. They talked +over their misfortunes, and after duly considering the matter, came +to the conclusion that out of crime there was no chance to get another +start. They planned a burglary for the following night. A residence some +distance from the central portion of the city was entered. They obtained +ten dollars and a silver watch, and concluded to continue their criminal +efforts the next evening. During the day, however, the "pal" was +arrested on another charge, and locked up in the city prison. He thought +it about time to fly, and so took his departure. + +He spent the rest of his time in Kansas, tramping about and stealing. +When he had money he would live well; when his pocketbook was empty he +would beg and steal. There was one crime he committed for which he +could not be much blamed. The old farmer that went to so much trouble +to convey the intelligence to his brother granger that the hero of +our story was an ex-convict, was the sufferer. The ex-convict, to get +"even," one dark night entered the barn, rode away a beautiful riding +pony, sold him for fifty dollars in cash, and forgot to mention the +fact to the farmer. In stealing, tramping and begging the time had been +chiefly taken up from the day he had left the prison, to the morning he +came to my house for something to eat. He will doubtless continue this +course until caught in some criminal act, which will result in another +term in the penitentiary. + +The great majority of the criminals in the penitentiary are young men. +One dose of prison life is all they desire. Did they but have the least +opportunity of living useful lives, and becoming respectable citizens +when out of prison, they would improve it, instead of committing crime +and being returned to hard labor without compensation. I am now pleading +for hundreds of young men who are in prison for the first time, and have +all the punishment along this line they desire, who would like to reform +and become useful citizens. But how can they accomplish this? Unaided +they will come out of the prison, drift about awhile, and then the +current of sin and crime will bear them back again to a felon's cell. In +an unguarded hour they succumbed to the tempter's power, and fell. The +dark mantle of disgrace has enveloped them. And if there were some kind +friend to lend a helping hand, how quickly would they tear it off and +put on the robe of useful citizenship. Will not the great State of +Missouri adopt some plan to afford aid to these men who would like to be +extricated from this dangerous quagmire into which they have fallen? + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Twin Hells, by John N. Reynolds + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1318 *** |