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