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.

CONTENTS

PREFACE A KANSAS HELL CHAPTER I.   MY INITIATION AND CRIME

CHAPTER II.   THE COAL MINES

CHAPTER III.   THE COAL MINES (Continued)

CHAPTER IV.   THE PUNISHMENTS OF THE PRISON

CHAPTER V.   SUNDAY IN THE PRISON

CHAPTER VI.   SCENES IN THE HOSPITAL

CHAPTER VII.   ESCAPES FROM PRISON

CHAPTER VIII.   THE PRISONERS

CHAPTER IX.   FORTY-EIGHT HOURS IN HELL

CHAPTER X.   STOLEN HORSES

CHAPTER XI.   CANDIDATE FOR THE STATE SENATE

CHAPTER XII.   A DARK HOUR

CHAPTER XIII.     FREEDOM


A MISSOURI HELL CHAPTER XIV.   THE CONVICT'S HOME

CHAPTER XV.   THE WORK OF THE CONVICT

CHAPTER XVI.   THE MISSOURI PRISONERS

CHAPTER XVII.   THE MISSOURI PRISONERS—(Continued)

CHAPTER XVIII.     PRISON DISCIPLINE

CHAPTER XIX.   NOTED CONVICTS

CHAPTER XX.   THE EX-CONVICT

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