The Twin Hells | Page 7

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