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