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.