he made up his mind conclusively as to my character, for there might
be such a thing as his being mistaken. There is no man that is
rendering more effective service to the State of Kansas in the way of
bringing criminals to justice than Mr. Elliott. He has been an officer
of the prison for nearly nine years. As an honest officer he is above
reproach. As a disciplinarian he has no superior in the West.

After this examination I was shown to my cell. It was now about two
o'clock in the afternoon of my first day in prison. I remained in the
cell alone during the entire afternoon. Of all the dark hours of my
eventful history, none have been filled with more gloom and sadness
than those of my first day in prison. Note my antecedents--a college
graduate, a county clerk, the president of a bank, and an editor of a
daily newspaper. All my life I had moved in the highest circles of
society, surrounded by the best and purest of both sexes, and now,
here I was, in the deplorable condition of having been hurled from
that high social position, down to the low degraded plane of a
convict. As I sat there in that desolate abode of the disgraced, I
tried to look out down the future. All was dark. For a time it seemed
as if that sweet angel we call hope had spread her wings and taken her
departure from me forever. The black cloud of despair seemed settling
down upon me. But very few persons possess the ability to make any
thing of themselves after having served a term in the penitentiary.
Having once fallen to so low a plane it is almost impossible to rise
again. Young man, as you peruse this book, think of these things. Once
down as a felon it is a miracle if one ever regains what he has lost.
I sat brooding over these things for an hour or more, when my manhood
asserted itself. Hope returned. I reasoned thus: I am a young man. I
enjoy good health. There will be only a few months of imprisonment and
then I will be free. I thought of my loving wife, my little children,