The Twin Hells: A Thrilling Narrative of Life in the Kansas and Missouri PenitentiariesReynolds, John N. (John Newton)
History
The Twin Hells: A Thrilling Narrative of Life in the Kansas and Missouri Penitentiaries
Reynolds, John N. (John Newton)
Prisons -- Kansas; Prisons -- Missouri
The next part of the programme consisted in a little darkey coming in
front of our cell with a rudely constructed barber's chair. The cell
door opened, and an officer said to me, as if he would hit me with a
club the next moment, "Git out of there." I went out. Pointing to the
barber's chair, he said, "Squat yourself in that chair." I sat down.
"Throw back your head." I laid it back. It was not long before my raven
mustache was off, and my hair cut rather uncomfortably short for fly
time. After this tonsorial artist had finished his work then came the
command once more, "Git in." I got in. It now came Mr. Horserider's turn
to bid a long farewell to his auburn locks. He took his place in the
chair, and the little darkey, possibly for his own amusement, cut off
the hair on one side of the head and left the other untouched. He then
shaved one side of his face without disturbing the other. At this moment
the bell for dinner rang, and the little colored fellow broke away and
ran to his division, to fall in ranks, so that he would not miss his
noon meal. Once more Mr. Horserider entered his cell and we were locked
in. A more comical object I never beheld; he did not even possess the
beauty of a baboon; he might certainly have passed for the eighth wonder
of the world. When he came in I handed him the small looking-glass and
asked him how he liked his hair-cut. Remember, one side of his head and
face was shaved close, and the other covered with long sandy hair and
beard. Looking into the glass, he exclaimed: "Holy Moses! and who am
I, anyway?" I answered his question by stating that he favored Mr.
What-Is-It. He was very uneasy for a time, thinking that he was going to
be left in that condition. He wanted to know of me if all horse-thieves
of the penitentiary wore their hair and whiskers in this style. I
comforted him all I could by imparting the information that they did. He
was much relieved when the darkey returned after dinner and finished the
shaving.
I was next taken out of my cell to pass a medical examination. Dr.
Mooney, the gentlemanly officer in charge of the hospital, put in an
appearance with a large book under his arm and sat down by a table. I
was ushered into his presence. He began asking me questions, and
wrote down my answers in his book, which proved to be the physician's
register.
"Have you any decayed teeth?" was his first question,
"No, sir," was my reply.
"Have you ever lost any teeth?"
"No, sir."
"Have you ever had the measles?"
"Yes, sir."
"Have you ever had the mumps?"
"Yes, sir."
"Have you ever had the chicken-pox?"
"Yes, sir."
"Have you ever had the thresh?"
Well, I didn't know what was meant by the thresh. I knew that I had been
"thrashed" a great many times, and inferred from that fact that I must
have had the disease at some time or other in my youth, so I answered,
"Yes, sir."
"Have you ever had the itch?"
"What kind?" said I. "The old fashioned seven year kind? Y-e-s, sir, I
have had it."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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