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
loose on the excited throng. The result was a stampede, one negro killed
and two wounded. For this brave deed he was arrested, tried and sent
to prison for life. In solitude for fifteen years, Henry has had the
privilege of thinking of his illicit love, none of his former neighbors
daring to molest him or make him afraid.
The case of a prisoner who was in the Missouri prison under the name of
GEORGE ELLIS
is very remarkable. Over in Kansas a cold-blooded murder had been
committed. It seemed impossible for the authorities to discover any
trace of the murderer. Shortly after this murder had been committed,
Ellis was arrested and tried in Missouri on a charge of horse-stealing,
and got a two years' sentence. He heard of this murder having been
committed in Kansas, and, for some reason best known to himself, he
went to Deputy Warden Bradbury and confidentially told him that he
had committed the offense, and asked him to notify the authorities of
Kansas. This was done and a pardon was granted Ellis that he might be
taken to Kansas and tried for murder. No doubt, Ellis' motive in stating
that he was guilty of this offense was to get out of the penitentiary.
He supposed that after getting pardoned out of the Missouri prison, he
would have no trouble in proving an alibi in the Kansas murder case,
and in this way go free. He was taken to Kansas, tried, and failed to
establish his alibi, and was found guilty of murder and sentenced to the
penitentiary for life. If Ellis was guilty of murder, he surely would
not have told on himself and exchanged a two years' sentence in the
Missouri prison for a life sentence in the Kansas penitentiary. He is,
no doubt, innocent of this crime, but should serve a few years in the
Kansas institution because of his smartness.
THE SUICIDE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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