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
To prove more conclusively that it was political spite work that sent me
to prison, let me inform the readers that about the time the insurance
company at Atchison was organized, a similar one was organized in
Topeka. They were similar in EVERY RESPECT. I was president of the one
at Atchison, while a distinguished gentleman by the name of Gen. J. C.
Caldwell was president of the one at Topeka. Both of these companies
failed. The president of the Atchison company was sent to the
penitentiary, while the president of the Topeka company was appointed by
the governor of the State to the responsible position of chairman of the
State Board of Pardons. Many persons have asked why this difference in
the treatment of the presidents of these two companies. The only answer
that can be given is that General Caldwell stood in with the Kansas
political ring, while I did not. Every sensible man must admit that if
it was just for me to serve a term in prison for the offense charged
against me, General Caldwell should have been prescribed for in the same
manner. I have no fight to make upon Mr. Caldwell. He is an excellent
gentlemen. He was in luck. The fates were against me. Had I been a State
instead of a United States prisoner, no doubt Mr. Caldwell, as chairman
of the Board of Pardons, would have used his influence to secure for me
my liberty. That I was sent to prison is wholly due to politics. It is
unnecessary, therefore, for me to inform the reader that I am now
"out of politics." Having served out my term I returned to my home in
Atchison. As to the ring that sent me to prison, some of them are dead,
others have left Atchison to make their homes in other places, others
have failed financially, and still others have fallen so low that they
have scarcely friends enough to bury them should they happen to die.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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