e burial suit consists of a cotton shirt and a pair of
drawers of the same material. The coffin is very plain, and is made in
one of the prison shops.

CHAPTER VII. ESCAPES FROM PRISON

Occasionally there is a man shrewd enough to make his escape from
prison. When a convict has almost served out his time he is generally
selected to perform the duties of a "trusty," and allowed to go
outside the prison enclosure. By good conduct other prisoners gain the
confidence of the officials, and there are instances where these men,
though they may have several months to serve, are permitted to go beyond
the walls, doing duty for the prison. But they are rare. Generally a
convict, if he has long to serve, is not trusted to any great extent.
At times these "trusties," although they may have but a few weeks to
remain, cannot successfully resist the temptation to escape. Ordinarily
the escaped convict is overtaken and brought back.

I recollect an instance where two young fellows were thus trusted. One
of them had two months to serve, and the other but twenty-seven days.
They were given employment at the reservoir, over a mile from the
prison. No officer was guarding them. They made an attempt to get away.
After being absent a few hours they were missed from their post of
duty. The alarm was given, and officers started in pursuit. They were
overtaken and caught about five miles distant, hid in the brush. They
had concealed themselves in this place, intending to make their escape
in the darkness of the coming night. The officers in search accidentally
came upon them in this brush patch. They were taken back to prison. They
were compelled to work for thirty days with a ball and chain attached to
each of their limbs, after which they were taken to Leavenworth, to the
District Court, where they plead guilty to the charge of attempting to
escape from the prison. Each of them received a sentence of one year at
hard labor in the penitentiary for this foolishness. After their present
sentence has expired, they will have to enter immediately upon the
other for trying to escape. At this writing, both of these convicts are
digging coal in the mines. They are not trusted now.

Another prisoner, a much older man than these two whom I have described,
tried to escape; he got as far as Ohio before the officers secured him.
During the late rebellion this man was a captain in the army. He became
involved in a quarrel with some of his relatives a