d in this suit of stripes I was
certainly "a thing of beauty." The coat was a short blouse and striped;
the stripes, white and black, alternated with each other, and passed
around the body in a horizontal way. The pantaloons were striped;
the shirt was striped; the cap was striped. In fine, it seemed that
everything about that penitentiary was striped--even to the cats! Being
dressed, I was next handed an article that proved, on examination, to
be intended for a handkerchief. It was covered with large blue
letters--"Leavenworth Mills. XXX Flour," etc. It was a quarter section
of a flour sack! Nine hundred prisoners very soon empty a great many
flour sacks. After the flour has been consumed the sack is cut up into
quarter sections, washed, hemmed and used for handkerchiefs. No better
handkerchief can be invented. They are stout, stiff and durable! They
will bear all manner of nasal assaults! There is no danger of blowing
them into atoms, and the officials are not afraid to give them out to
convicts sent there charged with the use of dynamite! One of them has
been known to last a prisoner for five years.

After I had donned my suit and taken possession of my handkerchief, I
was ordered to fold my arms. Prisoners marching in ranks, or going to
and fro about the prison enclosure, are required to have their arms in
this position. The object is to prevent them from passing articles. I
was marched to the building known as the south wing of the cell house.
In this building, which is two hundred and fifty feet long, there are
cells for the accommodation of five hundred convicts. The prisoners who
occupy this wing work in the shops located above ground, and within the
prison enclosure.

The officer in charge conducted me to cell number one. Click went the
lock. The door was pulled open, and in his usual style, he said, "Get
in." I stepped in. Slam went the door. Click went the lock, and I was in
a felon's cell! These rooms are about four feet wide, seven feet long,
and seven feet high. In many of the cells two men are confined. These
rooms are entirely too small for the accommodation of two prisoners.
A new cell house is being built, which, when completed, will afford
sufficient additional room so that each prisoner can have a cell. In
these small rooms there are two bunks or beds when two convicts occupy
the same cell. The bed-rack is made of iron or wood slats, and the
bed-tick is filled with corn-husks; the pillow is also fil