t sending me out of
the penitentiary, IN CITIZEN'S CLOTHING, was without WARRANT IN LAW OR
PRECEDENT IN FACT, and that, by releasing me in that way, they had lost
control of me. Unknown to me he had prepared an application in "habeas
corpus." The judge of the District Court, Hon. W. D. Gilbert, who was on
the bench at the time, was a personal friend of his and mine also, as
I had something to do in his election, and had the application been
presented to him, the judge would have inclined to turn me loose, and
I would have been a free man. When Mr. Arnold informed me as to what
he was doing, I told him that I had given my word of honor that I would
return to the prison, and that I would keep it.

At the expiration of a week I returned to my prison cell. A petition,
signed by nearly five thousand people, had been forwarded to President
Cleveland for my pardon. I had some hopes of securing relief. I bade my
wife good-by. I thought sure I would be sent home in a few days. My wife
hopefully entertained the same opinion. We were both deceived. When I
reached the prison, the deputy warden, Mr. Higgins, when he was informed
by the officer, Mr. Morgan, who attended me home, how I refused my
chances of liberty by means of the proceedings in "habeas corpus,"
contemplated by my friends, choosing imprisonment rather than breaking
my word, called me into his office, and said that there was not one man
in ten placed in my circumstances that would have done as I did. He then
said to me: "Reynolds, I will see that you have no more hard work to do
while you are in the penitentiary; I would give you your liberty if I
could, but that is beyond my power. I will make it as agreeable for you
as possible in the prison." He got another man to take my place in the
mines, and I was given an easy task from that on. I was detailed to make
out reports for the prison officials, and was kept busy, and was, as I
was informed, a very valuable man in that capacity. This kind of work
was in keeping with my labors when on the outside, and was not hard on
me like digging coal. I was given the liberty of the prison; was allowed
to converse with the prisoners, and because of these favors shown me, I
was able to secure the material for this book.

The month following my return to the prison was the darkest, the most
desolate, and the most sorrowful portion of my earthly pilgrimage yet
experienced. My wife was at home dying! I was behind the prison walls!
Duri