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

A young man by the name of John Welch was sent from Stoddard County for
an heinous offense, under a sentence of ten years. His family were among
the best people of that county, and highly respected. John proved to
be a black lamb of the flock. He had not been in prison but a few weeks
when he got enough of that kind of living, and, being unable to have
his resignation accepted, he concluded to end his career by committing
suicide. It was on a beautiful Sunday morning, and the prisoners having
been to religious services, were on their way back to their cells to
spend the rest of the day in solitude. The chapel where the services
were held is in the third story of a large brick structure. An iron
stairway is attached to the wall on the outside of the building. It was
down this stairway the convicts were marching, one behind the other,
when John, stepping out of the door on to the stairway, instead of
following his comrades down and into his cell, as he had done on former
occasions, leaped out into space and fell to the ground. When he was
picked up, life was extinct. He received his pardon that day, but gave
his life as the ransom. No one can imagine how much this youth suffered
before he brought himself to that point when he decided to make that
leap into eternity.

CHAPTER XX. THE EX-CONVICT

Heavy are the burdens which men in prison must bear. They are deprived
of liberty, separated from friends, no social intercourse, and
constantly maintaining an unnatural position. The convict's place is
lower than the most degraded menial; he must ask for permission even to
get a drink of water. No serf of earth, no slave, however wretched,