appeared and introduced a motion to continue the case, filing
affidavits necessary in such cases. The prosecuting attorney having
given his consent, there was no doubt in the minds of those interested
as to the continuance of the case. For some cause best known to himself,
the judge would not grant the continuance, and forced me to trial
without having a single witness. It was my intention to have some fifty
witnesses subpoenaed, to prove that the insurance company of which I
was president was not a fraud. Not being allowed to have my witnesses,
I was, under the instructions of the court, which were, indeed,
exceedingly pointed, found guilty, and sentenced to eighteen months'
imprisonment and to pay a fine of two hundred dollars. The political
ring now triumphed for a brief period. In order to prove conclusively
to the reader that this was a piece of spite work, I have only to state
that I was the only one of all the officers of that company that was
ever tried for running a bogus insurance company. Why was it that I
was the only one sent to the penitentiary when there was the secretary,
treasurer, and six directors equally as guilty as myself?

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