were searched for evidence that I was a dangerous man in the community, and I was catechised concerning my birth, parentage, occupation, and age; to all of which the answers were truthful, but were not believed. I was told that my conduct was suspicious; that I had been faithfully shadowed, and, painful as the duty might be, it was necessary to lock me up.

"Well, I made an earnest and eloquent appeal to the chief. He listened patiently. I declared over and over again that I was a newspaper man, and had an important and imperative duty to perform; that to doubt me was little less than a crime; that to commit me was to disappoint the journal upon which I was employed, and perhaps ruin my prospects in life.

That is what they all say,' he coolly replied. He promised, however, to give my case his consideration as soon as the rush of business

was over.

"I was then hurried below, my name, age, and occupation recorded in a book kept for that purpose, and compelled to accept quarters in a dismal cell.

"Merciful Providence! It was the worst place, as it then appeared to me, that I had ever beheld. And such companions! The vilest that ever breathed the damps of a dungeon.

"The key was turned in the lock, and my captor hurriedly departed.

"I was dazed and frightened. I was weak and confused, and therefore it was several minutes before I fully realized what had happened to me. I remember, though, the mocking sociability of those who occupied the

cells on my right and left and in the opposite corridor. Modesty was no part of their education. They spoke in the vernacular of the street, and with the familiarity of old friends and acquaintances.

"You've got the finest parlor f'what's in the hotel, Johnny,' chuckled a small boy, who climbed about on the bars of his cell door with all the agility and evident enjoyment of a caged monkey at a menagerie.

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"And the villain still pursued him,' remarked a seedy, middle-aged man, in a husky, stentorian voice; while a third person-an old man, who was evidently behind the bars because of light-fingered proclivities,said, in the glibbest manner possible, My son, it grieves me to the heart to meet you in marble halls. You are young, and probably think yourself innocent of the crime for which you are apprehended. It won't do! Up you go! In brief, it is my duty to inform you that the court-having considered the offence to which, by the advice of able counsel, you have pleaded nolo contendere-orders that you be confined at hard labor in the penitentiary for a period of five years; that you pay the cost of prosecution, and stand committed till sentence be performed.'

"And may God have mercy on your soul!' bawled an idiotic youth; whereupon the happy family sent up a peel of laughter that made the old dungeon echo.

"Oh, but it was a wicked place!

"There were nearly a dozen of these hilarious captives, and every one favored me with remarks or suggestions.

"A wreck in a cell at my right ad

vised me to promise to sign the pledge, and go on probation;' another suggested that it was proper to squeal on the seller,' and thus go free; while still another, a sort of patriarch in law-breaking, and a person whose greatest weakness was an inordinate affection for the flowing bowl,-observed that the court had soured on most suffering and deserving humanity, and therefore I might consider myself lucky if I got off with six month at the famous watering (hic) place known in the county as the Mountain House.

"The most crushing blow, however, came from a miserable woman on the other side of the corridor. Why, yes it is!' she exclaimed, hysterically. It is my long lost brother! And to think, Dennis, that you should come to this! Alas, for the good advice which I have given you! All wasted!'

"Her speech was hailed with every mark of approbation; in fact, the whole motley crew bellowed like fiends infernal.

"There was a pause in the proceedings, and I had begun to congratulate myself on the end of their unseemly conduct, when a human dwarf, -clean shaved, and evidently a person who had spent a good share of his days behind prison bars,-insisted on being informed, 'privately an' 'pon honor,' whether or no there was a woman in the scrape. He had, so he said, ironically, been gathering statistics for a number of years, and was now prepared to demonstrate to a nicety, before any unprejudiced tribunal, that the statement going the rounds of the press that the dear sex are mixed up in most of man's crimes

is prejudicially and unqualifiedly false. 'Rum, my dear brother in misfortune, is what does the business for us!'

"The wretched and disorderly specimens of humanity in the other cages were divided on this point. Some said 'That's so,' but the greater number groaned, and declared that the speaker was too-too for his business;' while the moment the hilarity ceased a moderate spoken individual of fifty, who pretended to deprecate the levity of the gentlemen, who, for reasons best known to the polite and efficient gentlemen of the police department of our growing and enterprising city,' were cruelly, and with malice aforethought, denied the privilege of American citizens to witness the procession, insisted that he recognized in me a member of congress, a wise statesman, and sympathizing friend of the deserving poor and needy. Fellow-citizens, who, like myself, have come to this extremity because of the men who broke the banks, and who are still at large, we must dissemble. This gentleman in number ten was committed at his own request. He has taken this method of ascertaining facts and information that, when fully evolved and established, will undoubtedly result in needed reforms in the management of city, county, and state boarding-houses, and thereby ameliorate in a large degree the suffering of the members of a worthy class of well meaning but shockingly misguided fraternity known among men of letters, and those bummers of the daily newspapers, as law-breakers. My dear sir, accept our apology for the rude reception you have received among us.'

"He called for three cheers. They were given with a will, and ornamented with several tigers; and then the turnkey of that dungeon came among us, and raved, scolded, and swore, and declared that unless the racket ceased he would gag the whole bilin'.

"It was such a party, gentlemen, as I hope I may never be compelled to meet again under like circumstances.

"In my feverish anxiety and mortification I imagined that all the fiends of the infernal region surrounded me. I was fast losing control of my nerves and becoming strangely bewildered; and yet I had sufficient presence of mind to attempt to calm myself, and argue that my incarceration was the result of a mistake. The poisonous atmosphere of the place had something to do, I think, with my despondency.

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Meanwhile my tormentors continued their disjointed observations, and that terribly depraved woman her moaning about her poor, unfortunate brother Dennis, and the prisoner with the stentorian voice kept up his random and oratorical debate on reform, or something of that sort. I have him at last!' he shouted in a voice of thunder. 'He's a government detective, who has come among us high-toned and labor-hating aristocracy for the purpose of discovering, if he can, who beats the great, glorious, and high-minded American institution in the important matter of the taxes on the necessities of lifewhiskey, beer, and tobacco.'

This statement was hailed with shouts of Good, good!' several rounds of applause, mocking laugh

ter, rattling of cell doors, and other signs of approval.

"Presently the whole crew desired to be interviewed, and the wickedest man in the prison assured me that he would tell all the secrets of the city, under oath, and as much more as I would pay a reasonable price for.

"That I was a very unhappy young man, and desperate withal, I have never to this day doubted, and that I importuned and attempted to bribe every officer who came within the sound of my voice it would be useless to deny. Moreover, I shall never be unmindful that kicking against the pricks' is a useless exercise; that it is the part of wisdom for a man who is compelled by untoward circumstances to remain in custody as a prisoner to make the best of the situation, and spend the time in congratulating himself that he is in luck that so little is known about him.

But what was I in for? Pickpocket' was the significant word written against my name on the book of entry. 'Pickpocket!' I

saw the officer write it.

"Pickpocket! The thought of it caused me to tremble, and the perspiration to start from every pore in my body. I paused in serious meditation. The full force of the complaint dawned upon me. My strength began to fail. I was wild with impatience.

"Pickpocket! I repeated over and over again, the while standing by the iron door of the cell listening to the discordant jargon of my fellow-prisoners, and inhaling poisonous odors that made me faint and sick.

"Pickpocket! I had written the word a hundred times, but it never

that I was poor, in misfortune, and forsaken. Ruin stared me in the face; my character was forever blackened; thenceforth I was branded a felon; there was stain upon my garments; all my old associates would believe the worst of me; I should lose my place, and no reputable journal would give me employment.

"This, my friends, is no picture of the fancy, no overdrawn sketch from the imagination. It is a truthful report of an actual occurrence.

"An hour passed wearily. The light became dim, the place more sombre and gloomy, and the outlook for the night more appalling. What should I do? What could I do? To whom could I apply for relief? How would my employers construe my absence from duty, my silence? What would become of my wife and child? What would my mother-in-law say? The last thought overpowered, staggered me, and I reeled against my dungeon wall like a victim of intemperance.

"Was I childish? I will not pretend to say I was not. I will only add, in passing, that all temperaments are not alike,—and then continue my narrative by saying that I fell upon my face in the bunk of that horrible place and wept like a child who had broken its favorite toy, or a frail woman who moans some sudden and overwhelming bereavement and will not be comforted.

"Gentlemen, in that awful hour of delirium and suspense my mind chased many foolish phantoms, and my overtasked imagination builded many barriers between my future and the bright sunshine that never seemed so glorious and beautiful as when its warm rays were denied me.

"And so I struggled with doubts and fears, with fluctuating hopes and grave apprehensions, with dread and uncertainty, till my reason was temporarily dethroned, and I became a wild and raving maniac. I threw my coat and the contents of my pockets upon the floor and trampled upon them; I beat my new silk hat into a shapeless mass; I dishevelled my hair; I ruined my patent leather boots by kicking against my cell door; I broke the stool which the jailor had kindly loaned me into kindling wood; I destroyed the clothing of my bunk and raved like a hungry tiger in a cage. My strength was something wonderful, my passion ungovernable. My chaffing companions in durance vile. were for the nonce silent and respectful.

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My friends, as I pause and look back upon that scene, and consider my experience, I discover that there were some very strange and perplexing sensations, sensations that I shall never be able fully to fathom or clearly define. It appeared to me that I had two minds independent of each other, and two individualities. By the more demonstrative mind I was wrought up to the highest pitch of nervous excitement. My eyes, I verily believe, were glassy; my head was burning with fever; I was thirsty; great drops of perspiration rolled from my forehead and fell upon the floor; my tongue was swollen; my blood was on fire. I was desperate. My one overpowering desire was my liberty. Underneath all this was an undefinable sense of feeling that now appears to me like my normal condition of mind., I could reason to a certain point, but the mental strain