arated, or, indeed, to show that there
was such a woman in existence. But, evidence or no evidence, with all
Worthington against me, conviction was inevitable. The jury found me
guilty. The judge promptly sentenced me to three years' imprisonment in
the State Prison, at Charlestown, with hard labor, the first day to be
passed in solitary confinement.

This severe sentence fairly stunned me. I was taken back to jail, and
the following day I was conveyed to Charlestown with heavy irons on my
ankles and handcuffed. No murderer would have been more heavily ironed.
We started early in the morning, and by noon I was duly delivered to
the warden at Charlestown prison. I was taken into the office, measured,
asked my name, age, and other particulars, and then if I had a trade. To
this I at once answered, "no." I wanted my twenty-four hours'
solitary confinement in which to reflect upon the kind of "hard labor,"
prescribed in my sentence, I was willing to follow for the next three
years; and I also wanted information about the branches of labor pursued
in that prison. The next words of the warden assured me that he was a
kind and compassionate man.

"Go," he said to an officer, "and instantly take off those irons when
you take him inside the prison."

I was taken in and the irons were taken off. I was then undressed, my
clothes were removed to another room, and I was redressed in the prison
uniform. This was a grotesque uniform indeed. The suit was red and blue,
half and half, like a harlequin's, and to crown all came a hat or cap,
like a fool's cap, a foot and a half high and running up to a peak.
Miserable as I was, I could scarcely help smiling at the utterly absurd
appearance I knew I then presented. I even ventured to remark upon it;
but was suddenly and sternly checked with the command:

"Silence! There's no talking allowed here."

Then began my twenty-four hours' solitary confinement, and twenty-four
wretched hours they were. I had only bread and water to eat and drink,
and I need not say that my unhappy thoughts would not permit me to
sleep. At noon next day I was taken from my cell, and brought again
before the warden, Mr. Robinson, who kindly said:

"You have no trade, you say; what do you want to go to work at?"

"Anything light; I am not used to hard labor," I replied.

So the warden directed that I should be put at work in the brush shop,
where all kinds of brushes were made. Mr. Eddy was the officer in charg