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Under Sentence of Death; Or, a Criminal's Last Hours

Chapter 26: CHAPTER XXIV.
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About This Book

A volume gathers three shorter narratives that examine crime, punishment, and human bonds across varied settings. One adopts a first-person voice to render the claustrophobic psychology of a condemned prisoner confronting imminent execution, memory, and imagination. A second relates an adventurous episode set in a tented encampment, blending suspense with shifting loyalties and moral ambiguity. A third serves as a stark social vignette portraying deprivation and harsh judicial consequences, using a single life to prompt reflection on mercy and reform.

CHAPTER XXIV.

They have taken me into a bare cell, of course with any amount of bars in the windows and bolts on the door. I have asked for a table and a chair, and the means of writing. They have brought them. Then I asked for a bed. The gaoler cast a look of surprise upon me, which seemed to say, “What is the good of it to you?” However, they have arranged a trestle-bed in the corner; but at the same time a policeman has taken up his position in my room. Are they afraid that I shall strangle myself with the mattress?