The inlay on this table top indicates the work of a skilled craftsman. The table was presented to William Stanley during his term as Governor of Kansas (1899–1903). Made by an inmate at the Kansas State Penitentiary at Lansing, the table is inscribed on the underside: “William Payne Harvey, El Dorado, Kansas.” Harvey and fellow inmate Carl Arnold were received at the prison on November 14, 1894, for the crime of murder in the first degree. The two had killed the mayor of Kinsley, KS, on October 22, 1894. Other inlaid tables were made at Lansing during this era, including an example in the Kansas Secretary of State’s office possibly made by Harvey around 1899. In the late 19th century, Kansas State Penitentiary prisoners engaged in coal mining and manufacturing twine, bricks, soap, paint, and furniture. Starting in 1885, inmates also worked on the prison farm.