The following post was printed in Footprints, the quarterly publication of the Williamson County Historical Society. It notates historical background on the old Williamson County Jail that was in use from 1913 to 1972 and now houses the Historical Society. The article was titled “This Old House” and follows:
This building that houses the Williamson County Historical Society has an interesting past. It was one of only five such buildings in the United States that combined the jail and sheriff’s quarters. As I look around at the beamed ceilings, pocket doors, leaded glass and other objects of beauty, I realize that this would have been elegant living in 1913. The kitchen would have been a busy site as the sheriff’s wife cooked for the prisoners as well as some members of the jury. The meals were sent from the first floor to the second and third by a dumb waiter.
When it was decided to build a new jail, the Masonic – K.P. lot on South Van Buren was considered for the sum of $2,000. Not everyone was excited about this new project. Folks who owned property in the vicinity of the lot attended a meeting on June 7, 1912 and protested that it would damage the value of their property to build a jail there. A committee of Hartwell of Northern Precinct, Parks of Crab Orchard Precinct and Bradley of West Marion Precinct were appointed to visit some modern jails, one of which was at Benton, and report back.
It was announced that the Jail Committee would meet August 3rd and that persons would attend with a proposition to exchange the Masonic-K.P. lot for a site on West Main. At that meeting it was decided to purchase the Masonic – K.P. lot and bids were advertised for, to be opened August 31st in the office of the County Clerk. Plans by Spencer & Temple of Champaign were accepted. They had planned two of the finest buildings in Marion and the High School. The building was to be two stories high and of brick, with the lower floor for the jailer’s apartments. The second floor was to be double deck cells, eight in a deck, 16 in all. Each cell would accommodate four prisoners. The cost was not to exceed $30,000.
On September 16th it was announced that the cost would be $36,000 and contracts were given to the lowest bidders. William Pulley and Sam Fuller would do the brick work, Oscar Williams the carpenter work and F.G. Davis and Company the plumbing. The steel work was not bid on by locals and it was given to Paul Jail Company, St. Louis, Missouri.
In October, the keys were already in the hands of County Clerk John M. Dodd, even though work had not yet begun on the foundation. The purpose was to guard against possible duplication.
The Egyptian Press reported on September 8, 1913 that the $40,000 jail was almost completed. All that was lacking was about six hours of plumbing, six hours of electrical work and two days’ work for the jail cell people. The electrical work was done by Joseph B. Chamness.
The kitchen, dining room and reception room are on the first floor, together with the entrance hall and sheriff’s office. The second floor, reached by a most beautiful flight of stairs, contains three bed chambers and a bath. From the second floor hall a flight of stairs lead to a large and well-furnished room to keep juries. There are two cell rooms on the first floor and two on the second floor, each with a capacity of twenty four prisoners.
The whole jail compartment was fireproof and entirely separated from the residence section by massive concrete walls. Should the residence section burn, the jail section would not even be damaged. Also, all unpleasantness for the jailer’s family is done away with. The cells are painted gray and the cell rooms are tinted lead color. Radiators and heating system pipes are gilded. Each cell has a commode and each cell hall has two wash basins with hot and cold water. The sheriff’s quarters are finished in oak. The walls are tinted and radiators gilded. One of the prettiest mantles is in the reception hall.
Will Pulley, one of the contractors, is the only man working on this jail that helped build the old jail, he was about 15 years old then. He said when the old one was built, the county had not a prisoner to put in it. The old jail holds less than one fourth as the new jail.
On September 18th, the newspaper stated the Board of Supervisors accepted the new jail and the sheriff would move his family into it the latter part of the week. And what a family Sheriff Milo “Lum” Duncan had. Even with all the space in this lovely new building, he must have been hard put to find sleeping room for the eleven members of his family. When measles were going around in April 1912, the newspaper reported that one has had them, one has them and the balance of nine was exposed. Sheriff Duncan remarked, “It will be some hospital out at our house when the rest of us have them.”
On October 1st 1913, sixteen male prisoners four black and twelve white were marched from the old jail on South Madison Street through the public square to the new jail, watched over by twelve guards. It was expected that some would make a run for liberty, but not a move was made. The men were segregated in their new quarters, the blacks in one compartment and the whites in another. Each one, to a man, shook hands with their old jailer. G.W. Sisney and told him goodbye. Two of the prisoners were John and Charley Parker, brothers, of Creal Springs and three of the black men were Herman Steidman, Old Ben Steidman and Carney Henry who were arrested along with Peb Walker, white, on September 24th for breaking into a whiskey house at Dewmaine and stealing $170. The newspaper said one was old enough to be toothless and one young enough to ask to be sent to the orphan’s home.
All was not going smoothly, however. By October 20th, Sheriff Duncan had placed a ban on jail visitors. He said he and his family had been greatly bothered by a constant flow of visitors. If not banned, he and his family would have time for nothing but receiving visitors. From now on, only prisoner’s attorneys and other persons who had a need to see the prisoners would be allowed. Perhaps the constant talk about this marvelous new building had caused residents to become curious.
The sheriff had a motley crew under his care. One was Charley Sisney, son of ex-jailer G.W. Sisney, lodged in the jail for whipping men right and left in Herrin and Marion. Twelve bootleggers, eleven from Johnston City, were sentenced to thirty days in jail and fined $200. They were marched to the new county jail which was standing with doors open to receive them. Though there were now about three dozen prisoners, there was plenty of room. A man was also jailed for being drunk at the C. & E.I. platform. It was said he had a fight in a saloon before that and pulled off one whole side of a bar man’s moustache. He was fined $25.
Charley Marshall was jailed for wife abandonment. He had been there before for assaulting the manager of the Oak Ridge Mine and his wife had scraped up enough money to get him out. She gave it to him and be lost it in a jailhouse crap game. She got enough together again, got him out and he deserted her. Harvey Westbrook was jailed for slashing the throat of a one-legged moocher, almost without provocation.
Around the middle of November, Sheriff Duncan established Wednesday as visiting day, owing to the eternal stream of people to the jail. Rev. Elmore Drury was arrested for wife abandonment, he blamed the high cost of living and his inability to support a wife on the little pay he received for his work in the pulpit and his efforts to turn men from sin and an everlasting hellfire.
The wife of a well-known farmer left her small daughter in a buggy and boarded a train to meet her soul mate, a Creal Springs banker, in Carbondale. Her husband got wind of it and went over there with a constable and a warrant and she was jailed for adultery, but the husband got her release. He later sued the banker for $ 10,000.
Sometimes the jail was the site for hijinks. In January 1914, Harry Johnson, a bootlegger from Johnston City, bet another prisoner that he could skin-the-cut over a drain pipe running near the ceiling over their cells. They had been turned out of the cells for exercise. He got his body over the pipe and discovered he could not turn over. The other prisoners waited a while before they sought help, but finally realized it was needed. Roy Hearn, a plumber, was called and it took thirty minutes to cut the pipe in two. The sheriff promised not to tell but it proved too good. Things must have got pretty hectic, because in May the County Board of Supervisors banned card playing, checkers and other like forms of amusement.
The building was home to sixteen sheriffs, the last being Russel Oxford who moved out in 1972. He told me he was also the first and only sheriff to occupy the sheriffs quarters in the new jail. He said the sheriff’s family ate the same food as the prisoners and one of his sons said. “Can we move back to the farm? I am tired of eating this old prisoner food.”
The room upstairs, where the doctor’s office is displayed, was used sometimes for solitary confinement. Russel said he once had to put a female in there. The room where the Indian artifacts are was a radio room. He had three deputies who furnished their own cars and three radio operators. He stored small evidence on the third floor, such as the time a raid was made on a place in Freeman Spur that had Bingo games. A month after they were fined. Bingo was legalized and he gave the equipment back.
The most prisoners Russel had at one time was thirteen. Two young men once sawed their way out of the bars but were quickly captured and Russell was hit over the head with a window sash in January 1970.
Over the years, many interesting events took place here, as well as some sad ones. There were deaths, a birth, a suicide by hanging, a legal hanging and several jailbreaks. One prisoner fell down the stairs and died. Kangaroo courts were held often. The ones convicted by the prisoners were made to mop the floor and other such chores. The newspapers reported many events and time permitting; a thorough examination would no doubt turn up many more things of interest.
Yes, there were a lot of things going on under this roof and events of a different nature are taking place these days. Things are quiet now in this old building. But, if you listen closely, you just might hear an echo from yesterday.
The sheriffs who served during the time this building was in use are: Milo L. Duncan, William Shannon, Willis T. Harris, Lawrence Cannon, Melvin Thaxton, Ora A. Kirby, George Galligan, Carl Miller, Oren Coleman, Dean West, G.J. Frick, Carl Miller, Zollie Carter, Harold Farner, Arleigh Wilkins and Russel Oxford.
(Extracted from “Footprints” a publication of the Williamson County Historical Society, Volume 2, #3, 1999)