1956, Sheriff Recalls, Boy Learns His Lesson

Sheriff Recalls

Boy Learns His Lesson

The prisoner who sneaked in and out of the Williamson County jail is remembered by Sheriff Carl Miller.

He was a 13 year old Herrin boy who weighed only 115 pounds. That enabled him to slip through a six inch hole in the cell door used for passing food trays back and forth.

On February 16, 1956, deputy sheriff Ora Collard was on duty in the front office about 2 A.M. He stopped a 15 year old Johnston City youth who was being held in the same cell with the Herrin boy as the youth tried to slip out the office door.

The youth said the cell door had been unlocked by the Herrin boy after he slipped through the opening and got keys from the kitchen. Continue reading

Williamson County Museum

The old county jail at 105 S. Van Buren Street in Marion was built in 1913 and served 16 sheriff’s terms and housed most of their families. When a new county jail was built and occupied in the early 1970’s the old jail was handed over to the Williamson County Historical Society for safe keeping. It has since been converted into a county museum and genealogical/historical research library. The following link will bring up a description of the museum with some photos. If you haven’t been to the museum, you should make it a point to take your family, most of the possessions on display came from old Williamson County pioneer families.

The Williamson County Museum

1924, Raids Net Illegal Alcohol and Stills

Moonshine Bust 1924In early 1924, prohibition had been in effect for years and as a result, many locals had turned to cranking out their own illegal “hootch” in copper stills, a problem that wouldn’t entirely go away until the late 1950’s, even after prohibition was long since revoked.

The attached photo illustrates the level which illegal alcohol production had reached, when a Courtney’s moving truck, was required to haul all the illegal booze back to the Williamson County Jail on S. Van Buren St. for disposal after the latest raid in February, 1924. Continue reading

Notes on the Old Williamson County Jail

Williamson County Jail Post Card 1920'sThe 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. Continue reading