First Jail, as told in the History of Jersey County-1919


The First jail for the confinement of persons charged with crime was in the original courthouse. There was some changes in the location, made by the building of an addition to the courthouse, but this jail was burned in Janruary 1884, when the courthouse was consumed by fire, and four prisoners, Emile Koehler(charged with horse stealing), Walter Dunsten( charged with murder), August Schultz and James Griggs (both charged with Larceny), were suffocated. During the interim between the burning of the courthouse and jail at that time, and the erection of a new jail, in 1885, prisoners were sent to Carrollton, Greene County, to be cared for.

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