Grandpa was a
Boone County Sheriff
by Herman C. McRoberts
Benjamin B. McRoberts, who served two
separate terms as sheriff of Boone County, was born in Lincoln County,
Kentucky, near the town of Stanford, on September 20, 1848, the son of
George T. and Ellen (Gains) McRoberts. Although the family lived on a
small farm, the father was a carpenter by trade.
Mr. McRoberts came to Boone
County in 1881 and hired out as a farm hand. In December, 1883, he
married Martha Abbott, a native of Union Township and the daughter of
John and America (Sedwick) Abbott. After their marriage, the newlyweds
rented and moved to the Shoemaker farm and later to the Marvin place,
both farms being in Union
Township. They next moved to the John Abbott farm, that of his
father-in-law, where they farmed for a year before taking over the Weed
farm in Marion Township where they spent the next sixteen years. Their
next move was to their newly purchased 160 acre farm on U. S. Highway
421 (the old Michigan Road) and just north of State Road 47. They lived
on this Marion Township farm until January 1, 1908.
In the year 1906, Mr.
McRoberts entered the race for sheriff of Boone County on the Democrat
ticket. He successfully campaigned and became the first Democrat
elected to that office since 1883. He served one two -year term,
1906-08, and had his office in the old courthouse. He and Mrs.
McRoberts occupied the living quarters in the old Boone County jail
during his tenure in office.
Due to a law that a sheriff
could not succeed himself for a second term, McRoberts returned to his
farm north of the Christian Liberty Church where he again engaged in
farming. In 1912, he reentered the race for sheriff and was again
elected to serve a two -year term, 1912 -14.
The new Boone County
courthouse had been completed in late 1911 with dedication ceremonies
held on July 3-4, 1912. Sheriff McRoberts, who went by the nickname,
Charley, had his office for his second term in the newly built county
capitol. The jail was not replaced until years later, in 1939, in fact. As a seven-year-old youngster, I recall
visiting my grand -parents in their residence in the jail Prisoners
were brought in through a west door and into a hall which led to the
stairs to the second floor. To the right was a single room with padded walls. This room was used to
confine persons having mental problems until they could be transferred
to mental hospitals.
As one walked to the north one
faced a large upright cylindrical cage of steel bars with two opposite
openings. Inside this cage was a similar cylinder with only one
opening. This cylinder could be rotated inside the stationary or outer
cage. The prisoner entered the inner cage when the two openings so
permitted, then the inner cylinder was turned half-way around, and the
prisoner could then enter the cell block. With this arrangement,
prisoners already in the cells could not possibly escape when a new
prisoner was entering. In the basement of the jail was a
section of cells known as the dungeon where unruly prisoners could be
placed for punishment. Since this area was seldom, if ever, used, it
aroused my curiosity to the extent that I went exploring. I started
down the stairs when I was removed by the hair of my head and heard my
grandfather saying, “Come out of thar, son, you’ll get killed.” This
ended my exploring since my grandfather, with his southern drawl, had a
very convincing voice.
The picture accompanying this
article of the sheriff’s office in the old courthouse in 1908 has an
electric lighting fixture in the middle of the room. The bulbs used
were the Edison incandescent type “B”. These bulbs bad a series of fine
filament wire inside the glass which made a red glow when the current
was turned on. These lights were quite an improvement over the kerosene
or coal oil lamps which were still being used in the rural areas.
