Guernsey County Jail

Stories of Guernsey County by Wm. Wolfe page 81
     Since 1810, when the county was organized, three jails have stood on the public square.  The first of these was built by Zaccheus A. Beatty and Jacob Gomber and donated to the county by them.  It was a crude log structure.  Having been completed September 3, 1811, it antedated the first court house by two years.  A suitable building in which to place those guilty of crime in pioneer days was very necessary; hence its early completion.
     The Whipping Post.--A form of punishment other than imprisonment in the log jail was employed, at least on one occasion, according to a story told by Colonel C. P. B. Sarchet.  At the August session of the common pleas court held in 1816, Samuel Timmins was found guilty by jury of "uttering base coin," and was sentenced by the court to receive nineteen lashes on the bare back, in one case, and twenty lashes in the other.  The president judge was William Wilson and the three associate judges were Jacob Gomber, Robert Speer and Thomas B. Kirkpatrick. Elijah Dyson, the sheriff, administered the lashes. 
     The place of whipping was the southwestern corner of the court square.  Here had been an oak tree about two feet in diameter whose top had been blown off, leaving a slivered stump eight or ten feet high.  To this the prisoner was tied, after having been stripped to the waist.  Assembled to see the whipping were the grand jurors who had indicted him, the petit jurors who had found him guilty, and many citizens of the town. 
     Escapes Made.--Like its two successors the old log jail did not always hold its prisoners.  An escape occurred in 1819.  Three men who committed highway robbery on Zane's Trace, between Beymerstown (Old Washington) and Frankfort (the lost town), were captured and placed in the jail.  Just after dark one evening they managed to raise a smoke in the cell and called to the sheriff that the jail was on fire.   When the sheriff opened the door to investigate, they knocked him down, rushed out into the darkness and reached the dense woods north of town.  They were never recaptured.
     The Jail of 1835.--For twenty-five years the old log jail served the county; then in 1835 came a new one.  This was a brick building. In that day it was considered a very good prison, and, together with the brick court house, gave the court square such a dignity as to prompt the citizens of the town to beautify the grounds.
     Following the session of the grand jury in April, 1870, that body of men inspected the jail.  Their report to the county commissioners attracted county-wide attention.  They said the old jail was becoming dilapidated; that the wooden parts of it were rotting away; that there was very little ventilation; that the cells were filthy and unwholesome; that there was a stench from the decomposed filth, that filled the entire building; that three persons had made their escape from it during the year.  They urged that a new jail be constructed as soon as possible.
     Petitions and letters were sent to the commissioners from all parts of the county.  Some favored action for a new jail and others opposed it.  A final count gave 854 in favor of a new jail, and 1,113 against it.  But regardless of the expressed wish of a majority of the people, the commissioners, at a meeting held in June, 1870, unanimously adopted a resolution offered by William Brown, one of their members, "that the board proceed to take the necessary steps for building a new county jail."
     The Present Jail.--Plans for the building were drawn by Hugh Mitchell, of New Philadelphia.  It was estimated that the cost would be $26,000, including the sheriff's residence.  Then came a controversy as to the location.  Many preferred the northwest corner of the square, so that it would front on both West Eighth street and Steubenville avenue.  This was overruled by the commissioners.  The cornerstone was laid by Commissioner Brown on Friday, May 12, 1871, and the walls were started with brick burned near the jail.  It was completed in December, 1871.  James Sherman, who had violated a liquor law, was accorded the honor of being the first person quartered there.
     Aside from the necessary repairs on the jail proper, from time to time, and some improvements on the sheriff's residence, the building has not been changed since it was erected.  It was made to accommodate twenty-five prisoners.  On at least one occasion accommodations were needed for two times that many.  There are two detention rooms for women, in each of which two may be cared for.
     As this jail was built to meet the needs of 1871, one should not expect it to be adequate today.  Many of the defects of its predecessor in its last days, as pointed out by the grand jury in the report to the commissioners, are in evidence again.