Jails And Courthouse

From "Lexington" by Mary Wilson and Sharon Y. Asher, published sometime after 1975.

Two prerequisites of early communities in the new land were a courthouse where legal business could be transacted and a jail to house malefactors and debtors.

In Lexington attention was first given to the construction of a jail as court could be held in various places. During the May, 1820 term of court, the commissioners awarded a contract for the building of a jail to James Goodhue and Ephroditus Northam for the amount of $1,712.

This log jail, a veritable fortress, was twenty-two feet long, twenty-five feet wide and two stories high. The outer walls were three feet thick. The outside layer of logs were "dove tailed" and the inner ones were halved at the corners. The center layer consisted of foot-square logs placed vertically in the walls. The floors were of foot-square hewed timbers lined with two-inch oak planking nailed down with five-inch spikes - two to every foot. A solid partition, also one foot thick, divided the interior, upstairs and downstairs, into four rooms, each of which had a fifteen-inch square window into which was embedded a grating of one-inch square bars.

There was only one outside doorway, which contained two doors - one of which swung inward and the other outward. The doors were made of a double thickness of an inch and a half oak plank between which was a layer of sheet iron and nailed with iron spikes every four inches. The Inside door was fastened by a bar extending across and fastened with a "good substantial bolt lock." The doors of the cells were also of the same escape-proof heavy construction. An inside stairway led to the rooms upstairs. The roof was of good "joint shingles and they were to be nailed to good solid sheeting, the whole to be done in a good workmanlike manner."

This log jail, so substantially built, was not destined to last long. Legend has it that a certain female of unsavory character became so incensed at repeatedly being thrown into jail that one night in 1825 she set fire to the structure and burned it to the ground. It is said that the Sheriff barely managed to rescue the inmates of the building.

We find in the Commissioner' s record of July, 1825, the following: "Whereas on application of a considerable number of respectable citizens of the County of Scott to this Board to erect a jail on the former foundations of the old jail in Lexington by subscription, and we being willing and anxious for the erection of the same do authorize the building of said jail and do appoint James Goodhue, Edward Tucker and Alphonso Brooks as a committee to superintend the building and construction of the same."

A new log jail was erected. It was placed on the foundation of the earlier log structure and probably was built to the specifications of its predecessor.

This second building suffered from neglect and in 1843 the Grand Jury of Scott County investigated conditions there and "found it safe as to security of the prisoners.. owing to the filth which appeared, it needed cleaning and the roof needed repair work." Andrew Campbell, Sheriff, was appointed to put on a new roof, make necessary repairs and clean the building in general.

By 1847 conditions had worsened at the twenty-two year old jail and in June of that year $800 was appropriated to "erect a new county jail. Rees Morgan, Edward LaMar and Robert H. Wilson were appointed as a building committee. Said building to be one story high, 30 feet long and twenty feet wide to be built of brick and sub-divided and finished in a suitable manner to be consistent with comfort and safety."

The new brick jail was built on the southwest corner of the public square. This served the county for twenty-three years.

In August, 1870 the Grand Jury reported to the Circuit Court "That the county jail... is insufficient for safe keeping of prisoners confined therein and their convenient accommodation and health, and that it is impossible for it to be well-kept from the manner in which it is constructed. Aaron Rawlings, foreman."

Apparently not much was done to correct the situation for in February, 1871 the Grand Jury again made another inspection and reported much the same conditions as found earlier and recommended that "the jailer clean said prison thoroughly and furnish new bed clothing for prisoners in cold weather. Vincent Cravens, foreman."

In May, 1874 the courthouse and jail were moved to Scottsburg. The old jail in Lexington was converted into a coal shed for the school and used as such until 1921 when it was torn down to make space for the present school.

It is told that a prisoner confined within the original Lexington jail worked all one night to remove the bricks at about floor level in order to make an opening he could crawl through to escape. He reached the last layer of bricks between himself and freedom at about day break. But to his consternation, immediately opposite the hole, and very close to the building, was a tree blocking his escape.

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