By MAYLON T. RICE
Special to the Saline River Chronicle
An old photo produced by John Burch has got the old Pastime juices flowing.
The photo (hopefully attached to this article) is of the old Bradley County jail.
The three-story red brick, really a dusty red, almost orange brick, structure was sitting right where the new police/jail/fire/law enforcement services sits now.
The three floored structure, I will say, never held my body, but I did tour the jail two or three times… The first was at the conclusion of a Hi-Y meeting at the YMCA. Someone spoke to us at the meeting, maybe Chief Dunaway, more than likely some Patrolman, perhaps it was Sgt. Hutt.
We got a tour of the jail and for a group of 12-13 year olds; still at Warren Junior High (where the Post Office now sits) it was quite a tour.
I remember it has cast iron bars across the front door and all the windows. It was, by the way, a jail…
The first floor was little more than a couple of offices and a warehouse for all the “evidence” the sheriff’s office stored. I do remember seeing some cases of booze in there. Bootlegger booty, no doubt.
We wound around a stair case up to the second floor where the jail cells were. It was a big open area with a “pen” in the middle and then “cells” around this central pen area. There was a wide walk way around the outside of all the cells which we were told was the exercise yard for the cells.
The tour then took us up to the cupola or third floor where a real gallows was installed. The tour guide told us the gallows was used only one time – before the death sentences were carried out at Cummins Prison.
The trap door on the gallows was welded shut, but the old metal arm which would have released the floor was still there. I do remember us all standing on the gallows “trap door” and even jumping up and down to see if it would open.
Oh the courage of youth.
Fast forward about five years later; I was subbing for Bob Newton who was in Florida one week for his annual vacation from The Eagle Democrat.
I knew that the inmates were fed by the staff at Wayne’s Confectionary. I was in Wayne’s early one morning when one of the staffers from Wayne’s ran in all excited and ashen faced, out of breath, asking Paul Whitaker to call the Sheriff… the man in the jail cell was dead.
You could have heard a pin drop in Wayne’s that morning.
At first Paul Whitaker, doubted the information from runner who took the food to the jail. But Paul did with the employee in tow; go over to the Sheriff’s office in the Courthouse. At that time was the first door to the right as you came in the courthouse main door was the Sheriff and Collector’s office.
The man, we found out later, was indeed, dead in his jail cell.
I remember that day a coroner’s inquest was held. I attended the inquest, my first, and took photos of the jail. The conditions in there were not good. The inmate had, sadly, died of natural causes, but died alone, in jail and in the county’s care.
My photos of the jail conditions at the time, published in the Eagle, made the sheriff at that time pretty mad at me. Added to his anger was a report his two deputies gave, under oath, they had talked to the inmate the night before.
And later on, the good people of Bradley County/Warren voted to build that new jail/fire/emergency services building.
The last time I went to the old jail was to photograph one of my female classmates in photos with that old creaky jail door, which was on front of the old building.
But I can’t remember who it was… ah, Pastimes of one’s youth.
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