JAILS.

Greene County's first jail, we have seen, was the, block house near Jacob Smith's mill, on Beaver Creek. The second jail was built of logs, in Xenia, in 1804. No record is extant showing the exact spot that this jail occupied, nor how much it cost to build it. The earliest record that appears concerning it was made July 2, 1804, when Amos Derrough, the contractor and builder, was paid $33.75, balance on the first payment for building the public jail. The process of building it was slow, and on the 15th of August, 1804, the commissioners informed the contractor that if the work was not completed by the 15th of September, it would be re-let to the lowest bidder. It was completed in due time,and accepted by the commissioners October 8,1804. It is said that it stood on ground which the first court house subsequently occupied, and that it was built of hewed logs. This was the first structure erected for the purpose of a public jail. What became of this building, or why it needed rebuilding so soon, no record informs us. But on Tuesday, March 12, 1805, only five months after its acceptance, we are informed that "the repairing and newly erecting the public jail was let to James Collier for $640." One historian informs us that this jail, that is, the first one, built by Amos Derrough, was burned down the next year after it was built, and that in April, 1806, a new jail was accepted from William A. Beatty. It is not certain that this statement is correct. It is more probable that the jail erected by James Collier, which the historian does not mention, was the one that was burned, and that this jail, erected in haste, was unsuited to the purposes for which it was intended, and hence the language, repairing and newly erecting the public jail.
James Collier, as well as Amos Derrough, seems to have tried, to some extent, the patience of the commissioners. . This second jail was not completed at the time required by contract, and on the 7th of January, 1806, it was ordered that unless it was completed by the first of April following, it should be re-let to the lowest bidder; and the commissioners further declared, that to be built according to contract," it must be taken down and rebuilt. "April 1st came, and the work was not finished, and on the 8th the time was extended to the 17th. On the 18th of April, 1806, the commissioners accepted the work, but took $50 from the pay of the contractor, on account of its imperfection. This second jail was a log structure, and was located on the public square, somewhere north of the site of the first court house. It cost the county $590. This jail was burned probably in the latter part of 1807, and it is most likely that this, instead. of the first one, is the jail referred to as "burnt down the year following."
On Tuesday, December 6, 1808, it was ordered that a public jail be erected in the town of Xenia, on the ground staked off, the foundation to be eighteen inches deep and twenty feet square, and that 11 all the material of the old jail that was saved be used in the new one." This expression, "All the material of the old jail that was saved," indicates that the second jail was burned. This third jail was two stories high, and was constructed of hewed logs. It was situated near the north end of thethe public square, on the ground that was subsequently occupied by a market house. It was built by William A. Beatty, finished by him, and accepted by the commissioners on the 18th day of October 1809.
This jail was burned sometime between the 20th day of July, 1813, and the 13th of September of the same year. On the 20th of July the record says: "The commissioners viewed the public jail, and reported it in as good condition as the situation of the place would admit;" and on the 13th of September the commissioners met to 11 sell the building of a prison," and " the building of a stone prison was sold to James Miller," the lowest bidder, at $1,084. It was located in the middle part of the public square, north of the first court house, its west end in a line with the east end of the court house. Its length was east and west. This was the fourth jail. It was completed and accepted by the commissioners on the 16th day of December 1815. Its builder, James Miller, was a Scotchman, who came to this country when quite a young man. A few years later his father, whom he had left in Scotland, followed him. By many letters received from young Miller, containing full descriptions of the state, county, and neighborhood, the old gentleman had become so familiar with it that he began to realize that everybody in America must know his " wee Jamie" and his locality as well as he. Accordingly, on his arrival in Philadelphia, and from that point to Clark's Run, in Greene County, he was accustomed to ask many whom he met, with his Scotch accent: " Do ye ken one Jamie Miller, the stone mason, Who lives on Clark's Run, Greene County, in the State of Ohio?" But by the time that the old gentleman had arrived in Greene County, he had found that his son "Jamie" was better known here, and in Scotland, than at any intermediate point.
This fourth jail was used as a prison until the year 1836, when it gave place to the fifth one; that was built a little north of it. This stone prison, and the one which followed it, had especial apartments for debtors; for in those times men were imprisoned for debt. Sometimes the debtor was not so poor but that he could carpet his small room in the jail, and live quite comfortably.
On the 2d day of September 1834, the commissioners gave the contract for building a new jail to Daniel Lewis, at a cost of $4,600. It was a brick structure, two stories high, and was located on the public square, on the east end of Greene Street, and about 210 feet north of Main. It extended north 40 feet, and west 44 feet. It was completed andaccepted June 10, 1836. Ryan Gowdy, T. G. Bates, and John Fudge were then commissioners. The north end of the jail ranged with the north line of James Collier's house, on said public ground. It pointed north.
The present jail, with the residence of the sheriff, was built in 1860, during the commissionership of John Fudge, A. H. Baughman, and Robert Jackson. It is located on the corner of Market and Whiteman streets. The contract of building it was awarded to John Scott, at a cost of $7,340. It was received by the commissioners, and put under the control of the sheriff, on the 8th day of December 1860. This is the sixth prison that has been built by the county for that special purpose, and, counting the block-house jail on Beaver Creek, it is the seventh prison that Greene County has furnished for her criminals in her history of seventy-seven years.

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