Shown is a sketch of Adams County Sheriff Marion Dunlap - the first sheriff to occupy the new jail.
Lore, Legends & Landmarks of Old Adams
By Stephen Kelley
Continuing from last week, on May 13, 1895, George Hon of Meigs Township became the first prisoner in the newly completed county jail. Quite to everyone’s surprise – and perhaps, dismay – Hon managed to break out of the new facility which was considered very modern and escape-proof.
Not many days after Hon had been incarcerated, two young women from Green Township became the first female prisoners to be placed in the new jail. The 1895 jail was the first in the county to have separate quarters designated for females. Bide and Lote Scott, who lived in the Rome community, apparently harbored ill will against the Farmer family who lived close by. According to one newspaper account, the Scott girls attacked the Farmer home one day. The newspaper story states, “They rocked the house, playing havoc with the glass in the front windows.” Mr. Farmer was not home at the time, leaving his wife and four children to contend with the Scotts who thoroughly terrorized the family. Before this incident with the Farmer family, the Scott sisters had already made their presence known in Rome, their behavior being described as “notorious” and their being”…given to fighting and quarreling among themselves.” Regardless of the circumstances, the first female prisoners of the new county jail spent less than a week behind bars before being released.
It seems the new jail also brought out a long-festering problem between the county and the village of West Union. From the newspaper accounts it appears that law breakers arrested by the village Marshall had been automatically placed in the county jail since the village did not have its own lockup. Furthermore, the village never offered to reimburse the county for the costs of housing and feeding these prisoners. Therefore, only days after the completion of the new jail, the county commissioners directed the county auditor to notify the West Union Council that “the prisoners of such corporation would not be cared for, nor admitted to the county jail.”
This action promoted the editor of the “Defender” to conclude that, “The action was doubtless promoted by two reasons, the first being a desire upon the part of the Commissioners to keep the new jail secure from the depredations of disreputable characters, and a second as a matter of economy to the county, for we understand that the county has for a number of years paid for the boarding and care of prisoners when it was the duty of the incorporation to do it.”
