Day 16 of 117 on our “Go West, Young Man” Two Lane Adventure – Thursday 7/12/18

We signed up for the Missouri State Penitentiary tour. It’s one of a few prisons around the United States offering public tours. Jefferson City developed around the prison, so you can see beautiful architecture within a few blocks of the prison walls, many of these buildings date back to the late 1800s.

We selected the 10:00 am 2-hour guided tour of the “Bloodiest 47 acres in America.” A name given to the prison by Time magazine. There are history tours, ghost tours and overnight paranormal investigations. All the ghost tours start at 8 pm … you won’t find me there after dark and as for overnight … no way!

The Missouri State Prison housed some of the nation’s most dangerous criminals during its nearly 170 years of operation. Hugging the banks of the Missouri River, Jefferson City’s dark side focuses on the old Missouri State Prison. The prison – nicknamed “The Walls” because of the concrete walls surrounding it – operated 1836 until 2004. The prison received its first inmate the day the Alamo fell in Texas.

While we waited for the tour to start, we got to see a bold piece of prison art. It is colorful, reflective and it truly is art! You could look at the wall art everyday and see something new in the painting. It was painted by inmate Isaiah Leon Jackson. He was a 2 time prisoner at MSP. He painted this in 1987, while serving his second sentence of 30 years.

The prison earned its “Bloodiest” nickname because of inmate deaths. The state executed 40 inmates, most by the gas chamber. One inmate was executed by lethal injection before the prison was closed. In early years, others were hanged. Other inmates were killed under mysterious circumstances. It’s unknown how many men and women likely died during their stay at the prison, though there are no records to support it. Some died at the hands of area businessmen, guards, other inmates or while trying to escape, a guide told us during a tour. Deaths went unreported because no one wanted to lose business deals with the state or their jobs. There are no solid numbers to indicate the number dead.

Our tour began in the prison yard, we stood where these inmates stood in line so many years before us. The tour guide shared facts about the facility while we stood in the prison yard. We could can see the “Victim Memorial” in the main prison yard, from where we stood.

The prison was the site of several violent riots which contributed to its nickname. A riot in 1954 is considered the most violent. Four inmates died, dozens were injured, but none escaped. The riot caused about $5 million in damages.

The prison operated a lease program with local businessmen during its early days. Businessmen could “hire” inmates to work for them. Several buildings in Jefferson City, including the first capitol and governor’s mansion, were built using prison labor.

We visited two of the main cell blocks, and out tour ended at the gas chamber. We walked through cells once used by the inmates in A Hall. It’s the oldest structure at the prison. Near the end of the prison’s run, the cell block was used for prisoners who were “model” inmates.

However, the “dungeons” once housed prisoners who were punished for a variety of reasons. In the basement of A Hall, the dungeons were rooms without light. The only light the inmates saw was when a small slit in the door opened and the guard pushed in a plate of cornbread, one for each person in the cell. Six inmates could be in one cell at a time, so they had to fight for their food. One inmate, John B. “Firebug” Johnson, was in the dungeon for 17 years and another for 11 years. In the 1880s, a man caught the public’s attention with his antics in prison. That man was “Firebug” Johnson, one of the most notorious of all the inmates to ever serve a sentence at the Penitentiary. Johnson attempted escape several times but was best known for his most notorious act; setting a fire that destroyed more than $500,000 worth of property and the deaths of several inmates. Johnson was then convicted of arson in a Cole County Court and given an additional 12 years after which he was locked in the dungeon for many years. After he was released, Firebug wrote a book entitled “Buried Alive for 18 Years in the Missouri Penitentiary.”

The prison housed about 5,200 inmates at its highest capacity, far more than it was designed to hold. Among its infamous list of residents were the names Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd, James Earl Ray, Katie Richards O’Hare and Emma Goldman. See if you recognize any of the mug shots.

 

“Pretty Boy” Floyd first arrived at the Missouri State Penitentiary in 1925 after pleading guilty for his first offense, a $12,000 St. Louis payroll robbery. Upon his release in 1929, he continued wreaking havoc across the Midwest robbing banks and murdering in cold blood with a notorious band of outlaws. By 1933, Floyd was wanted in several states and known to police as the “most dangerous man alive.” In Missouri, he was wanted for three murders. He was wanted in Toledo, Ohio for killing a policeman there. Numerous Oklahoma bank robberies were credited to Floyd and his gang; he was also wanted in that state for murdering an officer. Police officers were warned that he was heavily armed with machine guns and wore a steel vest for protection. In June of 1933, Floyd and his gang continued on killing sprees across Missouri and Oklahoma and were identified as the prime suspects in an attempt to free Frank Nash, an infamous Oklahoma outlaw, which resulted in the fatal shooting of four lawmen. A massive manhunt ensued for Floyd and the fellow killers. Floyd managed to elude law enforcement for weeks before he was apprehended at a farm and shot dead on the spot after trying to flee.

James Earl Ray was convicted of assassinating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis. King was shot while standing outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968. The motel has been renovated and is part of the National Civil Rights Museum. The boarding house from where Ray shot King is now an annex to the museum. A year earlier, with eight years left on a robbery conviction, Ray attempted several escapes before finally succeeding in April 1967. Working in the kitchen, he devised a plan to escape by hiding in a bread truck. He hid in a large container that was in the back of a truck. The truck’s interior was poorly inspected by prison guards before being allowed to exit. Ray successfully escaped the Missouri State Prison. After his arrest for the King assassination, Missouri refused to have him returned to serve the rest of his sentence because of his ability to escape custody.

In 1919, Katie Richards O’Hare began serving a federal sentence at the Missouri Penitentiary that would change her life and contribute to reforms in inmate labor practices. In July of 1918, O’Hare, Chairman of the Socialist Labor Party, gave a speech in Bowman, North Dakota after which she was indicted under the new Federal Espionage Act, convicted of espionage and sentenced to prison. While incarcerated, O’Hare was forced to work 50 hours a week in a clothing factory and prohibited from communicating with her husband and four children. In 1920, President Woodrow Wilson commuted O’Hare’s sentence and she was released. She later received a full pardon from President Calvin Coolidge but her life was forever changed by her experience at MSP. She abandoned socialist agitation and pursued prison reform efforts. In 1939, she was appointed by the California Governor to the position of Assistant Director of the California Department of Penology. Her reform efforts had a major impact on California’s penal policies and many of those reforms were implemented throughout the country.

While Katie Richards O’Hare was incarcerated at MSP, another international activist shared the women’s quarters with her. Emma Goldman was serving one of several imprisonments for charges ranging from inciting a riot to advocating the use of birth control to opposition to World War I. At the time, the government called Goldman the “ablest and most dangerous” anarchist in the country and she was pursued through much of her life by two of the most notorious law enforcement officials in American History; Anthony Comstock and J. Edgar Hoover. She is credited with having had tremendous influence on the founders of Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union. Not surprisingly, while in prison Goldman was known as an agitator, stirring rebellion among the women prisoners. Prison administrators were glad to see her leave when in 1919, after serving nearly two years, she was arraigned before a US commissioner. When she testified that she did not have the money to pay her $10,000 fine, she was told she was free to go anyways.

Among its “better” inmates was Charles "Sonny" Liston. In 1950, Charles Liston arrived at the Missouri State Penitentiary. He was serving time for two charges of robbery with a deadly weapon and two charges of larceny. Liston was illiterate, one of 17 children, and had rarely held a job. While incarcerated, Liston, soon known as “Sonny,” found his niche in life; he learned to box, and he fought very well. One day the publisher of a St. Louis newspaper saw Liston box and thought he showed promise as a professional. The next day he contacted the Board of Probation and Parole. If Liston could be released on parole, the publisher promised, he would personally see that Sonny received a job and training as a boxer. So Sonny Liston was released on parole in 1952 and his rise to success was meteoric. He learned to read and write a bit and his associations with businessmen and managers taught him grooming and polish. He lived and trained at the Pine Street YMCA and began working at Scullins Steel until he could support himself from his earning as a pro boxer. Almost immediately, Liston was entered into the Golden Gloves Amateur Boxing Tournament, held in St. Louis. He won, and then went on to win the National Heavyweight Championship in Chicago in 1953. Years later, Cassius Clay (who changed his name to Muhammad Ali) beat him for the title. Liston, who finished his career with a 50-4 record. Liston would host boxing exhibitions at the prison, including fighting inmates who challenged him.

We had to drive around to a parking area, to see the gas chamber. Our tour guide told us that one of the executed prisoners was actually one of the prisoners who helped build the gas chamber. There was a photo collage on the wall, of all the prisoners that were executed there. 39 men and 1 woman. The woman and the man (5th row, all the way to the right) were executed together. The execution took place just 81 days after they abducted and murdered a 6 year old boy.

I found the raised cross in the walkway a very interesting touch, as I am sure the condemned to die, had their heads hung low.

We were famished, since we did not get to enjoy prison food! So we decided to continue with our “prison” theme and had lunch at Prison Brews. Prison Brews is a unique craft brew pub located in the historic east side of Jefferson City two blocks from the old Missouri State Penitentiary. Prison Brews continued our streak of excellent restaurant selections. 

The restaurant bar has a “prison” theme, including unique names for its craft beer brewed onsite and cells verses booths. 

We ordered a sampler flight, which included Go to Jail Ale, Prison Town Brown, Holding Cell Hefeweizen, and Big House IPA.

Charlie & Peg had the Prison Break Burger, Tom had a pork loin sandwich and I had a salad with chicken. Everyone said their food was delicious!

We drove to Freedom Corner, a tribute to the Armed Forces. It is at the intersection of High and McCarty Streets, on the Eastside of Jefferson City. In 2013, the Jefferson City East Side Business Association undertook a major effort to establish a memorial. This tribute to veterans was developed by Jefferson City's Eastside Business Association nearly 40 years after the celebration of the nation's bicentennial which erected a flag pole still existing today. Freedom Corner, at the intersection of High and McCarty Streets, is a very fitting acknowledgement of the service and sacrifices of our nation's armed forces...past, present and future. The tribute features a 14' tall stone and granite monument, topped by a bronze eagle in flight. A feature of this tribute is the personalized bricks and stones that have been placed to create the walkway to the monument. 

We finally took a drive around Binder Lake. The lake offers 55 acres of excellent fishing. You can either fish from a boat or fish from the bank. Large mouth bass, bluegill, channel catfish, red-ear sunfish and crappie are the most plentiful species with fishing permitted year-round. 

The camp host told us, we could drive all the way around. Well, that is not entirely true. We got up one side of it and then, we could not go down the other side. We wound our way back to the campground and went up partway to a large picnic pavilion, but you still could not get all the way around the lake in a car. You could, if you wanted to hike!

Again, we finished up out tour and meal by 3 pm, so we could escape the heat!