Jail Cell at Navajo County Arizona Courthouse

by Debby Pueschel

Title

Jail Cell at Navajo County Arizona Courthouse

Artist

Debby Pueschel

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

Route 66 is full of intresting places to visit. My husband and I stopped at Holbrook, Arizona, to tour the old Courthouse, now museum.
Light shining through a small window, cast eerily frightening shadows across the grafitti and floor of this jailhouse. A huge rusty iron door, rests against the brick wall of the old jail cells. Artwork and graffiti are all over the walls...made by the residents of the jail.
In 1898, Navajo County erected a new courthouse that would become the scene of a number of notorious trials over the years. The basement of the courthouse housed the jail cells, manufactured as complete units in St. Louis, Missouri and shipped to Holbrook on railroad flatcars. The small, dark cells were very effective throughout the years, as no one ever escaped from them.
Though the court would continue to dispense justice at this location for the next seventy-eight years, the most famous would always continue to be the first and only man ever hanged in Navajo County.
In November, 1899, the new courthouse jail was holding one of its most notable prisoners, a murderer named George Smiley. Convicted of having killed a railroad section foreman named McSweeney, Smiley was scheduled to hang on December 8, 1899. At this time Arizona law required that the county sheriff send “invitations” of executions to the other Arizona sheriffs, as well as certain territorial officials. However, the legislature did not provide a form for the required invitation nor any guidelines on the format.
Goaded by his friends, Wattron decided to issue a “novel” invitation, having it professionally printed on gilt-bordered paper. However, when a reporter got a hold of the invitation, he wired it to the Associated Press.

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*ABC Group - G is for Grunge 5-28-19
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*10 Plus 5-29-19
*Forgotten by Time 5-30-19
*Beauty of Arizona 10-24-19
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Uploaded

December 2nd, 2018

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