After a lovely leisurely day in camp yesterday we headed into Cripple Creek this morning to for dual purposes. While our transportation was undergoing routine maintenance, we headed to the closest attraction, the Cripple Creek Jail Museum. A state of the art facility at the turn of the Twentieth Century, the Teller County Jail was an important piece of keeping the peace in this bustling gold mining community. Stories abound about the criminals, con artists, brawlers, robbers, and murderers that once spent their days and nights locked up in these cells and of the dedicated lawmen that sought to keep the community safe. Jack Dempsey who grew up in the area once served time for brawling before going on to make a name for himself in the larger world. Robert Curry aka Bob Lee of the Butch Cassidy Wild Bunch was one of the first inmates in this facility while he awaited trial for his role in the Wilcox Train Robbery. The cells in the lower block sometimes housed as many as six men sleeping in hammocks. Upstairs the women and juveniles had only slightly more roomy quarters. After serving the community for nearly a century, the jail closed in 1991. Although it is believed to be haunted, neither of us experienced anything paranormal this morning, just a sense of curiosity about how the penal system operated a century ago.
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