An Outlaw’s Legend by Pam Crooks

We’ve recently returned from a family trip to Durango, Colorado, a place that has been on my bucket list for years, not only for the western vibe but mostly because of the infamous train ride that it’s known for.

Like most everyone else who has visited Durango, we took the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train through the San Juan National Forest, an authentic ride through the mountains and wilderness much as it would have been back in the late 1800s. After 3 1/2 hours (which didn’t seem nearly that long thanks to our entertaining guide and beautiful scenery), we stopped in Silverton for a 2 1/2 hour visit before we boarded the bus back to our VRBO. (We took the bus back since it was literally 2/3 of the time faster, but we could have returned by train if we’d wanted a reverse view of what we had seen going up. LOL)

If I thought Durango had a western vibe, it had nothing on Silverton.

Quaint and full of history, we had our choice of restaurants to go for lunch, and we ended up going to the Lacey Rose Saloon, a bar and restaurant next to the legendary Grand Imperial Hotel. After a lovely meal, we meandered out of the saloon and stopped short at the bar. Though the hotel was built in 1882, the beautiful back bar was added in 1902. Made of tiger wood maple and graced with large mirrors, its carvings are stunning for the Victorian period.

 

And here’s the best part.

While in the throes of Silverton’s silver mining hey-day, outlaws and prospectors alike spent time in the saloon to slake their thirst and engage in some spirited gunplay. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Bat Masterson were among them, and if you look closely, you can see that a bullet once pierced that beautiful tiger wood maple above the mirrors. Folks say it was Bat Masterson’s bullet. If true, either he’d fired a warning shot that day–or he wasn’t as good of a shot as he was known for.

Now this is interesting. Once my ex-military brother spied this photograph, though, he made a certain detail clear. That bullet was a casing–not a bullet projectile and therefore not Bat Masterson’s bullet. The saloon’s bartender did say it was a .38 special casing that had been placed there as a landmark in the last twenty or thirty years to help people locate the hole.

Hmm.

Was the hole originally made by Bat Masterson’s bullet, then filled in with a modern-day .38 casing for the tourists’ benefit? We may never know for sure, but all stories start somewhere, right?

That’s what legends are made of.

 

Do you have someplace that’s on your bucket list to visit?

(I want to go on a cruise to the Bahamas! And then maybe to Ireland . . . )

Have you been to Durango?  Silverton?  On the Durango-Silverton train?

 

Get Out of Jail Free

Last summer, my husband took me on a marvelous trip to Colorado to celebrate our 30th anniversary. One of the things we did on this trip was to drive up to this historic town of Silverton. I love communities that take preservation seriously, and walking through Silverton was like walking back in time.

One of the most interesting places we visited was the old jailhouse. They turned this building into a wonderful museum, and I learned some fascinating history that I found quite surprising.

From 1874-1902, five jails were constructed in Silverton as the mining town grew and evolved. The first one-room cell was built of logs from native timber, the second was made from mortared stone. During the 1880’s wooden jails were constructed in other small mining communities throughout San Juan County. They were mainly used as holding cells until the prisoners could be transported to the county jail in nearby Silverton. Many of these smaller jails had no on-site supervision. The prisoners were checked on only at meal times and at “lights out,” making it easy for them to plan and implement escapes. Escapes became such a problem, that the county invested over $12,000 in 1902 to build a state-of-the-art escape and fire proof brick and limestone jail. This building is still standing today, and is the one I had the pleasure of touring.

The first room we entered was the Jail office. The office was strategically placed to provide both maximum security and efficient daily monitoring. The metal staircase to the left leads to the second floor where the cell block was located. The photo shows the family of Alvin and Ida Kramer. Alvin was the sheriff from 1905-1912.

One of the most surprising things about this jail to me was the fact that it was basically a home on the bottom floor. The sheriff’s family didn’t actually live here, but they spent the majority of their daytime hours here. The wife would cook meals in the kitchen for the prisoners as well as her family. There was even a parlor for relaxation and for the younger children to play in.

Directly to the left of the jailor’s office was a special cell separated from the mail block upstairs. This cell was for insane inmates . . . or women. Notice the pass-through in the wall where food could be delivered from the kitchen. It is currently decorated more as a typical Victorian era bedroom, so I imagine it was much sparser in its heyday. However, remember Ida Kramer from the photo above? She actually gave birth to her fourth child in the women’s cell.

As we moved through the downstairs room, we came to the family room followed by the parlor.

These family rooms are probably dressed up a little more than they would have been back in 1902. Yet the furniture was typical of that time period.

See the beautiful crystal in the display case? There is a scandalous story behind that set. The collection of fine crystal originally belonged to Mrs. Johnson of Silverton. She worked as a prostitute in one of the houses of ill-repute on the infamous Blair Street. Many of her clients knew that she loved cut crystal, so they purchased individual pieces as gifts for her, which explains why this is not a matched set. Then she died in 1930, her collection was packed into three oak barrels containing sawdust for shipping to her relatives in Boston. However, her family could not afford the $25 for shipping. The barrels were purchased sight unseen by William A. Way, the town attorney, so that the collection could remain in Silverton.

Next came the kitchen. Prisoners of the county jail were served three meals a day, prepared by the jailor’s in a kitchen built with all the modern amenities including running water, icebox, and large wood cookstove with bread warmer.

Finally, we moved upstairs to the main cell block. This was created as a free-standing steel unit and was centered in the room to provide a corridor on all sides. There are four six-foot square cells facing a common area that contained a toilet an sink. The jailor controlled the doors with mechanical levers, allowing prisoners to use the toilet facilities one at a time while keeping other doors locked. All the cells could hold as many as 6 canvas hammocks, making for close quarters when the jail was filled to capacity.

My husband gave me the sad puppy eyes, so I decided to help him escape.

How would you feel about being married to the sheriff and being responsible for feeding the prisoners and raising your children in a criminal environment?