By PATRICIA JONES
Of course, Dobby’s Frontier Town has to have a place to lock up the bad guys! The jail building, in the western part of the town, was constructed by volunteers at Dobby’s Fall Festival from 2001-2004. Not exactly palatial accommodations, the jail conforms to standards of the time, similar to the cells in the Box Butte County Courthouse that were used prior to the 1970’s.
The jail has two 6’x6’ cells. Each cell is built to house two people. There are two 5’ bunks, with the top one hinged to the wall so it could fold up. A prisoner would get a thin mattress and a blanket. A chamber pot in the corner served as the toilet. Food was pushed through the slot at the bottom of the door. There is a single person cell at the south end, where the prisoner would have to sit.
In western movies and television shows, the cells are made out of vertical bars. That design wasn’t very common, but it does allow directors to get better face shots of their actors. Most cell fronts were made from metal strips in a square pattern like the ones at Dobby’s. These cell walls were probably created by the local blacksmith. Dobby’s jail cells were originally used in the Kearney jail, and Dobby purchased them at an antique auction.
People were held in a local jail for only a short period of time. Once a court passed judgment, a prisoner was transferred to a territorial or state prison to serve any sentence longer than a year.
The ball and chain was originally used at the Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie in the late 1800’s. It would have been shackled to a prisoner’s ankle and the prisoner would carry the ball if that person was going to be moved outside the cell. A ball and chain might weigh anywhere from 20-75 pounds.
The north wall of the jail has a stained glass window that Dobby made out of the bottom of bottles. Since glass was hard to come by, many frontier buildings used bottle glass set in plaster to let light through.
Dobby’s Frontier Town is located at 320 East 25th Street/ Nance Road, Alliance. The town is open 10-6 daily for self-guided tours, and donations are appreciated.