First county prisoner was housed in pigpen
It's unlikely those incarcerated in the Butler County Prison would consider themselves lucky, but according to historical records on the versions of the county jail over the years, maybe they should.
The first prisoner sentenced by Judge Jesse Moore in the new county of Butler in February 1804 found himself in a nearby property owner's pigpen across from the courthouse.
A Butler Eagle article from January 1947 noted that the pigpen was “new and clean” and used for an unknown amount of time, until the county commissioners “later” built a log jail at the intersection of South Washington and West Vogely streets.
In 1812, James Negley began the construction of a stone jail on the same property as the old log jail.
For unknown reasons, it was not completed until 1817.
In 1821, the commissioners approved a measure to have the doors on the stone jail covered in sheet iron.
The same material was used to cover the west wall of the “prison room,” and other repairs were made to increase security at the building.
A Butler Eagle article from January 1948 describes the old prison as “a gloomy enough affair” that would be considered insufficient for prisoners of the late 1940s.
“The old prison was provided with a dungeon, which was located in the basement, and was used only for the safekeeping of desperate criminals,” the article said. “A large iron ring was fastened in the stone floor of this dungeon, to which heavy iron shackles were fastened, and when the prisoner was thus secured, he had little chance of escape.”The legend was passed down through the generations that the Native American known as Sam Mohawk, perhaps the old jail's most notorious defendant, was attached to the infamous shackles in the basement of the building.According to “Sam Mohawk and the Wigton Massacre” by Tabitha Rathman, Mohawk was a member of the Seneca Nation who experienced delirium and hallucinations as he traveled through Butler County on his way back to New York.At daybreak on June 30, 1843, Mohawk noticed a light inside the rural Brady Township home of James and Margaret Wigton.
James Wigton was not at home when Mohawk stumbled up to Margaret “Peggy” Wigton in the yard and attacked her, taking a knife from her hand.Mohawk, according to the Butler County Historical Society, forced his way into the young family's home and bludgeoned Peggy to death, first with a stick and then a stone.Although Peggy fought back valiantly before succumbing to egregious head injuries, Mohawk went on to murder all five of the Wigton children, aged 10 months to 8 years, with the same oblong stone he had used to kill their mother.Mohawk, who had fled the scene, was found by a posse of the Wigton's friends and neighbors on the farm of Philip Keister, who was the Wigton's nearest neighbor.“He climbed the stairs of the home and settled in Philip's bedroom. A mob of 100 showed up to apprehend Mohawk,” according to the book. “The mob had no trouble locating Mohawk as he was playing Philip's fiddle. After a brief standoff and struggle, Mohawk was apprehended, tied to the bed of a wagon, and taken to the county jail to await sentencing and trial.”Once in the dreaded shackles in the stone jail's dungeon, Mohawk pleaded not guilty to six counts of murder.While doctors testified that Mohawk was likely suffering from delirium tremens as a result of alcohol withdrawal — which had worked for many defendants — a jury found him guilty in a matter of hours.Although he converted to Christianity before his hanging on March 22, 1844, no cemetery in the Butler area would accept his remains.It is still a matter of debate as to where Mohawk was eventually interred, although many contend that his bones can be found somewhere along present-day Oak Street.
According to the 1948 Butler Eagle article, the shackles that held Mohawk were hung on a wall “and were a source of terror and wonder to the bad boys of the town who heard many weird stories about them.”In May 1867, the county commissioners awarded a contract to S. G. Purvis and Company for the construction of a new jail in the location of the present-day Butler County Government Center annex.A residence for the sheriff was included in the plan, and the ornate home faced South Washington Street.Due to the many escapes since the jail's opening in 1867, the building was renovated in 1898 for $20,000.The new stonework contract was awarded to George Schaffner of Butler, and the carpenter and finishing work to George Schenck, also of Butler.“While the building was being repaired, Sheriff W. B. Dodds kept his prisoners in the Mercer County Jail,” said the Eagle article.Historian Pat Collins provided information that showed the jail in 1898 housed 40 prisoners and included a hospital room and a separate apartment for women and children.
In 1950, the county commissioners voted to build a new jail to modernize prison housing and provide appropriate space to place juvenile defenders.“The handling of juvenile cases in Butler, with our present facilities, presents a most deplorable situation,” the commissioners said in a statement in a Jan. 18, 1950 Butler Eagle article. “When it becomes necessary to detain juveniles, either for misdemeanors or offences of any kind, and in a great many cases where detention is necessary without any offence having been committed by the individuals, these youngsters are brought in contact with the most sordid conditions of mental and physical depravity that you could see among human beings in Butler County. We feel it is our responsibility to correct.”The current prison replaced the 1950 prison, which was built catty-corner at the intersection of South Washington and West Cunningham streets.The $40 million construction of the current Butler County Prison was not without its own issues, as the contractor threatened in 2007 to remove his workers from the job site unless the county commissioners paid him an additional $500,000.The situation was eventually resolved and the prison opened its doors in 2009.
