Haunted Monticello, Florida by Betty Davis

Author:Betty Davis [Davis, Betty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, State & Local, South (AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; LA; MS; NC; SC; TN; VA; WV), Travel, Special Interest, Haunted & Unexplained, Body; Mind & Spirit, Supernatural (Incl. Ghosts)
ISBN: 9781625841551
Google: NrZ_CQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2011-05-20T00:40:39+00:00

THE BRAVE SHERIFF AND THE OLD JAIL

The old jail in Monticello was contracted to be built in 1846 by John Stevens. It was set to be built between present Pearl Street and High Street. Waukeenah and Cherry would be to the east and west. The building was to be thirty-four feet wide and forty feet long. The walls were to be built of brick two feet thick. The ceiling partitions and walls would be built out of lumber and nailed together with wrought-iron nails. The iron cages put on the upper floor were to be ten feet squared and seven feet tall. The total cost of building the Monticello jail was about $3,000.

Things could get pretty rough in the late 1800s in Jefferson County. Courthouse records show common offenses in Monticello included assault and battery, cattle theft, forgery, gambling, false imprisonment, debt, libel, enticing slaves, stealing slaves, selling spirituous liquors to slaves, malicious mischief and brawling. Many of these crimes were punished by fines ranging anywhere between six and a half cents to a dollar. More severe crimes, such as larceny, were punished by stripes being laid on the bare back of the offender. Crimes such as murder were punishable by hanging, but convictions on homicides were rare, as the accused person usually fled into the unexplored wilderness or went into hiding out of the area.

Thompson Brooks Simkins, or T.B. as he was affectionately known, was sheriff in Monticello from 1881 to 1883 and from 1889 to 1899. Law enforcement was in the Simkins family blood; his father, Smith Simkins, was the first sheriff of Jefferson County. Thompson was a very prestigious and wealthy member of the community. On top of his thirteen years of civil service as sheriff, he was also a financial backer for the railroad, was the contractor who completed the new Jefferson Hotel, owned a livery stable in town and was also president of Monticello’s trade board. He was also a farmer, harvesting thirteen barrels of Irish potatoes on a half-acre jail lot in town. Sadly, in 1889, Mr. Simkins’s lovely home was destroyed in a fire. He immediately started work on a new home, which was finished within the same year. Simkins also loved to raise livestock and was said to have had the finest pair of mules ever seen in Florida. In 1877, his pair of horses took “best pair of matched horses” at the Thomasville, Georgia Fair. He also raised pureblooded dogs and once sold his own personal setter for $120.

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