Sandra McGinty Wolff spent 10 years in the Gonzales County Jail beginning at age 6. She lived in the apartment in the calaboose supplied to the sheriff, her father.
It wasn’t unusual back in the day for the sheriff to live at the jail. He kept a close watch on the prisoners, and his wife cooked and cleaned for them. On the first day of 1951, the McGintys moved into the jail in the center of Gonzales, Texas. Sandra captures the decade in her self-published memoir, Cherry Pie Jailbird.
Deactivated in 1975, the jail became a museum. As the new chairperson of the museum committee, Sandra had the jail’s gallows replaced with a more historically accurate replica.
When the Crossbars Hotel opened in 1885, it had indoor gallows that were only used three times. The sheriff would take the prisoner out of his third-floor cell, walk him to the gallows, put the rope around his neck, and push him off the side. “It was very efficient and low-key,” Sandra says.
By 1951, the state had taken over executions. Sheriff McGinty had his son dismantle the original gallows. Fortunately, the 81-year-old Bill McGinty could remember what the hanging tree looked like.
The Gonzales County Jail Museum looks much like it did 40 years ago, except the sheriff’s apartment is now office space. Visitation hours to the empty cells are from 10:30am-3:30pm Tuesday through Saturday. See more info at www.gonzaleschc.org.
1,212th in a series. Collect them all. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of “Day Trips,” is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
This article appears in October 17 • 2014.
