Another one of my harebrained schemes

If you read through the two posts I did about the prison tour, you already know I gave it five stars and a thumbs-up.  Cliff would agree on this.
What you don't know is that I have whined about wanting to go to Jefferson City for at least two years.  Even before I learned about the prison tour, I wanted to visit the State Capitol building, which I had not entered since I was a teenager.  
Cliff said it was another one of my harebrained schemes, and kept putting me off.  
I purchased our tickets for the prison tour a couple of months ago, choosing the noon tour.  As the day approached, I suggested to Cliff that we leave early and visit the Capitol before we went to take our tour; after all, the old prison is only a block or two away from it.  
It's a two-hour drive to Jeff City from here; we arrived around 9:30 A.M.  I told Cliff that gave us about an hour and forty-five minutes to spend in the Capitol building, because we needed to allow time to eat our picnic lunch in the car, and have a cup of coffee from the thermos.  Honestly, I didn't think it would take more than an hour to walk around and look at whatever was there.  

I didn't know there's a Missouri State Museum inside.  This consists of several different rooms on at least two levels.  We made it through one. single. room.  Cliff found it all so fascinating, he read everything there was to read about each exhibit in that room.  

Now, normally I would have been reading right along with him, but I had to remind him every once in awhile that we had to watch the time.  My thoughts were that I'd never get him back to Jefferson City again, so we should take a quick look through all the rooms and be done with it.  
That didn't happen.  
Am I complaining?  No way, because Cliff only went on this day trip to shut me up; he did not expect to enjoy it himself.  Now he is promising me that we will return, and that we'll spend the whole day, if need be, at the State Museum inside the Capitol.  
It happens often:  I come up with an idea for a destination, he calls it a harebrained scheme, and in the end, he enjoys it even more than I do.  Don't try getting him to admit it, though.  That won't happen.  

Interesting facts about the Missouri State Penitentiary

Our tour guide had many stories to tell about people who spent time in the institution during the years it was open, from 1836 to 2004.  Pretty Boy Floyd spent time there after he was apprehended for robbing a bank.  

Sonny Liston once called this cell home.  

The man in this picture, "Firebug" Johnson, kept trying to set fire to the prison.  As a last resort, they put him in the dungeon. 

Yes, a real dungeon.  "Firebug" spent years there.  

Kate Richards O'Hare, a socialist, made the mistake of giving an anti-war speech in 1917; it was against the law to undermine war efforts, so she was sentenced to five years in the Missouri State Prison.  She published two books while she was incarcerated, and finally had her sentence commuted by President Coolidge.  She went on to become the assistant prison director of a California prison.  

James Earl Ray escaped from the prison at Jefferson City in a bread truck, and a  year later shot and killed Martin Luther King.  

The couple who kidnapped and killed Bobby Greenlease in 1953 died side by side in the gas chamber at this prison.  

I heard so many interesting stories yesterday, my mind can't hold them all.  Seriously, if you have the chance, take this tour.  You have to buy the tickets ahead of time on the website, because the group size has to be limited.  We took the two-hour tour; there is also a four-hour tour, but I was afraid it would be more walking than I wanted to do; besides, it cost a lot more money.  Now I almost wish I had gone ahead and spent the money, because I could have listened to the stories all day long.  

 This building opened for business in 1836, the first prison west of the Mississippi.  If only those walls could talk!

I went to prison today; I ended up in the gas chamber

In Jefferson City, Missouri, there is an old prison you can tour.  It closed in 2004; it's a piece of history that I've wanted to see for a long time.  Today was the day.

 Don't try escaping by way of the Missouri River; the guards will shine lights down there and catch you.

Ah, the cold, gray face of the prison.  I can almost hear Johnny Cash singing "Folsom Prison Blues".

The crowded cells.  

Knives made in secret by conniving inmates, some of which were actually used to kill people.

 You can imagine my trepidation as we approached the (shudder) GAS CHAMBER!

 Suddenly, there I was; and I hadn't even been offered a final meal.  Yes, it seats two, and a few times there were some double gassings.  The two people who kidnapped Bobby Greenlease in 1953 got to die together.  My Russian Friend, Meesha, did an informative entry some time back about the Greenlease kidnapping; click HERE to read it.

When you gotta go, you gotta go  (get gassed, that is).  I jest, but the guy said it was a particularly cruel way to die.


I recommend this tour to everybody!  You will not be sorry.  Our guide worked in the prison from the early seventies until it closed in 2004; he is passionate about the history of the place, and he has fascinating stories to tell.  I took a very short video of him, just so you can see how enthusiastic he is; that enthusiasm never flagged during the whole two-and-a-half hour tour.





The oldest of the buildings on the place was constructed eight years before Custer's last stand.  
You HAVE to go, I tell you!  Click HERE for information.