Sheriff Harry Weiss is shown in the picture on the right with two high school students. Mr. Weiss and his family were all involved with the running of the jail, including Harry's grandson, David Weiss. David still currently lives in the county, not far from the Old Jail. His memories are described below.
courtesy, David Weiss
The Old Jail- Milersburg, Ohio
Written By Mr. David Weiss, grandson to the Sherrif, Harry Weiss
The Weiss family first moved to the jail in the early 1930s. Harry R. Weiss was my grandfather and served many terms as sheriff. I remember my grandmother Weiss telling me that when they moved from the farm in Walnut Creek Township to the jail it was the first time they lived in a building with electric and running water.
This was a time of bootleggers, hobos, and gangsters. However, the jail was more than a jail. It was a home to the family. The sheriff lived in the building. Where the meeting room is located on the first floor was the kitchen and half bath. To the West of this room...was the living room. Moving North past the rear door was the radio room and secretary's office. A small lobby was located outside the cell block.
The second story housed two cell blocks. At the top of the front stairs was a large one-room cell wich housed either female or juvenile prisoners. The large cell block upstairs was seldom ever used. Is a serious crive occurred or a hardened criminal would be present, they would be housed upstairs away from the other prisoners on the ground floor. All other rooms upstairs served as bedrooms for the sheriff's family.
Since the family was large, the children would play football on the courthouse lawn along with many of the town children. My father told me that at times the grass was turned to dirt.
It was truly an "Andy of Mayberry" time. Serious crive seldom occurred and when it did happen it was serious indeed. I remember my father telling me one night the telephone range late in the evening. It was so rare that it woke up the family. The caller stated the state liquor store...was being burglarized. My Grandfather went to the gun room, which was located off the radio and secretary office. He put a one hundred round barrel of ammo on his Thompson 45 machine gun and crept down the alley...My father and his brothers, awakened by the call, watched their father go down the alley. My grandfather told me that the robbers saw his hat badge reflect off the street lamp. They started shooting at him with hand guns. My grandfather opened up on then with the machine gun. He shot out the front window of the store. Axross the street...was a gasoline station. The bullets went into that building and broke the toilet and some glass. During the gun fight at least one of the robbers was wounded. The robbers were able to escape; however, they dropped off the wounded person at Massillon Hospital. He was paralyzed from the wounds. Each Christmas he would send my grandfather a Christmas card.
Before the advent of portable two radios, my grandmother would use a very simple method to alert my grandfather of trouble. If grandpa were around town she would turn on the porch light at the front of the jail. One night this light was lit while the sheriff and his deputy were eating at...the sheriff told his deputy he would go over to the jail to see what the trouble was. Shortly thereafter he left town with his red light on and the siren blazing. To relate back to the "Andy of Mayberry" time, a sirren was rarely used and signified big trouble.
[The Deputy] went quickly to the jail and made radio contact with the sheriff. He was told that an Amish man had been stabbed and to wait by the radio in case an ambulance was needed. When grandfather arrived he found a young Amish Man who had been shot several times during a botched robbery. [The Deputy] told me that grandfather called back in on the radio [and] said to round up help and come out quickly. He also told [the deputy] to bring his, the Sheriff's, gun along.
After my grandfather quit running for sheriff in the 1960s, his son Darryl Weiss served several times as sheriff. Our entire family, all Uncles, Aunts, cousins and assorted relatives, would assemble at the jail ever Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the front roomm there was always bluegrass music being played. My grandfather and cousin both played fiddle and banjo. Others played accordian, piano, bass, and guitar. The house was filled with music. In the back room where the sheriff had his office was card playing. There were always several tables going with euchre. As children the jail was a most exciting and fascinating building. Since the upstairs cell blocks were seldom used, the children would play for hours in this massive cell block. We would explore the dark and scary basement. The old jail still holds some of my fondest memories. Years of growing up in and around the building-- it was almost a person.
When I was a freshman in high school, I lost my leg. It was a very traumatic time. My grandfather came to the house and said I need something to keep my mind off this recent situation. He said I should run the radio and answer the telephone at the jail. At five o'clock the office people went home and at the time they had no dispatcher. The sheriff or his wife would answer the telephone and they had a speaker connected to the radio system in the kitchen off the living room. If a deputy would call in they might hear the radio call. Back to the "Andy of Maybery" concep...here was a freshman in high school who was responsible for the handfull of prisoners and all radio and telephone traffic. It was the most exciting period of my life. I did this job for four years until I left the area to attend college...I think the budget for the entire year was about $100,000, and the sheriff returned money to the county each year. Today they have two or three jailers per shift and at least one dispatcher all doing the work of a fourteen-year-old! I realize times have changed, and this was nearly fifty years ago. Today my experience would not be possible.
