The old Benton County Jail, built in 1876, once held Jacob Nelling, a man accused of brutally murdering a 15 year old girl. Jacob never got his time in court as a group of men decided his fate after storming the jail and dragging him to a short distance from the home of the murdered girl where he was hanged for all to see. Other stories are not as widely known, but according to former Sheriff Lawrence Wiemken, “There are eight old cells down there where people were chained to the walls until they either confessed or went crazy. It makes your hair curl just to think about it.” (Journal and Courier, 3/28/1969)
