History

March 1, 1867: Nebraska became the 37th State in the Union. At this time the west boundary of Lincoln County extended into eastern Colorado and Wyoming.

October 8, 1867: O. O. Austin became the first Sheriff to be certified by an election. He received twenty one votes and was also the tax assessor.

At the close of 1868 North Platte was anything but a moral town; law and order were the rare exception. It had no jail and for this reason crime was often unpunished, but when occasional arrests were made, culprits were either kept in the guardhouse at the North Platte Army Post, sent to Fort McPherson near Maxwell, or elsewhere for safe keeping. Prisoners were expensive as will be seen by an extract from the county records.

October 16, 1868: At a meeting of the Commissioners it was ordered to pay a claim from the Union Pacific Railroad Company for transporting prisoners to Fremont for a total sum of $128.50.

October 5, 1868: County Board ordered that bids be received by the County Clerk to build a County Jail in the County of Lincoln. It was said that the jail would be divided into two rooms, which were twelve square feet. Bids for larger or smaller rooms will be considered.

October 17, 1868: A contract was entered into with W.S. Peniston in accordance with his bid to build a county jail. On January 16, 1869 it was ordered that he receive the sum of $2,500.00 for building the jail and furnishing cots. It was ordered that the deed of W.S. Peniston and Miller for the west half of Lot #3 Block 103 in the town of North Platte, upon which the jail of Lincoln County stands, be received.

The low-roofed, rough log cabin designated “The Jail” stood on Front Street just west of the depot, with its small barred windows and heavy door.

This, the county’s pioneer jail, held many bold, bad men as prisoners. Cattle thieves, horse thieves, murderers, assassins, criminals of all grades and degrees, and upon at least two occasions was assailed by an angry mob of lynchers. One sheriff stood in the doorway, revolver in hand, in front of an excited mob wishing to wreak vengeance on a prisoner, declaring in defiant tones that any who crossed the threshold of the jail would do so over his dead body. All knew that he would make good his word. It was a poor structure as it had no foundation and several prisoners dug their way to freedom by night.

The records of Lincoln County have numerous items mentioning a bill allowed for guarding the jail. One such bill reads thus: “allowed T. Redmond for watching jail for month of December, 1871, $60.00. “January 24, 1868: The claim of Dodge County, Nebraska for keeping and trying John Burly for the crime of murder: the sum of $416.14.”

December 1, 1871: William Woodhurst was elected Sheriff. On April 6, 1868 he became the first Sheriff to be bonded in Lincoln County.

October 15, 1875: Alex Struthers was elected Sheriff.

October 28, 1875: A. H. Bradley bonded as Sheriff elect.

1879: Con F. Grover was elected Sheriff.

January 7, 1879: Sheriff received $111.50 for guarding prisoners.

November 30, 1883: Con F. Grover elected Sheriff. In December of 1882, the Sheriff received $64.20 for expenses “to take crazy persons to Omaha.”

October 13, 1883: Commissioners approved the Sheriff’s claim of $151.50 for conveying prisoner to asylum and mileage to search for horse thieves in the amount of $68.40.

November 6, 1883: Issue placed on ballot to vote reference obtaining $8000.00 in bonds to build a jail.

January 2, 1884: J.R. Bangs was bonded as Sheriff.

January 8 1884: Dr. J.P. Dullard, M.D. was low bidder to provide professional services and medicine to prisoners and paupers for the year of 1884. His bid was $165.00.

April 15, 1884: Pauley Bros. of St. Louis were low bidders with a bid of $4000.00 and erected two steel jail cells with heavy steel doors and barred windows. R.D. Thomson was to be the general contractor to build the jail.

1886: Jail Budget – $1,192.13

County Budget – $32,335.80

1887: D.A Baker was elected Sheriff.

September 26, 1887: The bond issue on the ballot was for $10,000 to build a county jail. 813 voted for it. 286 voted against it. Jail construction started in 1888 and was completed on January 8, 1889.

1888: The jail budget of $700.00 was approved by commissioners.

January 2, 1891: The first record of “Sheriff’s Fees.” Attachment Fees: $1.35

1891: D.A. Baker was elected as Sheriff.

November 5 1895: Jacob Miller was elected Sheriff. He received 1343 votes.

November 10, 1899: T. Keliher was elected Sheriff.

November 3, 1903: Lincoln Carpenter was elected Sheriff.

November 5, 1907: L.L. Miltonberger was elected Sheriff.

November 7, 1911: A.J. Salisbury was elected Sheriff. Sometime between the years of 1911 and 1914 the general election changed from the odd years to the even years.

November 3, 1914: A.J. Salisbury was elected Sheriff.

November 5, 1918: A.J. Salisbury was elected Sheriff.

November 7, 1922: L. L. Berthe, who was a brakeman for the Union Pacific Railroad, defeated Salisbury in the election.

November 2, 1926: A.J. Salisbury defeated L. L. Berthe. Berthe went back to work for the Railroad. In the Primary Election of August 1926 there were eight Republican Candidates and one Democratic Candidate for Sheriff.

November 4, 1930: A. J. Salisbury was elected Sheriff.

November 6, 1934: A. J. Salisbury was elected Sheriff.

November 8, 1938: A. J. Salisbury was elected Sheriff. At this time his brother, Bill Salisbury, was Street Commissioner.

October 1, 1938: There were two men in Lincoln County Jail for possession of marijuana.

July 6, 1939: Sometime between November 8, 1938 and July 6, 1939 A. J. Salisbury was killed in a car wreck near the California border. P. A. Duchane was a former city police officer, who was working as a Deputy Sheriff at the time. P. A. Duchane was appointed active Sheriff on July 6, 1939. He received $166.66 per month, which was $2000.00 per year for the year of 1940.

November 13, 1942: P. A. Duchane elected Sheriff.

April 3, 1943: P. A. Duchane resigned and O.L. “Barney” Discoe was appointed Sheriff. His wife and family were the first to live in the new current jail building. Sheriff Discoe was the first Sheriff to have a radio installed in his patrol vehicle, which was his personal car. He had one night Deputy, Jack Stinson.

March 19, 1946: A 20 year old male hung himself in jail with his belt.

August 10, 1946: Amos Kindig, 52, of Tryon, NE, was found murdered in his truck in the 300 block of West 6th.

November 5, 1946: O.L. “Barney” Discoe elected Sheriff.

April 25, 1947: Clarence Whitehead was murdered in his home at 3 S. Maple, which went unsolved.

February 14, 1950: Doratha Bollish (female) appointed Deputy Sheriff.

1949/50: 378 prisoners were processed in jail for the fiscal year.

November 16, 1950: O.L. “Barney” Discoe elected Sheriff.

February 17, 1951: All houses of prostitution in North Platte were ordered closed by Lincoln County Attorney Jim McIntosh. The known houses were specifically named. This would be enforced by County Attorney McIntosh, Sheriff Discoe and Police Chief Ernest Mason. The County Attorney cited, among other reasons, many high school students that frequented these places.

1950/1951:Budget for the Sheriff’s Office was $15,820.71

1951/1952: $18,294.14

1952/1953: $29,257.61

November 2, 1954: George Howard was elected Sheriff.

1954/1955: $27,319.06

1955/1956: $28,530.81

1956/1957: $29,257.61

November 4, 1958: George Howard was elected Sheriff.

November 6, 1962: Gordon D. “Hop” Gilster was elected Sheriff and served until January 1983.

November 1982: Duane K. Deterding was elected Sheriff.

November 1986: Duane K. Deterding was elected Sheriff.

November 1990: Duane K. Deterding was elected Sheriff.

1992:The Lincoln County Jail processed 1511 prisoners into the jail.

1993/1994: The budget for the Sheriff’s Office and Jail is $1,232,155.00 and employs 40 people. Lincoln County covers 2860 sq. miles and the Sheriff’s Office provides contract law enforcement for 6 villages within the county.

November 1994: Duane K. Deterding was elected Sheriff.

1997: Sheriff Deterding resigned with nearly one year left in his term office. James Carman, a Lieutenant with the North Platte Police Department, was appointed to fill the vacancy.

November 1998: James Carman was elected Sheriff.

May 2001: A bond of $20,500,000 for a new county jail failed.

November 2002: James Carman was elected Sheriff.

2005/2006: Jail budget was $1,106,000.00

Sheriff’s Office budget was $1,635,438.00

May 2006: Jerome J. Kramer defeated James Carman in the primary election. They were the only Republican candidates and there were no Democratic candidates.

August 2006: James Carman retired early and the County Commissioners appointed Jerome J. Kramer as the acting Sheriff.

November 2006: Jerome J. Kramer was elected as Sheriff.

November 2008: The people of Lincoln County passed a $15,200,000.00 bond issue to build a new Lincoln County Jail and Sheriff’s Office. The bond passed by a surprising 62% despite a failing economy. This bond included the cost of purchasing a new building to relocate District 9 Probation and demolition of the existing Sheriff’s Office/Jail buildings and District 9 Probation offices.

The current jail sat on the northwest corner of 3rd and Jeffers Streets. The new jail will close 3rd Street between Jeffers and Vine Streets and will span the north and south ½ blocks on both sides of the closed 3rd Street.

At this same election Barack Obama became the first black President of the United State.

2008/2009: Jail budget was $1,298,900.00. The Detention Center employed a secretary, Jail Administrator who holds the rank of Lieutenant, and seventeen Detention Officers (of which there 1 Sergeant and 3 Corporals)

Sheriff’s Office budget was $1,967,800.00. Besides the Sheriff and Chief Deputy, the Sheriff’s Office employed an Office Manager and four secretaries, twenty two Deputies in three Divisions (of which there was 1 Operation Lieutenant in charge of all three Divisions, 5 Sergeants [3 in Patrol, 1 in Criminal Investigation and 1 in Civil] and 3 Patrol Corporals). Including ranking officers, there were two in Criminal Investigations, two in Civil and 17 in Patrol. There were also four volunteer Reserve Deputies.