Gunnison History Tracker
409 2nd Street
Crested Butte Marshall's Office & Jail
Marshal
Rich Largo
Reportedly, they wanted to throw the accused in to a red hot limekiln. Subsequently, the prisoner was found to have hanged himself by making a rope from small pieces of wire he found in his cell.
William R. Kreutzer; US Forest Ranger, wrote about another incident at the jail in 1918 in his biography. He reported that Mark Tezak of Floresta an
Austrian miner, voiced pro-German opinions and was brought to Crested Butte, where disgruntled citizens decided to do a way with him. Tezak was turned over the Town Marshal, Max Batt, to lock up for safe keeping. Fearful that some towns people would take matters in to their own hands, Tezak was later moved to the Gunnison jail. He was eventually sent to a detention camp for the duration of the war.
This building served as Crested Butte's jail and Marshal's office and is presumed to have been built at the time of the Town Hall in 1883. The building contains two cells. The building is constructed of the same stone which was used for the Rock Schoolhouse and was acquired from a quarry at the end of Elk Avenue. Jean S. Davis recalls that the building was not
used much during the time her family lived in Crested Butte, 1932-1942. In 1937, the Gunnison School District used the jail for testing the eyes of school children. Mrs. Davis found a newspaper article in the Cripple Creek Morning Times 12 February,1901,which recounted the arrest of George Duric, who was charged with assault on Katie Musick. He was placed in the jail while outside members of the community formed a lynch mob. The mob was "unsuccessful in gaining admittance to the jail."
