Visiting Franklin County Historic Jail Museum, Benton IL

A road sign we saw on our way to the city of Marion was a little unusual, saying something along the lines of:

Visit our jail museum – includes displays about George Harrison from the Beatles.

This was intriguing. I knew various members of the Beatles had drug-related brushes with the law back in the day, but didn’t think any had ended up in jail.

On our final day staying in nearby Marion, Shae and I decided to pay that attraction a visit. That attraction was Franklin County Historic Jail Museum, a small museum in Benton, Illinois.

There was an unusual sight as we pulled into their parking lot. Set up outside the museum – but behind a fence – were some gallows (the reason why will be explained later).

Next to the gallows was an old automobile which reminded me of the cars used in Bugsy Malone.

Once inside, we paid the $4 entry fee per person and the lady working the front desk had us take a seat in the front room. There was a TV there and she started playing a video about the museum and the jail’s history.

The video turned out to have some interesting information. It gave a brief overview of the jail’s most famous resident – a local gangster called Charlie Birger. It also shared some information about how the jail used to be run. The front portion of the building that we were sitting in was the sheriff’s home. The sheriff’s wife made meals for the inmates which would often earn her more money than her husband.

Apparently the maximum length of stay allowed in a county jail back in the day was 364 days. That’s because there was a law that stated prisoners weren’t allowed to be kept in county jails in excess of a year.

To get around this stipulation, some prisoners were jailed there for 364 days, removed for a day, then sent back for another 364 days. Rinse and repeat.

Although there are several different types of exhibit at Franklin County Historic Jail Museum, the main feature is Charlie Birger. Birger was a gangster and bootlegger in southern Illinois during Prohibition in the 1920s. After terrorizing the area for seven years with his gang’s war against the Ku Klux Klan and the Shelton Brothers gang, he was arrested in 1927, jailed in Franklin County Jail and hanged outside the jail the following year (hence the replica gallows).

There’s therefore a lot of Charlie Birger paraphernalia in the museum.

One of the creepiest exhibits was a noose that had been used in the past to conduct hangings (albeit not Birger’s). Even creepier than that was the explanation that went with it:

This actual hangman’s noose was used in several public hangings by Birger’s hangman Phil Hanna of Carmi IL. Hanna was inspired to become a hangman as a child after witnessing a hanging in which it took the victim over fifteen minutes to die. Phil Hanna performed dozens of executions by hanging throughout the region, supplying ropes, hoods (black or white) and a gallows where needed.

He wanted to become a hangman after seeing it take 15 minutes for someone to die by hanging? That sounds like a disturbed child.

A somewhat ironic exhibit was a Ku Klux Klan paddle. This paddle from the 1920s was apparently used for disciplining members of the Franklin County community, as well as fellow KKK members who had ‘displayed unworthy moral behavior’.

KKK members displaying unworthy moral behavior? If they had any self awareness, they’d have been self-flagellating (or whatever the non-whip term is) all day and night.

Mounted on a wall on the first floor is a copy of the front page from The Daily American newspaper the day after Charlie Birger was hanged. If you visit Franklin County Historic Jail Museum, I highly recommend stopping to read the entire front page as it makes for fascinating reading.

There was more Charlie Birger paraphernalia in another room, including some of his gang’s weapons, courtroom seating and more.

They even have a bullet proof vest that he wore.

As mentioned earlier, the gallows set up outside the museum are a replica of the ones on which Birger was hanged. The original set of gallows are locked away in a cell on the second floor of the jail.

These gallows were the last set to be used for a public hanging in Illinois. They were subsequently used for a hanging in Owensboro, Kentucky in 1936 which was also the last public hanging in the US.

The jail’s second floor also carries the cell Birger was jailed in before his hanging. Compared to the size of the jail’s other cells, Birger lived in luxury while jailed.

In addition to the spacious cell, Charlie Birger was afforded a lot of leeway in other ways. After being arrested, his jailers allowed him to keep a loaded machine gun to protect himself! This was due to his concern that his rivals – the Shelton Brothers gang – would try to kill him.

The other people incarcerated at Franklin County Jail were kept in cells on both the first and second floor of the jail.

When visiting Franklin County Historic Jail Museum, it can be easy to miss the cells. On both the first and second floor, you need to head through a heavy metal door like the one below.

As you can see below, the cells were much smaller than the one Birger was jailed in. There were single cells…

…as well as double cells.

Surrounding the walls of the cell area were illustrations featuring stories from Charlie Birger’s gang.

My favorite story was the one below – its description reads as follows:

Birger testing out a steel vest on Steve George at a range of twenty-four yards with a machine gun. Steve George got knocked down a few times, but received no serious injuries.

In related news, Steve George had enormous cojones.

I’m not entirely sure why they couldn’t have just attached the bullet proof vest to a tree trunk or something like that to test if bullets would penetrate it. I guess that wouldn’t have been gangster enough.

Other Exhibits

As mentioned earlier, the history of Charlie Birger’s exploits, incarceration and subsequent hanging is the main feature of Franklin County Historic Jail Museum.

There are several other exhibits in the museum relating to life in Franklin County though. Some of these are related to what life was once like in Franklin County, while others feature some famous past residents of the area.

There’s an old telephone and furniture…

…and an old washing machine.

The actor John Malkovich grew up in Benton and the museum features a signed photo from when he visited the site.

Malkovich grew up next door to Doug Collins who went on to become an NBA player and coach.

Another basketball player who grew up in the local area was Rich Yunkus, so he has his own display.

There’s another room with exhibits relating to General John A. Logan. Logan was a general in the Union Army during the Civil War and went on to become a Congressman and Senator.

The final room upstairs was set up with radio DJ equipment.

That’s because a radio station in Franklin County was the first station in the US to play a Beatles single. George Harrison subsequently conducted an interview with the station – see below for more information for how this came about.

Something else that seemed like it could be really fun is that they offer an Escape Room experience where you have to escape from the cell block – how fun is that?!

Final Thoughts

Shae and I ended up spending about an hour at Franklin County Historic Jail Museum and found it even more interesting than expected. Neither of us had heard of Charlie Birger, so it was fun learning something new.

There’s a lot to see and read at the museum, so you could easily spend longer than an hour there if you were to read everything on display. It’s definitely worth the $4 admission, so check it out if you live in – or will be visiting – southern Illinois.

And while you’re in the area, be sure to also check out Little Grand Canyon and Garden Of The Gods.

Address

Franklin County Historic Jail Museum, 209 W Main St, Benton, IL 62812