Brownsville

Ed Blackburn, Jr. (2006:59-60) writes in Wanted: Historic County Jails of Texas that only three formal jails had ever been recorded in Cameron County.  At first, the court rented houses around town to hold prisoners (date not given).  The first jail was a small wooden building located at the corner of 10th and East Levee streets.  It was a “tiny half-floored single room, often holding fifteen to forty prisoners of both sexes…”  It served the county for more than 30 years.  In September of 1859, the legendary Juan Nepomuceno Cortina raided the town and terrified the populace.  He let everyone out of the calaboose.

The next two jails do not conform to my definition of a calaboose.

According to an article in The Daily Cosmopolitan (Vol. 6, No. 5, Ed. 1) dated August 23, 1884, a Brownsville police officer had illicit relations with another man’s wife.  In order to “intimidate and put the poor husband out of the way, he arrested him and beat him and put him in the calaboose.”  Judge Martinez is investigating the incident.

The Daily Cosmopolitan (Vol. 6, No. 203, Ed. 1) dated April 15, 1885, published the following short article.

“Last night the police captured a Mexican name unknown, with a turkey evidently stolen in his possession.  The man was locked up in that new three ply, double and twist calaboose.  During the night, probably thinking he would be more comfortable at home, the prisoner quietly pushed down the door and walked off.”