Tim Dempsey

Rules Are Made to Be Broken: an Anecdotal History of the Douglas County Jail Tim Dempsey

This book is an anecdotal history of the Douglas County Jail in Omaha, Nebraska. The stories begin in 1891 when Omaha still a little bit rowdy. In 1891 Nebraska, a person facing a murder charge was tried, sentenced, and executed in the same county in which the offense occurred. The first story relates how the first execution at the Jail turned curious spectators into a mob responsible for a horrific lynching that same evening. The book concludes with the 1978 story of two convicted murders that planned and successfully executed the Jail?s most elaborate escape. Unbelievably, the prisoners were able to fashion a set of keys for the doors and made other incredible preparations for the escape. Sandwiched between 1891 and 1978 are stories of several more newsworthy events and other dramatic escapes.