Escapees July-August 2024

settings. One is a spoon warmer, and the other is a butter dish with a base large enough for ice to keep butter from melting on hot days. Nearby are attractive silver tea sets and a sparkling punch bowl with matching cups. To arrange a visit to the Dodge home, one must register at the Beresheim House next door. This house is also a spacious home and belonged to a well-to-do family, who were associates of General Dodge in the banking business. Entering this home, visitors fi rst notice the historic interior design, chandeliers and antique furnishings. Other rooms contain a gift shop, a visitors’ registration area, and a place where guests can view a videotaped account of events in Dodge’s life. An elaborately carved white oak stairway, decorated with nine intricately carved newel posts, leads to upstairs showcase rooms portraying scenes from life in the Victorian era. The centerpiece in this display is Clara’s wedding gown and her dainty leather shoes. Many of Theda’s beloved dolls are also on display, along with their wardrobes.

Squirrel Cage Jail Nearly every town settlement had a jail built as one of the fi rst permanent buildings. Council Bluffs has an unusual jail called the Squirrel Cage Jail. During early years six squirrel cage jails were built. Only two remain though they are no longer in use. This jail consists of three-story metal drums divided into three levels of pie shaped rotating cells enclosed with steel bars. Because of this arrangement, it was almost escape proof. Prisoners in the small cells could not exit unless the entire cell block was rotated toward an opening; the block was turned by a hand-operated crank. Other areas of this jail include the “hot box” which was where the jailer’s wife prepared meals for as many as 60 prisoners daily. Considering the amount of work involved, one wonders how many times the prisoners ate during one day. There are also quarters that housed female and juvenile offenders. This was, indeed, a unique, but probably an unsafe jail for prisoners, especially if a fi re occurred.

Left: Squirrel Cage Jail. Top right: Bayliss Park PHOTOS COURTESY OF TRAVEL IOWA

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ESCAPEES Magazine July/August 2024