New view of an arresting history in Burlco

In the beginning, the warden - who doubled as a hangman - lived with his family behind the forbidding stone walls of the Burlington County Prison.

The wardens' presence saved two salaries by eliminating the need for a night watchman and a jail matron, said local historian David Kimball, who has written about the Mount Holly jail.

Life for prisoners was bleak, the New Jersey Board of Health noted in a scathing 1886 report. The outdated early-19th-century facility should be shut, the state recommended. At the very least, its inmates should have cots to sleep on - not mats on a cold concrete floor.

Two years later, the warden and his family got a change of address, the result of a number of improvements that followed the state inspection.

A house was built for them adjacent to the High Street prison. Most likely it was to free up space in the three-story jail, which was designed for 40 inmates, but had held as many as 100, Kimball said.

The move hardly made the family safer, he said, recalling an account of one inmate who fled through a connecting corridor and the unlocked door into the warden's kitchen.

Starting this month, the public has been able to tour the small, redbrick Warden's House. Admission is free.

The county freeholders authorized a $750,000 renovation to the site last year, tapping taxpayer-approved open-space and park-development funds to upgrade the black-shuttered, 21/2-story former residence that most recently housed offices for the prison museum next door.

Burlington County Prison, which was built in 1811 and closed 154 years later, opened for tours in 2000 after an $850,000 restoration. The work of architect Robert Mills, who later designed the Washington Monument, the facility held an interesting cast of characters through the years.

Its most notorious inmate was Albert DeSalvo, a soldier stationed at Fort Dix, who was charged in 1955 with molesting a 9-year-old Pemberton girl. After he was held for only one or two days, the charges against DeSalvo were dismissed. Later convicted of rape in Massachussets, DeSalvo confessed to -- but was never tried for -- being the infamous Boston Strangler who sexually assaulted and killed 13 women between 1962 and 1964.

Five other inmates were hanged from a gallows in the prison's exercise yard, Kimball said. Too cheap to pay for a hangman, the county had the warden do the job.

Among those strung up were Wesley Warner, who killed his mistress with a butcher knife in 1894 after he saw her leave the Mount Holly Fair with another man, Kimball said.

The last hangings were in 1906, when Rufus Johnson and George Small were executed for murdering Florence Allison, a Moorestown governess.

Strange noises and the unexplained placement of furniture have led some to say the old prison, in the heart of the township, is haunted by the ghosts of long-dead inmates. In recent years, it has been used for ghost-hunting expeditions and Halloween events.

Most of its former inhabitants, Kimball said, were vagrants or people arrested on "mostly petty stuff, like drunk-and-disorderly charges" or theft. Many, he said, were debtors.

Not much is known about the prison's various overseers, Kimball said, because of gaps in the records. Over the years, the warden's title changed to sheriff, an elected office with a three-year term.

The refurbished Warden's House, which also will be used as a gallery, gives visitors "an interesting historical perspective" on the county, said Freeholder Director Bruce Garganio.

More than 50 restored paintings and sketches by the late Hugh Campbell, an eccentric Mount Holly artist who created landscapes and streetscapes in the mid-20th century, are on display there.

The house needed structural repairs and a new HVAC system, said Steve Stypinski, construction manager for the parks system, which worked with the Mount Holly architectural firm of Regan, Young, England, Butera. Its worn porch and slate roof were replaced, and it was made accessible to the disabled.

An ornate fireplace with a slate mantle was discovered behind a wall and also was restored, Stypinski said. Mahogany shutters were installed.

Though the house is attached to the jail by a nearly 50-foot concrete-and-brick passageway, the buildings can be toured together only between 3 and 4 p.m. Fridays.

The Warden's House is open 1-5 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 3-5 p.m. Fridays. The prison is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 12-4 p.m. Sundays. More information: www.prisonmuseum.net

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