On the day the "Squirrel Cage" in Council Bluffs welcomed its first prisoners on September 11, 1885, Grover Cleveland was president of the United States and the roads of Pottawattamie County were all mud.   By the time the last inmate vacated their cells in December 1969, men had walked on the moon.  Between those times murderers, moonshiners, the King of the Hobos, burglars, horse and car thieves, con-men, and even an infant, had all called the odd structure home.  The building, with its three stories of tiny pie shaped cells in a 90,000 pound revolving cage, is interesting in itself.  But it is the people who lived there that make it a truly fascinating.  Many of them spent their time trying to escape and some of them were even successful.  Others whiled away their hours and days and months scheming ways to annoy the jailer and some counted their time by carving calendars and dreams into the metal walls.

       The Historical Society of Pottawattamie County is proud to announce the release of a new book that puts life into the stark bricks and steel of the 123-year-old Pottawattamie County Jail.  The book tells the tales of many of the jail's prisoners, their crimes, and their life inside "the cage" along with the Jailers who had to take care of them and the Sheriffs forced to maintain a building that was repeatedly condemned.  The 55 page paperback takes readers back to the tense nights when the jail held its own as lynch mobs threatened to storm it for a hanging as well as against a mob of farmers determined to set free those locked inside. 
    
     Tales from the Squirrel Cage Jail was written by Ryan Roenfeld in collaboration with Dr. Richard Warner.  Mr. Roenfeld is currently serving as president of the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County and Dr. Warner is a Council Bluffs dentist and long-time editor of the Historical Society's "Member Journal".  This is the pair's second historical book as they also co-authored "Council Bluffs: Broadway" for Arcadia Publishing in 2007.  The book is available by using the online order form and at the Society's gift shops at the Jail at 226 Pearl Street or at the RailsWest History Center at South Main Street and 16th Avenue.  All proceeds go towards the Historical Society and the continued upkeep of one of America's most unique museums.