The Motley County jail in Matador was built in 1891, the year the county was organized, and was used until 1984. The old stone building has seen better days and a group is trying to raise funds to renovate it. Carol Campbell, who grew up in Matador and went back there after a justice department career in Dallas, said the jail could be turned into a museum or at least a place to visit.

"In a lot of places, residents put a building over 50 years old in a hole and cover it up. We don't want to do that here," she said.

Her mother, who served as Motley County clerk for 27 years, was a member of a study group that was interested in the jail. That made Campbell think about the structure and she is helping with fundraising and updating. She got a grant from the Texas Historical Commission to make some repairs to the stonework.

"Although the jail has a gallows, it was never used," said Campbell. "The state decided that counties couldn't hang people anymore, so they sealed the gallows. It does provide some interest to people who tour the jail."

The jail had some fascinating inmates. One of them saturated himself with rose hair oil and slipped through the bars to freedom. Another prisoner, whose nickname was Digger, was on the jail's death row.

"Digger was the only person in the county who could witch for water," said Campbell. "They'd set a hanging date for Digger, then somebody would move into the county and need a water well, so they'd let Digger out, let him dig the well, then they'd bring him back to death row in the jail. This went on for some time and they really didn't want to hang Digger, because his services were so valuable. Legend says he escaped on one of his outings," she said.

Prisoners communicated with the public. Campbell said they would hang out the windows and yell to people coming down the street.

"They would say, 'hello, out there,' and ask passersby for cigarettes or beer or other things. William Saroyan wrote a play about the jail in Matador and called it "Hello Out There." Matador is mentioned several times in the play.

The first four Motley county sheriffs died from bullet wounds. The first sheriff is known as the outlaw sheriff because he gambled with taxpayer money and got in trouble for it.

A group of spirit seekers from Fort Worth investigated the jail and determined it has ghosts. "They were practically jumping up and down, they were so excited because they found so much activity in the jail. They told us there were three ghosts in the jail, two males and one female. They were able to get the female ghost to respond to them," she said.

The spirit seekers said they could detect a faint smell of rose hair oil.

"We're trying to figure out ways to get people to come to our jail, if for no other reason than to visit with our resident ghosts that are here," said Carol.