Ken Curtis’ father was the sheriff of Las Animas, Colorado. In a 1973 interview with The Cincinnati Enquirer, Curtis revealed some fun details that could be straight out of an episode of The Andy Griffith Show.
“People used to get arrested just so they could stay in my Dad’s jail and eat my mother’s cooking,” he said. While some of those details sounded straight out of Mayberry, the truth was that there were just as many criminals of a more hardened variety.
In a filmed 1977 interview with Bette Rogge, Curtis revealed some of the seedier, more exciting memories he had of his time as de facto jailkeeper. At the time his father was employed as sheriff, the United States was experiencing The Great Depression. One adverse effect of the economic downturn was the public’s reverence for bank robbers. Gangsters like Bonnie & Clyde and Babyface Nelson were folk heroes, modern Robin Hoods who stole from the rich and stuck it to the man. While the headlines captured the nation, Curtis remembers another side to the era.
“There were quite a few notorious outlaws in those days. We had one group in our jail that committed, at that time, one of the most famous bank robberies in the West: The Lamar Bank Robbery,” Curtis recalled.
“The Fleagle Gang, you might remember the name. They were one time the most wanted men in the country.”
So, what was it like being a little kid with some of the country’s most infamous gangs locked up in his dad’s cells?
“I fed them. I usually did the feeding, but we had a situation where— I don’t know if you’re familiar with the setup of the old jails, but when you come up, the outside door, you have all the prisoners go into what you call a bullpen. And they go into there and close the door. This locks the bullpen door. Then you go outside the bullpen, they have a big cabinet with levers in it, so you send them each into their cells, and then you pull these levers and lock the cell doors.
“Then, you take the food in, put it in the bullpen, come back out, lock the door, and let them out of their cells.”
The Fleagle Gang had their dinner, and Curtis, a talented vocalist, thought he’d provide some entertainment as well.
“Well, I sang a little bit at that time. I don’t imagine I pleased them too much.”