It was a blistering Sunday in the latter part of June, the 26th, of 1977 when the small, Southern town of Columbia, TN experienced an event that would alter the community for decades to come.
The Maury County Jail, located in the business district of Columbia, just north of the magnificent, white courthouse that stands tall inside the public square, fell to its demise that Sunday afternoon around 1:45 p.m. The jail was built in 1963 and was a one-story facility that was a fire resistant construction, minus the padded cell that was towards the front of the building.
That Sunday afternoon inmate Andrew ‘Andy’ Zinmer sat inside the padded cell while the jail janitorial crew was cleaning up the flooded cell Zinmer had previously occupied. Zinmer was a 16-year-old runaway from Wisconsin who had clearly had a troubled past, hence his flooding of his cell, his running away from Wisconsin (where he had also been incarcerated before) and the event that took place that afternoon.
While inside the padded cell, Zinmer bribed a visitor for a cigarette, which was the only item that was allowed to visitors while inside the jail.
Adam Southern, director of the Maury County Public Library, tells the tale of the adolescent troublemaker.
“This 16-year-old inmate was taken into the padded cell after he had basically destroyed his own. He, a runaway, pesters the visitors passing his cell for a cigarette. After a he took a few hits from the cigarette his temptation to be mischievous kicked in and he used the cigarette to light the padding in the room on fire,” said Southern.
Because of the fire-resistant nature of the construction of the building, the jail was left with no automatic or manual fire alarm. Therefore, the fire ignited the entire room. The toxic cyanide fumes began to creep through the air conditioning system, spilling into the air that the other 97 people were breathing.
“The burning of the padding released cyanide into the air ducts of the building, which is what caused so many casualties that day. The air was so thick with smoke, too, that it was impossible for the people inside to breathe at all.” Southern said.
42 people perished that day; 33 inmates and 9 visitors. Entire families died, all from the mischievous nature of Zinmer. Also, it was noted that most of the inmates being held in the jail during the time of the fire had not yet faced trial or had been convicted of any crimes, which makes the nature of the disaster even more heart-wrenching.
C.R. Tinsley, a longtime resident of Columbia and author of “Tragedy in Small Town, TN: The Maury County Jail Fire,” remembers the events perfectly, as described in her recently published book, as aforementioned.
“I was 17-years-old at the time, and I remember it very well, as all the residents of Maury County entered into a period of shock, disbelief, agony, and inconsolable mourning. Many people still don’t care to talk about it because it’s just too painful, but, this tragedy did occur and it will forever be a part of our history.” wrote Tinsley.
Lucy Oldham, another longtime resident of Columbia, remembers the day perfectly herself.
“I remember Alta Bennett, my grandmother, putting her cigarettes in her purse and grabbing the keys, tossing them to an underaged me. She wanted to go ride around the cemetery, Rose Hill, to “teach” me how to drive. We took our usual route, down High St. then crossing over what’s now Nashville Hwy into the business district of town. Alta hollered when she saw the police, firemen and other emergency personnel when pulling down E. 6th St. She grabbed the steering wheel from me, taking us towards the square. All I remember is seeing black smoke wavering from the building and the feel of the sweat on my upper lip as we got away from the police. I was driving! I was 11!” Oldham said.
The fire in the Maury County jail is even more interesting considering Columbia had two tragic fires a couple of decades before this. The Princess Theater, which shared a common wall with the Bethel House Hotel, caught fire in 1949 and destroyed the entire city block. Again when the Columbia Institute, which was an all-girls school in Columbia, burned to the ground a cold night in 1959. Not only was Columbia accustomed to fires and other disasters that had broken out over time, the Maury County Jail fire also brought issues about racism into play, which is woven deep into Columbia’s history.
“There were several conspiracy theories floating around the community for a long time after the fire. One of them focuses around racial injustice, most people claimed that the African-American inmates were left in the jail to die, rather than being saved like the white folks. However, the thick, black smoke was like a wet blanket over your shoulders and covered the skin of every person within the jail. The nurses and other medical personnel were required to clean the skin of the deceased to determine who they were and what race they were. C.R. Tinsley’s book, I think, brought a lot of people closure and proved that there was no sort of racial injustice going on. The will to survive was intense.” said Southern.
Southern explained that C.R. Tinsley’s book cleared up any confusion and questions members of the community might have had regarding the fire. The book particularly cleared up the theories and speculations that any African-American people were purposely left in the jail to die; race was never a factor, for the smoke and soot made it almost impossible to distinguish between races.
Rose Hill, the cemetery that Lucy Oldham and her grandmother Alta Bennett spent Sunday afternoons driving around also plays a role in the aftermath of the fire. Ralph Calvin Golden Sr., his wife Shirley DeWilde Golden, their daughter, Dorothy Golden, and daughter-in-law Janice Boswell Webb Golden went to visit their son Calvin Golden Jr. the Sunday afternoon that the fire broke out. The five members of the Golden family perished that day, marking a tragic end to their lives. The family is buried together at Rose Hill Cemetery in Columbia, along the edge of the drive that winds through the hills of the cemetery, towards the back in the modern addition. Ralph Calvin Sr., his wife and daughter share a heart-shaped headstone with a double-heart shaped headstone right beside marking the lives of Calvin Jr. and his wife.
Overall, the Maury County Jail fire was devastating to the small town community and still the hurt still lingers inside the community today. The jail has been rebuilt and moved off site since the fire and the building where the fire took place is still in use today as the Maury County Archives. It’s an eerie feeling, stepping inside and feeling the residual energy. The archives still holds the feelings and energy that was present that day, which will seemingly never disappear from Mule Town USA.
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