Mrs. Jailer of Webster County, Kentucky

Appointing the widow of an officeholder to fill out a term is not a new phenomenon. It has occurred often in western Kentucky as well as other locations. An example of such an event is recorded in the Tuesday, 7 July 1925 issue of the Henderson Morning Gleaner.

Widow Named As County Jailer

Dixon, Ky., July 6 - It is now Mrs. Jailer, not Mr. Jailer should Judge N.B. Hunt address the custodian of Webster County’s prisoners, for Mrs. Maggie Hayes has been appointed by County Judge George E. Vaughn to fill out the unexpired term of her late husband, Sam Hayes, who died last week, with the remainder of this year yet to go.

It is a new experience for this plain country woman, whose life has been lived in quiet places, content to be the wife of a farmer, going with him to the county seat when in the beginning of 1922 he succeeded Ed Littlepage as Jailer of Webster County, after the latter had served two terms.

Joe Hayes, a single man, youngest son of the jailer, who lived with his parents and was chief deputy under his father, with an older brother, T.D. Hayes, relieving the aging man of the burdens of office, will hold the same position with his mother. She is jailer in name only, for it is the two sturdy sons on whom she will rely for performance of the duties of office and upon whose shoulders will rest the responsibility.