Nevada State Prison Burial Ground

Here’s a tiny contribution (unless someone else has already done it) to the early history of Nevada. If it has already been written about in modern times, I haven’t found it. We were recently walking around the old graveyard at Nevada State Prison (May 2026) and found a really nice, but partially broken gravestone that didn’t have an entry on Findagrave. Having more free time than most, I figured I’d dig into the history of the inmate. I found an entry in the National Register of Historic Places for Nevada State Prison. It read: “The partially effaced inscription appears to read “Thomas Miller, died Feb 2d, 1865, age 42 years”. The tombstone is most likely that of F. Miller, a convicted highwayman who died on February 2, 1865, after being shot in a failed escape attempt.” This was plenty to go to the newspaper archives with. On Feb 2, 1865, the Gold Hill News wrote that newly appointed Warden Alexander Hunter had been shot in the escape attempt. His friends believed it was a staged job. Hunter was the former Sheriff of El Dorado County, California. The escape attempt occurred later in the day on Feb. 1, 1865, while the Warden position was being turned over to Hunter. During the transfer from former Warden Robert Howland to Hunter, the prisoners rushed a guard and stole his pistol. Hunter was able to catch the unnamed “ringleader” but was shot in the arm by escapee Geo. Kirk while doing so. Hunter’s wound to the left arm, while painful, was not considered life threatening, nor did it require amputation. A guard named Lake drew a pistol and shot Miller in the lower back. The ball exited his navel. He died soon after. Miller was also formerly of El Dorado County, California. Three prisoners were able to escape. They included Kirk, Gleason (Gleeson) and Donnery. All three were from Storey County. Citizens, as well as troops from Camp Nye, were scouring the countryside in all directions looking for the escapees. Gleason was captured the following day, three miles from the prison. His hands and feet badly frozen. He found a warm springs and laid in it for hours in an attempt to stay warm. Kirk and Donnery remained at large. In an article from the Reese River Reveille on Feb. 4, 1865, they also noted the names of Day, Kirk and Conrad as escapees. They amended their article to include the names of Gleeson and Donnery. The Reveille article stated that it was Day that had been captured rather than Gleason. It's possible that it could have been both. On Feb. 7, 1865, the Gold Hill News reported that James Donnery had checked himself into the Storey County Hospital under an assumed name. Once his identity had been learned, he was taken into custody by Officer Ben Lackey at the direction of Chief Birdsall. When Donnery escaped, he was not wearing shoes. Officer Lackey tracked him for a long distance, which required travel through the snow by both men. Donnery’s feet were badly frozen. The Gold Hill News wrote, “Yesterday, Lackey found and at once secured him, and he will shortly be sent back to his old quarters. Donnery was in the penitentiary on a charge of highway robbery, and is a dangerous customer.” In March, the Assembly passed a bill that was sent to the Governor to provide $3,000 for the relief of Warden Hunter. No further information has been discovered at this time. I hope you enjoyed that piece of Nevada history as much as I did.