BY CLARA KILBOURN, The Hutchinson News, www.hutchnews.com

LYONS -- Rice County commissioners hedge at the idea that the circa 1929 Rice County Jail with its Tudor-mansion appearance is a hot ticket item. The April 7 auction of the two-story building at the intersection of K-14 and K-96 could be a steal of a deal, Commissioner Bill Oswalt said.

Or there may be no bids at all.

"It’s the perfect corner for a public office, a jail museum or a bed and breakfast," Lyons resident John Sayler observed, "if someone wants to spend a night in jail.  "The 6 p.m. auction on the steps of the vintage jailhouse follows the October 2001 move into a new $4.3 million high-tech Rice County Jail on the west edge of town.

It won’t be the typical sheriff’s sale, auctioneer Jim Hollinger said.

Hollinger has cried sales for plenty of interesting antique items in his 20-plus years in the business – including the old Rice County Poor Farm. But he’s promoted them with sale bills and news ads.

He’s advertising the sale on his Internet site. www.hhauctionrealty.com. "We’ll see what happens," Hollinger said.

Rice County Sheriff Steve Bundy described the two-story red brick building with the Spanish tile roof as a home with a jail on top. The downstairs two-bedroom house, trimmed with oak woodwork, has a living room, dining room and kitchen, along with a black-and-white tiled bathroom with pedestal sink and tub and porcelain faucets.

At the time it was built, the sheriff and his wife lived downstairs; he was the jailer and she was the matron, Bundy said.

The upstairs jail, secured by a concrete floor and walls with a steel ceiling, was built to house 20 prisoners. Four-bunk cells with steel shelf beds are encased with heavy bars. A slightly larger commons area is furnished with a metal bench and shelf designed for mealtime. Food trays were lifted via a dumb waiter and passed into the cells through a steel trap door. Cell doors were opened and closed manually with a set of heavy metal levers that remain in working order.

During the tenure of the late Sheriff Richard Tucker, Mrs. Tucker served home-cooked meals to the inmates and the couple was often spotted sitting out on the south lawn in the evening, Sayler said.

"It was a pretty low budget operation, really," he said.

One of the perks of the house-jail is a basement-level garage.

Saylor recalled one sheriff, responding on an emergency call, zipped up the steep ice-covered driveway -- and slid back down again.

With its European-style chimney and red tile roof, the stately square jail was further disguised as a home with shrubs and a large maple shade tree on the south lawn, Sayler said.

Rice County Clerk Joan Davison traced the history of the jail to a 1899 legal notice when commissioners paid $225 for the jail lots. In January 1928 they contracted an architectural firm for 3 percent of the cost of the building and fixtures. An El Dorado builder won the contract for $16,543. Plumbing and wiring added $2,200 and equipment added another $16,000.

If the old jail were located in a big city it would make a nice office, Commissioner Bill Oswalt said.

"But it strikes me if anything exotic is going to happen, someone from away is going to buy it," he said. "It’s going to take some vision."

Reporter Clara Kilbourn can be reached at ckilbourn@hutch­news.com or at (620) 694-5700, ext. 321.