The 53,000-square-foot Napa County Sheriff's headquarters may have a state-of-the-art coroner's facility and Emergency Command Center, but the facility embraces history, too.

Not only are the upstairs hallways lined with black and white photos depicting department history, but tucked away on the lower level is a museum.

"On the plans and the placard for the room it said 'museum,' but it's really more of a display area," said Capt. Gene Lyerla, a Napa native.

"Other agencies have created displays and we'd had it in the back of our mind to do it in the new facility. We have a lot of different artifacts in storage, so it would have been nice if it had been bigger, but we're going to start rotating items in and out," Lyerla added.

He led the way downstairs past framed photos of department lore such as the Karmann Ghia auto found at Lake Berryessa with the Zodiac killer's codes marked on the door, the first Highway Patrol officer and a happy photo of a department annual picnic, circa 1960s. Retired personnel and citizens who had ties to the department donated most of the photos.

"We have many more photos than wall space. The vast majority of the subjects and people have been identified. What I like the best is that I'm not in any of them," said the dry-witted Lyerla, who has been with the department for 27 years.

A step back in time

"Our retired Lt. Rick Andersen is a history buff with great carpentry skills," said Lyerla. "For the museum, he created a replica of an old sheriff's department pretty much all by himself."

Lyerla unlocked the door to the museum for a step back in time. Andersen had built a wooden sidewalk leading to the "sheriff's office." Walls on each side of the door are painted to make the observer feel in the middle of a long-ago Napa downtown.

"The store names are actual Napa businesses from the old days," said Lyerla.

Entering through a second door, the little museum's lighted glass cases display department memorabilia.

A life-sized mannequin, wearing western wear and a silver star, presides over the place from his antique wooden desk. Wanted posters from the early part of the last century are on the walls and in thick ledgers. Most of the crooks look very formal in their photographs, wearing hats and suits.

There are more department photos, a badge, a cumbersome looking "listening device," still in its original packaging, handcuffs, shackles, historic paperwork and, in a shadowy corner, a gallows.

The last public hanging

"That is the gallows used for the last public execution in California, here in Napa," said Lyerla.

"In 1897, it hung William Rowe, or Roe -- depending on the paperwork the spelling is different. He was found guilty of the murder of Capt. Greenwood's wife, who came home to find a robbery in progress. Rowe and his accomplice shot Capt. Greenwood three times, but remarkably didn't kill him. When his wife walked in, they shot and killed her."

The house where the gruesome murders took place was moved from its original location, now home to the Doctor's Company on Highway 29, and is the sales office for the Gateway Development on Devlin Road.

"Rowe was captured in Denver, Colo. His accomplice was given life in prison and Rowe wrote a confession and was transferred to Napa. What's interesting about this is that the state took over conducting executions at prisons in 1891, and this hanging was in 1897. We don't know why it was allowed. One rumor has it that officials from Sacramento were on their way here to stop it, but they couldn't cross the river because the ferry operator was at the hanging."

Lyerla takes out the handwritten Jan. 15 death warrant, written in flowing calligraphy. There's also a typed transcript of the trial and Rowe's confession.

"Attendance at the hanging was by invitation only," said Lyerla, pointing to a black-bordered invitation. "From the photographs, it appears that only men were invited. The gallows were erected outside the courthouse in a tented enclosure, so passersby couldn't see the activity."

The original gallows stood 20-feet tall, which would not have fit in the room, so it was cut down and reconfigured for the space.

"The gallows has been stored in a number of places in the county. It was at the old courthouse, then in the corporation yard. During the '86 flood, parts of the decking washed down the river. It's also been put on display at various Town & Country Fairs. In those days, furniture manufacturers made the gallows. It fits together like Lincoln Logs and you can see that the carpenters took time with it, beveling the edges. It was designed to be used more than once, but we don't know how many times this particular one was used."

The wood has a gray wash over it. The painted shoeprints on the trap door are original.

"We're fortunate that it survived all these years. We've had inquiries from other counties who want to make reproductions. The only change we made was adding galvanized bracing when we shortened it."

Following tradition, there are 13 steps leading to the gallows and 13 loops in the noose on display.

"That's a myth," said Lyerla. "The original noose used for the hanging is in the display case and there are fewer than 13 loops in it."

The museum has several photos of the actual execution. It also has the black hood that Rowe would have worn to his execution.

"He didn't want to wear it to the execution, but photos show they put it on him afterward," said Lyerla. "His last words were thanking the jailers for their treatment of him.

"The museum is not intended to be macabre. In fact, we hesitated somewhat to bring (the gallows) out. But it's a part of not only Napa history, but, as the last public execution, it's part of California history."

The public can view this piece of California history at the Sheriff's Museum by advance appointment. Contact Capt. Gene Lyerla at 253-4280.