Trent Dolan has the story of the great prison escape of 1871, where 29 inmates broke out of the Nevada State Prison and fanned out into the surrounding hills. Many of them were never caught.

In the same article is the story of Frank Denver, who was lieutenant governor of Nevada at the time, and back then the lieutenant governor also served as the warden of the prison. After the escape, the state legislature in 1873 decided to take the warden's job away from the lieutenant governor and give it to someone qualified, to be appointed by the governor. Frank Denver didn't go quietly, and the National Guard had to be dispatched to remove him from his post.