[7] Early in Best's tenure, male prisoners caught engaging in homosexual activity “were forced to wear dresses and push a wheelbarrow filled with rocks as their punishment.”[8] A 1935 photograph documents the practice.

[5] He opened ranches, workshops, gardens, and other facilities to keep inmates busy, provide them with skills to earn a living upon release, and reduce the prison's operating costs.

[10] “Many were led to believe that [Best] was unduly harsh and inhumane,” wrote The Steamboat Pilot upon his death, “[b]ut for those who knew him…he was an efficient operator of an institution that was difficult to handle.”[10] On December 30, 1947, twelve inmates escaped Best's prison in the middle of a snowstorm just before New Year's Eve.

[11] Best organized a search party, and successfully captured or killed all the escapees, “with most of the survivors suffering some degree of frostbite.”[11] Hollywood wasted no time capitalizing on the dramatic events.

[11] Just months later, director Crane Wilbur, actors Scott Brady, Jeff Corey, and Whit Bissell, and a film crew arrived at Best's prison gates to recreate the escape for the silver screen.

[13] The New York Times effusively praised Best's acting skills, writing that his performance evoked “a naturalness few actors could stimulate.”[12] Even before the release of Canon City, Best was quick to capitalize on his new-found notoriety as warden of Colorado's state penitentiary.

[6][5] Although the jury ultimately acquitted Best, the attention spurred a separate civil service inquest, which found that Best mixed his personal financial affairs with those of the prison.

[5] Best died from a heart attack on May 27, 1954, just three days short of the lifting of his suspension, and was buried at Lakeside Cemetery in Cañon City, just two miles from the prison.