IC: Ch 4a: County Clerk (Richard)

[BenTheRat]

Location: County Clerk Office
Date: March 21, 1921, 2:00 PM

As you walk into the county offices you are in a lobby area. There is a hallway that leads off of the lobby and you see stairs going up opposite the entrance to the hall.
Several offices also lead off of the lobby and you see a sign that says 'County Clerk'

[DrVendetta]

I walk over to the sign that says County Clerk and address the person there and with a smile "Good afternoon, I am looking at reviewing some old court case documents could you let me know who I need to speak to about these records?"

[BenTheRat]

"That would be me," an elderly woman says. "But they are not just open for anyone to come in and look through."

[DrVendetta]

Richard continues to speak calmly and assurantly to the lady "What would I need to do to review the records of a specific case? I am working for the family against a home owner and we are afraid that this may have already been tried in the courts in the past and we do not want to waste the courts or the clerks time with another case just to have it thrown out because it has already been tried. With any luck it has already been tried against a previous owner of the home and this information would help the whole issue speed through the court system faster and with a minimual amount of paper work. We know how valuable your time is and are just trying not to waste it, any help and or advise on how I can review the files would be greatly appreciated. "

Persuasion Roll,roll of 43 ability is a 75 so the roll succeeds [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4210290/[/url]

[BenTheRat]

The woman looks up from her type writer and doesn't look too pleased by the interuption.
"Ok, what case are you talking about?"

[DrVendetta]

Now that Richard has the woman's ear he starts laying the empathy a little thicker "Well there is this old house called the Corbitt house at this address (Richard gives her the address) and supposedly the local people took Mr Corbitt to court for practicing witchcraft and other occult things years ago. Supposedly he wanted to be buried in the house as well if you can believe that! At any rate this family that I am working for moved into the house a few months ago and they had all kinds of issues with there house and their sanity, the parents are now in a psychiatric ward and the two poor boys had to be shipped off away from their parents. I am trying to get some information on this case to show that the current owner new of the issues and continued to rent the house out to poor unsuspecting families with out letting them know of the issues in and with the house that had been documented in the previous case."

"Anything that you could do to help me get a chance to review the court documents would be greatly appreciated by myself and this poor family who are mostly wards of the state now and being cared for with our tax dollars. I hope to help push some of that burden on to the current owner."

"Like I said I am not trying to make more work for you or the courts so anything you could do to help me would be greatly appreciated, even if I could just read threw the records that would save everyone a lot of time and extra work, I promise I wont take anything and place it all back in the files as I find it, I am just looking to read the case files to see what had been documented previously"

Richard looks at the woman with an empathatic frown on his face hoping to help push her into helping him gain access to the files as he waits on her response.

[BenTheRat]

The woman looks at you in this weird quizzical way, "Huh?" She starts to head back to her typewriter. "Listen if you have a case file # or something I can help you out, but if you want me to just start digging through my files looking for anything about a a person at some address, then you're the one who needs to be sent to the psych ward."

[DrVendetta]

Richard says kindly to the woman "Ok if I get the case file number you will let me read through the file? That's all I will need?"

As Richard waits on an answer he adds an additional question "Also what court would have juristicion over that address and where would there office be?"

[BenTheRat]

The woman goes back to work, "Look again at the sign above the window, we handle all the court records for the county unless its a real serious crime in which case it would be in the Federal courts." She takes a breath and looks over at you.

OOC,make an appearance check. (your appearance x 5)

[DrVendetta]

Roll,LOL well thats the kiss of death for me Appearence is = 4x5 =20 roll equals 56 so a failure [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4211314/[/url]

[BenTheRat]

She looks you up and down, and you see that look that you have almost come use to seeing. "Yea, get me the case number and I'll get it for you."
And she goes back to work.

[DrVendetta]

"Were in this building would I find the case number logs so I can find the proper case number?" Richard ask

[BenTheRat]

She gives you this over the top exasperated look, "Really, I have to do everything for you. Do you have a year for this case?"

[DrVendetta]

Richard smiles and reply's "The year of the case was 1852 and I know the person acussed was named Walter Corbitt"

[BenTheRat]

She pulls out a book for 1852, it is pretty thick and she lays it on the counter for you, "Have fun."

OOC,Make either a library use or Law roll, whichever is higher.

[DrVendetta]

Roll,Library roll = 93 chance = 65% so a failure [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4212669/[/url]

[BenTheRat]

As you flip through the huge book, it doesn't make any sense at all to you. Tons of pages and listings, most of it hand written that is hard to read, and as you flip through the pages, you don't spot anything like Corbitt or Norman street.

[DrVendetta]

I look around the offices for anyone who I would think might understand how to find something in this book, as I do not want to ask the woman any more favor's, maybe a lawyer or legal assistant there doing there own research.

[BenTheRat]

There is no one else in the lobby with you.

[DrVendetta]

Richard checks his watch for the time knowing he is suppose to meet some of the others at the library at 6:00pm.
He wished one of them was there with him to help decipher the book.