Braxtonburg

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight:

Wednesday September 9th 1938

"Going up?" She asked.

"Yes please, to the newspaper archives." I requested.

"Certainly. What year?" She asked.

"Within the first decade of the nineteenth century." I answered.

She then pressed a button on the wall panel and I could feel that we were ascending. I noticed that there was a red button at the top of the panel. It wasn't like the others though. It had a keyhole in the center.

"What's that button for?" Hannah asked.

"That's the top floor, the mayor's office." The woman answered.

That explained the keyhole. They wouldn't want just anyone going up there. We then stopped moving and the elevator doors opened. I turned to the woman in the elevator.

"Thank you." I said.

She smiled. We stepped out and the doors closed behind us. We were now in a room that looked like a library. There were plants in each corner of the room. There were a few tables along the sides of the room and there were bookshelves in the center. On the far side of the room was a huge window that took up most of the wall. Twenty feet to our right was a door in the middle of the wall.

"Okay, let's look for any article concerning Willow Lee." I told Hannah and Blaire.

"There are so many bookshelves." Blaire said in awe.

"Let's get to it." Hannah said eagerly.

We then split up and went for the bookshelves. I took the left side. I looked through them. The articles were kept in books, and along the spine of the books was the year. I ran my fingers along the spines of the thick volumes. I figured I would go in chronological order. I started in the top left of the bookshelf and pulled on of them down. I opened it and flipped through. The dates were already in chronological order, so that was helpful. I flipped through, finding only articles from January, 1900. I flipped through a few more books, finding something very unusual. A few of the articles were burned. They looked to be in pretty bad condition and didn't want to damage them. I then put the book I was flipping through back and took down another one from farther down the shelf, this one had articles from August 1900. I flipped through a few more books and put them back. A few books later, I found an interesting article.

August 27th 1900

Fordsville Gazette

Fordsville City Hall Burned To Ashes, Culprits Remain Unknown

Article By Robert Christy

On August 27th 1900, the City Hall of Fordsville was burned to the ground. Very little was salvaged, however a few newspaper articles were salvaged from the ashes of the building. Local police are saying that this is the largest and by far most bold act of arson that Forsville has ever seen, and that the perpetrator(s) will be brought to justice.

That struck a chord. I then put the book back and scrambled to find the book with the burnt articles. I took one off the shelf and flipped through, finding the burnt articles. These must have been salvaged from the fire! I struggled to read the damage article.

January 12th 1900

Fordsville Gazette

Fordsville Police Department Receives Its First Female Recruit

Article By Robert Chirsty

The most promising graduate of the Fordsville Police Academy in the class of 1900 joins the Fordsville Police Department. Captain James Carson admits in a press conference held earlier today that he is genuinely surprised that a female had passed through Fordsville Police Academy. He says that despite this, he will treat her as he would any of his male officers.