Valley Courthouse & Lockup

Crooked Mile Periphery & Triumvirate Judicial System

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Melody Rice by ROD w/Midjourney

Gazette News Travel Guide

From the desk of Melody Rice, Reporting from Crooked Mile

MRice Log Date 1907
Melody Rice is a Crooked Mile local, who takes her reporting position seriously. If her reviews do not appeal to readers, she asks they contact her supervisor at the Gazette News, a flighty gentleman who doesn't take her seriously. It is likely her supervisor won't bother to discuss concerns and complaints with Melody. Nothing he says seems to go through her ear and out the other. Neither does his admonition take residence inside her brain matter.

Melody Rice Desk by ROD w/Midjourney

The Valley Courthouse can be found west of the LocationScarlet Woods. In the past, the courthouse housed judges, jury, and convicts, but as the valley prospered, so did the grifters, counterfeiters, and thieves. In order to avoid being found hours after their trials at the Spouters Tavern Tavern, they need a fortified cell.
When the courthouse rid itself of its perpetrators, it gained respectability, but no one thought to renovate or paint it. The unofficial Crooked Mile Valley Committee, later known as the Stewards of Benevolence, put forward the notion of starting from scratch with the building and jail. The offer made by a skating rink developer to the Committee didn't seem as absurd with Goose Valley Landing finished. The courthouse is close to the neighborhood on Friday afternoons, especially when the mine workers are paid. Neither the courthouse nor the lock up near the college is desired. The ideal location for impromtu midnight student get togethers.

Purpose
Town center meetings were mostly held at the county fairgrounds before the Courthouse was renovated. The Courthouse lobby is where monthly town meetings are held for residents to complain about water or muddy roads. The Committee is seated at a simple, elongated table, and the villagers stand or sit in folding chairs until they are acknowledged.
The jail, also known as the lockup, is a facility connected to the courthouse by a hallway and it is possible to escape from it. Before the Six Year started in 1898, the detained individuals included both the convicted and those awaiting trial for minor offenses, such as petty theft and public drunkenness. During the war, an increasingly violent type of perpetrator was being held in the facility. Murders, smugglers and Fairelands shysters frequently broke out of jail, terrified nearby homeowners, and boarded boats to Otherwhere. The Committee secretly concluded that this was the best outcome. They showed no interest in public executions.
The corrupt Fairelands Primacy's presence at the Courthouse and jail made it easy for inmates to escape with help. People regularly exchanged favors when money was scarce.
When the courthouse was in session, the Primacy arrived with coffee and Ellie-Ellen's Bakery & Tea Room pastries in hand. They were fully equipped to address questions from Gazette reporters or the public, who admired their devotion. Defending town meetings at the courthouse presented an opportunity for the police to identify marks. The marks in Crooked Mile Valley were wealthy seniors who were worried about their middle-class neighbors in Goose Landing.