Raccoon City: People

Don't get me wrong; there was a fair number of decent folks thereabouts, regular, hard-workin', God-fearin' type folks. But there was somethin' about the area that seem to cause lots of strange folks to turn up, and the strange ones are always remembered where the ordinary ones were'nt...

Where do I start? Well, first of all there was Mayor/Judge Thomas Caldwell. Caldwell was a great bear of a man, standing nearly seven feet tall and thick as a bear. He served as mayor for nearly seventeen years until his demise in 1877. He also served as the Judge for the area, and held court for the whole county in Raccoon City. History books record him as instrumental in getting Colorado into the Union, but the truth is he did it for a lot less patriotic a reason than what most of them books say. Y'see, in 1876... well, I'm getting ahead of myself...

Caldwell was a busy man. It was known that he had a piece of every major business deal in that town, including being part of the mining consortium that controlled several mines in the area. Due to his business, the real power of the Mayor's Office was embodied in another man, one Lazlo Tate. He was a real snake, that Lazlo fella. It was his decision which led to the instigation of incredible gun ownership and gun sales taxes, fees and fines in 1876, which nearly derailed the "no-gun" law enforced in the town.

Who's next? Well, the town was well-looked after for many years by Sherriff Paul Gilchrist, an honest man of his word. Sherriff Gilchrist kept the peace in the town and around the area for as long as anyone can remember by himself. When young Maddy and Marshal Hawthorne entered the area, the Sherrif was the first to see them as allies and later as friends. There was somethin' about Paul that didn't get known until much later, and it was his undoin'... See, Paul's family was not exactly... well, not quite human... But I'll tell you 'bout that later. It makes a fine story, and shouldn't be rushed.

For a city of nearly eight thousand, Raccoon City had only one church, headed up by the gentle priest Father Mullin and a solitary old nun by the name of Sister Sarah. After their deaths and the burning of the first church, the town found itself spiritually homeless. In that time, a cute-as-a-button-and-twice-as-strongnun by the name of Sister Daniella brought the town together and convinced them to build another church.

There are two constants in life that you can always count on, one being the certainty that it will end. Because of that certainty, there are those who's profession it is to tend to the dead, and Raccoon City was not faltering in that respect. "The Mortician" was all that most people called him, and few even knew what his name ever was. A tall, thin man wearing a constantly sombre face and dark clothing, he was the subject of some nervous whispers which "nice folk" never said. No one really understood how or why, but the sight of The Mortician's Assistants always sounded the death nell. Whenever anyone died within the City, the Assistants could be seen, ready to collect the body and bring it back for the Mortician to prepare it for burial. The Assistants were thin, pale and childlike in appearance, but spoke rarely (some say not at all) and seemed stronger than their size might dictate.

The mining consortium was headed by Philip Grouper, the son of one of the very first men in the area. His company, Grouper Mines Ltd owned all of the mines in the area, which included two copper mines and a gold mine, among others. Already a wealthy man, Mr. Grouper became beyond rich in 1876, when several mines of SuperCoal opened in the area.

One of the nicest people I ever met lived in Raccoon City, a true lady by the name of Sharon Merriweather.