No Joke!

Evidently, the FBI has located 20 pages on Microfilm about Vivian Chase! Woe, Friday I got two letters telling me no there's nothing. So of course I'm excited even if it's only 20 pages. The files have to be processed which means they will go through a classification review. The information is over 70 years old if I get one blacked out name I'm appealing. I've been through too much to get very little to put up with that BS.

I also have to decide whether I will appeal one of the 'no information' letters I received. Essentially, the letter said that it was FBI HQ policy to limit searches to HQ folders and indices in order to save time. The FBI has essentially refused to search through it's field office information. Now if the letter had said 'there's no information relevant in the field office files' I would give up with out any argument. But of course in order to tell me that they would have to know what the FO records contain. I also need to ask them to tell me if the records have been destroyed. As anal as the FBI is with information I'm sure that they could tell me definitively if those records are lost. What records you ask? Well, Vivian's autopsy file is referenced in the Luer kidnapping file and there are also Kansas City FO reports referenced that would provide information on the FBI's search for her after the Luer kidnapping and a report that might illuminate the Cherryvale Bank Robbery.

I realize that after 80 years (Cherryvale) there's a good chance something happened to the records but just tell me they are no more and I'll be gone.

Well...

Well, I've hit the wall. Friday I received a letter from the FBI basically saying they can't find any other records for Vivian Chase other than the file numbers I was previously given. Those files turned out to be perfectly worthless to me containing no information. I guess it's possible that the information was misfiled and may turn up but it's equally possible that it was stolen or destroyed. I say stolen because it wouldn't be the first time that someone walked out with a file. Of course it would have happened before there was so much security in place to prevent that.

So where do I go from here? I guess I just keep trying to close the gaps on the information I have. You know Vivian was not a major criminal (although as a female she was major) but her associates were incredibly interesting. For now I'm concentrating on Lee Flournoy and Charlie Mays. They are an interesting pair particularly Flournoy. Something tells me if I keep researching their robbery and bootlegging gangs I might just find out what happened to George M. Chase.

Truthfully, I admit to myself, I may never have all the answers to the questions I have about Vivian's life. Vivian was notoriously closed mouthed about herself. Somehow I think the problems with finding information about her have a lot to do with her karma! But you never know...maybe I'll find an answer here and there despite the cosmic interference!