So, there was this landlord, and somebody broke into his house

[mogster]

The whole village was stunned that someone would dare to do that. Money was stolen. More than one was killed, and people came from all around the village, and other villages, to pay their respect and to say how sorry they were.
But the landlord didn't take the apologies seriously - to be honest, the break in suited him perfectly, because he had wanted bars in front of the doors and windows of his house for a long time, and also more police officers and better control in the little village, because he was always afraid of his money.
Instead of taking the time to grieve with the people, he therefore declared that the poor people from another village had done it, and that they would pay dearly for that act.

He gathered some of his strongest friends, and went to beat up and harass the people from the other village. It turned out to be a carnage. They didn't give an inch, and the landlord was much busy with his revenge for a long time, bringing more and more men. Everybody supported him - at first.
Then some of the villagers started to ask questions. Some had heard him talk about breaking into his own house. Other had seen strange things the night of the break-in, and told people about what they've heard. The thing was; would the village paper write about it? The editor shook his head, he wouldn't hurt the landlord by slandering his name.
Time went on, and so did the fight with the other village. Then another.

Turns out, the landlord and his friends owned the local gun factory, the gas station and every other thing they needed to keep their fight going. Huge amounts of money from the village fund was taken to pay for all the gas and the guns, and this was paid by the villagers - grudgingly. But the landlord spoke about the people who died in the break-in and how those other people had killed his loved ones, so they gave in.
People were killed in scores away in that other village.
Then some of the money from the break-in was found under the landlord's pillow by a maid, and it was discovered that he had inherited a considerable sum of money from one of the people killed in the break-in.
The village paper still refused to print anything - instead the editor accused the maid of planting the money, to hurt the landlord. The inheritance he brushed away as a mere coincidence.

People talked more and more about the break-in. Soon technical people got involved, and by simple math and algebra proved that the ladder was to short to having reached the window, and that the glass had fallen outwards, not inwards, when it broke.
Happily the villagers went to the editor; this was proof. But the next day they were shocked by the headline in the village paper. 'Conspiracy lunacy!', it said.

The landlord and his smart friends had set out rumours about the break-in themselves to make the other accusations look silly; one story went on to tell how a man called Bozo, with a clown mask, secretly had shrunk the ladder using magic. Another claimed to have seen a halo around the house, so it had to be aliens. Both stories was well underbuilt with pictures and advanced theory.
The ladder and the broken glass now looked completely silly in connection with Bozo and the aliens, so the editor had an easy choice when selecting an angle for the story.

More and more evidence and theories was found as time went by, and the net around the village got tigthter and tighter as the fighting spread in the other villages. Now it seemed almost certain that the landlord had done the break-in for his own reasons, because he and his friends got richer and richer and he almost never mentioned the people killed, only the money he'd lost and how bad he had felt when finding his house broken into.

Finally, one day, thirty eyewitnesses who had been abducted by the landlord on the night of the break-in, managed to get free and went to the villagers to tell what they saw. The villagers had been right all along. The thirty eyewitnesses - all trustworthy and truthful - testified that the landlord and his friends had done the break-in. It had been a lie.
They went with the villagers to the editor and scolded him for not seeing the pattern and the circumstantial evidence, and all the work the villagers had done to investigate the break-in. He humbly agreed to print whatever they would, at once, with no exceptions.

But now the whole village knew about it anyway.

[Oceansaway]

1. TOUCHE !!..n/t

[MissWaverly]

2. I hope they tell everybody

I am sure that the Saudis know the truth, they have known it all along, I hope they tell
everybody, leaking discreetly to British journalists of course.

[mogster]

3. Yeah

One wonders how it all ends.

[MissWaverly]

5. you saw that statement by the Saudis that Bush was

pushing the Middle East into total war and that even the innocent would suffer, I must admit
that had me puzzled until I realized that were talking about his Dad.

[malaise]

4. Nice but

now that the entire village knows how do they plan to deal with the landlord and his lying thugs including the media?

[lonestarnot]

6. Repossess the landlord's property for illegal aquisition?

[mogster]

7. That would definitely be a way

The landlord of the flies need to be stopped. But what about the editor? ;-)
After all, he's the one to we entrust the care and information of our democratic societies.

[Straight Shooter]

8. Good story-telling. But it will fly over most Repubs' heads.

Nevertheless, well done. :thumbsup:

[mogster]

9. Thanks, Straight Shooter

The villagers will hopefully be heard soon ;-)

[AngryAmish]

10. Where is this village?

And why hadn't I heard about this before.