Stranger’s Claims Upset Sleepy Hollow Citizens
Posted by Morgan
Stranger interrupts mourning with claims of business between his father – the superstitious old Sleepy Hollow schoolmaster Ichabod Crane – and the much loved but now deceased Brom Bones. Demands restitution. Citizens outraged.
Late Fall, Sleepy Hollow – The arrival of twenty-three year old Icharus Crane in Sleepy Hollow at the Old Dutch Church on the morning of Brom Bones interment causes an uneasy stir among Sleepy Hollow residents.
Crane’s subsequent claims of a “business arrangement” between his father and the recently deceased Abraham Van Brunt raises the hackles of more than one Sleepy Hollow citizen…and one “friend of the family” who lives outside the Hollow.
Braughton Van Ripper, affectionately known as “Brau” to the residents of the village of Sleepy Hollow, claims Crane’s allegations of his father’s supposed agreement with the late Van Brunt is a bald-faced lie.
Being much familiar with the business dealings of the late Van Brunt (as the presumptive beau of Van Brunt’s lovely daughter, Katherine) Van Ripper denies all knowledge of any such arrangement and raises suspicion of Crane’s honesty in other Sleepy Hollow residents.
Van Ripper is supported in his claims by the silent agreement of not only Brom’s friend and confidant, Sleepy Hollow’s woodsman John Tanner, but also by notary Heinrick Vandercleef’s denial of any knowledge of any such transaction between the late Van Brunt and Ichabod Crane.
Intrigued and seemingly unaffected by the others outrage, young Mistress Van Brunt insists there is more to learn of Master Crane’s tale.
Ignoring both anger and disapproval from both Van Ripper and the woodsman, the lovely Katherine summons Crane to her home for a late supper…to discuss the matter more fully…despite the cautious, somewhat frightened whispers from other citizens of Sleepy Hollow.
What is their fear? That young Crane’s arrival in the Hollow is like to rouse the ire of “the witch” and stir the wrath of the “Headless Horseman” - much as his fathers had in the past.