See.   What did I tell you?

The people in Hartlepool actually believe that they once hung a monkey thinking it was a Napoleonic spy.   They believe heart and soul, because all their parents, teachers and ministers told them that it was true.

The original mob started off by not denying the blame thrown at them by Hull, but went on to accept that if everyone in the press said that they had done it,then they must have done it, because you can always rely on what is printed in newspapers as being the gospel truth.   And later generations did not stop to think how stupid a story it really is.   It only makes sense if you relocate the action to Hull - they have the mental and physical capacity to pull off such a harebrained scheme.   (And are sneaky enough to blame someone else).

It's rahter like that bloke Hannaran (sp?) what accepted the blame for all of Christie's murders and got chopped for it.   No one could convince him he didn't do any of them.   Not even his defence attorney.   And now Hartlepooleans are convinced that they murdered that poor little creature that had done nobody any harm ....