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Yellow Kid Murderer

created by BOZART

[Last scene of the last chapter]

"How truly ironic!"

"The more intense the battle between the two got, the greater the number of newspaper sales and the greater the influence over the press in the media got."

She continued.

"And that was how Pulitzer, who was respected by many, changed the course of history."
I looked at her strangely."

"That seems like a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think?”

The woman looked straight back at me.

"I wouldn't think so."

"What do you mean?"

The woman came closer and whispered.

"He ignited the war."

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Chapter.3

3.1

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"A newspaper started a war?”

I looked at the woman with a blank expression.

“More along the lines of contributed."

The woman paused, then continued.

"It was the Spanish-American War”

“You mean… THE Spanish-American War?"

She nodded.

"The United States, having just ended the Civil War, grew stronger as a nation and had its eye on the declining South American region of Spain"

She continued.

"Theodore Roosevelt, who was granted the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, insisted that Cuba be liberated from Spain.”

"Roosevelt?”

"Yes. He was born into a banking family and had great political ambitions. He believed strongly in a war against Spain. But there was one problem.”

"And that problem was?"

"There was no justified motive to invade Cuba. It was then that yellow journalism, which was led by Pulitzer and Hearst, came into the picture. They were able to create another reason for war.”

"How so?"

"They employed yellow journalism tactics and wrote sensational articles about the inhumane actions of the Spanish forces in colonial Cuba.”

"What would the articles say?"

"There was one that claimed that the Spanish male soldiers stripped female Cuban exiles to perform searches on them."

"So that allowed public opinions to grow stronger and Congress to push for military action?"

"Precisely. And that was the beginning of propaganda through the media."

"And did this strategy succeed?"

The woman shook her head.

"The US Congress didn't allow Roosevelt to take military action just like that."

The woman suddenly leaned forward toward me and spoke in a low voice.

"Then one day there was a decisive event that changed everything."

She leaned back again and spoke in a louder voice.

"The USS Maine explosion”

“Explosion?"

"A massive explosion sinks the battleship USS Maine in Cuba’s Havana harbor, killing 260 American crew members"

"Who did it?"

She shake her head.

"That doesn't matter."

"Why not?"

"Because as soon as the accident occurred, the yellow journalists all wrote articles claiming that it was Spain that caused the explosion.”

The woman continued.

"It was the perfect story. The journalists painted the whole thing as a torpedo scheme for the explosion, claiming that it was a Spanish torpedo."

"And what was Spain's reaction?"

"As soon as the incident broke out, fearing the US Congress, Spain made useless attempts to deny causing the incident. By then, Congress, under the influence of yellow journalism, had already decided to invade Spain."

"Spain must have felt that the situation was so unfair."

"Certainly, but there was nothing that could be done. The weaker one always loses in a fight. And thanks to the success of yellow journalism, Congress approved the war against Spain and Roosevelt was victorious."

"This is truly unbelievable. How just some articles can change the course of history..."

It was at that moment…

Riiiiing Riiiing

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3.2

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I received a call from my cellphone that was on the table.

I looked down to check the caller ID and quickly answered the phone.

"What's going on?"

The call was from one of the subordinate officers working the night shift.

"The drawing?"

I listened as the officer explained the drawing to me.

"Alright. I'm out right now so take a picture of it and send it over through text."

I waited anxiously until I received the notification buzz that I received a message.

I quickly opened up the message which revealed the image.

"What in the..."

I stared at my phone, stunned.

Shocked and desperate, I shouted into the phone.

"Where did this come from?!"

The officer stuttered a response.

"I- I received it this afternoon through the mail."

"And the address?!"

"There was no address."

"And why is it that I'm now discovering about this?"

I could sense the nervousness in the officer's voice.

"I didn't - I didn't think it was important, sir."

"What?"

"I just opened it. I called you right away after."

The Yellow Kid!

I suddenly realized that I had been talking about The Yellow Kid with the woman the whole time.

"Excuse me.”

I turned around to face the woman, but when I looked to where she had been sitting, no one was there.

The woman had disappeared.

How did she disappear so quickly? One second she was sitting right across from me and the next second she was gone.

I hung up the phone and called for the waitress.

"Did you see the woman who was sitting at my table? Do you know where she went?"

"I'm afraid I don't know."

"What do you mean? How could you not have seen her?"

"I went back into the kitchen for a little bit. She must have gone somewhere then."

DAMN.

I motioned for the waitress to leave.

I tried to calm myself down and think carefully.

From what I could recall, during the duration of the phone call, the front door to the restaurant had never opened.

Then what?

At that moment, I quickly turned my head towards the other side of the restaurant.

Next to the restrooms, there was a back door to the restaurant.

I jumped from my seat and ran towards the back door and opened it.

It was pitch black outside.

When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I was able to see that I was standing in a parking lot.

In front of me, everything was silent and still.

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(to be continued...)

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