A small crack like this only widens with time. The migrants didn't simply take it lying down, and quarrels broke out at the tavern again and again until they turned into brawls. For a while there, Hans practically lived at the tavern.
The ringleaders were thrown in jail or sentenced to the pillory, their heads and hands locked into the frame in the plaza and put on display all day long, unable to move. Even so, the violence never let up.
That's why some of the migrants were hired as guards and set to patrol the trouble spots. Only then did the violence finally taper off somewhat. Another problem was that the migrants had no standing to bring charges over the villagers' unjust violence.
If the Boeven migrants were driven out of here too, where were they supposed to go?
Chief Wentner had conferred with Hans and worked to resolve these problems. Naturally, no report ever went up to the baroness. It was, after all, strictly a matter between villagers.
