What evidence is there that the "headless horseman" is a trick played on Ichabod to scare him from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"? The author gives...

In 's short story "," Ichabod Crane, the New England interloper and village
schoolmaster, vies with local man, Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt for the affections
of the rich farmer's daughter, Katrina Van Tassel.

We are led to believe that
the headless horsemen who terrifies Ichabod and leads him to flee from Sleepy Hollow is really
Brom Bones in disguise by several details.

1. Ichabod is highly
   superstitious and Brom Bones is a notorious practical joker, whose preferred target is
   Ichabod.
2. Brom has every reason to wish Ichabod would leave the
   neighborhood, since he seems, initially, to enjoy some success in his courtship of
   Katrina.
3. Brom Bones tells stories in which he makes light of the of the
   Hessian trooper, while at the same time ensuring that the legend remains in circulation, and in
   the forefront of Ichabod's mind: "He affirmed that, on returning one night from the
   neighboring village of Sing Sing, he had been overtaken by this midnight trooper;...