Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-03-14
A MONSTER.
A Frog Weighing 90 POundS Captured
tn n Cave FOdr Miles sout:s of COium
kin-Greaf Excitement.


Prom the Columbia Herald.
| We received the following lette
late yesterday evening, at the hands
of Mr.. Lem. Matthews, who vouch'
es for every word in the letter, anC
from his well known integrity, ant
that of his brother, we feel not the
least hesitancy in saying that it i;
just as they represent;
NEAR INDIAN CAMP SPRING
Wednesday, March 10, 1869.-Mr
Horsley-Having a large cave with
in short distance of my house
and it having excited the curiosity
of my two little boys, aged respec.
lively eleven and thirteen years,
they yentured this morning to ex,
plore its hidden wonders. With
torches in hand they proceeded to
the distance of about one hundred
yards from the entrance, when they
were terribly startled by the appear
ance of a monster frog, as large as
a hogshead, as they said, when they
came running up to me at my house.
Having seen SO much in magma
ton, when young, and possessing q
considerable degree of curiosity
was determined to see for myself
what it was. i went to the resi-
dence of Mr.. W! D. NJ tthsw5 to
get assistance in exploring, and
found several neighbors, ]. w. b.
Thomas, Richard McCanless, Geo.
Dixon, John Due, and Sol. Porter
there, who were eager to go right
away, as their curiosity seemed as
great or greater than mine. In
short time we fixed up three torch
es, procured some candles, and
lantern, we proceeded on our yoy-
age Of discovery. Having arrived
at the mouth of the cave, the torch
es were soon lighted, but some hes
itancy seemed to be shown by all as
to who should go first. Mr.. Thorn
as led the van into the damp cavern,
whose gloominess produced chill
ing melancholy, (and one of the
party was extremely anxious that
they should retrace their steps but
the indomitable Thomas and daring
Mathews and Porter prevented, by
telling the party that "soe can aOhip
out all the frogs an creation" We
wendell our way slowly to the place
my sons saw the frog, and sir, | do
say to you, without exaggeration,
that the frog was not near as large
as when my children saw it, but it
is undoubtedly the largest specimen
l have ever seen or heard of before
in this or any other State. We adj
vanced to within about twenty feet
and halted 1t was then setting
with its side to us, and when all of
the torches were brought up it
turned slowly around facing US
and such a hideous sight l never
before beheld. Its eyes, as they
glistened in the torch light, made
such an impression upon me, and in
fact upon the whole party, that we
trembled as if in the presence of a
real demon, for in all my magma
tons of the appearance of a demon,
l must acknowledge that l never
conceived of anything that would
be calculated to fill the mind with
such a horror as this. We stood
in the position we had first taken
for some time. Mr.. Matthews
threw a small stone towards the
frog, it rolled and struck him lightly,
1t bowed or ducked its head twice
towards the ground in succession
and made leap towards us; and if
/ tell you he leaped ten feet l do
not believe that l would miss it six
inches. As soon as it struck the
ground an instant retreat was stimuli
taneously agreed upon, aOithout con-
sultation. The torches were thrown
to the ground and in an instant
Egyptian darkness reigned and
struggle was made to gain the en-
trance. The noise and excitement
was intense amongst the little boys
who attended US, and above the din
of confusion the voice of Dick Nc
Canless could be heard as q frog
bite POISONOUS p
Mr.. Porter having some matches
the candles were soon lighted, and
with the light came back the cOur-
age of the little boys An advance
of few steps brougktu us in sight of
the monster again. A plan for its
capture was soon determined upon.
Mr.. Mathews sent to his house for a
large goods box, which soon after
arrived, The box was dragged in
and the top removed. The box
was pushed by Messrs. Dixon and
Due towards the frog, Mr.. Maths
ews using the top as shield, sue
ceeded in getting behind the frog,
and by throwing stones at it for
some little time, made it change its
position to place near the wall.
The box was then pushed slowly up
and covered it the top was slipped
down, the box was turned over and
secured by a few nails, and the prize
was ours Right glad did we all
feel at our success, and with high
hearts we commenced the work of
dragging the box out of the cave,
which we accomplished after much
labor; and we lifted it into a cart
and started for the residence of Mr..
W. d. Mathews, to have it weighed,
as had no balances that would
draw enough at my house. A rope
was tied around the box and the frog
and box were weighed together.
The frog was then turned out into
chicken coop and the box weighed,
and showed that the frog weighed
exactly ninety three pounds.
Twill be willing to make an affi-
davit of this fact before any justice
of the peace in Maury county.
Those present and saw the weigh
ing can attest to this. 1t is, dare
say, as rare a curiosity as was ever
found in our county before. Mr..
Mathews measured it while it was in
a sitting posture and its height was
exactly three feet four inches. Its
eyes, as near as we could guess,
| were two and one-half inches in
diameter. The color of the breast
or belly was a dark yellow, while il
back was q dark green, and appar'
emily messy, around its neck are two
distinct red and enc dark stripe