Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-11-10
The Frogs Of Windham.

Rome had her geese and Pomfret her
wolf, but Windham had her frogs. Here
on the historic Green, in sight of the
pond where it occurred, the episode of
the frogs assumes a very different as
pect from that given it by Rev. Hugh
Peters in his humorous "History Of
Connecticut" 1t was on the night Of
June IL, 1854, that the gruesome, gro
tesque circumstance occurred. The
green was as fresh and vivid in color
ing, the elms arched as gracefully, tho
stream from the pond broke over its
barriers and flowed away under the rus
tic bridge as murmuringly then as now,
but in the minds Of the people there was
sad forboding and expectation of the
momentary outbreak of a savage foe.
1t was the eve of one of the bloodiest
of the French and Indian wars. Wind
ham County had special reason for
fearing vengeance, since, in acquiring
some parts of her recent Susque-
hanna purchase, the Indians were
known to have been aggrieved and
wronged. Goodman Whites negro
slave Pomp was the first to experience
the terrors of the night. Having lin
gered until a late hour beside a dusky
Phyllis in M of the outlying farm
houses, he at length started to return to
the village, a Voudoo charm about his
neck and a horseshoe in his hand as a
protection against spooks. The night
was still, misty and intensely dark.
Pomp went his way whistling, his fears
equally divided between the insubstan-
tial ghost and the more material Mo-
hawk. He had reached the green, when
all at once a dire uproar burst upon
him. Roar, below, gable, shrek,
splash, gurgle, were combined, and the
sounds came from everywhere at once
above, below, on this side and that,
from field and pond and forest. To say
that Pomp fled and shrieked and
prayed, conveys no idea of the celebrity
of his flight o the intensity of his
groans and s%upplications. But before
he could reach the center of the green,
chamber windows were thrown open,
nightcapped heads were thrust forth,
and feminine shrieks and the strong
cries Of men added to the uprcar; many
swooned, the stronger fled as they were
to the village green, where they huddled
in q little group, every eye upturned to
see through the murky gloom the glory
of the opening heavens and the awful
visage of the descending Judge. In that
company not but believed that the
last great day was at hand. But the
levin-stroke of judgment failed to come,
and soon the thought came to the
stronger minds that the uproar was OF
terrestrial origin and attributable to
savage foes. Peering into the darkness,
and Shrinking from the possible deadly
tomahawk, they waited and watched.
At length they heard, amid the general
babel, distinct articulations which grad
ually resolved themselves into the
names of two of Windham's most
prominent citizens-Colonel Dyer, the
agent, and Squire Elderkin, one of the
trustees of the Susquehanna Company.
Colonel Dyer! Well have Colonel
Dyer!" the mysterious voices declared;
and "Elderkin, tool" ''Elderkin tool"
'Elderkin, too!'' an equally mysterious
chorus repeated; not a person but
trembled for the fate of those two strong
pillars of the commonwealth. The words
"tete," "tete," which followed, were
construed as meaning that the investing
force was disposed to treat, but as moth
ing could be done in the darkness, the
afrighted people contented themselves
with placing a line of sentries around
the town, and then withdrew to their
homes. In the. morning no savage
army appeared, nor was any cause Of
the strange voices of the night discov-
cradle, and the occurrence would, no
doubt, have been added to the long list
of supernatural events detailed in Cot
ton Mather's Wonder Book had not
Pomp, watering his masters horses at
the pond next morning, discovered
multitudes of frogs lying dead and
blackened in the water. Then it came
as a revelation to the people of Wind
ham that an army of frogs, smitten
with some deadly epidemic, or, perhaps
attacked by some invading army, had
produced the atirighting sounds. The
revulsion of feeling, It is said, was
great; the whole village assumed a
sheepish air. Somehow, too, the story
got abroad, and brought a ripple Of
laughter to the face of the whole county.
Everybody was disposed to regard the
experience Of that terrible night as a
rich joke. Gibes, puns, lampoons, dit
CleS, proverbs we're falneQ on the unfOr-
tunate Windhamites. Even the clergy
men poked fun, as the following letter
from the Rev. MI. Stiles, of Woodstock,
to his nephew, abundantly shows. 1t is
dated at Woodstock, July 9, 1854, and
proceeds:
'lf the late tragical tidings from
Windham deserve credit, as doubtless
they do,it will then concern the gentle
men Of your Jurispritian order to be for
titled against the croaks of Tauranean
legions-legions terrible as the very
wreck of matter and the crash of
worlds. Antiquity relates that the ele-
plant fears the mouse; a herd trembles at
the growing of a cock; but pray whence
is 1T that the croaking of a bull-froe
should so Belthazzarize a lawyer? How
Dyerful the alarm made by these auda-
cious long-winded croakers. hope.
sir, from the Dyerful reports from the
frog pond you will gain some instruc-
ton. as we'll as from the reports of nv
Lord Coke.'-Cor. N. Y. Eveninq Posi-.
Canada has produced a woman
: who wants To swim tho withhold 49,.