The Russellville Democrat., 1884-10-09
The Frogs er wIndham.

A@ wolf. but Windham had her frogs Here cn the historic Green. in sight of the rond where it occurred. the enisoie of lhe frogs assumes very different as pect from that given it by Rev Hugh
 Peters in his humorous History of Connecticut Ii was on the night oi June IT, 1755. that the gr,lesome. gro leSque circumstance occurred The
 green was as fresh and vivid in color
 ing. the eims arched as gracefully, the
 stream rom the bond broke over its
 liarriers and flowed away under the rus
 tie bridge as murmn-ingly then as now.
 out in t'ic minds oi 2 people there was
 sad fsri,0liag and expeetaiion of the
 n6m ntsrv outbreak ot savage foe.
 It was the eve of one of the bioodiess
 of the French and Indian wars. Wind
 han Gounts had special reasrI for
 f a-inZ vengeance, siace, in ..c ,.i-. -sg
 some part. of her Tt eent Susque-
 hanna purchase, the Indians were
 known tp have hcen aggreyed and
 wrcfaod Gooin an Whites negro slave ponp was the fir-t to experience tiie terr0rs of the night. Having lln- gerei until late hour beside 8 dasky Phyllis in one of tue outlying farm houses. he at length started to return to
 the village. a Noudoo charm about his
 De k and horseshoe in his hand as a
 rotec ion against srooks. The night
 was still, misty and intcn ely dark.
 PanIp weat his way whislling. his [ ars
 equally divided between tbe insubstan
 tial ghost and the more material Mo
 hawk. He had reached the green, when
 all at once a die uproar burst upon
 him. Roar. below. gabble, shrek splash, gurgle, were combined. and the , innds came from everywhere at once above. below, on this side and that. f. on field and pond and forest Tosay that Pomp fled and shriekcd and prayed. conveys no idea of tLe celeritv of his flight nor the intensity of his groans and supplieatious. But before lie could reach the center of the green, chamber windows were thrown open. nishlcapped heads were thrust forth, and feminine shrieks and the strong cries of men added to the uproar; many swooned. the stronger fled as they were to the village green, where they huddied in a 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 colnpanv not ne but believed that the last great day was at hand. But the levin stroke of judgment failed to come, and soon the thought eame to the stronger minds that the uproar was of terrestrial origin and attributable to
 savage foes. Peering intothe darkness.
 and shrinking from he possible deadly tcmahawk. they waited and watched. Al length they heard. amid the general babel, distinct ariicgIations which grad
 U lly resolved themselves into the
 names two of Windham' m sf prominent ct zens-Colonel Dyer, the
 aye,t. and Squire Flderkin, one of the trustees of ,he s,usquehanna Company. .aNe'Il haze Colonel Dyer, We Il have Colonel Dyer. We'll have Colonel Overt tie mysterio.fs voices declared; and ..Elierkin. tool ..Eiderkin tool
 .Eiderkin. too, an equally mysterious
 chorus repeated: not a person but trembled for the tafe of those two strong ttiilars of tire commonwealth. The words ! ,. let .'' -tete," which followed, were con s;ueG as meaning that the investing sory was disposed to treat, bat as noth- ng could he done n the darkness. the aifriyhied peopl. coniented themselves with placing line of sentries around
 the town, and then withdrew to their homes. In the morning no savage army appeared, nor was any cause If
 the strange voices of the night discov- erAb,a. and the occurrence would. no d1ab.. have been added to the long list
 of supernatural events detailed in Cot l ion Mather's Wonder Book had not
 Pomp, watering his masters horses at the pond next morning, discovered
 multitudes of frogs lying dead and hlackened in the water. Then 1t came
 as revelation to the people of Wind- ham ihat an army of frogs, smitten
 with some deadly epidemic. or. perhaps attacked by some invading army, had produced the a'irighting sounds. The
 reyals'on of feeling. it is said, WAS great: the whole village assumed a sheeDish air Somehow. too, the story
 got abroad. and brought ripple of laughter io the face of the whole county Eseryt ody was disposed to regard the experience of that terrible night as A
 rich joke Gibes, puns, lampoons, dit
 ties, proverbs were rained on the unfor-
 tunate Wiadhamites. Even the clergy
 men poked fun, as the following letter from the Rev. Mir. Stiles. of Woodstock,
 to his nephew, abundantly shows. It is
 dated at Woodstock, July g, i7j4. and
 proceeds:
 If the late tragical tidings from
 Windham deserve credit. as doubtless
 they do,it will then concern the gentle
 men of your Jurisprifian order to be for tiiied against the croaks of Tauranean
 leg -legions terrible as the very
 wreck of matter and the crash Of
 worlds. Antiquity relates that the ele- pAa t fears he mouse; herd trembles at
 fhn growing of coek; but pray whence
 is T aaf the croaking of a bnll-'rog
 sheull 30 Belihazsarize q lawyer? How
 DYefful the alarm made by these auda-
 ci0us long-winded eroakers. hope,
 sir. from e DyerfnI reports from the frog pond YOU will gain some instruc-
 tinn .S yaU a. from the rat1orfs of my