The sun., 1893-07-04
KALANQUIN'S FATAL FROG.
TEE ODD DIFFUSION THAT ENDED IN
A FRENoHAIhN,s DEATH

| n 3hhNchdhhN'o DhALhs
For six Years ne Believed He Had Live
Frog In His Stomach, aud the Ide- ~
Last Drove Hiu TO Drink-Up 10 m.
Death Last Week ne was FIrr.iy Co,-
vinced OF tho Reality OF Bis De,.sio,.
This is tho story OF as strange delusion 40
| ever Hlled mans mind. Its victim died ono
day last week and was buried on Sunday. and
the delusion which had haunted him during
the last six years Of his life was never flrmer
reality to him than at the moment whom ne
| breathed his last. '-
1t was on Christmas Eve In the year 1888
that It all began. Michael Kalanauin. q ro-
bust red-cheeked, genial man. whose blue
| eyes beamed good nature and kindliness TO all
the world. came homo to his family upon that
festal evening with an expression Of deep
worry upon his face.
In Heavens name. Michael" exclaimed his
wife. what is the matterf"
| For long time he was gloomily silent and
remained sitting in his favorite chair. with his
| eyes fastened upon the floor Then. with sad
| glance at his wife, he said In low voice: II
| have discovered that l have frog In my
| stomach"
Tho wife burst into uproarious laughter
You ought to consider yourself in great
luck" she said. It's moro than have"
Very WELL" he replied. in solemn voice:
you don't believe II. just you walt and sse."
Michael was Frenchman. full OF nne ideas
about liberty. equality. and fraternity. andl
always cheerful and pleasantly loquaaious.
He came to this country more than thirty i've
years ago. and began to work as waiter In
! Delmonico's restaurant in william street.
Tho restaurant, however. began to grow popu.
lar about the time that the war broke out.
oplt ttph hue; l,lan ho., H.
brisk. Michael was beginning to grow
stout. and he conceived q deep aversion
to moving about with that swiftness which
is required OF q good waiter So rather than
sink in his profession. Michael, like q con-
scientious man. left 1t. Alter long seeking he
found an opportunity In the country produce
business which exactly suited his views His
duties consisted OF sitting in comfortable
chair and selling whatever kind OF produce
his customers came to buy. After nearly If
teen years OF this kind OF work Michael went
into business for himself.
He became the proprietor Of q profitable
stand in the Washington Market. took his son
into the business, established the firm Of N. \
Kalanquin Son. taught the young man the /
ins and outs OF the business and one fine day. Z
about seven years ago. retired from active life.
Out of the profits of his business he had pur. !
chased o pretty little cottage on WebstelA
avenue. near Franklin street. in Hobokeni.
Here he decided to pass the remainder Of hiA
days. His family consisted Of his wife. wh9
busted herself with tho household affairs. his
two. who conducts the business. 77',..a
until sapDss hhst 1Sal
chat for few minutes with his children. and
the then D 9n his ssp. has s 60 e
dingy shoemaker 8 shop around the corner:
Tn rs% sh9P bS was hsDt S sss h S
and the two had been cronies for many, many
years; They would . sit together f9r hours.
the utmost siiencs thu hroushout the evenisa: Hs
a rule they conyorsed in French. but as each
Ssn SPOKE that ss6
mSRsr 5 Msss ssst sss s ts sss
who had swallowed q live frog. which conttpued
TO S his T
quently aIluded TO i. The snoemaker gave
RSs little thought t9 Il again until
Michael. who had been sitting in tho store IN
perfect silence for more than an hour sud
Friend. may as well confess to yoq thatI
haye nSt %ueh Sas to s
in some way swallowed frog"
Yes; It Is perfectly true, For nearly week
The shoemaker laughed Thin soolded him.
Msas Nens
Rsn sqsSs str hat n tho
dren became convinced that he was not joking
alarmed for him. They wan ted to send for :
o%! as al hn crazy he said
iu my stomach and ar as sure v i am t6at1
On Christmas Day lie Ieit the house esriy, in
the mof1inE This Was an InasTal thng for
drunk With bland smile he staggered into
the room and. in strange mixture OF English
=" Eel don't kill re frog, ze frog kill me.
Gest ben Ven get 20 jag ze frog get ze jag
They put him to bed and sent i9r the Doc Doc
Michael 'sesp set oat Ut again % to kin tho fros III
drank heavily AN day long. and when he came
iSht He @ always SyeH SPOKE "n English when be- fet
particularly happy so upon this occasion he
rattled on with happy loquacty and misera-
Al. ze frog, he hai to die. saerd! ktll him
ssss5%i, s;s5 zs frog mus die: or or 1 mus die. 6sst
When he sobered up this time his wife in
jacob. Michael was gone all the afternoon. and
drunk again. This time his face bore very
gloomy expression.
All" he said. "ze doctor. IL est betei He
say / cot0o frog. Bah! 70 frog, jump aroun'
a. re time and make me sick. II 70 frog dom
But he lived on. day after day. and year after
ear. until, either from the delusion or from
the liauor which he drank. he became q very
perfectly clear, and he could speak nationally
upon every subject save that OF his peculiar
almont.
When he was sober he often went to his
friend, the shoomak ker. and they would talk
over old times Just as they used to do fifteen
years ago. At these times he never made any
ausion to the frog. but II any one else referred
TO It he shook his head sadly and BECAME very
luiet. Thus matters went on until one day
about three months ago. when Michael took
10 his bed, a very sick man. The doctor ssid