Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1900-09-14
THE ANCIENT TOAD TALE.
An Old Settler OF Chicago says the
Buried Alive Theory In
q Hoax.

. Hoax.
Ossian Guthrie looked up over his
glasses and smiled after reading the
latest buried for centuries" toad
story that appeared in the papers a
few days ago, says the Chicago Chron-
icle. Dispatches from Boston stated
that while making excavations in con-
nection with the widening of a square
at West Roxbury, a suburb of Bos-
ton, workman digging at the depth
of eight or nine feet had noticed
peculiar ball of dirt. The workman,
so runs the story, picked up the
sphere of earth and broke it open,
when he was astounded to discover
in the interior of the crust of clay
q live toad.
The workmen called the attention
of the boss to the find, and as they
were examining it the toad began to
expand. 1t then began to extend its
legs, opened its eyes and in a min
ute jumped from the laborer's hand,
The boss said that the road at that
point had not to his knowledge been
opened in Is years, and how the toad
had lived in it's comatose condition
all these years was the matter of the
greatest wonder to all who witnessed
it's revival.
'These stories about animals being
buried alive for long periods in lay
ers of clay, stone or in powders are
| continually bobbing up in the papers,
but they are almost too absurd to
| deserve the least attention or discus
sion," said Mr.. Guthrie. 81 am sure
| that there are many people who are
too intelligent to believe such yarns.
Still, one of these ridiculous tales
| once, in some way or other, managed
to get into the Illinois state geologi-
| cal reports. The story was to the eff
feet that toad-those poor entombed
| animals are nearly always toads-
had been discovered in the Joliet
| mound deep down below the surface,
among the crushed and broken lime
stone, which had not been disturbed
for ages. L understand that there
| were many people who believed this
senseless bit of fiction. A moments
| consideration should have shown how
preposterous it was. Where the toad
was said to have been found there was
at least a pressure of 100 pounds to
| the square inch. If the toad had been
| there he would have, indeed, been I'M
| fortunate, for the. great pressure
would have flattened him out as thin
as WORKOUT silver dime.
''Some time after this mound story
| first came out I went down to the
place and asked the foreman about
the toad find. He said that all the
toad excavations had been completed
| before he had gone on the job. Eslt
| it seems that for some time previous
| the toad which was alleged to have
| been found in the stone had been
| kept on exhibition. In this case some
one was probably perpetrating joke.
Very likely the toad had been car
| ried to the place where the work was
being done and there dropped among
| the broken stones by workman who
wanted to have a little fun with the
| credulous.
| ''This Joliet mound case was rather
an exception to the rule in regard to
having the toad to exhibit, for gen.
orally, in fact almost always, the GU
| riosity escapes. After you hear about
| the wonderful find and go to investi-
| gate you are informed that the toad
| managed to escape, but before he es-
| capped he was seen by many others
| besides the man who found it. One
of the best ones or one of the worst
| ones, whichever you want to call it,
of this kind which 1 ever heard was
on the finding of trilobite fossil. A
man found the little petrified animal
and tossed it into a bucket of water.
In the water the trilobite came to
life, climbed over the edge of the
bucket and escaped before he could
he mt in caUe or behind the barS
L suppose the man who got up that
story had an idea that people would
think the trilobite had just been
stiffened up little by being encased
in stone for few thousand years.
1.-The Boston legend is unusually
easy on the toad, for it only had him
encased in clay. AS rule the stories
have the little animal buried either
in the middle of a great strata of
stone or in the center of a tremen-
dous rock or bowlder weighing sew
eral tons. A blast of dynamite
smashes the rock and old Mr.. Toad,
rivaling Father Time in age, hops out
of the middle of the debris or a niche
in the rock, which fitted him like a
glove, and after winking at the
workmen who let him out he often
begins to swell until he is twice
the size of the pocket he occupied
in the rock.
Perhaps if people would remember
that animal life cannot be supported
without food and air they would see
how foolish all of these buried for
centuries in solid rock and still live
stories are. Such yarns allege things
that are absolute imDOSSihiIifieS