San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-01-31
Blu Richard Hoadley Tingtey.

A IMOST everybody has heaiu doou'
~ showers of fishes and frogs. But
the average citizen, who has also
heard the phrase raining cats and dogs
is apt to put the two things in the same
class and say bunk to both.
Nevertheless it is actually true that not
only fishes and frogs-but snakes, snalls'
worms, lizards. tadpoles and even little
sea-turtles have from time to time been
dropped alive and by the millions out OF
the sky.
Where do they come from? NOBODY
knows. But science Is at last Determined
TO find out In England, DR.. Charles fort'
an observer and student of unusual celes-
tial conditions. is organizing a worldwide
society for the scientific investigation OF
ali objects falling from the sky. In Amer
lea. DR.. E. W. Gudger, ichthyologist OF the
American Museum OF Natural History,
New York. is at work collecting material
evidence that will solve this riddle Whlch
has puzzled scientists for ages.
Perhaps ] might qualify as an eXper-7
As thew say in court, on such showers Tor
| saw a rain of fishes on the out
skirts of Providence, K. l., on May d.
1900 Little fishes fell alive and wrig-
Cling over a mile or more, anu were
Gathered I'D by enterprising merchants
who exhibited them in their show windows.
They seemed to be a variety OF mnnows.
And so. having actually seen the thing
happen. | became interested and began
INVESTIGATING. NY researches have UNI
eartbed about hundred and fifty SIM
liar occurrences, all recorded or attested
bv reputable eyewitness. How many
more such rains must have taken place IN
out-of-the-way spots which. were never re-
corded or even seen!
Not long ago a group OF Daughters OF
the American Revolution solemnly set up
a bronze tablet on the shores Of the frog
POND al Windham. Connecticut. This
tablet cOmmemorated the renlaThaoIe DC
clIrrence in the history of that State
known as "The Battle of the Frogs,
stories of which have been handed down
since il took place in 1858, and which was
probably a frog shower.
II was late on a sultry July night and
all the villagers had long ago gone 70 oeu'
Suddenly they We're awakened by strange
noises in the sky. These noises, described
as ''groans, bellows, gables, shrleKs,
splashes and gurgles.' became fapidI!
closer until they seemed TO I'll the heavens
directly over Windham. There seems 70
have been little wind and no rain. Alarmed
TlEnE0 IDt llttl' 1llt - an
with pjtchforks and guns. ready Tor battle
with whatever il was approaching. Inc
night was pitch dark, and although the an
was filled with uproar The feeble lights
of candles and lanterns showed nothing
The clamor reached its height and then
was abruptly ended
When daylight came thousands-and
some accounts say millions-of dead frogs
were found around the Frog Pond. They
were so thick, says one account, that they
filled the road four rods wide and Tour
miles long"
Where had all those frogs come from
MANY were the conjectures Of the amazed
villagers Thomas Smell Weaver, native
historian of local note, advanced theory
that they had been hidden in caverns and
tbat there had been an earthquake which
had let loose destructive gases. These
vases had forced the frogs up TO the sur
lace OF the earth, Historian Weaver
thought, and there they had died, emit
ting the diabolical groans that had beer
heard. The other noises were probabl!
made by the quake itself Peters, a riva
historian, asserted that there had been NJ
earthquake, but that the frogs had come