In Olde Connecticut by Charles Burr Todd

Author:Charles Burr Todd [Todd, Charles Burr]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Geschichte
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Published: 2019-05-19T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER IX. THE FROGS OF WINDHAM

IT is difficult for one who lingers in summer days on the beautiful village green of Windham, where evidences of wealth, comfort and plenty confront him on every side, to bring back the scenes and conditions of that far-off year, 1754, which made possible the curious incident we are about to describe.

It was the night of June 17, 1754, that the grewsome, grotesque circumstance occurred. The green was as fresh and vivid in coloring, the elms arched as gracefully, the stream from the pond broke over its barriers and flowed away under the rustic bridge as murmuringly then as now, but in the minds of the people there was sad foreboding and expectation of the momentary outbreak of a savage foe. It was the eve of one of the bloodiest of the French and Indian wars. Windham County had special reason for fearing vengeance, since, in acquiring some parts of her recent Susquehanna purchase, the Indians were known to have been aggrieved and wronged. Goodman White's negro slave Pomp was the first to experience the terrors of the night. Having lingered until a late hour beside a dusky Phyllis in one of the outlying farmhouses, he at length started to return to the village, a Voodoo 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 insubstantial ghost and the more material Mohawk. He had reached the green, when all at once a dire uproar burst upon him. Roar, bellow, gabble, shriek, 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 celerity of his flight nor the intensity of his groans and supplications. 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 uproar; many swooned; the stronger fled as they were to the village green, where they huddled 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 company not one 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 gradually 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. "We'll have Colonel

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