e playing the part of incendiaries in town, they
set fire to the building containing a great quantity of our
ammunition, shells, etc. The consequence was a tremendous explosion,
which broke half the windows, and many of the frames, in town, rattled
down ceilings, unsettled foundations, and spread general dismay. Women
and children screamed, and rushed like maniacs into the streets, and
fell fainting with terror there. For several hours the shells
continued to burst, and, I have heard, two or three children were
killed with fragments of the projectiles. Two days after, I saw
families suffering from hysterics on account of excessive fright, and
several seemed to have become quite crazed therefrom.

TROUBLES OF A REPORTER.

One morning, hearing that John Morgan was at Elizabethtown, Ky., I
determined to go as near as possible, and find out the condition of
things, and see the fight that was in expectancy. Proceeding as far as
I could by rail, I hired a carriage and horses, hoping to reach
Munfordville in time for a big item.

I had proceeded some five miles when a party of eight men, whom I at
once determined were guerrillas, rode hastily to the carriage, and
demanded my credentials. I exhibited a free pass over the Ohio and
Mississippi Railroad, four Provost-Marshal's passes, a permission to
leave the State of Ohio, also one to leave Kentucky, and a ten-cent
Nashville bill. I was afraid to show them my letter from General
Starbuck, of the _Daily Times_.

After looking at them awhile, they were passed round to the balance of
the fiendish-looking rascals, and I was kept in terrible suspense ten
minutes longer.

I tried to get off several of my well-authenticated bad jokes, but I
choked in the utterance, and my smile was no doubt a sardonic grin. I
wiped the perspiration from my brow so frequently that one of the most
intellectual of the "brutes" relieved the monotony of the occasion by
observing that it was a very hot day, to which I acquiesced, feeling
quite glad to have a guerrilla speak to a prisoner.

The countryman who had driven me thus far was speechless. He thought
of his carriage and horses, and visions of their being immediately
possessed by Morgan or Forrest had rendered him powerless. After a few
questions as to where we left the train, and as to the number of
passengers on board, the citizen cavalry, or Union guards, as they
proved to be, told us we might proceed, that we were all right, but to
be ver