, 1864-08-04

nesses, viii be read with interest: II seems
that the good people Of Chambersburg, not
profitfng by the experience Of the past, were,
as We arc here, almost totally unpfepared for
raid on however small q scale It Ia trne
that Major General Couch had established his
headquarte1a In the town, and had With him
a body guard Of some twenty or thirty men,
and that one or two pieces of cannon were
planted upon an emfnence near the place:
but beyond this no preparations had been
By the enemy. 1t was known that the raid
ers were In the neighborhood, and the greater
part of the money in bank, and other valua-
bles, bad been removed to place Of safety;
still the mass Of the people retired on Friday
night without dreaming Of the calamities
Saturday morning had In store for them.
About five O'Clock on Last Saturday morn
ing Two or three shots were fired from the
cannon before referred to, which partially
aroused the s1eepers In the doomed town to
O sense Of their danger. 4 gentleman, q par
tfcular friend Of the ladies' with whom we
convczsed, informed them that the enemy
were known to be advancing upon tho town.
Hastily dressing, they approached front
window Tor The purpose of accommodating.
Small bodies of rebels were observed peer
ing cautiously round the corners, apparently
unarmed, who having seemingly satisfied
their curiosity, retired to the outskirts Of the
town. It was but short time, however,
before they returned in stronger force, and
soon after commen their work of destrne-
tion. McCausland, who commanded the
raiders, stated that he had come upon his
mission, reeking with the vengeance Of hell,
and that he bad selected bis hell.hounds to
perform the work, and they would do 1t
efIectua1ty. He demanded Of the citizens
s500, 900 in greenbacks or s1o0, 600 in gold, as
the price at which he would save the town.
But whilst the people were taking counsel
In Felatio1 to the matter, the "heEhounds"
commenced firing the town, regardless Of
the pledge Of their commander to allow one
hours time before he would begin his work.
The next demand made Was for whisky,
which they soon obtained and drank to their
hearts content This helped to nerve the
miscreante, and soon the carnival Of destruc-
tion was under full ,headway. Houses were
set on fire without giving the Inhabitants the
slightest warning, and In many instances the
iDmates had barely time to escape With their
lives, without even time to remove single
urticie Of vnlue, and in some instances With
scarce sufficient clothing In which to make
their escape. The town was fired in numer-
ouss places at the same time, and so quietly
and Systematically did they 60 about their
work that In some instances the inmates of
the burning buildings were not aware of the
proximity Of the danger until made so By
the Kissing flames around them. The dwell
the finest In the place, was fired in the rear,
I and whilst the ladies' were looking from the
window at the work Of destruction golag on
some distance from them,, they were warned
By friend Of their own danger. A friend
who assisted them ont Of the house asserts
that when the ladies unlocked the front door
three rebels rushed into the house for the
] purpose OF p1under. As soon as the party
| were safely out, the gentleman locked the
door, and the supposition is that the men
| locked IN pertshed In the flames.
One instance related to US seems 30 repug-
/ mai In oil frryr s,f hrTt
bad we not the most implicit confidence In
| the yeracfty Of our informants, We should
! hesitate to credit It even OF rebels. It seems
that one house to which they set fire con-
tanned the corpse Of dead Womsn. This fact
was made known to the incendiaries, and in
! were entreated to spare the building. They
refused, and after rudely removing the corpse
to lot near BY. applied the torch, and the
| house Of the dead was smcufderinH ruin.
lady lying dangerously III in her room, and
| upon the tact being made known, It Waa not
until guard Of tie rut1lans had entered the
! sick chamber and By personal examination
| satisfied themselves Of the dying girls con-
dltion, that they consented to forego burning
I the house.
In eome instances, firing squads would de-
sist from their work upon the payment Of
stipulated sutns Of money; but as soon as
they we're gone others would come and com.
| p1ete the work Of destruction. 1t would
seem, from the system With which the work
furnished With list Of the doomed public
| buildings and private dwellings. And this
belief Is strengthened by the fact that those
| who seemed to be entrusted with the leader
| chip In the burning, carried with them mem-
time to time, and also that The houses Of GER
| tain persons known to be In sympathy with
| the rebellion, were left uuhaImed.
When the dwelling Of Col. 4. E, Mcclure,
which is IN the outekirts OF the town, was
reached, an incident occurred which proves
that there Is some gallantry lett even among
the rebels, Che party entrusted with the
| butnipg Of the residence of Col. Nc. Was
Bil1y's "-who called Mrs. Mcclure to the
! door, and fnformer her TINT he had orders
from his superior officer to burn her house,
and desired her and the other inmates to
leave at once, not nait to remove q single ar-
ticle Of value. Mrs. Mcclure fatty refused to
file Of men up stairs to remove two or three
trunks which she assured him contained all
her "good Clothes" The Major consented,
the trunks were brought down, the torch ap-
piled, and soon the house Was in ruins. We
may add that Major Smith told Mrs. Nee.
that he was also instruct ed to compel her to
remain and see the house destroyed. This,
too, she refused to do, and the order was not
enforced,
To thoee of our readers-and We know
they are many-who are acquainted with the
toWn, We would say that there are but three
buildings left on Min street from the Falling
spring to Washington street, a distance of
more than half mile, hut two on Market
street, between the Franklin railroad aud
King street On New England Hill, and these
two small frame buildings that escaped,
whilst all around them were burned, and ait
On Queen street from the Market House to
the ConnocochiRgus Creek, including the
celebrated Lemme Edge Tool factory. That
part Of Second street between Market md
Queen streets Vas also destroyed, except
the Masonic Ball and the Methodist Church.
The Court House, Town Hall, Bank, Frank.
lin Hotel, White Swan, and indeed ali the
hotels In the place were burned. The paper
mill, the thret flour mills, MI of the brewer
les, EJster's agricultural works, and Hamil-
TOMS store establishment, were also de-
etroyed.
The jail, public school-house, aud rail1oad
and railroad E1fl6tngs were unharmed. Also
strange to say that General Curtis head
quarters we1a unharmed. Many Of the
greatest sufferers are the families and rela.
tfves Of mani of our prominent citizens,
amoIg whom; we might mention Rev. Thos,
Y. Orr, Mesar. Lane, Wolff, Cree, Davis,
Carlisle, Reel, besides quite number Of
other citizens
Laer from Europe.
NEW Yon||, Wednesday, Aug. s.-By the
steamer Br men, IRON Southampton Goth
| July, We lem that Garibaldi left. Ischea on
the 10th, ID Caprera.
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