When wagons arrived to receive issues, stevedores were directed to
count out the different articles under the direction of an overseer,
and these piles of articles were verified by the officer in charge of
the issues. The stevedores then loaded them on the wagons which were
to haul them to the different camps. Receipts in duplicate were always
taken and invoices in duplicate were always given, in the name, of
course, of Lieut. John T. Thompson, who was responsible for the
stores.

On the 4th of June issues were being made of rifle-ball cartridges.
These cartridges came packed in boxes of 1000 rounds each, and each
box weighed 78 pounds. A great quantity of it was stored in the
basement, where there was also a considerable quantity of fixed
Hotchkiss ammunition, as well as several thousand rounds of powder
charges in boxes. The Hotchkiss ammunition, which comes with
projectile and powder both set in a brass case, is bad ammunition to
pack; for, no matter how carefully it is handled, there is almost
always some leakage of powder from the cartridge case, thus causing a
certain amount of loose powder to sift into the box in which it is
packed.

About half past 11 o'clock on this morning a negro stevedore
accidentally dropped a box of rifle ammunition near a pile of
Hotchkiss fixed, and the next instant the laborers saw smoke ascending
toward the ceiling of the basement. They yelled "Fire! fire!" at the
top of their voices, and everybody in the basement at once made a rush
for the two doors. It was a panic. The danger was imminent. The smoke
curled up to the ceiling and then curled down again, and the excited,
panic-stricken faces of the negroes as they rushed through the door
made an awful picture of human terror. People on the outside of the