Produced by Kentuckiana Digital Library, David Garcia, Pilar Somoza and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team. ELLA BARNWELL: A Historical Romance of Border Life BY EMERSON BENNETT, AUTHOR OF "PRAIRIE FLOWER," "LENI LEOTI," "FOREST ROSE," "MIKE FINK," "VIOLA," "CLARA MORELAND," "FORGED WILL," "TRAITOR," "FEMALE SPY," "ROSALIE DU PONT," "FAIR REBEL," ETC., ETC. CINCINNATI: PUBLISHED BY U.P. JAMES, No. 177 RACE STREET. Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1853, BY J.A. & U.P. JAMES, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the District of Ohio. PREFACE. In putting to press a new and revised edition of the following story, the author would state, that his original design was to combine fact and fiction, in such a way, as, while making his story move forward to a proper _denouement_, to give the reader a correct picture of the dress, customs, and social and war-like habits of the early pioneers of the west; and also embody a series of historical events which took place on the frontiers during that revolutionary struggle by which we gained our glorious independence. For this purpose, Kentucky, in her infancy, was selected as the scene of action; and most of the existing records of her early settlements were read with care, each compared with the others, and only the best authenticated accounts presented to the reader. So much in fact did the author labor to make the present story historical, that there is scarcely a scene or character in its pages that had not its counterpart in reality. He would only add, that, for important reasons, the original title has been changed to that which now heads its title-page. "What's in a name?" queried the great bard. Had he lived in our day, and been a novelist instead of a poet, he would either not have asked the question, or answered it very differently than he did. ELLA BARNWELL. CHAPTER I. THE STRANGER.