ssued to the militiamen. The pillaging of abandoned
homes and stores and the slugging and robbing of men and women in the
streets after nightfall had reached a desperate stage when the troops
arrived, and drastic orders were necessary.

"Shoot at the legs first, and then shoot to kill," was the way the
soldiers were instructed to act.

Colonel Zimmerman listened to thousands who sought passes to go through
the flood area to reach marooned friends and kinsmen. Only a few were
allowed to go, and these were compelled to prove special causes. To
those who asserted they had starving friends, Colonel Zimmerman rejoined
that provisions and medicines constantly were going into the inundated
district.

"Be satisfied you're not dead yet," was the Colonel's disposition of
many of the applicants.

All during the night and until dawn revolver and rifle shots had
sounded. Most of the shooting was in the bottoms near the river, but
about midnight there was a lively volley of shots, evidently an exchange
of bullets, believed to have been between soldiers and pillagers.

A robbery was thwarted when the police arrested a man who was escaping
from the city with a satchel containing $50,000 in diamonds and jewelry
which he had stolen from downtown jewelry shops.

"Beware of thieves and burglars," said an official bulletin given wide
circulation. "Don't leave your houses without protection. It was thieves
who scared you about the reservoir and natural gas explosion. The
natural gas has been turned off and there is no danger of explosions."

REFUGEES IN FIGHTS

At three o'clock Friday morning it was unofficially announced that three
pillagers had been shot to death in various parts of the city during the
night.

Over in North Dayton, when the lowlands were inundated by the rush of
the waters of the Mad River, the foreign population, which practically
occupies that section, was driven to the upper floors and the housetops.
With the extinguishing of the city's lights bedlam broke loose in
various portions of North Dayton. Men in the frenzy of their trouble
fell to desperate quarreling among themselves, and shots were heard at
all hours of the day and night Wednesday and Thursday.

There were unconfirmed reports that more than a dozen murders had been
committed. Troops were ordered into this district to stop the conflicts.

RESTORING SANITATION

Problems of sanitation, the water supply and the reconstruction of the
wrecked se