nd thus seek to stop its march. They
had dynamite, gunpowder and other explosives, and in the frightful
exigency there was nothing else to be used. Only for a brief interval
did the authorities yield to the general feeling of helplessness. Then
they aroused themselves to the demands of the occasion and prepared to
do all in the power of man in the effort to arrest the conflagration.

While the soldiers under General Funston took military charge of the
city, squads of cavalry and troops of infantry patrolling the streets
and guarding the sections that had not yet been touched by the flames,
Mayor Schmitz and Chief of Police Dinan sprang into the breach and
prepared to make a desperate charge against the platoons of the fire.
This was not all that was needed to be done. From the "Barbary Coast,"
as the resort of the vicious and criminal classes was called, hordes of
wretches poured out as soon as night fell, seeking to slip through the
guards and loot stores and rob the dead in the burning section. Orders
were given to the soldiers to kill all who were engaged in such work,
and these orders were carried out. An associated Press reporter saw
three of these thieves shot and fatally wounded, and doubtless others of
them were similarly dealt with elsewhere.

A band of fire-fighters was quickly organized by the Mayor and Chief
of Police, and the devoted firemen put themselves in the face of the
flames, determined to do their utmost to stay them in their course. Cut
off from the use of their accustomed engines and water streams, which
might have been effective if brought into play at the beginning of the
struggle, there was nothing to work with but the dynamite cartridge and
the gunpowder mine, and they set bravely to work to do what they could
with these. On every side the roar of explosions could be heard, and
the crash of falling walls came to the ear, while people were forced
to leave buildings which still stood, but which it was decided must be
felled. Frequently a crash of stone and brick, followed by a cloud of
dust, gave warning to pedestrians that destruction was going on in the
forefront of the flames, and that travel in such localities was unsafe.

FIGHTING THE FLAMES.

All through the night of Wednesday and the morning of Thursday this
work went on, hopelessly but resolutely. During the following day blasts
could be heard in different sections at intervals of a few minutes, and
buildings not destroyed by fire