ade and the crew
detoured away from the rivers. It was found that many of these detours
could be made afoot, the water having rapidly fallen since the night. At
no place was the water behind the levees deeper than four feet.

The Louisville men took relief to several hundred families in the low
district in the vicinity of Ludlow and Franklin Streets. Here the water
had reached the roofs of all two-story buildings. Only a few of the most
desperate cases were brought out, the first move being to leave bread
and water in as many places as possible.

Sixty Catholic sisters at the Academy of the Sisters of Notre Dame and
eighteen persons for whom they had provided refuge were found to have
been without food or water since Tuesday. There were several cases of
illness, and the suffering had been intense. The life savers left bread
and water and planned to take further help.

Meanwhile Capt. H. A. Hansen and the crew from Cleveland were operating
several boats in North Dayton. There many of the poorer class live, and
few of the buildings were substantial. Dozens of them were swept away,
upturned and shattered.

Mayor Phillips was still marooned in his house, and G. B. Smith,
president of the Chamber of Commerce, continued in active aid of relief
operations.

The Fourth National Bank Building, which was reported several times to
have been destroyed by fire, was found untouched by the flames, although
a building immediately adjoining was burned. The newspaper offices, the
_News_ and _Herald_ and _Journal_ buildings, were safe, but none was
issuing papers.

The Cleveland battalion of engineers were the first of a horde of troops
which began to pour into Dayton in the morning. They were immediately
put at work distilling the water. The fifteen men of the Dayton Ohio
National Guard companies, who had been on duty since midnight Tuesday,
frankly had been unable to cope with the situation. The police force
was also depleted by the fact that many of its members had been marooned
by high water. The looter had been in high glee.

MARTIAL LAW ENFORCED

Strict martial law was put into force. With headquarters at Bamberger
Park, Col. Zimmerman of the Fifth Ohio Regiment organized the forces of
protection, and by noon every accessible section was under strict guard.
Frequent fights and skirmishes were held with the pillagers, who sought
to steal under the cover of darkness. Orders to shoot to kill looters on
the third shot were i