and hastened
their efforts to repair the mains that had been damaged by the
earthquake shocks.

The work of relief was started early on the second day of the
disaster. A big bakery in the saved district started its fires and
50,000 loaves were baked before night. The police and military were
present in force and each person was allowed only one loaf.

The destitution and suffering were indescribable. Women and children
who had comfortable, happy homes a few days before slept--if sleep
came at all--on hay on the wharves, on the sand lots near North beach,
some of them under the little tents made of sheeting which poorly
protected them from the chilling ocean winds. The people in the parks
were better provided in the matter of shelter, for they left their
homes better prepared.

Instructions were issued by Mayor Schmitz to break open every store
containing provisions and to distribute them to the thousands under
police supervision.

At one time bread sold as high as $1 a loaf and water at fifty cents a
glass, but the authorities at once put a stop to the extortion.

Among the many pathetic incidents of the fire in San Francisco was
that of a woman who sat at the foot of Van Ness avenue on the hot
sands on the hillside overlooking the bay east of Fort Mason with four
little children, the youngest a girl of three, the eldest a boy of
ten.

They were destitute of water, food and money. The woman had fled with
her children from a home in flames in the Mission street district and
tramped to the bay in the hope of sighting the ship, which she said
was about due, of which her husband was the captain.

"He would know me anywhere," she said. And she would not move,
although a young fellow gallantly offered his tent back on a vacant
lot in which to shelter her children.

Among the refugees who found themselves stranded were John Singleton,
a Los Angeles millionaire, his wife and her sister. The Singletons
were staying at the Palace Hotel when the earthquake shock occurred on
Wednesday morning.

Mr. Singleton gave the following account of his experience: "The shock
wrecked the rooms in which we were sleeping. We managed to get our
clothes on and get out immediately. We had been at the hotel only two
days and left probably $3,000 worth of personal effects in the room.

"After leaving the Palace we secured an express wagon for $25 to take
us to the Casino near Golden Gate park, where we stayed the first
night. On the fo