crime of robbing the dead is undoubtedly being practiced, it would be
many times as prevalent were it not for the constant vigilance on all
sides, as well as the summary justice."

Another observer tells of an instance of this summary justice that came
under his eyes:

"At the corner of Market and Third Streets on Wednesday I saw a man
attempting to cut the fingers from the hand of a dead woman in order
to secure the rings which adorned the stiffened fingers. Three soldiers
witnessed the deed at the same time and ordered the man to throw up his
hands. Instead of obeying the command he drew a revolver from his pocket
and began to fire at his pursuer without warning. The three soldiers,
reinforced by half a dozen uniformed patrolmen, raised their rifles to
their shoulders and fired. With the first shots the man fell, and when
the soldiers went to the body to dump it into an alley nine bullets were
found to have entered it."

The warning this severity gave was accentuated in one instance in a most
effective manner. On a pile of bricks, stones and rubbish was thrown the
body of a man shot through the heart, and on his chest was pinned this
placard:

"Take warning!"

Those of the ghouls who saw this were likely to desist from their
detestable work, unless they valued spoils more than life.

Willis Ames, a Salt Lake City man, tells of the kind of justice done to
thieves, as it came under his observation:

"I saw man after man shot down by the troops. Most of these were ghouls.
One man made the trooper believe that one of the dead bodies lying on a
pile of rocks was his mother, and he was permitted to go up to the body.
Apparently overcome by grief, he threw himself across the corpse. In
another instant the soldiers discovered that he was chewing the diamond
earrings from the ears of the dead woman. 'Here is where you get what is
coming to you,' said one of the soldiers, and with that he put a
bullet through the ghoul. The diamonds were found in the man's mouth
afterward."

Others were shot to save them from the horror of being burned alive. Max
Fast, a garment worker, tells of such an instance. He says:

"When the fire caught the Windsor Hotel at Fifth and Market Streets
there were three men on the roof, and it was impossible to get them
down. Rather than see the crazed men fall in with the roof and be
roasted alive the military officer directed his men to shoot them, which
they did in the presence of 5,000 people.