On the morning of the third day, however, the indescribable destitution and suffering were borne in upon the authorities with crushing force. Dawn found a line of men, women, and children, numbering thousands, awaiting morsels of food at the street bakeries. The police and military were present in force, and each person was allowed only one loaf. A big bakery was started early in the morning in the outskirts of the city, with the announcement that it would turn out 50,000 loaves of bread before night. The news spread and thousands of hungry persons crowded before its doors before the first deliveries were hot from the oven. Here again police and soldiers kept order and permitted each person to take only one loaf. The loaves were given out without cost. These precautions were necessary, for earlier in the day bread had sold as high as $1 a loaf and two loaves and a can of sardines brought in one instance $3.50. Mayor Schmitz took prompt and drastic steps to stop this extortion. By his order all grocery and provision stores in the outlying districts which had escaped the flames were entered by the police and their goods confiscated. Next to the need for food there was a cry for water, which until Friday morning the authorities could not answer. In spite of all efforts to relieve distress there was indescribable suffering. Women and children who had comfortable, happy homes a few days before slept that night--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. Thousands of members of families were separated, ignorant of one another's whereabouts and without means of ascertaining. The police on Friday opened up a bureau of registration to bring relatives together. [Illustration: Copyright 1906 by Tom M. Phillips. =CRACKS CAUSED BY EARTHQUAKE.= Front new Postoffice.] [Illustration: Copyright 1906 by Tom M. Phillips. =EMPORIUM BUILDING.= Largest department store west of Chicago.] [Illustration: =BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF SAN FRANCISCO.= A general view of city looking west toward the Pacific Ocean, also showing locations such as Nob Hill, business district, Market Street, Golden Gate and the famous Cliff House.] [Illustration: Copyright 1906, by American-Journal-Examiner. All rights reserved. Any infractions of this copyright will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. =HALL OF JUSTICE.= As photographs are true to life, they also convey to the eye correct views of this vast destruction.] [Illustration: Copyright 1906 by Tom M. Phillips. =LOOKING DOWN MARKET STREET.= Call Building in the distance.] [Illustration: Copyright 1906 by Tom M. Phillips. =VIEW FROM CALIFORNIA STREET.= The Call Building also shown in background.]