All was confusion and turmoil. Important officers were not to be seen
and when they were found would answer no questions. Here and there
groups of mean-visaged loafers began to gather with ominous looks toward
the houses of the better class.
The halls of the silent Capitol building were deserted--a single
footfall echoed with hollow sound.
The Municipal Council gathered in a dingy little room to consider the
surrender of the city. Mayor Mayo dashed in and out with the latest
information he could get from the War Department. He was slightly
incoherent in his excitement, but he was full of pluck and chewed
tobacco defiantly. He announced that the last hope was gone and that he
would maintain order with two regiments of militia.
He gave orders to destroy every drop of liquor in the stores, saloons
and warehouses and establish a patrol.
The militia slipped through the fingers of their officers and in a few
hours the city was without a government. Disorder, pillage, shouts,
revelry and confusion were the order of the night. Black masses of men
swayed and surged through the dimly-lighted streets, smashing into
stores and warehouses at will. Some of them were carrying out the
Mayor's orders to destroy the liquor. Others decided that the best way
to destroy it was to drink it.
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