Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1908-06-05
A Pit Story.
How Old Mogg Ignored the
Fne-damp to His Advantage.
2-OE-OE

According to the experts IL was
pure fre-damp explosion and the roar
of it terrified every man, horse ana
boy in the Glyn Pit-except Mogg.
Mogg was very anxious to be ready
when the haulier brought him another
empty tram so that he should not miss
the chance of earning the one-and-
three-ha pence per ton plus the per-
centage above that huge standard
price.
Il must finish this DRAM" said he.
All over the pit his colleagues were
running toward the shaft bottom.
Some were reaching safety. Others
took wrong roads. Some saw the Wis
ible red death, ran away down another
turning to avoid the fire, and went
with a rush into the invisible black
death of the poisoned air. The horses
were mixed up with the men and
boys, and the long tunnels were quiv-
ering with the noise of their terror.
Mogg went on cutting his coal to
fill his dram" He had a big iron
bar in his hands, smuggling the end
of it in behind a face slip. II he
could force that out he would have
plenty Of coal to finish filling. 1t was
the four-foot seam, and Mogg was
working in it quite by himself.
When the gas fired and burst down
in one OF tie lower roads the explo-
sion announced itself in various ways.
Mogg felt the bottom thrilling I'M
der his feet, and his experienced SEN
ses noticed a check in the air which
was passing through his stall up to
the next. This made him lean on his
iron bar.
"A fall back in the road, suppose"
said he.
He was middle-aged, very deliberate,
and naked to the waist. He took his
lamp from its nail in the post and
strolled back to look for the fall OF
roof that had shaken the floor and
checked the air. The passing light
illumined the half-flled tram which
he was so anxious to finish and flashed
on the cogs and timber that held up
the stones and formed the Sidewalks
Ali" said Mogg TRANQUILITY.
Sure enough, he found a fall. The
shock Of the explosion was bringing
down the roof in more places than
one just then. He swung his. light
over the heaped up stones and brolI-
en- timber. If he had been less de-
liberate he would have seen the lights
OF the other GOLFERS as they ran out
shouting past this fall
AS 1t was, Mogg only looked up at
the black hole in the top and went
back leisurely to his STALL his face
slip, his bar and his half-filled' tram.
The fall would not interfere with his
work. That was all the information
he wanted. He hooked his lamp to
the nail in the post and put his hands
and his mind to the long bar that he
had left sticking in the face-slip.
The check to the air had been slight.
A little dust cloud came along on the
new current of air and half blinded
Mogg. But that passed and he worked
away. The fall would naturally raise
a dust, and by and by Mogg sacrificed
a moment to go up to the next stall
to mention it to the other collier. But
he saw no light in that road.
Gone oIt early today" he remarked
and came down again.
In nearly every other part Of the
workings the blast and dust and fire
were chasing people. But the air
currents of one or two districts were
not yet poisoned. Very soon the
freshness of this air would feed the
fire and bring 1t round: or the black.
damp. which is so much more subtle
and vicious. would find the current and
come riding in on it to kill off any one
who had the audacity to be still alive.
The one thing that annoyed Mogs
was that while he was out looking at
the fall his face slip seemed to have
got tighter in its place. and he ex
amined 1t all round with his light.
I'll have to use a bit OF the tor
mandril," he decided.
He let go the bar and took I'D a
neat two-pointed pick and began chip
ping away the top part of the Goa
which was clinging to the clod. This
was always an absorbing occupation
Outside others were equally hard a,
work picking up the men and boys
who wanted to go to sleep in the pleas
ant arms OF the carbon monoxide. The
rescuers were exploring every part Of
the pit they could reach to save lives
at the risk of losing their own. The
Golfers and their youngsters who tool
wrong turnings when the gas fired haC
slipped down in the dust because the
chemicals in the air made then
sleepy. The explorers were waking
them up and carrying them out to the
fresh"
Two officers and plenty OF assist
ants were climbing falls and trying
every way to trick the black Death in
the air in order to get at the score