Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-09-03
Thieves Fall Out

There's no need why they should
behave otherwise now. sir. replied
tho detective. Haven't you got one
or two trusty men TO whom you
could say a word or two. giving them
the hint to spread the news among
tho rest OF their fellow workers that
everything's all right
Quipton reflected: then he thought
OF Black Moses rosmore, and said he
would so and find him. The result
Was that the crowd which gathered
around the court next morning,
though much bigger In dimensions
than at the FIRST hearing. was quiet
and orderly. and chiefly concerned
in giving Sir Clinton a rousing re-
ception when he came out--a free
man,
Inside. the court was packed to the
doors. The bench was again filled :
there was no room at the solicitors
table nor anywhere in the well OF
tho court: the galleries and back
benches were filled to their utmost
capacity. or all the people who had
been there before only Marshall
Stead was missing.
The merely formal proceedings
which led to Ciintons discharge
from custody were soon over. and
then the court became a pande-
monium from which tho police and
officials found it difficult TO make a
way for the released man and his
cousin. And suddenly Phillipa. as
in n dream, found herself standing
ON the steps outside the court. with
Clinton On one side OF her and
Guinton on the other. and in front
a NaBt- stretching crowd of men In
1,t has
iny as If at Il popular St. Leger
winner. The men would have n
epeech-Sir Clinton must speak to
them--they must and would hear his
voice, Then they Cheered again.
until he laushingly showed signs of
cbeNins their viii by climbing TO the
belustrades and removing his hat.
Friends and neishbors." he began
But what he was going to say was
never said. At that moment a
mighty reverberation. as OF the
loudest thunder. burst. as II seemed.
all around them, and looking round
with hlanched faces. men saw \
gigantic column Of smoke break
from the mouth of the colliery shaft,
and in the moment that followed
sudden shrill cry pierced every
ear:
The pit The pit! An explosion at
the pit. And my mans gone down"
The workings OF the Mannersley
main cclliery are known TO all min
ing experts and to the men who
there tear their sustenance from the
bowels OF the earth TO be among the
most extensive in the country. just
as the main shaft is one OF the
deepest.
nf he mi, v-h 10 Ia ri
nt accommodation in MannerSley
itself. had 10 live in outlying VIII
laSes or isolated cottages on the
edge OF the parish. used to calculate
that after descending to the bot
tom of the shaft they were obliged
to walk lust as far to the particular
spot where they were then laboring
Ls they had walked from their own
cottage down to the cage in which
they descended. One man In par
ticGlar. who had turn for eXacti-
tude and locality. affirmed that he
had once worked exactly beneath his
own bit Of garden, which was a
mile and three quarters from the
pit brow. The ramifcations OF these
Workings spread far and wide In all
never used or visited. and Dogger
Tardy had therefore spoken wisely
when he tcld Marshall Stead that
somewhere in their hurrow like
twistinss was the place for him TO
hide; he would he ns safe there for
few DAYS as IL he had been sudden
" transrlantcd To South Africa.
And there stead was--safe under
ground.
II had been an easy enough thing
to get him down there and hide him
away. Once dressed UP in an old
cult Of Dogxer Tandy's pit garments,
with little elementary makeup to
~ S,> a