106 STEPHENSON'S HEROIC CONDUCT. CHAP. VII. 



THE PIT HEAD, WEST MOOR. [By R P. Leitch.] 



rising from the workpeople below, they gazed on the 

 heroic man with breathless amazement. 



He was soon at the bottom, and in the midst of the 

 men, who were paralysed at the danger which threatened 

 the lives of all in the pit. Leaping from the corve on 

 its touching the ground, he called out : " Are there six 

 men among you who have courage to follow me ? If so, 

 come, and we will put the fire out." The Killingworth 

 pitmen had the most perfect confidence in their engine- 

 wright, and they readily volunteered to follow him. 

 Silence succeeded the frantic tumult of the previous 

 minute, and the men set to work with a will. In every 

 mine, bricks, mortar, and tools enough are at hand, 

 and by Stephenson's direction the materials were forth- 

 with carried to the required spot, where, in a very short 

 time, a wall was raised at the entrance to the main, he 

 himself taking the most active part in the work. The 

 atmospheric air was by this means excluded, the fire 

 was extinguished, the people were saved from death, 

 and the mine was preserved. 



This anecdote of Stephenson was related to the 

 writer, near the pit-mouth, by one of the men, Kit 



