Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 974

This 1896 pulp serial installment, "Old Sant's Dark Deal" by William Perry Brown, presents a domestic and commercial drama in rural Tennessee. Mat Lang, nearly eighteen, works a coal mine while his lawyer father manages property encumbered by a deed of trust to creditor Sant Woodward. Mat grows anxious about his father's casual stewardship and financial precarity. Following a mine cave-in caused by dynamite use, Mat faces labor shortages and declining coal prices (six cents per bushel). He strategically shifts payment from daily wages to tonnage-based rates at twenty-five cents per ton, dismisses unreliable workers, and plans to hire experienced miners from Mannington via Major Powell. Financial pressure mounts as Mat's capital depletes, but he pursues business expansion against rivals like the Holt Mine. The narrative emphasizes Mat's growing managerial responsibility within a deteriorating economic situation.