Yorkshire Post April 27, 1927
Sudden Roof Fall
Two Men Killed at Hickleton Main
Third Miner Injured
The lamentable list of accident Yorkshire pits was added to early yesterday morning by a fall of roof which killed two men and injured another at number three Pit at the Hickleton Main Colliery, near Thurnscoe.
The men killed are: Alan Lodge, aged 46, night deputy, of Shepherd Ln, Thurnscoe; and Joseph Hollins, aged 35, miner, 34 Cromwell St, Thurnscoe East. The injured man is Charles Davidson, aged 34, miner, 37 Stuart Street, Thurnscoe. All the men are married, and Hollins leaves three little children.
The men were at work just after midday in the Parkgate seam on the east side of the pit. A number of men were ripping and tacking at the time, under the direction of Lodge. Suddenly there was a bomb, and a piece of rock weighing over four tons fell without the slightest warning.
Large and Hollins were buried, I must have been killed outright, Davidson was more fortunate, as he was standing on the fringe of the fall. Another man (who had a narrow escape), and two boys were near, and they called help.
Men in the pit immediately set to work to release the victims, and after a an hour of strenuous work, found them. Large and Hollins were dead, but there was an escape was nothing worse than injuries to the shoulder, and he was conveyed to the Montague hospital, suffering from abrasions and shock. Yesterday he was doing fairly well.
Mr Millikin, the agent of the colliery, stated in an interview that it was a solid piece of rock which came down, and if they had wanted to remove it it would, from all appearance, have necessitated two shots been put in. As a rule bits of work fell and gave warning, but this slab fell “like a flash.”
Lodge was an experienced first-class workmen. Hollins and Davidson had been at the colliery about a fortnight, signing on from Staffordshire. Hollins told Mr Millikin that he was a swimmer, and once tried the Channel swim, being in the water 19 hours.
The inquest will be opened today