Mexborough and Swinton Times January 1, 1892

A Smoker Suffocated at Wombwell

On Saturday a young man named John Lamb, a miner, who resided at new Scarborough with a married sister, went to bed about 2 o’clock in a state of intoxication, and smoking a pipe of tobacco. The other members of the household also retired to rest.

Some time afterwards, Lamb’s brother-in-law thought he could smell something burning, and at once got up to try find the cause. Going to Lamb’s bedroom he opened the door and found it full of smoke. He rushed in and pulled the young man onto the landing, but found that he was dead, having been suffocated.

It is supposed that some hot ashes for his pipe ignited the close and those caused his death