Sheffield Daily Telegraph – Tuesday 20 May 1919
A Report and Flash.
Four Wombwell Children Burned in Cabin Fire.
A strange occurrence has taken place in Wombwell Wood—a popular rendezvous for children – as a result of which four Wombwell children :
Ena Booth (13), 2, Station Lane;
Lily Pringle (12), 11, Station Lane:
Irvine Anderson (13 ½ ), pit lad, and
Ariam Wake (13 ½ ), pit lad,
were seriously burned. The four children, accompanied Eric Booth, brother of one of the girls, were walking in the wood, and visited old quarry. Here they found a small cabin, the door of which was unlocked, and went inside it.
Randerson took a match from his pocket, and threw it on the floor. Wake took the match up, lit a cigarette with it, and threw it on the floor again. The lighted match apparently came in contact with some explosive substance on the floor, for immediately there was report and flash. Flames shot for several seconds, enveloping the youngsters.
The clothes of the girls, being light material, took fire easily, and they, with their companions, ran screaming from the hut. The boys apparently kept their heads somewhat, and assisted in extinguishing the flames which had seized the apparel of their companions, but not before they had been badly burned. One of the girls, Ina Booth, was particularly badly injured, and is in a precarious condition. As a matter of fact, she fainted in the hut, and had to be carried out by her brother Eric.
Recovering from the shock of their terrible experience, the party walked to the house of Mr Alec Oxley, an official of the Wombwell Main Colliery, who, with the assistance of Mr. Francis Sievier, dressed their burns. Later they were attended by Dr. Jardine and dispatched to the Beckett Hospital, Barnsley, in the colliery ambulance.
The cabin in which the occurrence took place, is the property of the Barnsley Master Builders Association. It has not been used since the outbreak of the war.
The cause the explosion not as yet definitely established, but it is surmised that a quantity of explosive material had been left in the cabin, and that the lighted match came into con act with this. Some years ago the cabin was used for the storing of blasting powder.