South Yorkshire Times, January 19th 1934

Sad End

Mexborough Man’s Discovery

A tragic discovery was made on the L.N E. railway between Wath and Wombwell on Wednesday night, the body of Joseph Thomas Hellard (51), 7 Wath Road. Wombwell, being found on the track.

The discovery was made shortly after 8 o’clock by John Greensmith, locomotive fireman, 6, Byron Road. Mexboro’. The body was lying on the goods line a short distance from the point where the railway is crossed by a footpath leading from Wombwell Junction to the village of Broomhill. The right leg had been severed and other injuries included a broken arm and a crushed skull. Hellard had apparently been recently killed.

Hellard left home about 5-45 p.m. on Wednesday remarking that he was going up to Wombwell to fetch his pension. Recently he had been in a bad state of health, suffering from chronic arthritis. He leaves a widow, one son and a daughter.

Hellard was formerly an official of the Wombwell branch of the British Legion and the news of his death was a shock to his old comrades.

At the commencement of the war he joined the Barnsley battalion of the York and Lancaster regiment and later was transferred to the Royal Engineers and served two and a half years in France. He suffered badly front the effects of war service.