Cadeby Disaster – Removing the Bodies

July 1912

Sheffield Daily Telegraph – Thursday 11 July 1912

Removing the Bodies.

During the morning several truck loads of coffins arrived at Cadeby. They came by rail from Mexborough, Sheffield, Barnsley, and other places, and without delay the remains of the men who had been killed were placed in them.

It was a terrible task, and many of the colliery men who assisted were frequently moved to tears. But the work had to be done, and it was completed with all possible speed. Other coffins arrived by road. Two had been made by a local undertaker, and they were conveyed to the colliery, uncovered, and on an open dray. A shiver ran through the great crowd as these reminders of the fate of their friends passed close by them.

Soon there were processions of ambulance vans and hearses from the pit yard. These contained the remains of the dead. They were being conveyed to the homes of those who were left to mourn.

There were many pitiful scenes when the men, who left but comparatively few hours before, well and strong, came back to the old home for the last time, cold and lifeless.

One woman who has been left with seven children went bravely to meet the coffin which contained her dead husband. But as the men carried their burden up to the door she collapsed, and her friends had to remove her inside a deep swoon.

At another home were some children, old enough to realise the loss they had sustained the death father. Their cries were heartrending. “Oh, my poor daddy,” one little about nine summers repeated, and her cry brought tears to many eyes.

For several hours the sad work went on until most of the bodies had been removed.

The remains of Mr. W. H. Pickering, Chief Inspector of Mines, were taken to Doncaster late last night. The bodies of his colleagues, Mr. Hewitt and Mr. Tickle, had not been removed up to this evening, but it was expected that they would be conveyed to their homes during the night.