Mexborough and Swinton Times October 26, 1912

Distressing Fatalities.

During the last day or two, we have had in our midst two distressing street fatalities, one at Wath and the other at Swinton. In each instance, a little boy was the victim and in both cases the circumstances are very similar.

At Wath a little boy was on his way to school when he made one of those sudden thoughtless dashes into the roadway, and was knocked down by a motorcar, the driver of which was totally unprepared for the boy’s sudden movement.

At Swinton, an unfortunate youngster, while playing in the main street, ran straight in front of a tramcar which was moving out of a halt, and was caught and crushed under the guard.

In neither case was the vehicle going at any reasonable speed, and both the car-driver and motor driver were able to pull up quickly, though not quickly enough. Both were pure accidents, which could scarcely have been prevented by human foresight.

While we have streets and heavy vehicles to pass through them, and children to run irresponsibly all over them, we shall continue to be shocked from time to time by distressing cases of this character.