Mexborough & Swinton Times, December, 9th, 1932

Wath Young Man Killed

Companion Injured

A shocking accident, resulting in the death of one man and serious injury to another, occurred on Wednesday afternoon in Bolton Road, Swinton.

Stephen Willis (26), electrician, “Woodside,” Woodlands Road, Sandygate, Wath , was killed, and Ronald Atkinson (22), mining student, “Highlands,” Sandygate, Wath, was injured.

Willis, riding a motor-cycle with Atkinson as pillion passenger, left Manvers Main Colliery about 2-55 p.m. They had almost reached the first bend in Bolton Road, in the direction of Swinton, when they met a lorry, owned by J. Kemp, coal dealer, Fitzwilliam Street, Swinton, and driven by Fred Brook (21), Station Street, Swinton.

Brook, on seeing Willis, instantly applied his brakes and pulled up on the causeway. He was almost stationary, with his near wheels seven inches within the causeway when Willis’s machine, owing to the icy state of the road at the time, skidded into the lorry. The offside handlebar of the motor-cycle caught the off front mudguard of the lorry, and then the machine turned and dived under the lorry between the offside wheels. Willis was thrown with his legs under the lorry, his head severely injured. Atkinson was thrown clear of the lorry into the middle of the road.

They were quickly placed on the lorry and taken back to Manvers Main Colliery where, after first-aid, they were conveyed by colliery ambulance to the Montagu Hospital. Mexboro’. Willis died five minutes after admittance from a fractured jaw and fractured skull. Yesterday Atkinson, who is suffering mainly from concussion, was stated to be very ill.