Mexborough and Swinton Times, July 8^th, 1932

Coal Thefts At Kilnhurst

Warning to Children

You must not pick and steal. Stealing starts small and gets bigger.  We will let you off with a warning,” said Mrs. Athorpe (presiding) when three Kilnhurst children, two girls and a boy, were summoned at Rotherham on Tuesday for having stolen 20lbs of coal the property of Stewart and Lloyds Colliery, Kilnhurst on May 24^th.

The children, who all pleaded guilty said they were picking the coal off the road.  One child’s father said the coal had been washed off the tip into the road by the floods.  The railway line was flooded and they could not get to the tip.

George Edwards, a clerk at Kilnhurst Colliery, said the tip was roped off.  It was a good way from the road, as the railway line ran between it and the road.  He denied that the railway line was flooded.