Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 22 May 1931

Mexbro’ Explosion

Shop Window Blown Out.

Electricity Plus Gas

High Street, Mexborough was the scene of an unusual accident on Tuesday about noon. Suddenly a loud explosion roused everyone in the vicinity. Paving atones near Greenlees and Sons’ shop were pushed out of place, and the front the shop wrecked by the force of the explosion. This, it is thought, was due to a leakage in a gas main, the gas becoming ignited and exploding by the fusing of an electricity main.

So great was the force of the explosion that shoes and boots with broken glass and woodwork were flung across the road, but no passer-by was injured. The electricity was cut off for a period.

The assistant in the shop, Queenie Knowles, had a fortunate escape from serious injury. “I was scrubbing the shop floor,” she said, “when I saw smoke coming from a cupboard underneath the shop frontage. I went outside, and had my hand on the window when felt the pavement move up and down. I was frightened and started to run across the street, when there was a terrible explosion. I can’t think of much else about it, because something hit me in the eye. I think it was either a shoe or a boot.”

Miss Knowles’s left eye was discoloured, and she had cuts on the face, hands and left ankle due to broken glass. Her left shoe was also badly gashed, but fortunately the ‘glass had not penetrated the flesh. The manageress, Miss Jenkins, was at lunch when the explosion occurred.

Workmen from the Electricity Department were quickly on the scene and found a flaw in the cable. They also found one dead body, that of a large rat.

Several hours after the explosion the inside of the shop was still full of gas. The cellar must have been gas-filled to heavy pressure, for the floor was burst open from the front to the rear by the explosion.

Councillor J. E. Cliff gave a graphic account of the explosion: “I was walking up high Street,” he said, “when I met one of our electricians, and we stood talking outside Greenlees shop. After a while I noticed white smoke issuing from a small hole near the bottom of the woodwork of the shop frontage. The electrician said there was something wrong and called the girl assistant. He asked her if there was a cellar underneath the shop, and she replied that there was not one under their shop, but under the one next door. The electrician said he would go and investigate. He left us, and shortly afterwards I noticed that the smoke had changed from white to black. Then the pavement lifted. Then came the explosion. It went off with a terribly loud report, and in the twinkling of an eye there were boots, shoes, glass and woodwork flying across High Street. I was rather concerned for the assistant, because I thought she had turned back into the shop. It was a shock for both the girl and myself. We were both lucky.”

Mr. J. W. Brearley, manager of the Mexborough and Swinton Gas Works, informs us that he has had two examinations made of the shop premises, and has found no leakage of gas. He attributes the cause of the explosion solely to a fusing of an electric cable. Inquiries have elicited the information from Mr. J Feltham, electrical engineer to the Mexboro’ Urban Council Electrical Department, that the cause of the explosion was due to a fuse in the electric cabling, which ignited in accumulation of gas. Mr. Feltham could not state what kind of gas had accumulated, but be pointed out that the fuse had occurred several feet from the front of the shop. Gas must have been in the ground and in considerable quantity underneath the shop floor. Following the fuse, the gas in the ground would become ignited and travel backwards into the shop, where the explosion occurred. The wrecking of the shop window and frontage would be due to the sudden heavy increased pressure of air inside the shop.