Cleveland, OH Baking Company Building Collapse, Mar 1902

FOUR STORY BUILDING FALLS AT CLEVELAND.

COLLAPSE OF BAKING COMPANY'S FACTORY THIS NOON.

SEVERAL KILLED OTHERS HURT.

Three Known to be Under Debris -- Three Girls Injured Have been Removed from Wreck.

Cleveland, O., March 1 -- At noon to-day the four story factory of the Cleveland Baking Powder Company collapsed, creating the wildest excitement in that section of the city. Forty girls and eight men were employed on the third floor and the panic that followed is indescribable. Three girls have been taken out of the ruins injured, and four other girls and two men are missing this afternoon. They are supposed to be dead under the debris. The building is a wreck.
At 2:30 p. m. it is known that MOLLIE RIZNER, FLORENCE McGRATH of 301 Perry street, and G. WELKER, a shipping clerk in the factory are buried in the ruins.

The Newark Advocate Ohio 1902-03-01

Cracks Were Heard in a Building That Collapsed and Killed Five People, According to Testimony.

Cleveland, O., March 7 -- The fact that the Cleveland Baking Powder company had been notified of the unsafe condition of its Central avenue building, which collapsed last week and killed five persons, was brought out prominently at the Coroner's investigation of the horror. Witnesses told that they had heard the building crack and that they had notified their boss, who had told the superintendent.
One witness said that beams had been placed in a position to strengthen the fourth floor, but that the cracking had continued after the timbers had been put in place. The grand jury began its investigation yesterday hearing half a dozen witnesses, all of them telling of the unsafe condition of the building months before it dropped to pieces.

The Newark Advocate Ohio 1902-03-07
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!