How did Roach Powder get into a Pancake batter killing 12 men in Pittsburgh in 1940?

Allegheny County has some of the toughest rules when it comes to Food Safety in restaurants in Pennsylvania . But this was not always the case as an incident in 1940 reveals.
In today's modern food safety world all cleaning and other non cooking related products are to be kept in a separate storage area away from food products, and where restaurants once did there own pest control they must now hire and use a company to come in and eradicate pests and not keep pest control products on the premises.
These rules where brought about do to several incidents across the country  where pest control products where either accidentally or deliberately put into pancake and  egg or other batter  poisoning and killing hundreds.

One such case took place at the Salvation Army shelter in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville section  on November 12,1940  where a breakfast of pancakes and bacon resulted in 12 men dead and 48 severely sickened when some how Roach Powder  made of Sodium Fluoride  a white powder got into the pancake batter.




 Doctors and chemists  at the  now long closed St Francis Hospital tried to save all the men but where unsuccessful.




Strangely this is one of 2 institutions which where once located in lawrenceville/Garfield  area  which after tragedy's occurred moved to the North Side of Pittsburgh   which includes the Little Sisters of the Poor  who had a tragic fire which killed 47  both cases unsolved   in both caases no charges brought .
Almost makes you wonder if some one had it in for these groups who help the poor  and this is why they moved.


They called it the " House of Mystery ". It was more like the house of Horrors in Bellevue

In early 1900's a young woman who became pregnant out of wedlock was seen very differently than it is today.
They where publicly shamed and hidden from society sent to special boarding schools to have and then raise their child  or have it adopted.
So it was not uncommon for those in society to prey on these unfortunate young girls  performing the Back Alley Abortion  in a home where a young girl was often lucky to be alive after the procedure.

But one such operation run by  Charles C. Meridith  MD in  a large looming residence high on a river bluff  in Bellevue  was not discovered until a well know socialite Dorthy Arnold  from New York  City disappeared and was believed to have died and remains disposed of  in what became known as the "  House of Mystery"
 It is believed  as many as 20 young girls went missing and their remains where incinerated in the homes massive heating furnace after dying during the  botched abortion procedure.

Dr Meridith  was well respected citizen but the citizens had no idea the horrors in his home that where going on. To this day  the remains of Dorthy Arnold have not been recovered but Meridith's undoing was the death of Mrs. Myrtle Allison  whose remains where found. I am trying to dig out all the details on this story and share it with you in a further article. . The residence is believed to have been leveled and sat about where Brighton auto service now sits .



























Unfortunately these types of horrors go on to this day with a recent case in Philadelphia