In October of 1900, an 11-year-old orphaned newsboy took his own life by ingesting rat poison. Alfred Williams was unhappy, undernourished and often ill. After his suicide, his “newsie” friends and peers from several of the local papers took up a collection to pay for the funeral. News articles state that over 100 newsies attended the burial of their fallen comrade. That same year, Joseph Carabelli, founder of The Johns-Carabelli Co., designed and donated a marble statue to honor the life of Alfred Williams. 

Over time, this statue has been visited in Erie Street Cemetery by many and became known in Cleveland history as “The Marble Newsboy.”  After 126 years, the weather had eroded much of the marble’s details and, with them, Alfred’s story. To preserve Alfred’s memory for future generations and to honor Mr. Carabelli’s generosity, the Johns Carabelli Co. and Semerano Cemetery Memorials & Flowers cleaned the statue, created a new base, and added a QR code to share his story. Alfred’s marble monument returned to Erie Street Cemetery on May 29.