Identified! PA - Philadelphia, 'Boy in the Box', WhtMale 4-6, 4UMPA, Feb'57

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Thank you Zanko- back in the 40's and 50's Electric Shock Therapy was at it's peak. Interestingly enough during these time frames, it was done without muscle relaxant or anesthesia's of any kind, so recipients frequently dislocated or broke their long bones during the convulsions. Now, just speculation, but I wonder if someone had dislocated their legs at the knee and the dislocation were reduced (put back into place) if it would look like the swelling we saw on the boy? There were also few physicians at the time who could recognize a brain that had been shocked upon autopsy. It would have displayed abnormal bleeding, atrophys, scarring etc...could have looked like an internal head injury?

http://www.antipsychiatry.org/ect.htm
 
believe09 said:
Thank you Zanko- back in the 40's and 50's Electric Shock Therapy was at it's peak. Interestingly enough during these time frames, it was done without muscle relaxant or anesthesia's of any kind, so recipients frequently dislocated or broke their long bones during the convulsions. Now, just speculation, but I wonder if someone had dislocated their legs at the knee and the dislocation were reduced (put back into place) if it would look like the swelling we saw on the boy? There were also few physicians at the time who could recognize a brain that had been shocked upon autopsy. It would have displayed abnormal bleeding, atrophys, scarring etc...could have looked like an internal head injury?

http://www.antipsychiatry.org/ect.htm
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Thank you, believe09.

Well, the first time I saw his photos, although I was horrified, I noticed the size of the markings on his head. All pretty much the same diameter. If you look at your finger tips, they aren't consistent in size. I'd imagine you'd have to be one strong person with mammoth hands to put that much pressure on his head to cause contusions that deep. Yes, ECT was most definitely at it's peak around the time he died.

During treatment, when a patient is resisting or seizing (from ECT, for example), restraints are often used around the head, arms, wrists, legs, chest and ankles. Sometimes they are restrained in such a way that a strap goes over the forearms/lower chest area and around the legs and forehead. Patients also seize and vomit (the brown substance they found in his esophagus), and I read that he had "pruney" hands and feet. Perhaps while being inoculated with electricity he was submerged in water somehow and died by electrocution?

Also, the haircut. They shave the sides of their heads during ECT treatment, too so there isn't any hair in the way..
 
believe09 said:
You are not being disrespectful, I do not believe-i think it is wise to investigate. I just did some research on burial rituals for a certain sect of Judaism that settled in PA around the revolutionary war and still had a strong presence at the time the boy was found. check this out:
To wash the body with water brought from the fountain in a new container and dress it in white clothes.
To clip the deceased's nails (or at least a couple of them) as well as a few hairs and wrap everything in a piece of paper or cloth
To burn clipped hair and nails after death​


I am just trying to get a sense of how culturally diverse the surrounding might have been and how possible it might have been to dump such a sweet child and walk away without being found out...i did not choose Judaism to start with-I was more looking at possible illnesses that would meet some of the cut-down scars he had and it brought me to some genetic illnesses that led me to the above...shrouding or wrapping his body could mean anything and if the boy was face down when found, then I don't think we are dealing with devout Judaism...i mean could this have been a families best attempt at disposing of their loved one or is it for sure murder?​
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Believe, I might be able to answer some of your questions. I live here. As far as cultural diversity in Fox Chase back then we had no Amish here. Living in the immediate area I mean. There was a fair amount of German's in Fox Chase. Then again probably made up of a significant Irish, Italian, German, Jewish community. It's changing now though.

As far as any burial rites for devout Jews I think the one Detective on the case would have thought of that as he was Jewish. My father worked with him for almost his entire career. He was a nice, nice, nice man and this case was always with him.

My dad didn't bring work home with him and he wasn't on that case, but I aksed my mom about this recently and she said my dad said they were really interested in that home that was nearby. An institution type home. I'll ask her more about it. Of course anything is possible. I mean as far as Amish or wheoever. Just the Amish live further up in Pennsylvania. This area was somewhat more "rural" then inner city Philly, but in the city all the same.
 
Filly said:
Believe, I might be able to answer some of your questions. I live here. As far as cultural diversity in Fox Chase back then we had no Amish here. Living in the immediate area I mean. There was a fair amount of German's in Fox Chase. Then again probably made up of a significant Irish, Italian, German, Jewish community. It's changing now though.

As far as any burial rites for devout Jews I think the one Detective on the case would have thought of that as he was Jewish. My father worked with him for almost his entire career. He was a nice, nice, nice man and this case was always with him.

My dad didn't bring work home with him and he wasn't on that case, but I aksed my mom about this recently and she said my dad said they were really interested in that home that was nearby. An institution type home. I'll ask her more about it. Of course anything is possible. I mean as far as Amish or wheoever. Just the Amish live further up in Pennsylvania. This area was somewhat more "rural" then inner city Philly, but in the city all the same.
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Thank you Filly!!! I am going to X out my pursuit of whether or not it was a death in the immigrant community-I agree that the detective on the case would have recognized signs of a ritual burial. Something about how the boy was laid in the box looks tender to me rather than a "dump." The first photos look like he was sleeping-heartbreaking.

Here are a few of my questions, if someday I could have them answered;
1.) What made the detectives think that the bassinet box and the boy were together? The area immediately surrounding where he was found had a ton of debris-why wouldn't the bassinet box have been there first and just been used as a good hiding place for the boy?

2.) Are there surviving photos of his brain that might give a better idea of whether or not he had been shocked, either in the past or as the COD?

3.) I agree with Vashley that the bruising on his head is pretty uniform for finger prints-not to mention I tried to place my hand in a similar configuration and couldn't see how it made sense in terms of holding down the child to shave his head.

4.) Could the bruising above his elbows and on his legs have been from restraints??

5.) The palms of his hands and the soles of his feet had been submerged for a period of time-could this have been and attempt to revive him/
 
Does anyone know if the state psyche hospital was fully vetted? The pro for me is the obvious; the patients were absolutely warehoused and abused, there were lobotomies and est, and there were children who lived there as far as I could see. The con for me is that they would have no need to do a body dump, since they did their own autopsies to determine why the patient had died.

http://theduke81.tripod.com/index.html
 
Pinkie swear, I have never really read it up to now. It seems that the boy did have hernia surgery, and the last year of his life he was ill-they actually had a anthropological bone specialist look at him and his xrays. It was determined that his leg bones had slowed growth...they really pulled out all of the stops with this case! Cool.

he had all of his teeth and he was buck-toothed with light brown hair and blue eyes. He had received treatment for an eye infection, he did not drown even though he was submerged in water and he had a brown liquid in his esophagus....I have to believe it was some kind of medication that he did not swallow before he died. His hair and nails were cut before or just after death. He had not eaten for a few hours prior to his death, and because Philly was so cold, he could have been dead for 2-3 days to 3 weeks. he was probably closer to 5-6yrs than 3-4 if he had all of his teeth. He is probably western European or Scandinavian. (My vote is German since that is what seems to make sense given the population around there.)
http://books.google.com/books?id=kt...ABoF3Rj&sig=txNDauTeVNFNKmY8KqqgjDvIt0w&hl=en

I also read that the woman investigators believed actually gave birth to him had another child die in 1957 of being electrocuted by a ride on toy outside of a department store. They verified her story through morgue records. I wonder if anyone collected a DNA sample from her anyway?

http://www.courttv.com/news/hiddentraces/boyinthebox/boyinthebox_page3.html
 
Gotta get back to packing, but I started doing some research on common meds and antibiotics during that time frame to see if any of them were in a brownish liquid suspension form. Interestingly enough, there were 5400 different forms of sulfa drugs used at that time, as well as:
streptomycin, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline.

(http://library.thinkquest.org/25462/history.html)

Streptomycin was delivered via intra-muscular injection only.
Chloramphenicol could be used to treat eye infections in an eye drop form as well as used for a myriad of bacterial infections orally. It was commonly used for Cholera and could cause bone marrow supression as well as a number of ugly side effects with toxicity.

There are many versions of Tetracycline which were also used at the time, however it tended to cause renal issues if not taken with sufficient fluids and photosensitivity.

There has to be someone with a medical or pharmacological background here at WS who might be able to weigh in on this???

HUGS and PEACE
 
believe09 said:
Gotta get back to packing, but I started doing some research on common meds and antibiotics during that time frame to see if any of them were in a brownish liquid suspension form. Interestingly enough, there were 5400 different forms of sulfa drugs used at that time, as well as:
streptomycin, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline.

(http://library.thinkquest.org/25462/history.html)

Streptomycin was delivered via intra-muscular injection only.
Chloramphenicol could be used to treat eye infections in an eye drop form as well as used for a myriad of bacterial infections orally. It was commonly used for Cholera and could cause bone marrow supression as well as a number of ugly side effects with toxicity.

There are many versions of Tetracycline which were also used at the time, however it tended to cause renal issues if not taken with sufficient fluids and photosensitivity.

There has to be someone with a medical or pharmacological background here at WS who might be able to weigh in on this???

HUGS and PEACE
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Tetracycline or Chlora was probably what they used. The reason I wanted to know if they had checked him for traces of TB (tuberculosis) is because many children were admitted to sanitariums for this disease around the era in which he died. Perhaps Gastrointestinal TB, or pelvic TB which can cause hernias (abdominal hernias are most common and are usually present at birth).

Another disease that crossed my mind was hyperspleenism, which basically means the spleen is overactive, causing it to destroy more blood cells than it needs to (hemolytic anemia). Some symptoms I know of that come with hyperspleenism are easy bruising, that it is common to develop after TB infection, and makes it very easy to contract other bacterial infections, conjunctivitis, for example. With severe Hemolytic anemia, blood transfusions are often needed.

The thing is, I read on about this case and apparently they sent a flier to every doctor in the area, including Delaware and Jersey. I don't know if that includes asylums/mental hospitals/sanitariums, whatever you want to call them.

Interestingly enough, this unidentified child has the most information out of any other unidentified persons case I have ever worked on, but has gone the longest without ever being solved...
 
VASHLEY88 said:
Tetracycline or Chlora was probably what they used. The reason I wanted to know if they had checked him for traces of TB (tuberculosis) is because many children were admitted to sanitariums for this disease around the era in which he died. Perhaps Gastrointestinal TB, or pelvic TB which can cause hernias (abdominal hernias are most common and are usually present at birth).

Another disease that crossed my mind was hyperspleenism, which basically means the spleen is overactive, causing it to destroy more blood cells than it needs to (hemolytic anemia). Some symptoms I know of that come with hyperspleenism are easy bruising, that it is common to develop after TB infection, and makes it very easy to contract other bacterial infections, conjunctivitis, for example. With severe Hemolytic anemia, blood transfusions are often needed.

The thing is, I read on about this case and apparently they sent a flier to every doctor in the area, including Delaware and Jersey. I don't know if that includes asylums/mental hospitals/sanitariums, whatever you want to call them.

Interestingly enough, this unidentified child has the most information out of any other unidentified persons case I have ever worked on, but has gone the longest without ever being solved...
Click to expand...

Which makes you think that someone truly has decided to go to their deaths without id'ng him...and I completely agree with the TB theory 'cept I thought for sure they would test for it or id it when they saw his lungs....
 
believe09 said:
Which makes you think that someone truly has decided to go to their deaths without id'ng him...and I completely agree with the TB theory 'cept I thought for sure they would test for it or id it when they saw his lungs....
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I'm not sure what they checked for back then for post-mortem cases like these, and I am unsure if they would have had to test for it right when his body was recovered, because it would seem more likely he was beaten and/or abused. I'm not even sure if it's likely that they exhumed his body to find traces of it.. I'm no pathology expert. I just thought there was a good chance he may have been a victim of the disease because the "raves of children", as it was described, were ID'd by number, not name since there were so many of them.. but why would a doctor ID a person if he is responsible for the dumping of the body? He wouldn't.

But that still doesn't explain the odd things, like the fresh haircut, for example. Perhaps the hair was cut to make it more difficult to ID him? What a difficult and very upsetting case.




A version I did with longer hair..


http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e127/popular_minoritry/johnnydoe2.jpg
 
wow you did such a good job!!!! :clap:
thanks so much helping out with these cases!! (thanks to everyone!) there's just so many cases its sad!
 
believe09 said:
Does anyone know if the state psyche hospital was fully vetted? The pro for me is the obvious; the patients were absolutely warehoused and abused, there were lobotomies and est, and there were children who lived there as far as I could see. The con for me is that they would have no need to do a body dump, since they did their own autopsies to determine why the patient had died.

http://theduke81.tripod.com/index.html
Click to expand...

Whatever we read about Byberry that's not even the half of it, B.

Absolutely agree they wouldn't dump a body. They didn't have to. They did have a "cabin" for about 100 children. That meant they probably had 400 kids in there and I am not exaggerating. Anyone from people/kids with epilipsy to hearing problems. I get sick when I think of that place. Definately don't think the boy was there.

B, I'll ask my mom if she knows any answers to any of your questions. They are all good ones. I think well I think they knew the box and the poor baby were together because the boy from Poland I believe actually saw the box and body together before that LaSalle College guy. That original kid was the one who went back in the woods alot to catch rabbits.

I always thought the weirdest was that guy who went to LaSalle College said he stopped the car there either going to school or coming home to catch a rabbit. O.K. Ummmmmm, he lived on Lansing Street which is completely the other way. That don't jive. I know he supposedly was peeping, but why lie to the extent you tripped up so bad you told cops you were on your way to school or coming home? Nope. Wrong way. Wrong route. Completely out of his way.
 
You are fabulous Filly and thanks!!! I don't suppose the peeping Tom guy was ever considered suspicious? Although I have to think that maybe he knew the body had been there longer than the two days he said he noticed it if he was stalking the girls in the home regularly...

Filly said:
Whatever we read about Byberry that's not even the half of it, B.

Absolutely agree they wouldn't dump a body. They didn't have to. They did have a "cabin" for about 100 children. That meant they probably had 400 kids in there and I am not exaggerating. Anyone from people/kids with epilipsy to hearing problems. I get sick when I think of that place. Definately don't think the boy was there.

B, I'll ask my mom if she knows any answers to any of your questions. They are all good ones. I think well I think they knew the box and the poor baby were together because the boy from Poland I believe actually saw the box and body together before that LaSalle College guy. That original kid was the one who went back in the woods alot to catch rabbits.

I always thought the weirdest was that guy who went to LaSalle College said he stopped the car there either going to school or coming home to catch a rabbit. O.K. Ummmmmm, he lived on Lansing Street which is completely the other way. That don't jive. I know he supposedly was peeping, but why lie to the extent you tripped up so bad you told cops you were on your way to school or coming home? Nope. Wrong way. Wrong route. Completely out of his way.
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What I dont understand is why it appeared his eyebrows had been plucked???( per the new story about the girl theory) on a 4 yr old Boy how thick could they have been originally? Doesnt this seem really ODD ???
 
phenolred said:
What I dont understand is why it appeared his eyebrows had been plucked???( per the new story about the girl theory) on a 4 yr old Boy how thick could they have been originally? Doesnt this seem really ODD ???
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I agree, you wouldn't have to pluck a little boy's eyebrows to make him look like a girl. I think he was a victim of a sadistic serial killer. I wonder if there are any other cases around the same time with plucked eyebrows, cut hair and groomed fingernails?
 
I know the mentally ill woman who came forward has been discredited.....but she really seems to have hit on a story that is plausible. Too often the mentally ill are seen as unreliable due to their illnesses....this isn't true necessarily. Now with possible ties to mental health treatment...I wonder if this woman was un-necessarily discredited.
 
Hi
They do not know how long how long his hair was when it was cut.I have found it is usually one of the first leads that was reported is what happened.I wonder what ever became of the lead of the barber shop man giving the boy a hair cut.The little boy had a few siblings and lived in the strawberry masion area?They should probably check the Horsham suspects again.

suzanne
 
Every time I see a photo of this child I feel sad. He looks so little to me. I think he looks 4 years old. There are so many children missing and never recovered, is there any information on who this child was compared with and deemed "not a match"? Sometimes I see a child, missing around the same time this child was found, and I think, "Surely they ruled him out as a possible match!" But what if they haven't? Anyone know if there is a list of "rule outs"?
 
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