FBI to Publish Report On Murdered Boy

The FBI will publish a report on the unidentified murdered boy found in a cardboard carton in Fox Chase on February 26, Chief Police Inspector John J. Kelly said.

The report will be distributed throughout the country in the federal agency's monthly bulletin, in an attempt to identify the boy, Kelly said.

Investigators are sure that the child was of preschool age because the body had no vaccination mark, he added. The child also had all baby teeth, he said.

FBI to Probe Murder of Boy

City Police Turn Over All Evidence

Chief Inspector John J. Kelly said today that he has asked the FBI to investigate the mystery of the murdered boy whose bruised body was found in a cardboard box in Fox Chase on February 26.

Kelly said all evidence gathered in a painstaking search for witnesses and clues has been turned over to the federal agency.

"This is no longer a local case," Kelly said. "It has become a national case."

He said the FBI would publish a report of the case in its monthly bulletin, circulated throughout the country.

No Vaccination

Meanwhile, an 18-year-old resident of Fox Chase told police he discovered the body on the weekend of February 22-23 but was afraid to tell anybody about it.

Kelly said the youth, John Powroznik, lives on Pine road near Susquehanna road, about 100 yards from the spot where the blanket-wrapped body was found in a cardboard box,

The police official said that Powroznik was in school when the area homes were first canvassed. Monday afternoon, Detectives Edwars Repsch and Raymond Latchford rechecked the neighborhood.

Tells of Seeing Body

Kelly said the youth told the detectives that on either Saturday, February 23, or Sunday, February 24, he sighted the box, with the body, while going to a basketball game. Powroznik was not sure of the day, but said it was drizzling at the time, Kelly said.

Powroznik was so horrified and frightened by what he had seen that he ran home and said nothing about it to his parents, Waclaw and Appolina, Kelly said the boy related.

Pictures of Slain Boy Go Out With Gas Bills

In an attempt to identify the boy found slain in a Fox Chase thicket February 26, the Philadelphia Gas Works is sending out 250,000 circulars containing his description and a post-mortem photograph.

Chief Inspector John J. Kelly said yesterday that the gas company is sending out the circulars with the gas bills of its subscribers. Food chains also are circulating descriptions of the boy. Insurance company collectors have been given his description.

Kelly said a total of about 400,000 circulars will be in the hands of the public. He said police are no nearer identifying the boy than they were when his bruised body was discovered.

State Stores Post Fliers On Slain Boy

State liquor stores throughout the city today joined in the effort to identify the four-year-old boy whose bruised body was found in a Fox Chase thicket on February 25.

The 102 stores, on orders from Liquor Board chairman Patrick E. Kerwin, posted police fliers seeking information on the unidentified child.

It is the first time the state stores have been put to such use.

Death Mask to Be Used in Murder Investigation

The Medical Examiner's office has made a death mask of the face of a small boy whose body was found in a cardboard box in Fox Chase last February 26.

The mask will be kept at the morgue for the purpose of identification. An extensive investigation so far has failed to turn up any positive clue to the child's identity.

The body of the boy - believed to be between four and six years old - will be buried in the City Cemetery, Mechanicsville road off Dunk's Ferry road, the week of July 22.

A newly developed plastic used by the dental industry was used to make the mold for the face. Dr. Wilton M. Krogman, professor of physical anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, said this is the first time the plastic has been used in medical-legal work.

It was applied by Stephen Solomon, a third-year medical student at Penn. The mask itself is made of a high-grade gypsum called Albastone.

The old process in which plaster of Paris was used, Dr. Krogman said, caused some distortion because the mask had to be made in four parts.

The new method was discussed at a conference in the medical examiner's office yesterday afternoon. On hand were Dr. Krogman, Dr. Joseph Spelman, medical examiner, and Captain David Roberts and Lieutenant David Brown, of the homicide unit.

Boy-in-the-Box Posters Go Out to Race Tracks

Police today began sending in formation posters on the boy who was found dead in a box in Fox Chase last February to all race tracks now open on the East Coast.

Captain David H. Roberts, of the homicide squad, said it is hoped that someone among the thousands who go to the tracks may recognize the boy.

There is no evidence to connect the crime with a race track, he said.

Unknown Boy Going to Grave

 The body of the unknown small boy found murdered in Fox Chase on February 26 will be buried tomorrow after a funeral service at the Mann Funeral Home, 2305 N. Broad st., at 10 A.M.

Since the boy's religious faith is unknown, a general burial service will be read by Captain Warren F. Guthriell, Fourth Naval District chaplain.

Attending will be representatives of the city detective force and the medical examiner's office. Members of the Homicide Squad will serve as pallbearers.

Immediately following the service a cortege of about five cars will follow a hearse containing the small white casket to the city cemetery at Mechanicsville and Dunk's Ferry roads, Holmesburg.

Costs of the funeral are being borne partly through donations from individual detectives, with the remainder being contributed by the Funeral Directors Association of Philadelphia.

The boy's body has been held in the city morgue during the long, fruitless attempt to identify him.

The Boy in the Box is taken to his grave - July 24, 1957

Can You Help?

When it was disclosed that city detectives were providing a funeral for the Northeast's unidentified boy murder victim Our Town didn't let the incident go unnoticed.

People began sending in money to buy a marker for the mystery boy's grave. Some send a quarter, others a dollar. All told, the contributions totaled $200.

And Captain Dave Roberts - head of the homicide squad - says that the marker will be put up. But, what inscription should it carry?

Roberts says that since the marker was provided by the public he wonders if the public can help detectives decide on the right wording for it.

If you have any suggestions, mail them to us and we'll forward them to Captain Roberts.