03/02/57 Philadelphia bulletin

Boy In Carton May Have Died Getting Haircut

Police Think Death May Have Been Accidental

Police today expressed a belief that the boy found dead in a cardboard carton last Tuesday might have been killed accidentally.

 Chief Inspector John J. Kelly theorized that if this were so, the cerebral hemorrhage, which caused the child's death might have been caused by pressure near the temples while his hair was being cut.

Police have established that the boy had a haircut not long before he was killed and that it was definitely an amateur's job.

Not 'Intentional Killing'

"The position of the bruises across the forehead and one at the hairline are in the same position as a person's hand would be while holding a child tightly to give him a haircut with clippers.

"Whoever was cutting the hair might have exerted too much pressure, causing the hemorrhage.

"The marks on the legs could have been the usual bruises suffered by a child who plays hard, and the arm bruises could have been received while somebody was holding him to cut his hair."

Became 'Panicky'

"Possibly whoever exerted this pressure became panicky, and in that state of mind disposed of the body, and now is afraid to come forward.

The chief inspector said that if this theory should prove to be true, he hoped whoever was responsible for the accidental death would abandon his fears and report to police.

He also appealed to 12 persons who bought bassinets at the J.C. Penney Store, 69^th and Chestnut St's., between early December and mid-February, to let police know where they disposed of the carton.

It has been established that the box in which the boy's body was found was one of 12 containing bassinets sold by the store during that period.

Heard From One

"We already have heard from one of the persons who bought a bassinet," he said. "We'd like to hear from the others who'll let us know how they disposed of the boxes.

"This box apparently came from indoors, since it had not been exposed to the elements."

Last night Broomall walked into police headquarters and said he believed the boy might be his brother, who would have been eight this year. He renewed the belief after viewing the body in the morgue.

One of 18 Children

Broomall, who lives at 4054 Spruce St. and recently returned from overseas, said he is one of 18 children. He last saw his family when they lived on the east side of Roosevelt blvd. near the Sears Roebuck store.

At that time, he said, the family was about to move to the West Coast, but two of the younger children were left with an older brother who lived in the northeast section of Philadelphia.

Today, however, Lieutenant Lovejoy located Charles Broomall, a brother of the marine, who said he never had the boy in his custody. He said, however, that the boy could have been with another brother in Pittsburgh.

Lovejoy said Board of Education records revealed that the Broomall boy transferred from the Thomas Creighton School, Tabor road and Cottman av., to the Edendal School in San Lorenzo, Calif., on September 5, 1956.

03/06/57 Philadelphia Bulletin

Police Rookies Assigned To Seek Slain Boy's Identity

Police Commissioner Thomas J. Gibbons ordered the entire student complement of the Police Academy into a search today for clues to the identity of the young boy found murdered in Fox Chase on February 26.

Chief Inspector John J. Kelly yesterday decided on an "inch-by-inch" check of a 12-square-mile area north of Rhawn st. in the Northeast and extending beyond the city limits.

The hunt will be primarily for anyone who might know of a missing child about five years old, and for any trace of the clothing of the murdered boy whose body was placed in a cardboard carton that once contained a baby's basssinet.

A torn, stained piece of blanket and a dead cat wrapped in a man's gray sweater were found this afternoon by police searching for clues.

The piece of blanket and the sweater-wrapped body of the cat were found lying together in a depression in the ground about a quarter mile from where the boy's nude body was found. Lying on top of the cat and blanket was a piece of crumpled, sodden brown wrapping paper.

Investigators at first believed the piece of blanket, a strip two feet by five feet, was the piece missing from a blanket found in the carton with the boy's body.

320 Police in Hunt

 However, they established that it did not come from that blanket. But they said that it was from a similar type and quality blanket and might have some connection. It was sent to the police laboratory for analysis of the stains.

A total of 320 city police, detectives and Fairmount Park guards were thrown into the hunt in which police of Cheltenham and Abington Townships also joined.

This included the 270 rookies being trained at the Police Academy, State road and Ashburner st., and ten members of the academy staff.

In the city, the search will cover parts of Burholme, Rhawnhurst and Bustleton, as well as Fox Chase. It is expected to take two days.

The area being covered has been divided into 15 different sections. The searchers have been divided into groups of 50 each, consisting of 45 policemen, two park guards, a detective, a sergeant and lieutenant.

Walkie-Talkies Used

 Walkie-talkies were used to maintain contact between six groups as they covered their sections.

The men were instructed by Kelly, who is directing the search, to pay particular attention to shacks, abandoned buildings and automobiles, vacant houses and garages as well as fields and thickets.

Park guards were ordered to pay particular attention to the bed and banks of the Pennypack Creek.

Registration Lists

 A separate force of 20 detectives armed with voting registration lists were assigned to contact every resident of the area being searched to see if anyone remembers seeing a child resembling the murdered boy in any connection.

Dr. Joseph W. Spelman, city medical examiner, reported that laboratory tests ruled out a suspicion that drowning had figured in the boy's death as well as beating.

He said the tests also failed to show any evidence of an assault and showed that the child had not eaten for two or three hours before his death.

Dr. Spelman said specialists have determined from X-rays of the boy's bones that he was between four and five years old.

Murdered Boy Had Operations

Doctor Describes Scars on Body

A possibility that the boy murdered in Fox Chase on February 26 may have undergone minor surgery was disclosed today by Dr. Joseph W. Spelman, city medical examiner.

Dr. Spelman said it was possible that three of seven scars on the body may have resulted from surgical procedures.

The medical examiner pointed to this possibility in a description he wrote of the boy for publication in this week's Philadelphia Medicine.

Doctors Get Book

 This is the publication of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, which is mailed out to physicians. Dr. Spelman's description of the boy is aimed at the hope that some doctor reading it will recognize the child as a former patient.

Dr. Spelman reported that a scar on the left ankle looks like a "cut-down" incision. He said such an incision is made to expose a vein so that a needle may be inserted to give an infusion or transfusion.

The two other scars he suspects might have been caused surgically because they healed leaving only a hair-line on the chest and in the groin.

Describes Bruises

 Dr. Spelman said that all of the bruises that covered the body of the four to five-year-old victim appeared to have been inflicted at the same time.

He said that while some came from the blows of an assailant, others appeared caused by manual pressure as though somebody had squeezed the boys arms while shaking him in a rage or grabbed him to pull him along or force him to do something.

One very puzzling thing, Dr. Spelman added, was that the boy's feet and one hand had been immersed in water. He said this must have occurred while the boy was lying somewhere else before his body was placed in a cardboard carton and brought to the spot where it was found.

Search Continues

 Meanwhile, the 270 trainees at the Police Academy spent the eve of their graduation continuing their search today in the sparsely settled section of the far northeast for clues to the child's identity.

Chief Inspector John J. Kelly expressed hope that the "inch-by-inch" search of the adjoining open areas of Rhawnhurst, Bustleton and Burholme would be completed by dark today.

Yesterday, the six groups of more than 50 searchers each turned up a variety of possible leads while covering a goodly portion of the woods, fields, thickets, shacks, abandoned buildings and automobiles, and vacant houses and garages in the section.

Dozens of Items Found

 Taken to the search headquarters established at the 7^th District, Bustleton pike and Bowler av., were several items of boy's clothing and toys picked up during the day.

Among the articles were a torn, stained piece of blanket similar to the two cheap cotton blankets found in the bassinet carton with the boy's nude, battered body.

The blanket, along with a stained child's undershirt found in the section were sent to the Police Crime Laboratory for examination and chemical analysis.

Last night a special squad of 20 detectives under Homicide ... Detectives William Hipple called on residents of the area to determine if any boy resembling the murder victim had been around the area.

Six Identify Mystery Boy

Say He Lived With Father in Camden

 Police said this afternoon that six persons have identified the boy found murdered in Fox Chase February 26 as a child who lived in Camden with his father for about six weeks.

As a result of the identification, Kelly late today sent out radio and Teletype messages asking authorities to pick up Charles D. Speece, formerly of RD, Lancaster for "investigation in connection with homicide."

He said all six persons, after viewing the body of the child in the morgue, said he is Terry Lee Speece, eight.

Didn't See Him for Year

 Shown a police circular containing the child's photograph, however, the mother, Mrs. Wilhemina Speece, of Lancaster, said the photograph "does not look like him."

Mrs. Speece pointed out, however, that she has not seen her son for a year, during which time he has been living with his father. She said her son is eight and one-half years old.

Kelly and Lieutenant George Sauer, state policeman who has been working with local detectives on the case, arranged to bring Mrs. Speece to the morgue.

Kelly said the six Camden residents, two of whom live in an apartment in the 300 block of N. 2d st., Camden, said the child lived in an apartment with his father from early in January until February 23.

Father Disappeared

 The father disappeared, Kelly said, three days before the boy's body was found.

Kelly said the persons who identified the body said the boy's father shared the apartment with an unidentified man.

All six persons were shown rogues' gallery photographs of Speece who Kelly said, has a police record, and identified him as the father of the child.

"They were positive in both identifications," Kelly said.

Kelly's radio and Teletype message described Speece as 26, white, medium build, brown hair, gray eyes, and said he was driving a 1947 four-door Hudson sedan.

The child's body, nude but wrapped in a blanket, was found in a cardboard carton in a thicket off Susquehanna road between Verree and Pine roads.

Handkerchief' Clue in Murder

Short Hairs on It Compare With Boy's

A man's white handkerchief with some short strands of hair clinging to it has been found by police seeking a clue to the identity of the boy found murdered in Fox Chase on February 26.

Chief Inspector John J. Kelly said the discovery was made during a two-day mass hunt by trainees from the Police Academy. The hunt ended yesterday.

It was conducted in a four-square mile area bordering Cottman av., and extending into the area of the Montgomery County communities of Hollywood, McKinley and Rockledge.

Kelly said that the handkerchief was relatively clean considering its exposure to the elements. It has the initial G in one corner. It was sent to the police chemical laboratory for a comparison of its hair with those of the dead boy.

Also found during the two-day hunt were a tan, child-size scarf and a boy's yellow flannel shirt, size four. This is the size of the clothes worn by the dead boy, investigators said.

Meanwhile, another clue to the boy's identity has fizzled out. A man who thought he recognized the boy from his pictures, looked at the body last night, and said he was mistaken.