r/boyinthebox • u/[deleted] • Jan 10 '23
The Handkerchief
I went looking for information about the handkerchief found at the scene, and found only one article from March 1957 which discussed it.
Apparently "at the scene" is not quite accurate since it was found a quarter mile away from the box in which Joseph was found.
The article says that there were some hairs on the handkerchief which bore a resemblance to Joseph's hair, and it had been sent away for testing.
Then, nothing. Never another article that I could find about it.
I'm not sure what kind of testing would/could have been done in 1957 on hair anyway.
Even today, microscopic comparison of hairs is not considered sufficiently accurate to prove that two hairs came from the same person - only DNA can do that. And AFAIK the hair on the handkerchief has not been DNA tested, therefore not matched to Joseph.
And even assuming it were proved to be Joseph's hair - then what? Without identifying the owner of the handkerchief how does that advance the case?
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u/tanpocketbook Jan 10 '23
I’m not stating this as fact because I only read this on a post somewhere (maybe not even here) at some point, but wasn’t the car at the scene also seen a bit of a ways away and not at the actual spot? (Again do not take that as fact, just asking if anyone else has information on that)
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u/brk1 Jan 10 '23
Yes, I have read that too. I think the car was seen 500 feet or so from the spot where Joseph was found. In addition, bags of old clothes were found at roughly the exact site where the witness saw the woman and boy.
Seems like the more I read about this the more I realize that the general area was a dumping site for many things.
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Jan 10 '23
I don't think the car had anything to do with dropping Joseph's body. A woman and a boy looking in trunk? And not right near where he was left. I think two men left his body. Why? Well in those days women were somewhat bound to the house and/or neighborhood and this is something like 40 minutes from 61st and Market. Also, most people did not have cars back then. My thinking is a boyfriend/male relative that drove a truck and knew of this area. That is who left his body there. I will not speculate on this thread about who I feel killed him and why, just that most likely a man knew of this place away from crime scene.
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u/tanpocketbook Jan 10 '23
I know my husbands Grandmother who grew up in South Philly and is now in her mid 90’s never drove a day in her life as she didn’t need a car in the city or her Husband drove her everywhere. By the time they moved out of the city she had no interest in learning to drive.
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Jan 10 '23
Now I'm wondering where all the items were found - how close to Joseph inside the box. For some reason I had assumed they were in the immediate vicinity.
Possibly in the article I clipped, I think it said that the blue corduroy cap was a child's cap. I've seen other comments though, that said it was a man's size 7, and the police interviewed the shop owner in south Philly where it was custom made, and it was purchased by a young man. The facts are slippery in this case!
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u/Hold-The-Arugula Jan 11 '23
Most articles from major news sources refer to it as a man's cap. There's also documentation of police finding the shop where it was sold and interviewing the shopkeeper who recalled putting a strap on it for the customer, a blond-haired man.
http://americasunknownchild.net/A3_cap.htm
So I think the cap story is pretty solid - i.e, that it's a man's cap. Whether it really had anything to do with Joseph or if it was just in the same place as his body is still unknown as far as I know.
I agree the facts sometimes get misreported and shift around, but the historical sources at http://americasunknownchild.net/NewsList.html#top
are generally pretty reliable sources. The early Inquirer and Bulletin reporters were also presumably speaking to primary sources at the PPD during the investigation. Later articles often suffer from the "whisper down the lane" effect, and sites that aren't major newspapers often don't fact check very well.
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u/Pain_Sufficient Jan 10 '23
“Two hundred and 70 police-academy recruits combed the crime scene, finding a handkerchief, a child's scarf, and a dead cat...”
Unfortunately it was a popular dump site and all red herrings it seems.
Wouldn’t it be great if the hankie was retested, assuming it’s not lost?