Evening star., 1950-06-17
3BoY Suffocate
When Trapped
In Old Ice Box
Parents of Brothers
Witness Discovery
In Yord of Home

AoA SOoIILy were SuI1OCaCeQ yes
terday when they were impris-
oned accidentally in an aban-
doned ice box they were using az
a playpen.
They were Leon, 8; Wells, jr., 4
and Ronney Michael. 8, sons OF
Mr. and Mrs. Wells A. Proctor
colored, Of Fort Hunt road In
Tauxemont. south of Alexandria
The children, who remained at
home alone while their parents
worked. were discovered huddled
together in the food compartment
OF the icebox, lying on it's side in
the back yard. The door appar-
emily had fallen shut while they
were playing.
The space was less than eight
cubic feet.
They were found after county
police and neighbors had secured
the countryside for miles around
for almost three hours. How long
they had been imprisoned was un-
certain, but apparently it was al
most all day. @
Except for the actual deaths,
the tragedy paralleled the expe-
rience of two little Alexandria girls
last September. They were found
unconscious in an abandoned ice
box behind their homes and were
revived through artificial respi-
ration.
The girls, Margaret German, S,
and Cheryl Sumption. 4. both of
the 100 block of Taylor Run park
way, were discovered on the hunch
of a neighbor, who remembered
reading about a similar mishap a
few days before in California.
Mrs. Proctor, who works for the
Alexandria Laundry, had left
lunches for all three boys and had
checked with Leon by phone at
8 am. Every day since his two
brothers were left in Icons care
when he got out of school about
a week ago, his mother had in
structed him to call her at noon
to let her know if they were all
right.
BY 1890 pm. yesterday, there
had been no call, and Mrs. Proctor
notified her husband, who works
for the Army quartermaster's Of
flee in Washington, and county
police.
Police found no one at home.
With John Fitzhugh, 80, the chill
dren's uncle who lives next door,
they searched the yard. Mr.. Fitz-
hugh said he stood on the back
steps scarcely dozen feet from
the icebox and called their names.
There was no sound at all from
the icebox.
Hunt Boys in Taxi.
The uncle checked the home of
the children's grandmother, who
lives nearby, but she had not seen
them. Until Leon got out of
school. Wells, jr., and Ronney had
stayed with her. A fourth child
of the Proctors, Bonnie, four
months, Mrs. Proctor leaves with
friends in Alexandria during the
day.
Soon Mrs. Proctor arrived by
taxicab, and with Mr.. Fitzhugh
they drove around the area hunt
ing for traces of the three broth
ers. When they returned about
pm, Mr.. Proctor was in the
back yard.
Have you looked around and
under the house?" he called to
Mr.. Fitzhugh.
The uncle. who at that moment
was next to the icebox, said.
pointing to it:
Everywhere but here"
Finds All Dead.
Then he reached down and un-
hooked the latch. which opens
only from the outside. There were
the three boys, sitting in the tiny
cubicle with knees drawn up, their
heads bowed together in the
center. They were in plain view
Of Mr.. Proctor.
He rushed up and lifted the
limp bodies out. There were little
signs of their struggle to get out.
The two older boys had each taken
off one shoe. and Leon had re-
moved his cowboy belt.
"Hilda," Mr.. Proctor called
dazedly to his wife, who was just
approaching, they're all dead"
She screamed. While the Penn
Daw Rescue Squad carried the
children to Alexandria Hospital,
the county police car took both
parents to the same hospital for
shock treatment. The children
were pronounced dead by hos
pital staff doctor. Mrs. Proctor
was released later in the day, but
her husband remained overnight
for observation.
Mr.. Fitzhugh said the icebox,
the food compartment of which
is % by % by % inches, had been
out in the back yard for about two
weeks, after it was replaced with
an electric refrigerator.