BACKSTORY
The City of Philadelphia has an unsettling if not eerie past. During the mid 1950's the City Council dug up 28,000 graves from a cemetery dedicated to George Washington & General Lafayette before burying them in a mass grave. The skeletal remains of Monument Cemetery were relocated at the behest of Temple University in the name of "progress" to make room for a playing field and the George Washington Carver Public School. The shattered pieces of discarded tombstones became "rip-rap" for the foundation of the Betsy Ross Bridge. What became of the huge obelisk, dedication medallions, and the ornate stone sculptures is a mystery. Meanwhile, the City was contemplating their strategy to desegregate Girard College. City Council Member Raymond Pace Alexander played an important role in both of these two simultaneous events. The cemetery was demolished and the Girard College case was all but settled by 1957. This was not to be. The litigation continued into the 1960s and the school finally desegregated in 1968 but not before the Lafayette building on the Girard College campus was torn down in 1960, the 1964 Colombia Avenue riots, Martin Luther King's 1965 speech in front of Girard College, and the 1965 protests at the front gate of Girard College organized by Cecil B. Moore.
THE CRIME
A Girard College senior was walking on South College Avenue with a male friend, two women, and a child on April 20th 1969 on their way to a neighborhood church for a christening when they were attacked by a Negro street gang. The two males were beaten with sticks and John Daubaras Jr. fell to the ground. He was then shot in the back by James Taylor as he tried to get up. Three men were charged; James "Bread" Taylor, Charles "Pop" Johnson, and Elliott "Monster" Washington. The other gang members were set free. The newspapers reported that it was a "random" act of violence. Taylor said it was retribution for a stabbing of another gang member earlier that day at 22nd & Arch street. There were many unanswered questions after the reporting by the media was finished. The Philadelphia Phillies & the Pittsburgh Pirates played each other at Connie Mack Stadium on the same afternoon of the crime. The game concluded at 3:47 p.m, approximately one hour before it occurred. The team rosters of the Pirates and Phillies had two players with the last name Taylor and Johnson. This is just one of the many coincidences I discovered during my research.
RIP-RAP is my investigation into the events of April 20th, 1969. I present a unique perspective into the tragic events of the day and the result is a compelling list of coincidences too numerous to ignore, but this is only half the story. The desegregation of Girard College meant big changes for the administration of Stephen Girard's 90 million dollar estate. The funds were depleted and the disregarded last will & testament of the founder of Girard College became a footnote in legal history. Was the desegregation of Girard College really about getting control of this vast fortune? This E- book is available now on the Amazon website through Kindle Self-Publishing.