This is a story of the timeline leading up to Harpo's untimely death on December 26, 1972.
By Deadeye, Reinberg GL
Events leading up to Harpo's death
Two to three weeks before Harpo got killed was the first meeting with the punks that killed him.
We were at North & Lamon, at the Burger King. Four of us went up there looking for Woody, and the guys that he was starting the new section with. We didn't see Woody, or anybody else that we knew, but the punks were there!
We went into the Burger King to get something to eat. The place was crowded; none of the booths were open, so we had to sit on the round stools that ran along the front window counter. The older guys will remember this set up as they were eliminated over the years. Wop was with me, and two guys that he knew from Lennies, and maybe Bonehead. It was four or five guys thirty-five years ago. Some things you remember, others you forget.
I was a senior in high school, had a steady, part time job, and I was an Almighty Gaylord! Indestructible, top of the world, nobody could touch me. It was cold early that year, kind of like now. Army parkas were in, and I was wearing one over my sweater: my sweater, my Gaylord sweater, the sweater that had a history all of its own. It was a one of a kind, unlike anyone else's. I bought it from Lil Mike. He sold it to me because now that he was out of high school, and out of the house, working full time sweating rent, he said he wasn't going to be able to be an active participant in the club. He had got the sweater from the Palmer Gaylords who had burned it off a Pope. Yes, it started life as a Pope sweater! He took the sweater to Pops at the Chicago knitting Mills and had them put the three bands on the left arm. It was now A Gaylord sweater with both shoulder bands and the three traditional arm bands..........
I first noticed someone standing behind me in the reflection of the window. I had opened my parka when we sat down to eat but had not taken it off because we were right near the front door, and it was cold. He said, "What kind of sweater is that?" I turned to face him, taking in his size and demeanor, and felt no fear. He was just a little punk. I stood and opened my parka, letting it slide off my shoulders, so he could see my G/L patch, and bands. "It’s a Gaylord sweater, a Reinberg school Gaylord sweater!" He looked long and hard at it, and said "what’s with the shoulder bands?" I explained to him the history of the sweater. He looked confused then said "Yeah!! We are friends with the Popes!", as he pointed to his friends sitting in a booth. I said, "Well who the f_ck are you!"
He said, "We are the K-Town Lords!!..................."
The next thing out of his mouth was truly laughable, or so I thought at the time. "Give me your sweater!" I thought he was kidding. I laughed, and sat back down to finish eating. He didn't leave but just stood there in the aisle behind me. I was watching him in the reflection of the glass in front of me. He seemed perplexed. He didn't know what to do next. The other guys with me didn't hear the whole conversation so they didn't know what was going on either. I spun around in my chair, not even getting up, and told him, "Why don't you go back and sit down with your little friends before you get yourself in trouble!" I said this loud enough so that the guys with me heard it, and all turned to look at him. It was also said loud enough that the people he was with heard me. He looked at me, then at his friends who were not moving. Then he walked back to his booth and sat down. By then we had finished eating and started to leave. Wop asked me, as we walked out to the car, "What was that all about?" I told him, as I laughed, that he wanted me to give him my sweater, and that it would take a lot more then him and his friends to get this sweater.............
We got in the car, me in the back seat passenger side. The driver Fred B. backed out into exit lane. Looking backward, he said, "Hey, here comes your buddy!" I looked, and sure enough, the clown had followed us out. He came up to my window so I rolled it down, "What the f_ck do you want?" I said! He said, "I told you to give me your sweater!" His friends were still inside the Burger King. He had come out alone to confront us so I figured he was just f_cking around. So did everybody else in the car as we all laughed. At that point he did the unexpected. He reared back and punched me in the face through the open car window; Right in the nose. I saw stars! I hate getting punched in the nose as my nose had been broken twice before in the past. "This f_cker is going to pay for that!" I said as I exited the car!!.........
As I exited the car I was still seeing stars! I was also seeing red! I wanted that f_cker in the worse way. I ran at him, and he ran away. Running around cars making me chase him. I was getting angrier so I pulled out the knife that I always carried with me and ran after him. He saw the knife and ran to go back inside, but the manager had seen what was going on and locked the doors, His friends were inside, and he was locked out. I had him!!! I turned back to see where the rest of my crew were. Wop was out of the car, but he wasn't coming over to help, and the two guys from Lane/Lennies didn't even get out of the car. It was him and me! As I ran toward him he grabbed a garbage can lid and held it up like shield. I slashed at him, and he blocked the knife. With my free hand I tried to rip the shield from his hands, but he held on. I kept pushing him back towards the front of the Burger King slashing, kicking and pushing. My plan was to get him to the front window and trip him up in the bushes or knock him through the plate glass window. This seemed to last forever! The back and forth, the rage, the anger, I felt nothing else. In my fog I could hear someone from behind me yelling my name. It was Wop! I slowly was coming out of the fog! He was yelling, "The Cops are coming. Don't you hear the sirens?" I was totally out of the fog and heard the sound. I looked at the windows of the restaurant, and everyone in there was watching this whole thing unfold. I gave the punk a big push and knocked him down and decided to get out of there. As I walked away, he said, "you’re dead motherf_cker! I'm going to get you!" I turned and said, "F_ck You!" as I got in the car, and we got out of there............
We flew out of the parking lot and started driving down side streets. Zig zagging to make sure we were not going to be caught by the cops. I was fuming!! First of all, I didn't get the f_cker: and, secondly, because nobody backed me up. I started yelling at all of them telling them what pussies they were for not backing me up. They all had excuses as to why they didn't help. But, I wasn't buying any of them, and I told them just to get us back to the neighborhood. When we got back, I had them drop me off so I could find somebody with more balls to go back and look for these guys. Wop was ready to go back with me, but the other guys wanted no part of it and were anxious to leave. I told them not to come around anymore as I didn't consider them Gaylords, and they should stay the f_ck out of my neighborhood. These guys were from a different section and only recently started coming around and hanging at Manor Bowl, whose members we guys from Reinberg didn't think too highly of anyway.
After hitting all the usual hanging places around Belmont & Central, McDonalds,the two bowling alleys, Burger King, the park, and the school yard we didn't find anybody. So, we decided to call it a night and head home..............
The next day was back to school: me to Foreman, Wop to Lane. The word went out. Who are the K-Town Lords? No one knew. Never heard of them. Other guys expanded the search: St Pats, Steinmetz, Schurz, Gordon, and other schools that were attended by guys from Reinberg. Other branches were asked: Kilbourn, and Palmer, other clubs: Jousters, C-Notes, Playboys and even the Popes. No one had ever heard of them. Must have just been a chance meeting with a bunch of no-name punks. After a few days, things returned to normal. Plans were being made with friends for holiday get together over the Christmas break. The punks were all but forgotten.........................
The next weekend a friend of mine was having a party for his eighteenth birthday. He wasn't a Gaylord, but he knew all of us. He asked me to come to the party because I had known him since freshman year, and we were friends. He also asked me not to bring everyone with me because he had a lot of people already coming, and there was not enough room. Also, his dad was a Chicago Cop and frowned upon my exploits even though he saved my ass a couple of times. The only one I brought to the party was Milton because, at the time, we were dating sisters. We couldn't pick up the girls at there house because their stepfather also did not like us. Well, before the girls left the house, they got into it with their parents and left without permission. They decided to run away from home. They came to the party and met us and told us what happened. Some people were staying overnight at the party so we decided we would all stay there. About half way through the party my friend’s mother called me upstairs to get a phone call. It was my mother saying that the girl’s mother had called her and that if I knew where they were I better call her, or she was going to call the police...........
I called the girls mother and made up a story that I had not seen her, but I thought some friend of hers was having a party and she might be there. She questioned me further but didn't get anymore info. The last thing she said was she was going to call the police; and if I knew where her daughters were, I better tell them to get home. We had left the party to make the call at a phone booth; and, as we were walking back to the party, a station wagon full of guys drove by and shouted some thing. We hurried back to the party because it was cold out, and we didn't know if the police were looking for us, or if the car load would come by again. The party was a blast and we stayed there all night, waking the next morning around 9:00. ................................
We walked to McDonalds at Central and Barry for breakfast. We ordered and hung around for a while waiting to see if anyone was around. We also tried to figure out he girl’s problem with returning home. No one showed up, and they didn't want to go home so we decided to check out our other hangouts for signs of life. The next stop was Manor Bowl which is about half a block north of McDonalds. My stepfather was on a league at Manor, and I had been bowling there since I was around seven or eight so everybody that worked there knew me. As soon as we walked in, the guy behind the desk, Danny, said "you were a popular guy last night!" "What do you mean?”I asked! He went on to explain that first some guys that he had never seen before came in there and were asking around about the Gaylords - and me specifically by name. He described them, and I didn't really seem to know who it was. Then he dropped the bombshell, and said the police were there looking for me later in the evening. We got out of there and headed to Milton’s house to figure the whole thing out!..........
We decided the girls had to go home and concocted a story for them. They had to tell their mother they were at a girlfriend’s house and had not seen us. This was because the guy at the bowling alley had told me the cops were looking for me for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and statutory rape because the girl was under sixteen by a month. We got them out of there and headed them home and headed out to the neighborhood to see if we could find anybody and find out who the guys were that were looking for the Gaylords and asking about me by my nickname........
From the description the guy at the bowling alley gave me about the guys that were looking for me, we determined it was the same ones that I had the altercation with at B.K. Again, the word went out "who are the K-Town Lords?" And, again no one knew. Monday was back to school for the last few days before Christmas break, and things settled back into the normal routine.
I met Milton that evening. We headed out for the night. Rican was having a family party at his house so he couldn't get out. He said we should stop by. We met up with Lil Mike and Monster on the way and all headed over there. Monster had a couple of beers and a half bottle of M.D 20/20 that we drank on the way there. When we got there the party was in full swing. There were a bunch of Rican’s relatives there, and we were usher through to the kitchen. We hung out for a couple of hours joking around, being glad to be out of the cold. We tried to sneak a few beers or drinks from the party but didn't have much luck so the four of us headed out leaving Rican behind.
