My High School Principle and Echoes In The Darkness

      My principle was a very unusual guy and so were many of the teachers at Upper Merion. Allegedly there was a lot of intrigue going on between the teachers, and between some of the teachers and female students.

      Many of the conniving amongst the teaching facility at Upper Merion would eventually cause the largest and longest criminal investigation in United States. This is yet another example of life being more amazing than fiction.

      The story was so bizarre that Joseph Wambaugh wrote a book about it called, “Echoes in the Darkness.” Since the conclusion of the investigation and the prison sentence that were served and then recanted, I have decided to change the names of the faculty that was portrayed in the book and the made for TV movie.

      My principle was eventually exonerated after serving seven years on death row for the murder of the English teacher and her two children, because my former principal’s lawyer Mr. William Costopoulos was able to present a case for prosecutorial misconduct.

      He alleges that the prosecution withheld evidence, that several of the witnesses that testified against Dr. J perjured themselves and that the original Judge wrongly went with hearsay testimony. My former principal’s lawyer also claimed that the police planted evidence to help make their case.

      The point of reiterating this story and the point of this entire book is not to titillate with past and present gossip but the search for truth and liberation from the normal social conditions that enslave most human beings.

      Although Joseph Wambaugh’s book is well written, many people say that he tries to present a balanced of information. In my opinion I think that is correct.

      His book has nothing to do with any of the alleged prosecutorial misconduct. In the interest of fairness and to better understand the legal and moral mechanisms as to why Dr. J was exonerated, I would then recommend two more books that will add more sides to the case. There is the book “Engaged to Murder” by Schwartz-Nobel and “Principal Suspect” by William Costopoulos, Dr. J’s attorney.

A lot of people complain of Mr. Costopoulos’s writing style, but most of these people felt that it was worth the read to tie in all of the pieces. Most people felt that all of these books should be read in the order listed above. 

      The first book was made into a movie depicting the unusual chain of events. The handsome character actor Robert Loggia played Principle Dr. J. In addition to being the principle, Dr. J was also a Colonel in the Army Reserves. He was a very intelligent man who had a mind that retained ninety-eight percent of whatever he read. He would often delight or make nervous many students by greeting them by their names, without ever having any previous interaction with the students.

      One of his hobbies was the memorization of archaic polysyllabic words, the longer or more archaic the better. It was said that he was arrogant and that he detested many of the teachers and he liked to torment them by lacing the conversations or instructions with these obscure words. At times the frustrated teachers would have to eat crow and admit that they did not understand some of the words that he was using.

      For instance, on one occasion Mr. Brad Field who was a union representative went to Dr. J to discuss a bad evaluation of a teacher named Renny.

      Mr. Brad Field stated to Dr. J, “Renny thinks you’re your last evaluation of her… did seem… a bit…huh… unfair.”

      Dr. J said, “I find that to be a bit parafrastic, don’t you?”

Mr. Brad Field was knocked off balance by the word he never heard before, yet he did not want to let on his ignorance.

      Mr. Brad Field said, “Well yes, perhaps.”

      Dr. J went on talking and he said, “May I suggest that when next see Renny you might suggest that she accept an unsatisfactory notice in a more randsmicrofouldian fashion…. do you agree?” 

      Mr. Brad Field was certainly reeling from that word and he said, “Huh…I must confess to…huh…not knowing …huh…rands…ah... rands….”

      Dr. J would gruffly say, “I am not employed to teach the vocabulary to the English facility”

The poor teachers would frantically rush off in search of a dictionary.

      Once Dr. J’s secretary told Brad Field that Dr. J delighted in tormenting the teachers and often made up the words. The teachers still wanted a dictionary to be on top of things.

      Dr. J use to laugh to his secretary saying “That will keep those pseudo-intellectuals busy for awhile.”

He also loved to eavesdrop on the teachers listening to them trying to guess what some of those made up words meant.

      Mr. Brad Field tried to get a bit of revenge at Dr. J’s expense by playing his own game against him. For example, later, Dr. J went to Mr. Brad Field to screw with him, to needle him a bit. He had a habit of sneaking up on the teachers and stand behind them for minutes before they would realize he was there.

      Dr. J went to Mr. Brad Field and he said, “I hope I did not discourage you regarding Renny’s evaluation.” “I don’t mind a spirited disagreement from the faculty.”

      Mr. Brad Field stammered and said, “No, as a teacher’s rep… I will try to be huh… Dr. J cuts in and says in an arrogant and silky voice, “A worthy adversary… I’m sure.”

      Mr. Brad Field continues and says, “Yes!” “And in the future, I will try to be less… circumlocutory.” 

Mr. Fields choice of words gets a sinister chuckle from Dr. J.

      It has been alleged in the book, the movie, and by many people I went to school with that Dr. J brought his trash to school to throw it away in the school dumpsters. I heard a few people say that the janitors late at night would hear “Echoes in the Darkness” hence the name of the book and movie and then they would see our illustrious principle walking the halls in only his underwear, also alleged by the movie and the book. His daughter and her husband were allegedly addicted to heroin and many other drugs.

      She had also been arrested for prostitution. At the time Dr. J’s poor wife was in the hospital for cancer. All of the above has been alleged by the movie, the book and by many of my schoolmates.

      Dr. J loved to get on the PA intercom system whenever it amused him, which was often. He was often so odd, unpredictable and irreverent that most of the kids loved his special brand of fireside chats.

It was rumored that he had been caught in nothing but his underwear sitting at his desk in the privacy of his office while doing those fireside chats.

      For example, once he got on the horn and said, “This is your principal speaking.” “There will be a new regulation for gym clothing.” “You may wear yellow bottoms with blue tops, or blue bottoms with yellow tops.”

      “I trust this will please facility authoritarians and not displease libertarians.”

“However, I have one caveat’… in the winter it shall be the civic duty of each and every student to be encased in warm underwear.”

I heard many of these fireside chats myself.

      Many of his eccentricities were well known, but the deep and dark side of him did not come out until he had been charged with the theft of $35,000.00 from the Sears and Roebuck building on the main line by his impersonation as an armor car driver. Dr. J would have gotten away with that crime except that he had the need to live a James Bond or “It takes a Thief” kind of life. A few months after the impersonation he was spotted by some people at a strip mall getting out of his car, pulling a black hood over his head and bearing two firearms, and then allegedly going though someone’s van. The people called the police and gave them a description of Dr. J and his car. He was driving from the scene of the crime and police pulled him over because allegedly Dr. J had been driving a little recklessly and the car matched the description that was called in. Supposedly when the police pulled him over Dr. Smith got out of the car and the one officer asked for his ID. Allegedly Dr. J went for a gun and the officer on the other side of the car and drew his sidearm, ordering Dr. J to drop the weapon.

      Whether he did or didn’t try to go for a weapon, it was alleged that the police did find that he had four handguns in the car, gloves, tape, plastic-bags, a homemade silencer made from an oil filter, and a syringe with a strong drug to knock out a victim within one minute. It was alleged that when asked about the articles, Smith stated that his son-in-law borrowed the car earlier in the day.

      Later after arresting him, the police got a warrant to search his house, (Which was a mile up the road from our house). He had a basement apartment where he allegedly tested his weapons and the silencers by shooting rounds into the wall of the basement. It is alleged that one of the police said he had more silencers than the CIA.

      It was alleged that the police found gallons of nitric acid from the Upper Merion Chemistry department. It was alleged that the police found shackles and chains. It was alleged that they found several more weapons and allegedly tools of entry. It was alleged that the police found lots of different types of drugs in his filing cabinets.

      It was alleged that they also found many books and tapes on sado-masochistic sexual behavior, books on bestiality, and many other books on deviant behavior. Dr. J claims that he had all of that material for research purposes.

      A few years previous to the arrest, one of the teachers labeled Dr. J the Prince of darkness. Some of the female teachers said that Dr. J gave them the creeps, and that a look from him was like an obscene phone call.

It was said that he had eyes like a goat. All of this also alleged in the book, the movie, and from people I talked to.

      By many people’s standards he was not an attractive man. He was severely balding, had a large bulbous nose, a receding chin that folded into two or three chins, large rubbery looking lips. His eyes were unusual.  Sometimes I thought they were dead looking eyes, eyes that seem to undress your soul. I have heard it alleged that he like to stand behind women and talk dirty in tones just above their perception levels. He allegedly liked to say things that pushed the envelope of proper social convention. The movie and the book also intimate’s much of this. I often wondered; if Dr. J would have been better received by his peers, if he looked or operated like Brad Field or Robert Loggia.

      Many of the football players use to mock him openly. Although most of the kids loved his unusual fireside chats, he often intimidated them.

I chatted with Dr. J on a few occasions, he always asked me how I was doing and how wrestling was coming along. He always seemed interested and was always polite to me and some of the guys I lifted weights with. We accorded him the same respect he gave us. He did make us feel uneasy, although we could not put a finger on why. 

      Perhaps it had to do with hearing rumors about his daughter being hooked on heroin, perhaps that she had been picked for prostitution. Perhaps it had to do with rumors that Dr. J’s daughter’s mother-in-law said that her son recounted a story that both he and Dr. Smith’s daughter broke into his basement apartment and when he caught the both of them he went into a rage and swore that if he ever caught them in the basement again, that he would kill them and chop up their bodies and dispose of them so that they would never be found. Who knows?

      Later on during the investigation Dr. J’s daughter and son-in-law could not be found, they seemed to have disappeared. They left behind all of their possessions, even their welfare checks.

      Also later, many people speculated that the trash Dr. J threw in the dumpsters at school were the body parts of his daughter and son-in-law. Who knows? To the best of my knowledge they have never turned up to this day. 

      Nevertheless, I feel compelled to wonder if all of the rumors and allegations mentioned in the movie, books, and by people is correct. How many of these allegations are true, false, or exaggerated?

      To what level were all of these allegations the product of irresponsible gossip, and in the final analysis did idle gossip cause an unjust conviction of a man who was only guilty of other unrelated crimes and for the root of it for simply being odd?

      The other characters of this tragedy as sad as they are fall into a different category, and as twisted as the story and the people are does deserve attention,

(At least in my mind, since it is my book and my soul purging).

      The actor Peter Coyote played Brad Field. Brad Field was a man his forties and very visible and physically robust character. He was a big barrel-chested boisterous man, with a deep voice.

      Most people thought he was very charismatic, especially the female faculty and the many of the kids in the student body. A lot of the single or divorced lonely women in the community were abuzz with excitement over him and the fact that he was still unmarried.

      He was a very touchy guy and he was always giving friendly or familial hugs and kisses to the students and to his colleagues. Later, it was said from some of his older male associates that they thought Brad Field was a blow hard, who made it his business to know just enough on many subjects to appear as if he was smarter and more educated than he was.

      One teacher was heard to say, “If you question Brad Field beyond the first paragraph of any subject he claims to be an expert on you’ll find no substance, nothing!”

Even though I never had Mr. Brad Field as a teacher, He seemed to know me by name and ask me about how my life was going, particularly my lifting or wrestling endeavors. I must admit that I was taken with him the two times I interacted with him. It goes to show you, that you can only judge a tree by the fruit it produces over time.

      Eventually, Brad Field was implicated with having a relationship with a teacher I will call Renny, played by Stockard Channing, while living with his girlfriend of many years, who I will call May played by Cindy Pickett. It is alleged that Mr. Brad Field bilked Renny out of $25,000.00 on a bogus investment scam.

This came to light after they found her nude, beaten and dead, in the back of her open hatchback vehicle in Harrisburg, PA, the same city, the day that the principle was suppose to be sentence for the Sears and Roebuck robbery.

      Suspicion of her murder fell on Mr. Brad Field when it came to light that she had named him the sole beneficiary of a several life insurance policies she took out on herself in the event of an untimely death. The insurance policies were in the $1,000,000.00 range. Brad Field was caught in many lies and involved in many unethical relationships.

      During his years at Upper Merion, he was the president of the teachers association, which often put him in conflict with the Dr. J. There were rumors that he had dalliances with a number of the female students and over the years at Upper Merion, dalliances with some of the female teachers, even while he was living with his girlfriend. It turns out that he worked hard at manipulating everyone around him, and was pathological liar. Evidently Brad Field needed and fed off the adulation of people around him.

      He was addicted to the applause of others because it filled a pit of hunger that was never satiated. I thought it is sad that he is like so many people.

      Many law-abiding people are crippled because of their addiction to the applause and the adulation of others and the need for this fix causes many of them to spend an inordinate amount of energy and needless thought on trying to influence and even manipulate other people’s perception of them.

      Each one of the people in this story, the manipulators and the victims alike had a need to attend to their fixes in an attempt to satiate and fill the pit of their hunger. I hope this is a lesson we all can learn from.

      Over the years, I often like to say, in a half way joking manner of course, that it was the fault of Dr. J and the administrators that I failed school. It was their fault that I did not get the education I should have gotten, for my delinquent lifestyle. This is true to a degree but in actuality my troubles are the result of my many pits of hunger and the many sorry attempts I have made in my life to satiate my needs.