“Sketches of Fishtown” artist suffers massive burglary; artwork gone; community rallies
Jeff Kilpatrick, the gentle giant who creates Sketches of Fishtown, is all heart. Everyone who knows him knows that. But the thieves who broke into Jeff’s 2nd floor apartment in Fishtown, taking Jeff ’s most precious mementos, his life’s work on acomputer, the food in his frig — well, they had no heart at all.
And we in the community are heartbroken.
The Day It Happened….
It was Monday, July 30, and Kilpatrick was at work. When he’s not inking the infamous “Sketches of Fishtown” for the Spirit newspaper, Kilpatrick, founder of the Philadelphia Cartoonist Society, teaches at Northeast Catholic High School for Boys (his alma mater) and is also Assistant Director of Development. He received a call from his neighbor telling him his doorknob looked like it had been messed with. By the time work was over, Jeff had gotten calls from all his neighbors, telling him he was burglarized.
Kilpatrick has replayed that day in his head over and over.
He recalls seeing guys hanging out on the corner, looking suspicious, and now believes they were casing his place out, seeing him leave and waiting until then to enter.
And when they left, they took a massive chunk of Jeff’s life. They hadn’t only stolen from Jeff Kilpatrick, it turned out, but from the community as well.
The thieves swiped Jeff’s computer, scanner and printer. They were clearly after electronic gadgets and machines to sell—but the real gold was inside the computer. On the hard drive, Jeff had over 3,000 sketches, scanned and saved.
You’re thinking, He should have backed them up. He had! Jeff’s an industrious, go-by-the-rules guy. He had backed up all that hard work on disks. But the thieves took those also. In fact, they took every disk he had, and hundreds of his books as well.
The thieves even had the balls to empty Kilpatrick’s freezer. They took all his food and even lifted two of his signature “Jeff hats” off his wall.
A life messed with..
If you know Kilpatrick you know he always wears his jeff hats-it’s his calling card. Kojack had lollipops, Kilpatrick has his jeff caps.
But the most heart wrenching pillage done was a box filled with mementos that Kilpatrick kept above his desk. It was filled with precious memories of his late mother.
Kilpatrick’s mom fought a long, tough battle with lung disease. She died a few years ago. The first issue of his comic book “Greetings from Fishtown” is an autobiographical tale of how Kilpatrick dealt with losing his mother.
He wrote and drew in that book what it was like to see the person he loved more than anyone else, pass away. He took snapshots of his mother, capturing her at various stages and even of her fighting her illness. Because she was hooked up to breathing machines and tubes, Kilpatrick took snapshots of all the equipment so he wouldn’t forget what it looked like when he created his sketches.
The thieves took all that, too.
A life to be proud of...
Jeff’s mother would be so proud of him, of his accomplishments and of the kind of man he’s grown to be. A simple, direct and kind man, who plies his unusual talents with humbleness and generosity. A man who would lend a hand to someone in need. (He does this on a regular basis.)
Evidence of a life...
When we were trying to coordinate a time to talk with Jeff about this crime, we waited for him to finish teaching a class for a sick friend. (Jeff was taking over his class until he was back on his feet.) He is about to begin a free Cartoon Camp this weekend at Shissler Recreation Center for the community youth. When the Spirit began its journey of serving the community, it was Jeff who came to us to see how he could contribute.
A kick in the groin. That’s how Kilpatrick felt when he got home. That whole week he got maybe six hours of sleep, he figures, because he was waiting for the thieves to come back. Like a light switch, his anger and frustration flipped off and on.
“These junkies are hitting places left and right, they stand on the corner and scope out our homes,” Jeff said in his postrobbery anguish. “We go to work and they rob us.”
This is what it sounds like when a gentle giant is hurt.
“It’s like shooting fish in a barrel for them,” he said. “They are human vermin. If you see guys on the corner, looking suspicious, call the cops because they are probably going to rob your house and take whatever will get them their next high.”
You can’t hurt anyone by being curious, said Jeff. “Call the cops. Protect yourself and your neighbors. Call 9-1-1 for that protection when you see something suspicious.”
Dirty laundry
The thieves were pretty clever. They stuffed everything they stole from Jeff Kilpatrick into his green clothes hamper and a few black trash bags. So when they left his apartment and walked down Susquehanna Avenue between Thompson and Moyer Streets, it looked like just two guys going to do their laundry.
They were clever, but only for that greedy minute. They didn’t rob Kilpatrick to get their hand on his phenomenal artwork. Hell, they probably don’t even know what’s in that computer . All they want is quick hard cash. They don’t care about 3,000 sketches of Fishtown. The amazing sketch of Debbie Szumowski, the fantastic likeness of Freddy Adams, the clean lines Jeff labored over to convey his love for his community and really, for humanity.
A big piece of Fishtown was taken the day his home was broken into. Remember his comic strip, “Fresh Pretzels” about the orphan kid Nicky selling fresh hot pretzels on the streets of Fishtown? Gone forever.
“Sketches of Fishtown” drew attention from outside that neighborhood, too. Someone who subscribes to The Spirit, several states away, wrote a letter a while ago, to observe that the “Sketches” were amazing--history and art and compassion rolled into one.
It blows your mind, that they are gone.
All eyes!
Did you see anything? Witnesses have come forward to say they saw two males at around the time of the robbery loading the basket and bags into a white cargo van with tinted windows and a tinted license
plate holder and a rack for a ladder . If you saw something or know something, please step forward.
A groundswell effort
There has been an outpouring of outrage and compassion from the community. Friends of Kilpatrick (there are so many) have come forward. Many offered money to Jeff to replace his equipment. Many volunteered to coordinate a fundraiser to finance his new equipment.
But Jeff immediately halted those efforts. He was touched for sure. But he reasoned that he can always get a new computer. He compassionately remembered that many others have suffered robberies. It was his sketches...his artwork....his mom’s memento box...
Jeff figured there simply wasn’t any way to replace the really lost and truly valuable items.
Well, there is one way!
The Spirit has offered a generous reward (members of the community stopped by to add to that reward) to anyone who comes forward with thestolen equipment. See the diagram and description of the equipment pictured on page one.
Perhaps you are the one who purchased this equipment, not knowing that it was stolen. You may have bought it for a good price, unaware of its contents. You can come forward with the equipment, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. You can take the reward money and go and purchase newcomputer equipment. You have our promise that your identity will remain anonymous.
If any pawn shop in the area had someone come in to trade the equipment for cash, please call our office. We’ll buy it back from you.
The worst case scenario being that the equipment is not returned, then the reward money will be given to anyone who comes forward with information that leads to the thieves’ identity
It is our hope, though, that whoever has this equipment will step forward. Come by the Spirit with the equipment. Or you may call Maryanne at The Spirit (215)423-6246 and make arrangements to have it picked up. The Spirit does not have caller ID so your identity can remain anonymous.
Together, as a community, we can clean this dirty laundry.•
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