San Francisco Chronicle

August 23, 1943. This article is reprinted below. You can also view a scanned image of the actual article by clicking here.


Death Strikes During Sunday Services

PRIVATE IS SHOT JUST AFTER HE HAD KISSED A PAINTING OF THE MADONNA - THE KILLER SURRENDERS

It was a calm Sabbath morning, and the life if the city was at the week's ebb tide of prayer.

In the Church of the Annunciation the devout of the Greek colony in the mission were gathered at worship - the old folks, the young, the boys in uniform on leave from duties of war.

Father Lokis had just finished the sermon and stepped down from the pulpit. The mahogany panel had been drawn across the altar recessed in its ornate chapel. And in the stillness of the church Father Lokis was raising his voice to plead for castoff garments for Greek war relief.

And then death struck in this thronged house of worship, death in its ugliest form - murder.

A pistol shot interrupted Father Lokis' plea.

Father Lokis' startled eyes looked down the long aisle before him and beheld a soldier slump to the floor of the promos, the vestibule beyond the glass doors at the entrance.

A slayer's bullet had struck down Provate Eddie Dafnos on the way to worship. He had just kissed the painting of the Madonna and was in the act of lighting a votive candle, prepatory to entering the church proper, when death came.

Peter Raftopoulos, gun still smoking in his hand, ran down the stairs and out the church. He ran across the street - the crime happened at the Greek Orthodox Church at 245 Valencia - jumped into his car and in his hurry to escape banged the fender of another car.

Down through the midday traffic, down Mission and over Third Street to Kearny the slayer sped. At Clay street, in the shadow of the Hall of Justice, he drove over the curb, stopped, climbed out and halted Officer Harry Gurtler.

"I just killed a man," Raftopoulos cried.

"You just killed a man?" replied the startled policeman. "Where?"

"Out on Valencia Street."

"Where on Valencia Street?"

"In the Greek Church."

Raftopoulos was taken to Central Station in the nearby hall, where police said he confessed to the slaying.

"I killed him," Raftopoulos was quoted. "I killed him because he broke up my home. They told me that he was going to get me, too. So I took no chances. I got him first."

Later, when informed that the victim had died, Raftopoulos, who had shown no remorse for his act, bowed his head and said: "God bless him."

From Raftopoulos and other witnesses, including Corporal Diogenes Y. Franco of the Army Air Corps and Sailor Steve Paradis, who had accompanied Private Dafnos to church, police obtained this story of the murder:

Dafnos, known in the Army as Private Dafne, had gone to church with his friends, Corporal Franco and Sailor Paradis. They went up the stairs, obtained votive candles, kissed the Madonna, and lit candles.

Then they started into the church. Just at that moment Raftopoulos emerged, swinging the doors wide. Dafnos and his friends jumped back. Raftopoulos seemed startled at seeing Dafnos.

Without a word, he drew the pistol, aimed at Dafnos' head and fired once. The bullet struck Dafnos in the forehead. He slumped unconscious and died beneath the Madonna.

Franco and Paradis started towards the slayer. He pointed the gun at them, cried: "Keep away!" then dashed down the stairs. Franco and Paradis followed him, pursued him in their car as far as Third and Market, where they were halted by a change in traffic signals.

A prelude to the murder occurred last March 12, when Raftopoulos, 52, operator of a tavern at 92 The Embarcadero, went gunning for the 27-year-old Dafnos. He chased the younger man up an alley near Fifteenth and Valencia, firing three shots that missed. He was arrested at the time, but the charge of assault to commit murder was dismissed because Dafnos refused to prosecute.

In his signed statement to police, admitting the crime, Raftopoulos said that he threw away the gun used in that other episode.

"This gun I used this morning," he declared, "was an old .44 caliber that I bought in Sacramento 35 years ago. I went to church about 10 o'clock and was leaving when Dafnos came in. I was not expecting him. I was surprised to see him jump away from the door. I was carrying the gun because some friends told me he was out to get me."

Raftopoulos's wife, Mary Raftos, 30, according to police, has sued for divorce. They have one daughter, Bessie, who is 12 today.

Private Dafnos was taken by ambulance from the church to Letterman General Hospital in the Presidio, where he was dead on arrival.

Before he went into the army five months ago, Dafnos was vice president of the San Francisco Funeral Parlor, which is located at 235 Valencia, next door to the church where the former owner met his death.

Dafnos, who was on leave from Kentucky, lived at 3221 Sixteenth street. Raftopoulos told police he lived at 34 Turk street, his wife at 2042 Scott.

After the shot rang out through the church, startled members of the congregation jumped to their feet. But there was no panic, no outbursts of hysteria, no rush for the doors, no outcries.

Father Lokis stepped aside. And then his assistant priests took up the service. And the choir sang.

Then, minutes later, the fatally wounded soldier was carried from the church, the religious service came to an end.

Only then did the emotional impact of the tragedy strike home to worshippers. They walked quietly from the church. As they sidestepped the spot beneath the Madonna and the flickering votive candles, they crossed themselves.

Outside they gathered in knots. And the old folk and the young wept.

A touch of irony was this. Some time later, when the worshippers had dispersed, an old man bent over a galvanized washtub in the vestibule downstairs. He was filling small pokes with Greek candy, and stuffing them in his pockets. He glanced up and replied to a query:

"This is an offering. Somebody died. Maybe, nine, ten days ago. But nobody wants it. Somebody was shot up in the church. Everybody feels upside down."

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