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I found an old ex-library copy of a hardcover book that contained early articles from the Village Voice and it included one Shep wrote about the whole "I, Libertine" story.

At some point he urged his listeners to meet in some public NYC square and about 200-300 showed up milling about yelling "Excelsior" which in addition to being the fictional book publisher was one of Shep's on air tag lines relating to thsi entertaining "scam".
In the end a mess of NYC cops came and broke up the....well, no one was really sure what it really was other than some mostly college age Shep fans milling about yelling "Excelsior" after a few draft beers and some cheap wine at some local pubs. Shep did say a few words, but the cops told him to shut up and go away (which he did, hopping into a cab and leaving).
In early 60's terms it was a "happening"

The Voice book also had some other good columns by Shep...it used to be a fairly reasonable weekly, not the mostly socialist rag it has become. I used to enjoy listening to his radio shows through the mid 70's. I remember his having Ken Nordine on a lot, to his "word jazz".