Noses Out Tamwock in Classic Event on Barnegat Bay; Mary Ann, Inquirer Regatta Winner, Is Third by Levi Wilcox SEASIDE PARK, N.J., Aug. 9. Battling a stiff breeze from the southward The Spy, owned by Commodore Thatcher, of the Seaside Park Yacht Club, captured the historic Sewell Cup here today in one of the greatest races ever conducted on Barnegat Bay. So close and interesting was the race that The Spy only nosed out Tamwock, of the same club mate, by the scant margin of seventeen seconds. That was not all, however, for these two boats kept so close together during the entire course of thirteen miles that at no stage of the race was there more than half a minute separating the two boats. Although it was conceded that the famous Mary Ann, winner of the Sewell Cup race last year and which has done some tall winning this season over identically the same course, was the outstanding favorite prior to the race, all that the noted Island Heights entry could accomplish was third position. The breeze kept increasing from the southward throughout the entire race and on the second lap it was very doubtful if the boats could carry their large Marconi rigs to windward. All the boats had to lug sail and the three leaders proved not only that they had the speed, but that they were able to stand up under a stiff blow and face a heavy sea. So stiff was the breeze under which the yachtsmen battled that five of the smaller boats capsized and, of course, were out of the running in their respective races. The Bat, which was fourth in the Sewell Cup race, the feature event of the day, almost went over on the last leg. The Bat made quite a showing on the first leg of her journey, but when she started to poke her nose on the second round she couldn't stand the wind. In fact, she was almost overturned gibing around one of the buoys and one of the crew very nearly fell into the water. He managed to hold to the craft and regained his stance. This was a mighty close shave for the Bat, which sports the colors of the Toms River Yacht Club, for had he fallen overboard she would have been put out of the race. Big Crowd on Hand Never before in the history of this historic event has there been such unusual interest in the result. With ten of the most highly developed catboats in the world facing the starter, all of which are considered the acme of perfection insofar as craftsmanship and rigging are concerned, the Sewell Cup race brought together not only the great racing craft, but also the greatest crowd in the history of the race for the last twenty-five years, a crowd which witnessed every inch of the course with a fond hope of catching a glimpse of the various entries as they poked their noses into the home stretch. Excitement was intense when the Spy and Tamwock first came into view on the last leg of the race. The boats were not more than half a length apart on the last half mile. They kept together for several seconds before the expert maneuvering of the sheet tender on The Spy, together with the splendid judgement of Commodore Thatcher, who sailed the boat with remarkable skill, just about decided the issue. Mary Ann kept plugging along, but not once during the whole race did she look like repeating last year's triumph and also that of July 4, when this same boat won the Inquirer Regatta. Mary Ann was also handled remarkably well by Judge McKeehan, but she did not exhibit the same speed over the heavy going as she has done heretofore when the sailing has not been so rough as it was today. The Seaside Park Yacht Club entries conclusively proved that they are built and were properly handled for such heavy sailing. Tamwock, let it be noted, was the only catboat competing in the big event today, which previously had won three legs on the $1000 trophy. This trio of victories all happening in three consecutive years, 1911, 12 and 13, constitutes a record that her owner, F.B. Larkin, who has sailed the seven seas, is mighty proud of. Many Clubs Represented Mr. Larkin, however, after the race today, even though he finished second and, as stated was so jubilant over the result that he informed the writer after the grueling battle that even second place against such boats was far more noteworthy in his estimation than the three previous races in which he piloted his boat to victory. With every yacht club along the North Jersey coast participating in today's regatta, the many victories captured by the Seaside yachtsmen today were most convincing. The sloop races brought together the Barnegat entries against the Beach Haven sloops, with the former sweeping the bay by taking first, second and third prizes, although the Beach Haven boys were anxious prior to the races for a good stiff breeze. For the first time in Ardo First and Ardo Second meetings during the last two years, the sloop sporting the title Ardo First turned the tables, the latter winning the race with such remarkable ease that she crossed the line approximately four minutes ahead of her rival. Both boats represented the Seaside Park Yacht Club. The first of the Beach Haven one design boats to finish was the Cesco, sailed by Mr. Johnson. Cesco had the satisfaction today of defeating her sister ship over the line by eleven seconds. This was one of the closest races of the afternoon, with the exception of the Sewell Cup event. Seagull Shows Speed One of the most popular victories was that of Captain Pennock, sporting the home club's colors, with his sneak box Seagull. Ten boats faced the starter in this event, but four of the entries capsized through trying to accomplish the almost impossible in such heavy going by carrying too much sail. Second place in this race went to the Allure, of Lavallette. In the Class B catboats, which are the old type racers, the winner turned up in the Stepper, property of Herk Atkin, representing the Seaside Park Yacht Club. She was closely followed by the Vim, a scant fifteen seconds behind. The Stepper, however, was never headed, maintaining a steady speed, and was also splendidly handled over the entire course. Twenty-two boats crossed the starting line in the fifteen-foot one design, this race being won by C.U. Later, owned by Mr. Dale, of Bay Head, N.J At the conclusion of the regatta the Sewell Cup was presented to Commodore Thatcher by ex-Senator William T. Read, of New Jersey. The presentation which was made before a huge gathering in the well-adapted club rooms of the Seaside Park Yacht Club proved a fitting conclusion to such a noteworthy event. Those who so successfully managed the regatta today were the following: George B. Ferrier, Henry Coles and Hon. William T. Read, Seaside Park Yacht Club; Benjamin Adams and Frank Henry, of Island Heights Yacht Club. Open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays - 10 am to 2 pm
78 East Water Street, Toms River, NJ 08753 Guided Tours By Request - New Members Always Welcome (732) 349-9209 - [email protected] YOU'RE INVITED! Beckett's Bucket A-Cat Race Fundraiser - Friday, Aug. 16th @ Ocean Gate Yacht Club8/8/2024
See the majestic A-Cat fleet compete in barrel racing from the deck of Ocean Gate Yacht Club on Friday, August 16th! OGYC/BBMM Members: $10
BBMM Members ONLY - RSVP with the Barnegat Bay Maritime Museum no later than Wednesday, Aug. 14th via email: [email protected] with number of attendees (payment made upon arrival at club on day of event with cash or check). OGYC Members ONLY - RSVP directly with your club account on the club website. DOORS OPEN 5 PM for Skipper's Meeting and Cash Bar (no credit/debit cards accepted) RACE BEGINS 6 PM Entry includes club view of the A-Cat races plus dinner of sausage, pepper and onion sandwich, pesto pasta salad and dessert plus the opportunity to meet and talk to the skippers and sailors of these majestic sailing craft. Want to attend but not yet a Barnegat Bay Maritime Museum member? Join today! INQUIRER'S REGATTA EPOCH IN YACHTING Events on Barnegat Bay Were Brimful of Keen Competition and Most Enjoyable to Devotees of Sail and Water From a Staff Correspondent. SEASIDE PARK, N.J., July 5. All Barnegat Bay is now pondering over the results of the various races in the Philadelphia Inquirer's regatta staged yesterday on the bay before the Seaside Park Yacht Club here. The yachtsmen of this section are also joining in a unanimous vote of thanks to The Inquirer for the impetus which its regatta has given to the sail boat racing game here. The stirring victory of Judge Charles L. McKeehan's Mary Ann, over Commodore Thatcher's Helen, of Seaside Park, a boat which in past seasons was never a match for the faster boats of the bay in the cat boat class, is one of the prize topics of conversation, not only among the populace generally who follow the doings of their sailors on Barnegat as their pets and know their every move. The other results also come in for a word. Bay Head's sweep of the sneak box races largely through the doings of the Dale family in which the father, Orton G. Dale, triumphed in the 20-foot sneak box class with the Scotia and his son, F. Slade Dale, landed the triumph in the 15-foot sneak box battle with the C.U. Later. The third Bay Head victory in the sneak boxes was one for the fair sex as well as for pretty young Miss Elizabeth Cox scampered away with the honors in the junior 15-foot sneak box class race yesterday morning over a group of sixteen other masculine and feminine skippers of the younger generation with her Betsy Bobbit. And now she is the queen of Barnegat. Skipper Ritner Walling is Hero That the Ardo 2d, owned by Ritner Walling, of the Seaside Park Club, did the expected and gained the victory in the sloop class in which she won the championship last year, saved the day for the local club is admitted, and now he is the hero of Seaside Park for his yacht was its only winner. The committee is still very busy inventing new mathematical systems and further methods of solving Chinese puzzles in its effort to solve the class B cat boats tangle. But still it is very much in the dark as to just what the new rule in this connection means. Yesterday's race was the second for class B cats, and therein lies the trouble. The first race a week ago was solved after a fashion, but when it came to sort in several boats which did not appear in that race and properly handicap them it became almost impossible. The sponsor of the new rule was one of the contestants in the race and he could not be called upon to enlighten the committee as to what the rule means. And nobody else knows. So it looks as if the Bequet, owned by T.F. Brooks, of Island Heights, which was awarded the trophy on the preliminary figures, might continue as the winner, simply because nobody is able to check up the figures. Class B is for cat boats which do not meet the strict requirements of Class A, and consequently quite a few different types of "cats" appear in the group and it is very difficult to so handicap them that they all have a fair chance. The yachtsmen of Seaside Park are all overjoyed with the exceptional success of the regatta in every way from Commodore Frank Thatcher down to the youngest of the boy skippers. The banner entry list, the splendid weather conditions and the series of stirring races are all that any one could ask for, and now all hands are feeling fine after having slept off the celebration which followed the races at the club house last night. Barnegat Bay In For Big Year Barnegat Bay is in for a big season. The point races for the season's championships in the various classes were opened with the various events in The Inquirer regatta and the winners are now on their way to their respective crowns with an edge which their rivals must overcome. These point races are held virtually every week all year with the seven member clubs of the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association taking turns as the hosts for the events. Next Saturday Mantoloking Yacht Club entertains the Barnegat Bay fleet. A series of leading events then follow. On July 19 the famous Morgan Cup will be races for from the Island Heights Yacht Club. On July 26 there will be races for the Wanamaker trophies. August 1 and 2, the Barnegat Bay fleet will cruise to Beach Haven for the open races by the Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club. The following week is the season's headliner on Barnegat when the Seaside Park Yacht Club will be the host for the staging of the annual Sewell Cup race which every year is the foremost contest of the season. Thereafter, Lavallette, Bay Head, Toms River, Seaside Park, and Island Heights take their turns with regattas. The success of sailing on Barnegat Bay is one of the features of American yachting. No other place in the country has the real true sporting rivalry which exists among the various clubs lying around the famous bay. And in no other spot do the sailing craft turn out in such numbers and do such wonderful races result as here. They are all real sailormen from boyhood to old age. And the girls must not be forgotten, either. And even the clubs scattered about Long Island Sound, which have for so long specialized in the windjamming games, will have to keep mighty awake if they are not to be left behind. Open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays - 10 am to 2 pm
78 East Water Street, Toms River, NJ 08753 Guided Tours By Request - New Members Always Welcome (732) 349-9209 - [email protected] Spy Wins Feature Race of Regatta at Seaside Park Yacht Club Philadelphia Inquirer, Sunday, June 29th SEASIDE PARK, N.J., June 28. Thirty-six boats turned out for the opening regatta of the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association held today at Seaside Park Yacht Club. The feature race of the day was in the cat boat class in which Commodore Thatcher's new Marconi boat, the Spy, crossed the finish line fourteen seconds ahead of the Toms River entry, the Bay. The first race of the day was held in a light wind, and it took the six-fifteenth foot class sneak boxes over two hours to sail the course. A Bay Head Yacht Club boat, the Merill, won with the Heron and Curlew in second and third place respectively. The afternoon races were sailed in a heavy southeast wind. The first contest was that for the Class A catboats. The Bat, sailed by Crabbe, gave Commodore Thatcher's new craft, the Spy, a close scare on the last leg. Another Seaside Park boat, the Helen, sailed by Wheelock, finished in third place. The Class B for catboats proved very popular, attracting seven entries. The Stephen, a former down East champion, owned and sailed by Atkins of Seaside Park, won by nearly four minutes corrected time. The Vim, from the Mantoloking Yacht Club, finished in second place, while Snyder's Spider of Toms River, came in a minute and a half behind on corrected time, taking third place, although the Viking, the Island Heights Yacht Club entry in the Sloop Class, sailed by Schofield, crossed the finish line nearly five minutes ahead of the Ardo Second, the latter boat won on corrected time. The final event of the day, the fifteen-foot sneakbox class, brought out eleven racers. Although the Shiner sailed by Horrocks of Island Heights, led for the greater part of the race, another entry from the same club sailed by Hardin won on the last leg to windward by almost a minute. A Seaside Park boat, sailed by Trumpy, took third. Times for first three boats in each race follow: SLOOPS Ardo Second - 1.37.39 Viking - 1.40.58 20 SNEAK BOXES Edith - 1.30.09 Scotia - 1.39.14 Old Soak - 1.42.40 15-FOOT SNEAK BOXES - CLASS B Berry B. - No Time Heron - No Time Curlew - No Time CAT BOATS - CLASS B Stephen - 1.41.16 Vim - 1.45.00 Spider - 1.46.40 CAT BOATS - CLASS A Spy - 1.39.28 Bat - 1.49.42 Helen - 1.42.27 15-FOOT SNEAK BOXES - CLASS A No name - No Time Shiner - No Time S.S.I. - No Time Open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays - 10 am to 2 pm
78 East Water Street, Toms River, NJ 08753 Guided Tours By Request - New Members Always Welcome (732) 349-9209 - [email protected] Welcome to another era in Ocean County's past, one century ago this week! Let your mind wander as you consider life from May 9th to 23rd, 1924, courtesy the New Jersey Courier and Ocean County Review weekly newspapers, from the Ocean County Library archives, and peppered with items of maritime interest (around a 20 minute read). BREVITIES AND EDITORIALS(often written by NJ Courier editor, William H. Fischer, as he sat at his desk above Main Street near Washington Street; it was much like a collection of online social media updates seen today) May time. Woods fires. Fifth month. Blossom time. Apple blossoms. Moonlit evenings. Full moon May 18. Green things growing. Sunday was a dusty day. Meadowlarks are singing. Was it the blossom storm? 'The merry month of May.' New moon last Saturday. Mother's day next Sunday. Fog and rain on Wednesday. Ice and frost Monday morning. School vacation days draw near. Blossoms show on the oak trees. Many trees are green with new leaves. Poppy day will come on Saturday, May 24. No more beautiful time of the year than this. The wrens and the catbirds arrived last Friday. Redwinged blackbirds are seen in the marshes. Auto drivers take tests at the courthouse today. Frank Irons is painting his house on Dayton avenue. R.H. Byers is driving a new Overland Champion sedan. The Henry A. Low house on Washington street has been in the hands of carpenters and painters. Tonight and tomorrow night at the opera house the high school give their operatta, “The Gypsy Rover.” Swamp maples are gay with their seed vanes, pink, red, terra cotta—in many shades—but all beautiful. Vernon Sutton has a new Chevrolet commercial car for his contracting business. There seems to be no lack of work—especially in the building trade. If you think otherwise, try to get a carpenter, mason or plumber to do a job for you. Sunrises tomorrow (Saturday) at 4:50 and sets at 7:04, sun time. This gives 14 hours and 14 minutes of daylight. Twilight makes the day an hour and a half longer, at least. The Thomas A. Mathis Inc., sold during the month of April 37 passenger cars, 19 trucks, 8 tractors with graders, 5 Lincoln cars, and 36 used cars. The local American Legion auxiliary expects to join with other auxiliaries about the county and have a “food-selling” concession at the Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, on May 31, the proceeds to go to the Convalescent home. The A.B. Newbury Co., are making many changes at their new yard at Seaside Park, formerly owned by A.L. Lewis. Wilmer Johnson is in charge of the yard, and Rowland Buckwalter, Jr., with Frank Butler, in charge of the store. Charles Horner, of High Point, will also be employed at the yard. Supreme Court Justice Minturn has had young shade trees set out all around his property at Water and Horner streets, opposite Robbins Park. Another American Legion dance this evening at their rooms on West Water street, with music by the Jolly Five of Vineland. Lieut. Wiley, of the Naval Air Station, spoke at the Kiwanis Club on Monday evening last. Joseph Finley left Wednesday for Brooklyn to buy electrical fixtures. Joe thinks there is no place like Brooklyn for shopping. While Joe Wainwright, Marcus Russell and Leslie Lane were driving to the Naval Air Station to work on Tuesday morning, Wainwright's Buick roadster struck some soft sand, and turned turtle, with the three men underneath. Wainwright and Russell got some scratches, but Lane was unscratched. The car caught fire and burnt up completely—a total loss. It had just been overhauled and repainted. Dr. George T. Crook is overhauling his motor yacht Gertrude for the summer. Charles Wilbur, of Cedar Grove, says he still has a silver dollar he earned one summer when a boy. That summer he drove cows three miles to the meadow, and back the same distance at night, for the wage of 45 cents a week and saved the gold dollar out of his earnings. Lots o' rain. May is half gone. Clover grows well. Full moon next Sunday. Lilacs are purple or white. Oak trees are now in blossom. Only four weeks left for school. Apple trees blooming everywhere. Strawberry vines are in full bloom. Beachplum bushes are white with bloom. The cuckoo is reported in from the south. We have not seen much of this moon. Roads have been muddy, wet and full of holes. Grain fields and meadows are growing fast. Sassafras shows its yellow-green blossoms. Swamps and woods are in pastel shades now. Well, at least the rain stopped the forest fires. The new school does seem to move ahead very fast. Roadsides are purple here and there with the sand violet. Swamp maples are as beautiful, in another way, as they are after a frost in the fall. Everybody is looking forward to the big aerial circus at Lakehurst on May 31. All roads will lead to the Naval Air Station that day. Some folks say that the wise one will leave his car at home and travel on the train. Where will cars be parked in the average town if they keep on making them and people keep on buying them? Poultry raisers are loading their guns with buckshot for chicken thieves, and say they will shoot. Wisteria, royal purple in hue, hangs out in large clusters of bloom—a glorious spring flower. Much rain. A wet May. Fish in the bay. Plenty of flowers. Oats are heading up. No frosts since May 5. Memorial Day next Friday. Overcoats are still in style. Rain makes the grass grow. Trees are getting in full leaf. School closes Friday June 13. If these rains don't stop, we'll all get webfooted. Cranberry growers are drawing the water off their bogs. Corn planting time—oak leaves are surely as big as the squirrel's ear. More progress at the new school house—but it is hard to see it done on September 1. Some of these tight-fitting hats the women now wear have the classic lines of a Greek helmet, and some look like a German tin hat. The humming bird is reported, and also the cuckoo, as arriving last week. That brings all our summer birds here. Jess Robbins, son of S. Robbins, agent at C.R.R. station at Toms River will be in charge of the station at Beachwood this summer. Huddy Park with its newly paved walks of red gravel will be admired by many tourists this summer when the flowers are in full bloom. George W. Applegate of Dayton avenue, is building himself a new home at the corner of Hadley avenue and Grand streets, on what we used to call, when we were boys, “the hothouse lot.” Give the Grand Army men your time and support on Memorial Day. There was a time when your forebears were glad to have these same “boys in blue” stand between them and the armies of the south. John P. Kirk, the boatbuilder, delivered a speedy seaskiff, which he had just completed, to Cold Spring Inlet, Cape May, on Saturday last. Capt. Ben Asay was at the wheel. They left here at 8.00 a.m. and reached Cape May, 147 miles distant, at 5.00 p.m. The engines were new and stiff, and were not opened up, and the trip was made inside, which further reduced the speed, and so both builder and owner were well satisfied with the voyage. The craft is 28 feet long of the bankskiff model developed by the bank fishermen who fish the Jersey coast, and is owned by John K. Large, of Philadelphia. HEADLINE NEWSMORE 15-FT. SNEAKBOXES FOR BAY HEAD SAILORS Down at Barnegat J. Howard Perrine, the well known boatbuilder, is working on an addition to the fleet of fifteen foot sneakboxes of the Bay Head Yacht Club. There are some eight of these new boats to be sailed this summer, it is reported. The fifteen foot classes in the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association make perhaps as much fun and pleasure—yes, and sport, as any class on the bay. It is also a training school for the youthful yachtsmen, from which the sailors of larger craft in the future will be recruited. The new boats have been ordered by the following: Mr. Edgar H. Boles, Miss Margaret Biggs, Miss Charlotte Conover, Mr. Fred J. Cox, Major Stanley Washburn, Mr. F.S. Hetherington, Mr. Samuel Emlen and Mr. Edgar T. Orny. The addition of these boats will bring Bay Head's total up to nearly thirty, the largest fleet at any one club on the bay. CRABBE TO BUILD SCHOONER FOR WEST INDIES CRUISE Edward Crabbe, of Toms River, is planning to build a schooner yacht this summer and fall for a cruise to the West Indies next winter. Morton Johnson of Bay Head will be the builder, and Charles Maurer, of New York, will design the craft. Mr. Crabbe has the material on hand, oaken knees and cedar planking, cut from his swamps at Double Trouble and sawed in his own mill, and allowed to season with time. Barnegat Bay yachtsmen are wondering if the Mary Ann, for the past two summers the champion in the catboat class on Barnegat Bay, will be in the races this summer? There is a rumor that Federal Court Judge Charles McKeehan, of Philadelphia and Island Heights, owner of the Mary Ann, is contemplating a trip to Europe this summer. Heretofore he has sailed the Mary Ann himself, and has won as fine reputation for his sportsmanship and fairness as the yacht has for speed. The other yachtsmen would be sorry to see the Mary Ann out of the races this summer, as there would always be a question, whoever won, whether the Mary Ann might have still been the better boat. There is another rumor that should Judge McKeehan be away this summer Thompson Brooks, as skipper, and the Mary Ann's old crew, would uphold the honor of the Island Heights Yacht Club. Francis P. Larkin, of Seaside Park, has had his yacht Tamwock remodeled since last summer. Tamwock proved a fast sailor in the races last summer, but not quite fast enough for Mary Ann. During the winter Mort Johnson of Bay Head remodeled her bow, taking some of the fullness out of it, and making it on the concave pattern affected by yachts forty years ago. Commodore Frank W. Thatcher, of the Seaside Park Yacht Club has his new racing catboat nearly completed at Mort Johnson's Bay Head yard, and the new boat will be the same model as Mary Ann. It makes an interesting problem as to which will be the better boat, if they are both the same in lines. A WAVE OF PROSPERITY HITS OUR COAST BEACH GOES AHEAD WITH GREAT LEAPS AND BOUNDS Squan Beach is going ahead this spring with great leaps and bounds. You can start at Manasquan Inlet and come south, and everywhere you see the march of improvement and progress. Perhaps the greatest showing is made at Point Pleasant, where the State has a number of projects on foot. The contract has been given for the new Manasquan River bridge, to cost $450,000 [$8.2 million in 2024 dollars] or there abouts, one of the big improvements. The workmen are now at work on the drawbridge across the Bay Head-Manasquan River canal at West Point Pleasant, on Route Four. This job will perhaps cost another $100,000 [$1.81 million in 2024 dollars]. From Point Pleasant to Laurelton [section of Brick Township], Route Four is all concrete, beginning on Richmond avenue, Point Pleasant, near the bridge, running south through Point Pleasant, and swinging with a wide curve from Richmond avenue to Ocean avenue, and thence back into the road from Point Pleasant to Lakewood at Hance's Corner. Point Pleasant Borough has also laid concrete roads on its principal streets, and also down on the beach front, particularly in the Inlet section. The new owners of the Beacon hotel, which is on the south line of Point Pleasant Beach Borough, at the beach front, are remodeling that oldtime hotel into a modern structure. It has an excellent location, and when completed, should be in a favorable place to do business this summer. Bay Head is flourishing. You can see fine new houses going up here and there, and many of the older houses are being remodeled. At the lower end of the borough the new syndicate of Bay Head and Mantoloking folk are making a big showing on their handsome tract of beach. Between the County Road and the beachfront, they have laid out three streets, running east and west. These streets have been graveled, sidewalks and curbs laid, and water mains are also being put down on this tract. Electric wires are already in, and a number of fine large houses built. Mantoloking is also building some new homes for summer folks. The new draw which the county has been trying to get in at Mantoloking bridge for the past two years, has now just been started. Below Mantoloking you pass an entire new outfit of buildings for the Bay Head fishery, erected between the County Road and the railroad, their old camp between Mantoloking and Bay Head having been demolished. Also, before you reach old Chadwick, going south on the Beach Road, you come to Normandy Beach, which is being put on the market by J.M. Slim, who helped build Seaside Heights. Here there is somewhat of activity. Old Chadwick is the only dead place on the beach. Below it, at Lavallette, you strike another up and coming resort. New houses, showing the bright yellow of new shingles, are seen in every direction. The borough expects to put in a water plant to supply the town with drinking water, at a cost of $100,000. On the west side of Main Central avenue, near the south end of town, a substantial Catholic church is building, of light brown brick, perhaps the costliest structure in the whole resort. Lavallette is going ahead in many ways. Ortley Beach comes next, and Ortley Beach is taking a new lease of life. Just below the street that leads to the site of the hotel that was, comes the new Ortley Beach development, in which A. Carl Haag and H. Ross Turner, of Seaside Park, are moving spirits. Workmen and teams are grading the land, which lies remarkably level for the beach. The thickets of wild cherry, bayberry, sweet fern, huckleberry and blackberry bushes have been shorn away, and the property is being made ready for lot sales. The old layout of streets will be discarded and a new plan has been submitted to the Dover Township Committee at Toms River, for their approval. Immediately adjoining this tract on the south, and connecting it up with Seaside Heights, the Cummings Bros. have a development, where they are also selling lots, and have made some improvements. Seaside Heights boasts a new railroad station, built last fall, and this season it will come into use. Seaside Heights also boasts its new bank and new bank building. New homes are going up in all parts of the borough, and the Boulevard shows a good number of new buildings. Seaside Park has set the number of new homes it expects to be built inside its bounds this year at 100, as a minimum. About half that number have taken out building permits and started work. The water plant is undergoing improvements, and an addition was recently made to the boardwalk. There is every indication of a big summer at both Seaside Park and Seaside Heights. One of the big changes at Seaside Park this spring was the purchase of the Lewis Lumber yard by the A.B. Newbury Company, of Toms River, and the alterations since made there by J.P. Evernham, manager of the Newbury business. The store will be fitted up this spring and summer carried on as a hardware store, with an increased line over any store that has previously been conducted on the beach in this section. The yard is being stocked up with a complete lumber and building line, and the plans of Mr. Lewis, for a mill, will probably be carried out by the new owners. It is another instance of the growing tendency of the beach. SUB-CHASERS TO RUN DOWN RUM SMUGGLERS ON THE COAST Washington, May 2.—Treasury officials took further steps to-day in developing the program to curb rum running. Conferences between all units of the Treasury engaged in prohibition enforcement brought about a closer co-operation between the prohibition forces under Commissioner Haynes, the Coast Guard and the Customs Service, and provided for a “central control” of Coast Guard work in its efforts to stop the landing of contraband on American soil. Commander Harry G. Hamlet, a longtime Coast Guard officer, was selected to maintain the general headquarters of the Coast Guard's dry navy and has left for Philadelphia to take charge of the reconditioning of the seven destroyers turned over by the Navy Department. He will direct the operation of the entire dry forces in thwarting the rum runners along the Atlantic seaboard. Simultaneously, the three arms of the enforcement service reached an agreement on jurisdiction under which the Coast Guard hereafter will seek to protect all coast lines on deep water, and the prohibition and customs agents will be responsible for smuggling through small waterways and on land. The arrangement is expected to result in a material tightening of the lines, and when the Coast Guard has obtained the full quota of new craft planned under the recently enacted appropriation of $14,000,000 Treasury officials believe much will have been accomplished toward better enforcement. Work already has begun on reconditioning the former navy destroyers, and the Treasury to-day let contracts for the new speed boats for use by the Coast Guard in its pursuit of rum runners. Five of the boats will be constructed in Detroit for use on the Great Lakes and five in Jacksonville, Fla., for service among the inlets and bays of that section. They will cost approximately $5,000 each [$90k in 2024 dollars]. Coast Guard engineers also are drawing specifications and expect soon to call for bids for fifty new craft to add to the dry fleet. Meanwhile, a thorough-going training is being given the officers and crews to man the craft. When all of the new boats are in service and fully manned, the Coast Guard will have a personal virtually double its present strength. PERRINE'S FAME [originally included in the BARNEGAT column] J.H. Perrine, whose famous “sneakboxes” are known around the world, owes his fame as a boatbuilder to the fact that he is always represented at the annual boat show held in New York. He has orders now from California, Maine, Michigan, New York, Connecticut, Florida, South Carolina and Texas. He has numerous letters from different parts of Europe and recently had one from Egypt, asking prices and rates on his boats. The man who thinks he is a business man today without advertising cuts about the same figure as a lighthouse keeper would should he put a dark curtain around his light to guide the mariner. Last week Mr. Perrine made a shipment of eleven boats to Lake Hopatcong. There are now twenty at his yard being finished for a shipment. Levi Cranmer, one of the best boat workers along the shore, is foreman of the boat works. NEW FIRE HOUSE ON WATER ST., FOR COMPANY NO. 2 A new fire house is being built on West Water Street for Fire Company No. 2. The house will stand west of the road, and will be built of cement blocks, with two large double doors in front. The back end will be of wood, in case it should ever be necessary to enlarge the building which is now being constructed 25 ft. across the front and fifty feet deep. The building is being made possible by the public interest in the company, who are “selling” concrete blocks to their friends at a dollar a block. The lot was bought by Joseph Y. Murphy, and donated to the company by him. It is 160 feet deep; [he] also gave the foundations. A number of others have given labor and money, and the lumber yards are allowing the company to get supplies at cost. George Alsheimer has contributed labor, and the concrete blocks at cost. Members of the company have been working nights. The house will be big enough to store four cars. WILL HOUSE SCHOOL GIRLS IN GOULD STABLE BUILDINGS The large stables attached to Georgian Court, the estate of the late Geo. J. Gould, at Lakewood, will be turned into girls' dormitories to house the students of Mount St. Mary's Catholic College and Academy, of Plainfield, N.J., which recently purchased the buildings and grounds. The two-story stable building will be enlarged to make a five-story dormitory. Other improvements will also be made before the college is moved to its new home in Lakewood, and the added room will allow of the opening of courses for grade classes for young girls, who hitherto have not been accommodated at the college. Work on both the Plainfield and Lakewood buildings will be carried on throughout the summer months, at a total cost of about $300,000 [approx. $5.4 million in 2024 dollars]. The Lakewood site will take care of about 200 students, while about twice that number will be schooled at the Plainfield address. Mother Cecilia, sister to the late Congressman Thomas J. Scully, of South Amboy, who gave her personal fortune to Mount St. Mary's College, has been made president of the institution. Bishop Thomas A. Walsh, of the Catholic Diocese of Trenton, is the ex-officio head of the college. The college at Lakewood will open about October 1, and there already is a long waiting list. PINEWALD GETTING READY A number of improvements have been made at Pinewald recently and still more will follow. Building has started, a new road has opened from the Atlantic City Boulevard to the Bay making this resort a short distance from its shores. Three Lodges, Pinewald Lodge, Pinewald Villa, and Lakeview have opened to accommodate land owners and prospective buyers. More than forty people were accommodated last Sunday. The week end visitors are brought down from the City in large buses. Pinewald has its own bus to furnish free transportation from Toms River to Pinewald, meeting two Philadelphia trains daily. A general store has been opened by Mr. Wandling of Philadelphia. Two boats were put on the lake which was cleaned out for boating and its shores will be laid out for a park. All the streets are to be 55 and 60 feet wide, the Main Boulevard is 105 feet wide. Some of the old buildings are to be fixed up and repainted. The engineering is under the management of Mr. Dalot. Mr. Baker who developed Wildwood will visit this new resort soon. NEW SPEED BOAT GETS RUM HAUL ON HER FIRST TRIP Sandy Hook, May 5.—Using a new speed boat for the first time, coast guards from this station this morning seized 50 cases of liquor which was being brought ashore by bootleggers. Under Captain Loren Tilton, of Silverton, the government men gave pursuit in the early morning hours. None was captured, but the fleeing smugglers were forced to throw their cargo overboard in lightening their vessels and the 50 cases of whiskey were salvaged from the sea. KLAN AT SILVERTON Forty-three robed Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and Ladies of the Invisible Empire attended church services at the Silverton Church last Sunday evening. Arthur E. Bell, recognized leader of the Klan in this district, and Mrs. Bell, head of the women's order in New Jersey, addressed the congregation. A visitor of special distinction was present in the person of the Imperial Klabbe of the women's order. This is the first time that a member of the Imperial Palace has made an appearance in this section. CHICKEN THIEVES AROUND Chicken thieves have been busy the past week or so on the edges of town. Last Friday night sixty pullets, nine weeks old, were stolen from the William P. Flint farm on the east side of town. Murray Golinken, of the Freehold road, lost about 125 eight weeks old pullets, and Ambrose Combi, also of the Freehold road, had about as many stolen from him. Other thefts are reported. The Atlantic Coast Poultry Producers' Association has a standing offer of a $100 reward [about $1,800 in 2024 dollars] for anybody furnishing evidence to convict a chicken thief. TUCKERTON TO HONOR LAD WHO LOST LIFE IN WAR On Memorial Day Tuckerton Borough will honor the memory of Ensign George F. Randolph, son of Roland F. Randolph, now located at Atlantic City, but formerly of Tuckerton. The father of Ensign Randolph has provided a monument to the memory of his son, which will be unveiled on Memorial day. Young Randolph lost his life off Seaside Park on the night of August 27, 1918. He was berthed aboard Mine Sweeper 200, which was sunk by the guns of a merchant vessel. The crew on the vessel saw the mine sweeper near them in the dark, and in a fright, fired at the craft, thinking it to be one of the German U-boats that had been operating that summer off the Jersey coast. Randolph was among those who went down. The plans for Memorial day at Tuckerton call for a big day, the biggest it is said that has yet been attempted there. The Masonic Band of Atlantic County will furnish music. TOMS RIVER H.S. PLAYING GREAT BASEBALL THIS YEAR Toms River High School has a winning baseball team this year. It has put it all over Lakewood, Point Pleasant, Tuckerton, Barnegat and Freehold, though it has been a little outmatched by Rider of Trenton and Asbury Park. ALCOHOL IN 5-GAL. CANS WASHED UP ON THE BEACH During the storm last Friday a number of beach combers, from Long Branch to Barnegat Inlet, picked up alcohol from the surf in five-gallon cans. The cans came ashore, two cans in a wooden box. Some of the cans had rusted through, and contained saltwater instead of alcohol. Some said it was grain alcohol, and others that it was grain alcohol that had been denatured and the poison afterward removed by chemical process. There was a heavy wind and sea Thursday night, and it is thought the stuff may have come from a rum ship off shore. Officers were sent over but found none of it. Another report says that it was wood alcohol—at least a number of men in the fish pound crews and others, who found and drank the stuff, were made deathly sick. There are also stories that some cases of scotch and rye whiskeys were cast up on the beach. This story is of the kind that is always just a little further on. At Asbury Park, the find was located at Point Pleasant; in that town they had heard the story, but it was at Mantoloking; successive inquiries pushed it down the beach and across the inlet to Barnegat City [today Barnegat Light], and folks at that place also had heard of their finding cases of whiskeys at High Point. On some of the beaches there were all kinds of fruits and vegetables washed up on the beach, some of it in eatable shape, and some of it past use. Oranges, lemons, pineapples, grape fruit, onions, and such, showed that it might have, the beachcombers say, been from a northbound Florida packet. STRIKE OIL AT NEW EGYPT In a seven column head across its front page, the New Egypt Press announces that “H.N. Moore thinks he has really and truly struck oil” in driving a well at a new bungalow he has been building on Magnolia avenue, New Egypt. The Press says that the “oil sand” taken from the well has been sent away fro analysis, and all the property owners in that section are standing on their tiptoes ready to “go” if the report is favorable. NAVY'S BEST FLYERS AT LAKEHURST MAY 31 COOLIDGE UNABLE TO BE AT LAKEHURST ON MAY 31 So far Commander Klein and his staff, who are arranging the big aerial demonstration at the Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, have come in for one big break in their plans. They had hoped and fully expected to have President Coolidge to view the big circus, but he has sent word that his other engagements on that day will not permit. The program had been to send a plane to Washington and bring him here, give him a ride on the Shenandoah while at the station, and return him by plane to Washington, all in the space of a few hours. Washington advisors of the President probably did not take kindly to the possible risk of an airplane journey—but suppose Theodore Roosevelt had had such a program put up to him when he was in the Whitehouse! By the way you must not again speak of the aerial circus. The word circus does not carry enough dignity with it for the Navy Department, and official Washington has notified the Air Station that hereafter May 31 and its program are to be designated as an aerial demonstration. The word circus is taboo. But it won't change the program any. The events of May 31 are getting a vast deal of publicity. Newspapers in the nearby cities find it a good feature story. W.O.R. at Newark, broadcasts a story three times a week, and Commander Klein has also sent it by radio from Newark, Providence and Boston. Fox and Pathe News service have both had camera men at the station getting all the preliminary pictures they can, and will have a whole battery there on May 31. Free rides in the Shenandoah and in airplanes, kite balloons, etc., are being arranged, in connection with sales of souvenirs. Each souvenir will be numbered, and lots will be drawn, the holder of the winning numbers getting the rides. Three civilians will thus get a ride in the Shenandoah. It took special permission from Secretary Wilbur to announce this part of the program. In all twelve people will be taken up... CONKLING'S 13-L.B. WEAKFISH Capt. Woodie Conkling, formerly of Toms River, made a nice haul of weakfish at Beach Haven Terrace last week end. He was fishing with Joseph F. Reed, of Waretown, and they netted over a hundred fine weakfish, one of which weighed nearly 13 lbs. BACK FIRES CAUSE LOSS Alleging that back fires, set without due knowledge of ground conditions, and then allowed to run wild, did much more damage than the original fire, those who had property burnt or endangered in a fire north of town on Tuesday, urge that hereafter more care be taken in starting and watching these backfires. The fire originally started near the Cox-Crow farm, at the junction of the Lakewood and Freehold roads, six miles north of town. It burnt across to the bay, at Silverton. An old house on the Lucina VanNote property, on the north shore of Kettle Creek, was burnt. It was unoccupied, and of little value. The Andrews house at Silverton, the M.E. Church, and the William Applegate mill, were saved by fire fighters. No. 2 Company of Toms River, and a company from Point Pleasant did valiant service in fighting to save these buildings, and the Toms River boys say that Applegate's mill would have been burnt but for the Point Pleasant boys. Shifting winds toward night made the fight more difficult. The Lakewood firemen were also called out to aid the fire fighters. MOTOR VEHICLE DEPT. AND OUR SENATOR GET IN NEWS COLUMN MATHIS DENIES HE SOLD LINCOLN CARS TO STATE State Senator Thomas A. Mathis, who, as the Thomas A. Mathis, Inc., is agent for the Ford and Lincoln cars at Toms River, denies the charge made by some upstate papers that he sold four Lincoln cars to the State Motor Vehicle Department, through the Statehouse Commission, after the State Purchasing Agent had refused to approve the bargain. Last week the Newark Evening News and the Trenton Times, among other papers, carried stories about the sale of these cars... WHITE LEADS CRANBERRY GROWERS IN NEW JERSEY The following excerpts from an article about Joseph J. White, of Whitesbog, New Lisbon, are from an article in the Mount Holly Mirror. Mr. White was the recognized leader in cranberry culture, harvesting and shipping in this state, and was a friend to all the other growers, who sincerely mourn his death. Mr. White, who was seventy-eight years of age, was best known as one of the pioneer cranberry growers in New Jersey. He was, as well, one of the most successful, making a large fortune in the cranberry growing enterprise. He was rated an authority on cranberry culture and his extensive bogs on the road to Lakehurst, about six miles from his comfortable home, are among the finest and most extensive to be found. The property is known as “Whitesbog.” It has the distinction of being the largest cranberry growing property in the world. Many have been the innovations introduced at Whitesbog in the development of the industry and the plant is recognized as a model one among cranberry growers. Sixty years ago, more or less, Mr. White became interested in cranberry growing and with him it grew to be his life's work. He added to his holdings, one bog after another being set out and developed, until his vast property required the services of hundreds of pickers to gather the crop of berries annually. At other times of the year a large force of laborers was required to do the necessary work on the great expense of bogs. For many years before the growers learned how to combat the many insect and bacterial enemies that have brought ruin to so many, Mr. White fought determinedly to save his bogs from ruin. At one time a large flock of turkeys was introduced to help keep down the fireworms and grasshoppers. Late and early frosts also worked havoc before the system of reservoirs by which the bogs could be quickly inundated, was introduced with great success. Then there were the almost insuperable difficulties of marketing with which the growers always had to contend and Mr. White, attacking the problem with characteristic force and determination, finally had the satisfaction of seeing this problem quite successfully solved, although the question of when and where to sell is one that still perplexes the growers, especially the smaller ones. But now that Mr. White is gone others are left who learned the business from him and who are as deeply attached to the great plantation at Whitesbog as the owner was. These will carry on and it is not expected that the sound policy upon which the great enterprise was founded will be changed by his successors to any appreciable degree... $15,000,000 IN GOULD ESTATE The accounting of Kingdon Gould and Schuyler Nelson Rice, executors of George J. Gould, was passed by Judge Newman on Wednesday of this week in the Orphans Court. The amount of the estate was about fifteen and a half millions. Kingdon Gould himself was in court, probably his first appearance at the courthouse since the day in the fall of 1917 when he marched to the P.R.R. depot to en train for Camp Dix with a group of National Army men. There were about a dozen lawyers present, representing as many big city law firms, to keep an eye on the proceedings. NEW RUM CHASER TAKES PRIZE OFF SANDY HOOK In command of one of the new government speed boats, Capt. Loren Tilton (a Silverton man) of Sandy Hook, last Saturday captured a rum runner in Sandy Hook bay carrying 98 cases of assorted liquors, and made things so uncomfortable for three others that their cargoes, believed to have contained 100 cases, were thrown overboard. Some of the liquor discarded were later recovered. Two prisoners were also captured, Charles Huldburg and “Joe” Ryan, both of Highlands, who have been held for the federal authorities. Capt. Osborne, of the Monmouth Beach Station, accompanied Capt. Tilton on the trip. The chase was declared to be exciting with enough thrills for a first-class moving picture. The new government boat, according to Capt. Osborne, is a hummer and calculated to put the average rum runner in the shade. The boat captured was known as K-13441. After its capture the coast guardsmen turned their batteries on three other illicit rum runners. Their boats were heavily loaded, and it could be seen from the government boat that they were unloading in order to make their escape. The guardsmen gave chase for several miles, however, before giving up. ROADS OCCUPY A LARGE AND IMPORTANT SPACE IN THE NEWS STATE PROMISES NOTHING ON BROWNS MILLS ROAD So far the State Highway Commission has promised this section of the state no aid on the Browns Mills road. As told in the Courier some weeks ago the state has set aside $27,000 [$490k in 2024 dollars] as a subsidy to Burlington County, to induce that county to take over the road from the Burlington County line through Pemberton. But for the part of the road in Ocean County, no arrangements have been made by the state, so far as is known to the public. Admiral Moffett, the head of the Navy air service, recently wrote to Gen. Hugh L. Scott, chairman of the State Highway Commission, explaining to that body how the Air Station at Lakehurst was dependent upon this road for its truck communication with the air craft construction works at League Island Navy Yard, in Philadelphia. Gen. Scott wrote back that he was sorry, but that at the present time the state had no money for this particular piece of road... LOCAL MEN GET CONTRACT ON LAKEWOOD ROAD WORK The contract for all the hauling of supplies, gravel, etc., for the new road, to be built of concrete, between Toms River and Lakewood, has been given by Commissioner Burdette Lewis, head of the State Department of Institutions and Agencies, to the Holman and Thompson Construction Co. The department of which Lewis is the chief, has the general contract with the State Highway Commission to build the eight miles of concrete roadway with convict labor... PERSONAL C.P. Lippincott, of Cleveland, Ohio, writes the Courier that he hopes soon to come east and spend the summer, accompanied by Mrs. Lippincott, at the home of her parents, Collector and Mrs. E.L. Worth of Bayville. Mr. Lippincott is also well known at Ocean Gate, where he has been prominent in yacht club affairs. Miss Adelaide M. Rogers, who spent the winter at St. Petersburg, Fla., is now on her way north in the Steamer Mohawk, sailing on May 8. She expects to be at Toms River shortly. Harry A. Grover, of Lakewood, a world war veteran, who has been under hospital treatment in Newark and Brooklyn for injuries received in France, has come home to Lakewood, and visited friends here this week. Toms River friends will be interested in knowing that on May 1, Mr. H.G. Flint resigned the sales managership of the Shredded Wheat Company, of Niagara Falls, N.Y., to take effect June 1, and expects to come to his home at Toms River for a year's vacation, the first real vacation he has had in twenty years. He will probably stay here for a year at least, and during the summer will have his boat on the river and bay. Herbie Staples, who recently returned to Toms River after a stay of four or five years in England, his old home, is getting acclimated to Toms River again, and finding lots of his old friends where he left them. Mrs. Staples, their son and daughter, have been here for some time. Horace Jennings is spending some time with his brother, Kenneth, and is surely enjoying the days spent out of doors on the chicken farm. Ralph Hart of the U.S. Navy, is home on a twenty-five day furlough, his ship being in Philadelphia Navy Yard for alterations. Ralph has seen considerable of the world in the past four years. Edward Crabbe of Toms River, Judge James E. Otis of Tuckerton, and other cranberry growers attended the funeral of Joseph J. White, the largest cranberry grower in the state, which was held on Tuesday last at New Lisbon. FISH AND GAME The wildfowl have about all left the bay to go to their northern nesting ground, except the blackduck “and such,” as they say here the year round. There was less lawless shooting of wild fowl after February 1 this year than in any previous year, though the bay was full of geese during February, March and well along into April. The fact that weakfish were netted in Barnegat Bay last week has got all the anglers up on their tiptoes. Bluefish are apt to be right behind the weakfish, and if you strike into the blues, no matter how early in May it might be, they will bite. Flounders are the mainstay of the fishing parties that visit Barnegat and Tuckerton bays. There is some talk of catching summer flounders also, but of that we will hear more later. The winter flounder still has the call. The Newark Call says that Clarence McDowell and Robert Fay, of New Brunswick, are to build a bungalow on the Barnegat Bay shore, for fishing this summer. The Call says this is getting to be quite the thing for North Jersey fishermen and gunners... RECENT DEATHS Mrs. William Nickerson Mrs. Juliana G. Nickerson, widow of William Nickerson, who for several years conducted the Ocean View hotel in Bay Head, died Thursday, May 1, in her apartment at the Smith building, corner of Clifton and Second avenues, Lakewood, where she resided during the winter months for the past five years. Death was due to general debility. Services were held at St. Mary's-of-the-Lake Church at Lakewood Saturday; burial in St. Mary's cemetery, Lakewood. Mrs. Nickerson was well-known among residents of Bay Head. A few days ago G.H. Underhill took charge of the Ocean View and will manage it this summer. Mrs. Nickerson is survived by two sisters, one of whom resides in England. Charles L. Worth Charles L. Worth died at Bayville, N.J. on Friday last, from heart trouble, aged 73 years. He had been ailing for some time. He was a member of an old colonial family and the last of seven sons... Riley Johnson Point Pleasant, May 7.—Riley Johnson, aged 86, died here at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Albert Britton, on Monday night, after a stroke of paralysis five weeks previous. He was a well-known resident, an oldtime surfman and lifesaver, and also a veteran of the Civil War... TOWN LIFEBARNEGAT The junior class of the Barnegat high school will give “The Rose 'o Plymouth Town,” a playlet of the time of the Pilgrim's first settlement, at the opera house here this (Friday, May 9) evening. They will also give the same performance at the Colonial theatre, Beach Haven, on Friday next, May 16. Ground has been broken for the C. Wyatt bungalow on Bay street. Amos Bahr has the contract. A number of people attended the movies at Manahawkin Saturday night. There seems to be a good deal of grippe here; also colds. BAYVILLE Charles L. Worth, one of our oldest residents, died on Friday night. Services on Monday afternoon in his late home. BEACH HAVEN President Walter Sharp called a meeting of the Beach Haven Athletic Association for last night (Thursday) to discuss baseball for the coming summer. It is rumored about town that manager Charles Woods, of the Tuckerton team, would like to sign up several Beach Haven players, among them third baseman Paul King and pitcher Joe Sprague. Tuckerton has joined the Athletic League and will play at Tuckerton on Saturdays, and out of town on Sundays. George Graboldinger, of Camden, who last year kept a bakery at Beach Arlington, will soon open an up-to-date bakery, with full electrical-driven bakery machinery of modern type, at Beach avenue and Center street. He will make his home here and keep the bakery open the year round. After several successful seasons running the Hotel Baldwin, Mrs. May F. Purnell has sold the place to Mr. Wm. York of Philadelphia, who has been down making plans for the coming season. He expects to open during the early part of June and has many interesting plans for the season's business. Captain Tuck Parker is getting the “Sylvia” in shape for the twice daily run to Atlantic City this season. Captain Tip Seaman of West Creek is aiding him. BEACHWOOD Mrs. N.T. Pulsifer motored down from New York Thursday to open her summer home in Beachwood. Herman Fuhr is going to build a bungalow for Mrs. N.T. Pulsifer. [one of these bungalows was later given to the town and has since been operated as the Beachwood Library]. Mayor Collins, who is chairman of the Yacht Club building committee, had hope to be ready to lay the cornerstone of that new acquisition to Beachwood, the yacht clubhouse, on Memorial day, but the date has been deferred. The Polyhue Yacht Club is one of the outstanding factors in the social life of Beachwood each summer, and the new clubhouse will add greatly to its possibilities in that line. The foundation walls will be up on Decoration day. A program will be prepared to interest all members of the club, and others. The committee expect to have a portion of the building ready for use this summer. Mayor Collins says that subscriptions to the building fund are coming in handsomely, and over $2000 [about $36k in 2024 dollars] is in hand or in sight at present, with a large number who will want to give, as yet not heard from. CEDAR RUN (section of Stafford Township) Mr. Mura has an ideal poultry plant; one worth your while to travel miles to see. Most folks in this section do not seem to see poultry possibilities that lie at their door. Wake up, people and show the rest of the world that this is indeed the poultry section of the U.S. W.S. Cranmer, who is connected with the Strout Farm Agency, is selling many properties and winning many prizes in competition with their 700 other salesmen. The local wet wash laundry is running at full blast and is doing a very acceptable work and is a great convenience to our people. New parties have just taken over the Vogel, Samuel Morey, Mrs. Peterson, Gunderson and other properties. Captain Samuel B. Conklin and family have moved to Beach Haven, where they will open their boarding house and they anticipate a very successful season. Mr. and Mrs. Passmore have moved into the Jesse Truex house and are developing into expert truckers and poultry raisers. FORKED RIVER Randolph Phillips has strawberries in bloom. The eel fishermen say that their branch of fishing is good now. Joseph Parker is building Lacey road out toward Cedar Crest. The baymen report that the first run of weakfish is much larger than the usual number of fish caught. Also that the fish are feeding on shrimp, which fill the bay. ISLAND HEIGHTS Work is progressing very rapidly on the new fire house and also on the new M.E. Church. These two new structures will add very greatly to that section of the town when completed. LANOKA HARBOR The Lanoka Harbor lots are selling to city people right along and a number of new houses are planned in this delightful spot. The change of name from Lanoka to Lanoka Harbor was brought about in order to show people on the outside that our little town is on the water and has Barnegat Bay as its boundary on the east. People want to get near the water, and a resort without stands little show these days. Lanoka proper had quite a fright on Friday last when the 3 o'clock train set a fire which almost surrounded Harry Worth's home, burning right up to the garage, but damaging no building. Both fire companies of Toms River responded quickly and kind friends from nearby towns came. Thus the fire was soon under control for which we are very grateful to every one. We are sure the spirit of fraternity is readily shown when necessary. LAVALLETTE Mr. James Walling is building some new houses on Vance avenue, near the railroad. There was quite a fire in the brush on Monday. The Fire Company worked pretty hard to put it out. OCEAN GATE The borough has finished graveling Point Pleasant avenue from Asbury to the Algor property and are now graveling from curb to curb on Long Branch avenue near the fire house for parking space. After several weeks delay, due to the hold up in the piling for the new boardwalk, this week is now well under way. The piling are in as far as Wildwood avenue and caps and decking between Ocean Gate and Asbury avenues. Mr. and Mrs. Harry S. Graham are to be congratulated on the birth on May 1 of a young daughter, Miss Jean Billings Graham. May 25 is the date set for the opening and the laying of the cornerstone of the new Catholic church [by 2024 a private home for many years]. The new milk depot of Raymond Keisel on Ocean Gate avenue is nearing completion and will be ready for opening about May 15. This plant will be run the year round and will in addition to supplying this town, supply all nearby towns with milk, cream, butter and eggs. One of our residents recently received an anonymous letter which was picked up near his home. The letter was signed KKK. E.P. McAllister has started his Saturday boat trips to Toms River. Quite a number were in town on Sunday last looking for cottages. The work on the boardwalks is coming along in fine shape. Driving of the piling will be almost completed by the end of the week. Laying of the deck will be completed to about Monmouth avenue. With all the bad weather the contractors had to contend with, as contract calls for completion by June 15, from the way the work is progressing at the present time this contract will be finished by the specified time. The commuters' train started running from Philadelphia for shore points on Thursday evening of this week; first trip from the shore to Philadelphia on Friday morning. PLEASANT PLAINS Murray Galinken had about a hundred and twenty-five, eight week-old pullets stolen from his farm on May 1. Mr. Ambrose Combi also lost about the same number a short time ago. Mr. Nash, who has for several seasons rented the Kipp farm, recently bought the farm and is making numerous alterations. SEASIDE HEIGHTS Some of the attractions on the boardwalk are in operation, and soon the people from far and near will gather for an evening's fun. Mrs. George Roes has bought the Stanger cottage on Du Pont avenue, and will open a tea room soon. The Fire Company were out in full force Monday evening, burning the grass off the vacant lots. The hotels report a very busy day on Sunday last, many people being in town. Seaside Heights folks are proud of the Coast National Bank... The local board of trade will give a barn dance at the yacht club dance hall on May 31. The borough has appropriated $50 [$900 in 2024 dollars] toward the expenses of the National Coast Anti-Pollution League, which is fighting the dumping of oil and other polluting substances in the sea, where they wash ashore. Poles will be set up and ropes placed for a bathing beach this summer, the work to be done by the borough, and the place to be selected by a committee of the borough council. There is one residence in Seaside Heights where the display of tulips is such that every passerby gasps to see such beauty growing apparently from beach sand. It is too bad it did not happen to be located on the Boulevard, for it shows what can be done on the beach with care and work. New houses going up in all parts of town. Otto Berg has a little block of new houses in a row. But the buildings that show up the most are the new stores on the Boulevard. SEASIDE PARK Frank Fay and son spent the week end here and will be among the first with their boats, ready to enjoy the bay. George Cummings and family will soon occupy their handsome new residence at Central avenue and Decatur avenue. The new Reo fire truck, equipped with double chemical, hose and ladder, arrived last Wednesday and the firemen celebrated on that evening with a clam bake, entertaining the officials who delivered the apparatus, and staid over to enjoy it. SILVERTON Everybody out this way was out fighting fire on Tuesday. It was a bad time and for many of the property owners here it lasted till Wednesday at dawn, as they were working all night to save property. It seems a serious matter that the carelessness of some one man can thus endanger so much property, and possibly lives also. Perhaps if the man from whose place a fire started was held strictly accountable for the loss occasioned, there would be fewer fires. WEST CREEK Miss Helen Zagiba is employed out of school hours at Marshall's Ice Cream parlors in Tuckerton. We are instructed that the site of the Hoffman property in the western section of our town has been christened as “West Creek Heights” and the section recently developed on South Main street, beginning from Penn Hill and ending with the Florence property, is designated as “West Terrace.” The builder and land development fever is still rising and everybody teeming with activity. Other enterprises are being discussed which would further enhance the business possibilities of our location. Let's hope a Fire Department will be the next feature created for the safety of our growing town. SPECIAL SECTIONSPECIAL REPRINT FROM THE BEACH HAVEN TIMES BY R.G. COLLINS of BARNEGAT OCEAN TRAMPS There are two kinds of ocean tramps. The kind generally spoken of are the many steamships, which trade from country to country wherever the best freight can be had. They have no special place in view, but like our land “tramp,” they go where the prospects look the brightest. When we speak of ocean tramps, we have in mind the derelict, abandoned, waterlogged and drifting at the mercy of the wind and currents, going where the elements may carry them. These wanderers are a great menace to the mariner as they are generally partly submerged and only the sharp eye of the officer on watch can detect their presence until they are too close to clear them and many a ship has sailed away, lost, and been looked for and given up, and another mystery of the deep added to the long list; and these drifting wrecks have been the cause of their disappearance. Years ago the sea was known as the “trackless deep,” but today it is charted and every part laid down so plain that the trans-Atlantic ships have their regular lanes and seldom deviate from them. The hydrographic office in Washington has a small army of men tracing out the currents the same as a surveyor lines out the highway on shore. The winds, currents, temperatures, depths and obstructions are studied with great care, and from the records thus obtained the ship master is able to lay out his course with a knowledge and precision that could hardly be more accurate than if he were contemplating a trip from New York to Atlantic City over our well kept roads of today. On the wall of the Hydrographic office, hangs a large map of the ocean and with the wireless service today, every derelict or wreck, of every kind is at once reported giving the exact longitude and latitude, and a notation is made on the map. The next report of these same wrecks will show a different position and thus the office can tell how far and what course they have drifted since the last previous report. Some of these reports are of little consequence, some of startling import, and others are filled with romance and mystery. We are reminded that God holds the sea in the hollow of His hand; so do the men in the Hydrographic office have the sea charted that they can see at a glance what the currents and winds are doing with derelicts. The ocean liners all work in cooperation with this office. They keep a log of the weather, giving all the details of the trip and send a report to the office so that the officials can arrange the charts from time to time, until they have a complete knowledge of the sea and its workings. Another great help to this office is the casting overboard of sealed bottles. These bottles contain a printed form in all the different languages so that whatever nationality picks them up they can at once see what they are for, giving the exact latitude and longitude, time, date and re-sealed and cast overboard. When they are found it is duly taken note of and sent to the first American Consul they may reach or sent direct to the Hydrographics office. The purpose of these bottles are to give the course of the currents and tell how far they will drift in any length of time. Many interesting instances have been recorded of the drift of these bottles, some have been recovered after drifting over 4,000 miles and have been in the water for several years. Some have gone straight across the ocean; some have been picked up on our beaches here, while there have been known instances of their being found in shark's stomachs. While there are many of these found, yet thousands are never heard of and may drift for years and then land on some uninhabited part of a coast or on some islands where they become covered up with sand and driftstuff. We had a little experience in casting bottles overboard at sea. In two instances we heard from them and one is in our possession now that was thrown overboard several miles off shore between Barnegat and Montauk Point. It was found on the beach near Egg Harbor after a very very few days drifting. In another instance was within a few miles of Gay Head [Massachusetts] when the bottle was tossed into the sea and in twenty-two days it landed on the beach at Cape Henry, and the finders notified us. These two cases show us there is a southerly current usually running along our coast. The wind has little or no effect on anything floating even with the water as is often thought. Of all the features of the ocean, none appeals more strongly to the fancy and none offers greater and more hidden danger than the hidden derelict. Under no human guidance; at the mercy of the winds and currents which often drive them with considerable speed and mostly in the track of trans-Atlantic ships. For the most part the destruction of these rovers is left to nature, to be eaten with worms until they fall apart, or if near the coast they are destroyed by our Coast Guard cutters. So many of them are so far away that they are left to drift whither they may and damage or destroy whatever comes in their path. The possibility of salvage does not attract the Captains of merchant ships to tow them in for the reason it would make a difference in their insurance as they are cargo carriers and not tow-boats. Often one steamship will tow another when there is a possibility of saving life and property. Several hundred of these floating wrecks are reported yearly. Some are identified and many others are far too destroyed to ascertain their names, so they are reported as an unknown floating wreck in latitude so and so, longitude so and so and left to perhaps be the cause of more wrecks, and then go on its way seeking new victims... Open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays - 10 am to 2 pm
78 East Water Street, Toms River, NJ 08753 Guided Tours By Request - New Members Always Welcome (732) 349-9209 - [email protected] Welcome to another era in Ocean County's past, one century ago this week! Let your mind wander as you consider life around early May 1924, courtesy the New Jersey Courier and Ocean County Review weekly newspapers, from the Ocean County Library archives, and peppered with items of maritime interest (around a 20 minute read). Fred Wagner, 1910 BREVITIES AND EDITORIALS(often written by NJ Courier editor, William H. Fischer, as he sat at his desk above Main Street near Washington Street; it was much like a collection of online social media updates seen today) May. Easterly winds. Showers and wet. Many spring flowers. Flowers and flowers. Children gather violets. Gorgeous array of tulips. Maple leaves are unfolding. Apple blooms are about due. Forest fires near us on Monday. Farmers are plowing extensively. Jury here Wednesday and Thursday. Boatmen are thinking of next summer. Peach, plum, pear and cherry trees in bloom. Grass is high enough for the lawn mower. Hundreds of butterflies were seen on Sunday last. Some folks report whippoorwills calling. April wept as she said goodbye—May smiled her greetings yesterday. Township Clerk Theodore Fischer has painters at work on his Hooper avenue residence. Fruit trees promise of abundant fruit. More chicken houses going up in all the surrounding territory. Jack Irons has improved his store by putting in a new pastry case. Fred Gaskill, the contractor and builder, is driving a new Ford roadster. The oriole arrived on May 1. He sings as cheerily as ever, and dresses as bravely. There are a score or so of new houses now being built about Toms River. Forest fires to the southwest of the town on Monday afternoon, caused somewhat of loss and alarm, and called out the fire department. James D. Holman, of Whitesville, owners of the bogs on Jakes Branch, known as the Aumack bogs, had some men burning off around the bogs that day, and the fire got away from them. It swept in a wide path, but aside from destroying timber, did no other damage. Fire Warden Frank Goodrich had his hands full for awhile. John Grover on Monday attended a meeting of Overland sales agents in New York. On Tuesday, with Bud Tice, he drove two new cars down from the city. The tent caterpillar, which was such a pest last spring, is here again. You can see the web on almost any wild cherry tree or bush and on the young apple trees everywhere in the neighborhood. C.H. Elwell has installed a swell new soda fountain in his Main street store, resplendent in marble and plate glass. Radio sets have not yet caught up with pianos, phonographs or flivers, but they are on their way and going strong. Some poultrymen think the next move in the co-operative line might be a cold storage plant for keeping eggs and poultry meat till the winter months. Daylight saving time went into effect last Sunday morning. Farmers and chicken raisers say that while they set their clocks ahead, the sun didn't change with the clock, and their day is all disarranged. Someone has figured it up that closed cars have at last surpassed touring cars [open top] in the number on the road. Dealers say they sell more closed than open cars. Everybody in this section is figuring on getting to Lakehurst on May 31—the day of the aerial circus. Many herring are caught in nets in the streams. William Seaman and William Gifford are putting up a gas station on the Toms River and Island Heights road near the cranberry bog. Huddy Park will soon be in its summer beauty; paths are being graveled with bright red gravel, which is not commonly used for paths, but is very beautiful alongside of a well kept lawn. S.R. Hankins, of Point Pleasant, has started a fish market at 12 Robbins Street. Charles Thompson has moved his news stand to the ground floor of the Rost building, on Main street, and put in a big window. Metal lath and metal window casing has been arriving this week for the new school house, and that job shows more life again. It is promised by the contractor that it will be ready when school opens next September. Daylight saving time seems to please some folks and not others, but does confuse us all. In these parts the chicken farmer seems to be the one most affected, because of his flock going to roost so late. When James Hever, a Lakewood fan was found lying in the street, dead drunk, his faithful dog kept watch over him and would not allow even the police to touch him. The dog had first to be noosed and dragged away. NATIONAL GRATITUDE Gratitude, in politics, has been defined as a lively hope of favors to come. There seems little difference in international politics. Last September, stricken Japan, could not say enough in thanks for the aid hurried across the Pacific by the United States [the magnitude 7.9 Great Kanto Earthquake on Sept. 1st, 1923 decimated parts of central Japan]. Today Japan is threatening and blustering about what will happen if we make laws to suit ourselves for the government of our own land, instead of making them to suit Japan. To be sure Japan makes her own laws to suit her own citizens, without consulting us—but that seems to be different. However, as the United States is the biggest customer of Japan, it would seem that Japan, not the U.S.A., stood to lose if there were to come that rupture of friendly relations that Japan blusters about... THE ALL-NIGHT HANGOUT The closing of barrooms and the prevalence of the automobile has brought a new problem to the country town—the “all-night hangout.” This is generally either a restaurant, quick-lunch room, or poolroom. In the old days, the courts in granting licenses regulated hours, and the license holder who kept his bar open after midnight stood a chance of losing his license. So far there is no regulation upon the lunch room and the pool room. They have become the meeting place of those inclined to break the law. Bootleggers and rum-runners find them handy in the early morning hours; joyriders, of both sexes, make the lunch room a meeting place. Disorder gathers about them, and the drinkers of hooch or witch hazel have discovered in them a retreat. What's to be done about it? STATE ALONE REGULATES R.R.s. The Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey has recently decided that municipalities cannot regulate the speed of railroad trains through any particular town or city by ordinance... THAT SEEM'S FAIR The Trenton Times makes an eminently fair suggestion regarding the often-talked-of plan to save the seacoast. It urges, that if the general public is called upon for money to protect private property on the beaches, then all the land that makes up on the beachfronts should not, as now, become the property of the individual owner on whose shore the accretions formed, but should become the property of the public. Surely that is fair. HEADLINE NEWSBIG RACING PROGRAM FOR BARNEGAT BAY IN 1924 B.B.Y.R.A. LEAVES OUT GIRLS' RACES FOR 1924 Several changes have been made in the racing schedule of the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association for the coming summer of 1924, the most important of which are leaving off the former series of girls' twenty-foot sneakbox races, and the addition of a second class of catboats, which will take care of heavier craft than the Mary Ann type. At present the only catboats having a chance at all in the regattas are those of very light build, large sail area in fact of the type bordering on the racing machine. There will also, as heretofore, be races in the sloop class, and the sneakboxes will have three classes of their own—20-foot, and Class A and Class B in the 15-foot measurement. There are new rules for the two fifteen foot classes of boxes, as those of 1922 and even those of 1923 did not altogether suit. These rules are being worked out to suit the peculiarities of these races. The new class of what might be termed working catboats also requires a new set of rules. H.B. Atkin formulated the catboat rules, and A.Q. Kean the fifteen foot sneakbox rules. Races featuring the various yacht clubs will be held this year, on the plan of last summer. Each club in the association will be allowed a day for its races. Toms River Yacht Club will again hold its races off Cedar Creek Point, as it did in the [18]70s, 80s and 90s, when it was the only yacht club on the bay, and in fact held the championship of the racing world in the catboat class. An innovation this year will be a cruise to Beach Haven, where a race will be held by the Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club. The entire schedule has not yet been prepared. It is understood that the Philadelphia Record will give the trophies for one race this year. The plans for 1924, so far as the have been developed, were agreed upon at a meeting of the association held last week at the office of Frank Scofield, at the Finance Building, Philadelphia. Gossip of the racing for the coming summer shows that Com. Frank W. Thatcher of Seaside Park, will have a new catboat to compete with Mary Ann and her class. The new boat is being built by Morton Johnson, at Bay Head, from the same model as the Mary Ann. The latter craft has swept the bay for two summers, though last year she had four new competitors. These new boats were just getting to be well understood by their sailing masters at the close of the 1923 racing season, and it is the opinion of a number of the bay yachtsmen that they ought to do better in 1924 than they did in 1923. There are also four new sneakboxes to make their debut this year. Two will fly the blue and white of the Toms River Yacht Club, being built by Edward Crabbe and Franklin Doan, Lyddon Pennock, of Seaside Park, and Orton G. Dale, of Bay Head, who for years sailed the redoubtable Arran, winner of many hard fought races are also building new twenty foot sneakboxes. ISLAND HEIGHTS FACES LOSS OF COMMUTERS P.R.R. ASKS TO ABANDON ISLAND HEIGHTS BRIDGE Making application to the Interstate Commerce Commission, and through that federal body to the State Public Utility Board, the Pennsylvania Railroad system, or, rather, its subsidiary, the Pennsylvania and Atlantic Railroad Company, is asking to be allowed to abandon the Island Heights spur and bridge, running from Pine Beach station, across the river, to Island Heights. This application is no surprise, as it has been in the air for two years past, and prior to that the railroad had been for some time getting ready for the movement. It comes now directly after several conferences between Vice President A.J. County, and other P.R.R. officials, on the one hand, and summer residents at Island Heights, with others interested in the welfare of that resort, on the other hand... The bridge across the river was originally built by the Island Heights Railroad Company, and organization of men interested in developing Island Heights. When built, it was after a long fight in courts, in which it was opposed by Toms River people, on the ground that the bridge would interfere with navigation on the river—as in that day, 1883, there was nothing but sail boats, in use on the river. The railroad won, and the bridge was built, and has since operated. It is understood that the P.R.R. afterward bought up the stock of the Island Heights Railroad Company, having first leased the road for a period of years. The purchase of the road is said to have merged the two properties and to have automatically set aside the lease. Should the road be abandoned, the right of way on West End avenue, Island Heights, may revert to the Island Heights Association, which gave it. The right of way south of the river might also revert to the original owners... NAVY TO PUT OVER BIGGEST FLYING STUNT PLAN ALL SET FOR BIG NAVAL AERIAL CIRCUS Plans are all set for the aerial circus on Saturday, May 31, at the Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, according to reports that come from that station. A lot of novel stunts will be introduced, and the navy will do its utmost to exceed the aerial circus put on last fall at Mineola, Long Island, by the army. The Shenandoah is practically repaired after its sensational runaway flight of last winter and will make its public appearance about May 15. The damaged nose cap has been repaired together with several sections of the envelope. The motors are being reduced from six to five, the engineers having decided that this battery will give all the speed required. The Shenandoah will give an exhibition flight on the day of the circus and will go to the mast early in the day, where it will be on exhibition. Blimp J-1 being assembled by mechanics at the station is expected to be finished in about ten days, material and parts of the blimp having arrived from Hampton Roads the latter part of last week. This non-rigid airship will be 200 feet long, with a 45 foot diameter, carrying two motors in a 35 foot control car, specified to give a fifty-five mile an hour cruising speed. The ship will have a 5000 lbs. lifting capacity. The J-1 will be in several stunts in the circus. Lieutenant Al Williams, U.S. Navy, the world champion speed flyer, with a record of 268 miles per hour and Lieutenant David Rittenhouse, U.S. Navy, who won the International Seaplane race from England, France and Italy last year, will take part. Other famous pilots will demonstrate their special stunts. Special trains will be run to the hangar from New York, Newark, Jersey City, etc. and from Camden and Atlantic City. The program lasts from 10.30 a.m. To 4.00 p.m. and includes parachute drops from kite balloons, free balloon flights, flights of Shenandoah, a blimp picking up a man without landing, formation flying of five planes, a stunt rolling and side-slipping, in synchronism. Two pilots will stage a “dog fight,” which in aerial parlance, is a sham battle in the air in which the two pilots loop, spin and roll to gain advantageous positions to “strafe” the opponent with machine gun, simulating wartime combat. It is planned to stage a quadruple parachute race; four men jumping off a Martin bomber from a height of 3000 feet, the one reaching the field first to win. Aerial smoke screens, comic hopping balloons, and other events not yet definitely decided on will complete the program. The Station detachment of Marines will furnish the mimic attack on a machine-gun next, assisted by airplanes. A giant lout speaker, which the contractor states, can be heard for three miles will be used to communicate with the Shenandoah while she is in the vicinity of the field. Commander J.H. Klein, Jr., U.S. Navy, the Commanding Officer, states that he expects fully 100,000 visitors to the Station. TOMS RIVER KIWANIS CLUB PRESENTED WITH CHARTER Toms River Kiwanis Club had a gala night on Monday evening last, when it received its charter and became a full fledged club. The charter was presented by Robert J. Rendall, of Jersey City, Governor of the district of New Jersey. The evening was also a Ladies Night, and there were delegations present from numerous Kiwanis Clubs in the state. The affair was in the dining room of the Ocean House [2024 site of 7-11 and closed Chase Bank at Main and Water streets], and about 150 people sat down to the dinner... WEAKFISH IN BARNEGAT BAY Weakfish are in the Bay. The past week Forked River and Waretown fishermen have found them in their nets. Some fine catches have been made, one man claiming that he found over 70 filled in his nets, and another man 80. FLYER, HERO OF WORLD WAR GOES WEST IN PEACE TIME FLIGHT FORMER LAKEHURST FLIER KILLED IN CHICAGO CRASH Word was received at the Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, last Friday that “Joe” Green, a former flier at that station, during which time he resided at Beachwood, had been killed on Thursday, April 24, while flying. The story is that Green and another flier H.R. Cruickshank were trying out a plane, and for some unknown reason it was disabled, so that they fell from a height of 1,000 or 1,500 feet, striking a tree in the fall to the earth. Joseph H. Green was born in Norfolk, Va., in 1887. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1904, serving on the U.S.S. Maryland under Admiral Moffett. At the outbreak of the World War he was sent to France with the first Air Detachment, serving on various fronts. He was later transferred to Italy and served with the American forces on the Austrian front until the close of the war. He took part in bombing raids on Austrian Naval bases at Pola and Trieste and was decorated with the Italian Croix de Guerre for conspicuous service in those raids. While serving on the Austrian front he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. During this time he was shot down in combat with Austrian aeroplanes sustaining injuries which kept him out of active service for three months. At the close of the war he returned to the United States and was placed in command of the Naval Air Station at Dalgren, Virginia. He was later transferred tot eh Naval Aircraft factory, Philadelphia, Pa., as Chief Test Pilot. In August 1922, he was transferred to the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst and served on the U.S.S. Shenandoah as Elevator Pilot. In January 1924, he was transferred to the Great Lakes to train Naval Reserve aviators, and met his death while engaged in this duty. He would have retired from the United States Navy in December 1925, with twenty years' service. His body was brought from Chicago to Washington, D.C. where it was met by six of his brother officers from Lakehurst and escorted to its last resting place in Arlington Cemetery. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Jane Green. He was piloting a sea plane and was attempting to land it on the ground as the engine had stopped and he could not get back to the water. As he neared the ground an automobile was in his way, and it was thought that to avoid hitting it he tried to glide over a clump of trees, but crashed into them. He was in war time rated as a Lieutenant and was a flier of exceptional skill and daring, according to his friends. After the war, because of his physical condition resulting from gas, he was offered retirement as a lieutenant, but preferred to stay in the service and take his demotion to chief petty officer, as the result of cutting down the number of men in the navy. While living at Beachwood Green built himself a home there, which he sold when he was transferred from Lakehurst to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, near Chicago, where he met his death. Green was well liked in this neighborhood. He was said to be an enthusiast about flying, and wanted to be up in the air every minute possible. His friends also say that his lungs were badly affected by gas, the trouble being aggravated by his work in the air. While here he became a member of Harmony Lodge, F. and A.M. TRACO THEATRE WILL HAVE STAGE TO COST $30,000 [$550K in 2024 Dollars] The Traco Theatre Company has arranged for the construction of a stage, the addition to cost about $30,000, when fully equipped with the electric outfit, flies, drops, scenes, etc. The stage will be built this summer, in fact is promised in 72 working days. The Old Union Construction Co., of Elizabeth, which is building the public school were awarded the contract for the general building; Finley and Wainwright, for electrical work; E.A. Smith, for plumbing and heating. The company is issuing preferred stock to pay for the addition. Holders of this preferred stock on May one received the eighth semi-annual dividend at the rate of seven per cent yearly. SUNSHINE INVESTORS PAID BACK ONE-HALF BY LAKE Simon Lake, a former Toms River school boy, now of Milford, Conn., inventor and developer of the submarine, has paid back one-half of their investment to twenty-six people who had invested money in the Sunshine Homes and Concrete Products Company. He offers to give them the other fifty per cent in bonds against his own property. The Sunshine Homes Company seems to have been a case of an inventor being fleeced, along with investors, by the poor management of the promoters. The Sunshine Company agreed to make model homes of poured concrete at lesser cost than the ordinary house costs to build. Some thirty-one people put up money for these homes and did not get them. Twenty-six of these were paid one-half their claims amounting to about $15,000 in cash by Lake personally. Mr. Lake said he intended to pay all creditors and claims against the company, and reorganize it, as he was the largest creditor. But all the rest of the creditors were to be paid first. Lake lived at Toms River in the eighties, and attended the village high school, as a boy of sixteen or seventeen. His father at that time had an iron foundry on Jakes Branch, south of the P.R.R., making specialties, including window shade fixtures. TUCKERTON BOYS RUN WELL Tuckerton high school relay ream won second place in their race at the annual sports of the University of Pennsylvania, last Saturday, April 26. High school, prep school and college teams from all over the country compete in these sports. In the running mile relays, four men take part. Tuckerton was beaten by Walter Read school, and in turn defeated Allegheny high, and Cranford. PT. PLEASANT MAN TOLD COURT HOW TO MAKE HOOCH Secrets of prohibition, the manufacture and sale of bootleg whiskey, termed as “stuff you buy over the bar,” were unfolded one day recently in the Newark chancery court by Louis Brown, special officer at Point Pleasant, and a self-confessed bootlegger. Brown told how he had mixed liquors, transported them, turned alcohol into “whiskey” upon request, and went into the minute details of the “game” which is making America's latest crop of millionaires. “We took denatured alcohol and reduced it to grain alcohol with a certain acid and sold it. This was accomplished through phospherence acid strained through a felt hat and tested with litmus paper. The ammonia was syphoned off and the alcohol put in five gallon cans, four of spirits and one of water. A little caramel and the stuff was ready for bottling.” Brown declared he had also bought liquor at the docks for $30 a case, delivering it to cafes all over the city and receiving from $60 to $85 per case. He admitted delivering about 3,000 cases in Newark alone. He also told of “cutting” rye, but declared that the Scotch was delivered as received from the boats. The disclosures were made by Brown while testifying before Vice Chancellor Backes in a suit instituted by Mrs. Mae Klein, of 690 South Nineteenth street against her husband Harry for separate support. She contends that Klein is a prosperous bootlegger worth more than $100,000 [$1.8 million in 2024 dollars]. TOMS RIVER 29, BARNEGAT 4, IN FOUR AND A HALF INNINGS It would have been some score if it had been played the same style for the whole nine innings, when Toms River played Barnegat on a wet field and more or less rain, last Tuesday, April 29. As it was there was hardly room on the score book, as Toms River pounded out the ball all over Gulick field and brought in 29 runs in four and a half innings, to four for Barnegat. FLOUNDER FISHING GETS 'EM Flounder fishing seems to be getting the saltwater fishermen who can't wait for the weakfish, croaker and channel bass. They must wet their lines in salt water, and so they come to Barnegat Bay and hoist in the small winter flounders by the dozen or score. The Newark Call of Sunday says: Barnegat fishing parties seem to be well satisfied with their catches of flounders. Some of the best catches last week were reported from Island Heights, Forked River, Waretown with over 100 pounds in a bag, and Sam Dirkes of Roseville left Barnegat with all the fish he cared to handle on the train. One motor party from the Oranges went out from Forked River and fished the channel for the larger flounders, catching forty-eight and three eels... P.R.R. USES TRUCKS TO DISTRIBUTE ITS FREIGHT The Pennsylvania Railroad has become a convert to the theory that freight can be better distributed, on short hauls, by truck than by rail. There is now a freight service in this locality, by which trucks take the place of the railroad. Freight for Pine Beach, Beachwood, Ocean Gate and Island Heights are now taken from the cars at Toms River freight station and trucked to the freight stations in these towns. Freight from points between Seaside Park and Bay Head Junction is handled the same way from Seaside Park. A big five-ton White truck is used. It is said that this allows one freight train to cover this territory, where formerly two relief freights were run from Camden... BUYERS AND SPECTATORS CROWD GOULD AUCTION Lakewood, April 29.—Many noted collectors and buyers attended the opening of the auction sale of furnishings and valuable art treasures at Georgian Court, home of the late Geo. Jay Gould, here yesterday. Over 3,000 spectators and buyers gathered in and about the reception hall of the Gould residence where rich tapestries, furniture and art objects were being put under the hammer. The sale will be continued today and tomorrow to dispose of the Gould personal property which will make way for the establishment in September of the Plainfield girls' school, St. Mary's college which purchased the building and 200 acre property in March. CAR HIT AT R.R. CROSSING Another car was smashed up at Larrabee's Crossing, near Lakewood, the scene of numerous fatal accidents, on April 18. The car got its wheel caught between the steel rail and the plank roadbed between the rails, and its occupants, three women from Philadelphia, just got out as a train came along and struck the car... FATE OF ALLEGED BOOTLEGGER IN COURT'S HANDS The fate of Frank Falkinburg, notorious in all the northeastern part of the county for the number of times his name has been associated with bootlegging, is now in the hands of Judge Newman. The Judge has set the precedent and made the statement on a number of occasions that a jail sentence awaits the man twice convicted before him of violating the liquor laws, and Falkinburg is in court on his second indictment. He escaped on the first with a fine of $100 [approx. $1,826 in 2024 dollars], and has had so many other narrow escapes, that people are wondering whether or not he bears a charmed life and will get off this time? Falkinburg's record goes back to the days of the VanNess act, when he was arrested and held. The ruling of Supreme Court Justice Kalisch, that the VanNess act had been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, and that all the allegations under it were dismissed, saved Falkinburg that time... Not a great while after this escape, Falkinburg's garage and home, at Point Pleasant, where he is agent for the Studebaker car, were searched by federal agents, and he was indicted in the federal courts. It is stated that luck stood by him there, and he escaped conviction. Falkinburg within the past year has been four times connected up in some way with the bootlegging game. He was picked up in a car with a “cargo” of booze, but Leonard Furman, of Point Pleasant, took the responsibility saying that the car was his and the booze was his... PASSENGER TRAFFIC BY AIR IS CAPT. HEINEN'S PREDICTION Captain Anton Heinen, of Toms River, German Zeppelin expert, is authority for the prediction that the United States will soon have lighter than air, or Zeppelin, ships flying from place to place, carrying passengers. Capt. Heinen was the expert who helped build the big aircraft Shenandoah, for the U.S. Navy. He has now given up his connection with the navy, and has gone with Aircraft Construction-Transportation Corporation, which also controls the Connecticut Aircraft Company, the latter company for twelve years past supplying the U.S. Government with ligher than air balloons of various types, including the small zeppelins that patrolled the coast during the war. Capt. Heinen says that it is possible to run airships on schedule, and that for months he made daily trips in the Bodensee, between north and south Germany, carrying passengers, and of the more than one million passengers carried on these trips, not one got so much as a scratch. The first plan is to build an airship at the cost of $1,250,000, to fly between New York and Cape May. This would require a mooring mast at each end of the route, and the corporation hopes to buy a Naval hangar at Cape May also. These mooring masts would cost $100,000 each. The airship would have one million cubic feet of gas capacity; 1200 horsepower engine development, and would carry twenty-five passengers beside her crew. After this ship was proven to be a success, another ship to sail between New York and Cuba would be on the program, followed by a passenger service between New York and South America, as well as New York and various parts of the United States. One of the methods of deriving profit from this aircraft service would be to paint huge advertising signs on the sides and bottom of the ship, and fly low over the cities, charging a high price for the advertisements, as the “smoke-writers” do. Capt. Heinen has figured that the build the one airship and maintain it a year on the route between Cape May and New York would cost $2,000,000 for the construction of ship masts, equipment, etc. and $1,300,000 for the year's maintenance. ARMY ENGINEERS MAKE PLANS TO SAVE LIGHTHOUSE Assistant light keeper Andrew Applegate, of Barnegat lighthouse, was at Toms River, his home, on Wednesday of this week. He said that the army engineers completed their surveys at the lighthouse last week and had gone away. The lighthouse suffered no damage during winter and spring storms. LAVALLETTE NEEDS WATER; WILL COST ABOUT $87,000 [$1.6 MILLION IN 2024 DOLLARS] The Borough of Lavallette, one of the flourishing resorts on Squan Beach, has reached the stage of development where a water supply is now necessary as a health measure. The town is getting so thickly built up that water from shallow wells in the beach sand are no longer safe from a sanitary standpoint. For a year or more the progressive Borough Council, headed by Mayor Enoch T. VanCamp, have been working on the water problem. The tangible results of their work are now seen in an estimate prepared by Haines and Sleeper, engineers, of Camden. This estimate shows a probable total cost of $86,632.61. It calls for an artesian well, 700 feet deep, to supply pure water. A large standpipe, for reservoir purposes, is also provided. Over five miles of pipe would be laid, most of it eight, six and four inch mains, though there would be about 600 feet of ten inch main from the pump to the standpipe... Lavallette has been growing rapidly in the past few years. Its location, with a fine harbor on the bay shore, its wide streets, its boardwalk, and its yacht club, as well as a good bathing beach, combined with moderate priced lands for building, have altogether made it a remarkably attractive place for the city dweller in moderate circumstances. Consequently the resort has grown rapidly, and the new houses built in the last two years would number about one hundred. Through the efforts of Mayor VanCamp, aided heartily and loyally by progressive councilmen, the town has secured electric lights, has graded new streets, curbed them, put in sidewalks, and has an efficient fire department. RECOMMEND CONNOLLY FOR OUTDOOR JOB AT PRISON Owing to the fact that Norman Robert Connolly, who is doing from 20 to 30 years for murder, at Trenton prison, has a tendency to tuberculosis, Sheriff Holman has recommended to the prison authorities that he be given if possible, an outdoor job. Connolly was gassed while in France, and since then it has been thought by medical officers in the Marine Corps that he had tubercular tendencies, and he had been under observation. Connolly, while drunk, last January, shot and killed John Otto Eaton, another Marine, located at the Naval Air Station, Lakehurst. Sheriff Holman gave Connolly a good name to the state prison authorities, as having been a model prisoner while at the county jail. PERSONAL Edward Grant, son of Thomas I. Grant, is on his way east, making the trip by auto from Los Angeles, Calif., to Florida. Ed was heard from this week, when he wrote from towns in Louisiana and Mississippi. Last fall he and Teddy Page motored from Toms River to Oregon, and then down the Pacific coast. Ira E. Whyte, district passenger agent of the Central Railroad, was in Toms River on Friday last, from Asbury Park, arranging for the trip to Washington, D.C., of the class of 1924, Toms River High School. The graduating classes of Lakewood and Barnegat high schools will also take this trip. Mrs. Robert Lomax, Willard and Herbert Todd recently returned from a trip to Wyoming, where they went to see Edmund Todd. The latter has the pioneer spirit and they found him preparing to move 200 miles further back into the wilds, and planning to carve out a place for himself. Mrs. Lomax, who has been ill, is now somewhat better. William A. Simpson, father of Miss Harriet Simpson of this place, is likely to lose the place he has had at Amatol, since the war times, as superintendent of that big plant, as the government has advertised the buildings there for sale at auction. Mr. Simpson as a boy lived at Island Heights, Beach Haven, Whitings and Manahawkin, and is well known in this county. FISH AND GAME The best deer story so far was not told in Grover's store—but in Fischer's barber shop. It was that Nat Austin, at Dover, recently counted 32 deer in one view, near his home. Deer are plentiful just now in all the section to the southwest of Toms River, and are frequently seen in early morning or late evening along the main roads. One man swears he counted seven going across the road between Toms River and Lakehurst, on a recent morning. Forest fires are hard on deer, rabbits, foxes and all wild game. Fire fighters have many yarns to spin about deer and foxes more particularly. A young buck deer became entangled in some wire fence at Hedger Place, down in the pines last week, and when discovered it had broken one leg in its endeavors to get free. Game Wardens Mathis and Graham were notified and relieved the deer's distress by killing it and afterward presented its carcass to Sheriq Fleetwood for the prisoners at the jail. The latter were not long removing its hide and then enjoyed the thoughtfulness of the wardens hugely. TOWN LIFEBeachwood Train Depot c. 1950s courtesy BeachwoodHistory.com BARNEGAT Is our country becoming a lawless nation, desecrating the Sabbath, disregarding our laws of all kinds, rum-running upheld by some of our nation's biggest men? What class of people is it that are our greatest lawbreakers, are they American citizens? They are not, nor never will be. They didn't come over here for that purpose, but to spread an unrest all over our land and we are just easy enough to allow it. What does it matter what the country is coming to? If we watch the doings of our representatives in Washington, it would seem that the whole world is forgotten while they scandalize, muck-rake, accuse each other of lying and stealing and everything else that can be thought of in the political world. How they swell up with pride and boast of their integrity and honor. Put it all on the other fellow, but don't think of anything I have done, for if you do, it will be a damnable frame-up. What must other nations think of this great body of men who are spending their time disgracing the country and scandalizing each other? They seem to have lost their own honor for themselves and the whole country. They are drawing big salaries to make a laughing stock of the country in the eyes of the whole world... Charles Hutchinson has sold his property on South Main street and expects to build a home on North Main street, where he has bought a lot. Harry Biedeman, who has been very sick for a long time, is able to go out, and will take his position back at the schoolhouse. His wife and son will assist him in his work. Mr. Barrett has his six-car garage finished at the Barnegat hotel. BEACH HAVEN Borough Council has adopted daylight saving time for the town and everybody here is now living by it. Harry Cook of Boston made the trip here on Sunday and will make a visit with his sister, Mrs. Charles Cramer. Mr. Cook left Boston on his motorcycle leaving about eleven A.M. and reached Beach Haven at six p.m. The Gun Club cottage is being improved by a coat of paint. Commander S.C. Loveland, of the Beach Haven Yacht Club, spent the week end here with his family, motoring from their home in Hammonton. From what we can see about town the line of new homes, there seems to be a big demand for a certain style house. We learned that these are built by J. Willitts Berry. Mrs. Amelia Goode of Philadelphia is the latest builder to adopt this style—“Berry-Built,” so to speak. This one is to be erected on Chatsworth avenue. And this street is starting to build up. Contractor Firman H. Cranmer has the contract to build another house for a Mrs. Johnson, of Philadelphia, next to the Goode house. Mrs. Soper, one of the teachers in the local school appeared before the [School] Board in person, and asked that the board consider raising her salary for next year. Mrs. Soper now receives about $1150 per year [$20,761 in 2024 dollars]. With the work she has handled this year, she believes that she is entitled to an increase. It was brought out that Miss Salmons, principal at the school receives $1,500 [$27.080 in 2024 dollars]. BEACHWOOD Mr. and Mrs. Gamp, of Bronx, New York, are now at Beachwood and will make their permanent home here. Jack Nolze has sold his house and four lots on Atlantic City boulevard. Mrs. Scoble, one of the pioneers of Beachwood, died recently at her home in New York. The many friends in Beachwood of Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Green, who formerly resided here in the pretty house they built on the corner of Lookout and Forepeak, and which they sold to Mr. Wm. H. Knowles of Elizabeth, when Mr. Green was transferred to the Great Lakes Naval Air Station, were shocked to learn of the fatal accident which befell him and a comrade on Wednesday, April 23, when a seaplane in which they were flying, crashed to earth from a height of 1500 feet. His remains were interred at Arlington cemetery, Virginia, on Saturday. Miss Alice Patch has sold her bungalow on Ensign avenue, near Locker street, to William H. Addayson, of Newark. Miss Patch is going to California. Nelson Palmer will open a garage near Los Angeles. John J. Nolze is to build the Armstrong house on the corner of Compass avenue and Harpoon street. He is building a garage for Mrs. Walters on Capstan avenue, near Larboard street. CASSVILLE [section of Jackson Township] A baby girl was born to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Cottrell last week. Mr. and Mrs. Cottrell are the parents of seventeen children, eleven of whom are living. FORKED RIVER Harold Tilton has resumed his old job on the C.R.R., at Long Branch. Watson Penn reports that on April 26 he caught his first weakfish in his nets, and that the bay is full of shrimp which is dainty feed for weakfish. Frank Penn also reports catching weakfish in his nets Tuesday morning. Some of these catches have been unusually large for the first run of weakfish. Taylor, the garage man, has added two new stores at his garage, on the state highway. The two year old child of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Taylor was taken to a Philadelphia hospital. The child got a peanut shell lodged in its throat, which required surgical aid to remove. Capt. Joe Smires and family spent Sunday in Keyport, with Mrs Smires' sister, Mrs. Samuel Smith. Capt. Joe is overhauling Capt. George Woolley's party boat, and also building a new cabin on the craft. Randolph Phillips has a lot of garden stuff in the ground—and the lima beans will be on time. He has been gathering rhubarb. Lots of peach and pear bloom. We hope for lots of fruit. Capt. Joe Barkalow recently took out a party of city sportsmen after flounders. They caught 232. Lewis Barkalow, with another party, caught 103. Several more parties have been out, and all brought back good catches. David Chamberlain will be back home for the summer, and will sail parties, after being away for the winter. [Barnegat Lighthouse] Keeper and Mrs. Nelson Rogers of Beach Haven, spent Wednesday with Mr. and Mrs. Randolph Phillips. Raymond Penn, Ernest Thomas, and other coastguards, have been home occasionally for liberty days. Sunday was the first big day of the fishing season, many parties motoring to go out on the bay. Mrs. Shotwell E. Frazee recently sat a hen on 15 blackduck eggs, and hatched out fifteen ducklings. E.H. Clayton and his son Buddy returned to Woodhaven, L.I. after a visit with Mr. and Mrs. E.A. Gerdy. Buddy thinks there is no place like Forked River. ISLAND HEIGHTS Hon. J. Hampton and Mrs. Moore have been spending a few days at their handsome home on the West End. They have just returned from an extended trip through South America, accounts of which all Philadelphia Record readers have enjoyed from the pen of Mr. Moore himself. The movie entertainment was all to the good last Saturday night. Dr. J. Schnair and Mr. Hierholzer furnished the music. Another good one is promised for this coming Saturday night. Mr. S.E. Leming has moved his real estate office to the Bogert Building and Mrs. S.J. Harris has changed her Little Wool Shop to the store just vacated by Mr. Leming. The Rev. and Mrs. Alfonso Dare of Atlantic City are at their cottage, “Hollywood Lodge,” where he is having considerable work done. Mr. Fred Lembreyer is making rapid headway with his new house and store in Windsor Park. LAKEHURST A.W. Carr tells a yarn that takes the bun. It seems that Thursday morning of last week, he went into his chicken house and found two hens on nests. His first thought was that they wanted to set; he lifted up one hen and found in the nest, an egg and one small kitten; he then lifted up the other hen and found and egg and another small kitten. At noon when he went home he found one of the hens covering the mother cat and the two kittens. Al says this beats all the yarns told in “Grover's store.” [Grover's was a general store in downtown Toms River where locals often stopped to talk and gossip] OCEAN GATE A meeting of the trustees and the building committee of the new M.E. Church was held at the church on Friday evening last. The erecting of the foundation for the new church, at the corner of Asbury and Bayview avenues was given to Harry Staples, who will start this work within the next week. H.D. Black was on hand with a sketch he had made of the new church, although the building has not been given out as yet. The present plan is to have the church in readiness for this summers use and the Sunday-school portion will be added later. From the plans shown this will be one of the best looking churches along the shore when completed. The Ocean Gate A.A. [Athletic Association] opened their session at Roxborough last Saturday, with a defeat, losing to the Roxborough by a score of 12 to 4. They are now booking games for this season at the home grounds, season to open May 31 until Labor Day, and are anxious to hear from such teams as Lakehurst, Forked River, and other semi-professional teams. Mayor Newlin was a recent Phila. visitor. Reports say the Castor House, at the corner of Lakewood and Wildwood avenues, was sold last week to Mrs. Charles Godwin of Philadelphia. PERSHING [section of Toms River] The whippoorwills were heard on Sunday night, April 27. The thrush has returned for the summer and also the chimney dicks. PINE BEACH The spring air and weather makes many people come to Pine Beach over the week ends and holidays. Mrs. Halligan will open a boarding house, formerly the Mitchel property, at Pine Beach, on Memorial Day, with first-class accommodations for visitors. A new house is being erected opposite Miss Mulrenan's new place on Cedar avenue. POINT PLEASANT A recent flurry of wind blew over a barn on the Joseph Fleming place, at Point Pleasant. Some children and a pony were in the barn, which was lifted up in the air, and dropped 25 feet away, according to the story told. None was hurt. Arthur Brisbane, editorial writer for the Hearst publications, has asked the state for riparian grants on three ocean front tracts and two tracts fronting on Manasquan river. The ocean frontage totals 767 feet and the river frontage aggregates 1635 feet. $650 has been raised for a war memorial at Point Pleasant Beach [$11,735 in 2024 dollars]. SEASIDE PARK Ralph Marks has gone down to Ship Bottom to cook for the Ship Bottom Pound Fisheries. Wickham's drug store is open with Mr. Andrew Wickham in charge. The Colonial Theatre expects to open on Saturday evening, May 3. Shows will be given on Saturday only until further notice. TUCKERTON The sum of $250 awarded the Southern Ocean Co. Poultry Association from the New Jersey State Poultry exhibition funds for the second annual show held during February was paid to the successful exhibitors a few days ago by C.R. Cox, Secretary of the Association... It is very gratifying to note that the State has so generously recognized the efforts of the poultrymen of this section. The Southern Ocean Co. Poultry Association, during the two years of its existence, has conducted two successful shows, over forty educational lectures on poultry, ten poultry culling demonstrations, and by their continuous campaign for the improvement of the industry, they are largely responsible for placing Southern Ocean Co. on the map of Poultrydom. Duane Mott, the nine year old son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Milton Mott, was quite seriously injured on Saturday, when he slipped and fell against the engine of his father's boat when they were coming up the creek. He sustained injuries about his head and arms and also a broken leg. The little fellow is under the care of Dr. J.L. Lane and at this writing is said to be getting along very nicely. There was a lengthy discussion about setting the clocks ahead, and since public opinion seemed adverse to this the matter was dropped and the Council took no action. The ball tossers representing Tuckerton High lost two close games during the Easter holidays, losing at Lakewood on Saturday 12-10, and by Point Pleasant Beach, 10-9. The game at Lakewood was a good one, though both pitchers were hit hard and several misplays were made. The wireless boys tied the score after an uphill fight, in the seventh and the score stood 8-8. With victory in their hands they withered and Lakewood scored four runs in the last two innings. The down shore crowd made another brave attempt in the ninth when they shoved two tallies over the pan. But that was all and Lakewood won. The game with Point Pleasant Beach on Monday was a sloppy affair. Loose fielding, poor twirling and heavy hitting were features on both sides. The beach crowd got wise to Sprague's slants and slammed out no less than fourteen safe bingles. These, with five bases on balls and five hit by pitched balls were enough to win any ordinary ball game. Tuckerton got its share of hits, getting thirteen, which drove the northern slabmen to the showers. Poor base running cost Tuckerton the game, for with several chances to score they failed to take advantage of the situation and were left stranded. On Friday the Tuckerton boys will travel to Barnegat and there cross bats with the Lighthouse crowd. Assistant Manager, Walter Atkinson, of Tuckerton expects his boys to come out of their slump and take Barnegat's number. A big crowd is expected at this game. WEST CREEK Quite a little excitement in town on Friday morning when some of our people arose from their slumbers by finding they had unwelcome guests during the previous night. E.P. Brown and Mr. Wanser of Division street, Mrs. H. Gaskill of Thomas avenue, the railroad station and schoolhouse, were surprised to find their doors and windows open and ground floors in disorder. Evidently the intruder wanted nothing but money and they got very little of that. State police are on the job and we hope the culprit will soon be apprehended. Open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays - 10 am to 2 pm
78 East Water Street, Toms River, NJ 08753 Guided Tours By Request - New Members Always Welcome (732) 349-9209 - [email protected]
Enjoy this 1921 piece by Seaside Park Yacht Club member, William Shewell Ellis, a known photographer and sailor who first had this published in the August 1921 issue of Yachting. It was later reproduced in full by the New Jersey Courier, Toms River's weekly newspaper.
There is a stretch of inland waterway on the New Jersey coast, starting from Bay Head and extending through the most varied and picturesque sailing waters over a distance of 100 miles to Cape May, that is but little known to the average cruising yachtsmen, unless he is lucky enough to have summered down those waters.
An indescribable charm pervades these waterways. While summer colonies are becoming more and more numerous, yet the larger part of this stretch of beach that separates the bay from the ocean is as wild and rugged as in the days of Captain Kidd. It is an ideal cruising ground for a boat, either power or sail, drawing not over four feet. The government has completed a well-marked channel of six feet depth and is dredging a canal through from Bay Head to Point Pleasant, which will give an outlet into the Manasquan River and open Manasquan Inlet for the use of pleasure and fishing boats. At the present time, boats can get into the bay from the ocean through Barnegat Inlet. In their delightful story called Cruises, Robert and George Barrie pay a just tribute to these waters: “If the Englishman had Barnegat,” they say, “he would have painted it, and written books about it, and gloated over it as he has the Norfolk Broads. But in our great wealth of cruising grounds, it is almost entirely overlooked.” As a small boy, I was initiated by my father into this greatest of “Fraternal Orders,” cruising, my first cruise being in a sneak-box which leaked so badly that I woke in the night soaked to the skin—but little did that matter out in that great bay with the sky full of stars, where I could dream dreams. I could almost see those ships of Captain Kidd coming over the bar at Barnegat and sailing up old Toms River. Even to this day, it is held that some of Kidd's loot is buried on Money Island. If one starts his crews at Bay Head, at the north end of Barnegat Bay, he will find good stores to supply his needs and excellent water to fill his tanks, while at the Bay Head Yacht Club every courtesy will be extended to him. This is the logical place to start from if coming from the northward. My cruising on the bay is done in the Savola, a 40-foot yawl with auxiliary engine, drawing four feet of water. This is the easiest type of one-man boat, on my crew usually consisting of “Snooks,” who is not only a good Frau but a splendid cook, and “Babs,” who has had her first year at college. With a small sailing dory which we tow when under way, we explore the narrow winding creeks and coves which make the shores of the bay so attractive. A pleasant day can be spent sailing up the Metedeconk River. As the river is quite shallow, it is necessary to navigate most of the way in the dory. Well-kept farms run down to the river banks. Milk and fresh vegetables are always available at most moderate prices. We were caught there without food one holiday when stores were closed. I found a farmer enjoying a siesta in a hammock, and when he heard our plight, he obligingly supplied us out of his truck garden and hen house. Following the coast channel down through the drawbridge at Mantoloking, the bay gradually widens into a fine expanse of sailing water. Summer colonies are spread along the narrow stretch of beach—Chadwicks, Lavallette, Ortley and Seaside Park. Before the War of 1812, Old Cranberry Inlet penetrated this beach somewhere between Seaside Park and Ortley. A great deal of shipping then came into the inlet and sailed up to the town of Toms River, using the northern course around Island Heights, which is now almost entirely dry. This inlet also made a good anchorage and afforded a safe harbor for American privateers on the lookout for British ships during the Revolution. In one of the old histories of the Jersey coast we find that when cranberry inlet closed, Michael Ortley attempted to cut a new inlet near the head of Barnegat Bay. This work had no sooner been completed than a storm came and closed it again. After leaving Mantoloking the channel lies toward the west shore. The green meadow land runs back to the pine woods; Kettle Creek and Mosquito Cove are quite wild. During the autumn and winter, this is a favorite feeding ground for black duck, and there is splendid crabbing in the summer. Passing through a jack-knife drawbridge one comes to the mouth of Toms River. With five to eight feet of water you can sail from shore to shore, avoiding Long Point, a narrow sandbar jutting out just before you come into view of Island Heights. This is an ideal harbor and is a delightful place to spend as much time as one can spare. The Island Heights Yacht Club always has a hearty welcome and there are good stores in the village. If you are fortunate enough to be there on race day, you will also see some good racing. Sailing on up through the drawbridge, there is plenty of water into what is called the “town dock” of Toms River, one of the most delightful old towns in this part of the country. In the days before the inlet at Berkeley was closed, large sailing craft came into this port with shipments of coal and other merchandise. This is what is known as the Jersey Health Belt, and many of the houses are occupied both winter and summer. Following the channel on the west shore, you pass through Barnegat drawbridge, keeping well to the main shore. If you want a quiet harbor for lunch or a swim, run into Cedar Creek. It is an easy sail from here to Barnegat Inlet, where a harbor for the night can be made in back of Sedge Island. One may anchor a few hundred yards from the sand dunes and old gnarled cedars, which separate the bay and the Atlantic Ocean, and can hear the break of the surf and see faithful old Barnegat Light flashing its rays many miles out to sea. Before it is too dark, go over on the sand flats in hip boots, or,better still, no boots at all, dig a pailful of soft clams, and steam them for supper with fried fish and bacon. The next day, take an early mornings swim, breakfast, and then go for a few hours fishing in the Inlet—weakfish, bluefish and bass are abundant here in season and you will usually get good sport. The Coast Guards here are always glad to see you, and a finer type of men it is hard to find. In one way they are different from most men one meets—for they are happy when you are in trouble, for then they can be of service to you. Just get caught in the Inlet in a heavy sea, and have your dory come aboard over your stern on a following wave and smash your jigger mast to bits, as happened to us last summer! Before we had dropped anchor in the inner harbor, the Guards were alongside in their big powerboat, ready to render aid. And if you want to read thrillers, don't buy fiction, but just get a copy of the Annual Report of the U.S. Coast Guard Service issued by the government. If you want an exciting sail, run out of Barnegat Inlet at flood tide. The black buoys mark the way over the bar. There is always a sea running on the bar and you are pretty nearly sure of picking up a bluefish or two on the way, if you troll with a squid. Sailing back again toward the mainland, the hotel at Waretown will soon be picked up. In the “good old days” before the 18th Amendment, this was the starting point for many a fishing party when fishing was not the sole object in view. But this is now but a memory, and, bidding farewell to this good old landmark, we steer a zig-zag course for Harvey Cedars. This is a good place to spend the night, especially if one is acquainted with any of the big political guns who have a most delightful clubhouse at this point. On leaving Harvey Cedars, follow a narrow, well-marked channel through what is known as “the Bonnet.” The channel passes through two drawbridges and soon enters Little Egg Harbor Bay. Beach Haven is a well-known summer resort, and the surrounding waters are well filled with fish and crabs. Clams or soft crabs are used for bait and can be bought from baitmen on the fishing grounds. A sail almost directly across the Bay will bring you to the mouth of the Tuckerton Creek. This is a very deep channel cut through the meadows and leads to the wharf of the old town at Tuckerton. This town is much like Gloucester and the fishing villages of Cape Cod. Enjoyed this article? Please consider making a one-time or recurring donation today!
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Open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays - 10 am to 2 pm
78 East Water Street, Toms River, NJ 08753 Guided Tours By Request - New Members Always Welcome (732) 349-9209 - [email protected] The following was penned by the unsigned town writer of Barnegat for the New Jersey Courier in Spring 1922.
During the busy season when we see the many railroad trains bearing thousands of pleasure-seekers from distant parts of the country to our beaches, the highways thronged with automobiles, all seeking rest or recreation at the many resorts scattered along the New Jersey coast, our thoughts revert to the time when this coast was but a barren waste of sand dunes, with occasionally a fisherman's shanty or some old settler who enjoyed the peace and quiet afforded by a home on the beach, where he could get the greater part of his living from the ocean and bay. In those days their wants were few, as they were not bothered by autos nor movies. On Manasquan Beach, about five miles above Cranberry Inlet was Chadwick's, commonly called Shadick's, an old-fashioned building, where many fishermen and gunners found every convenience suitable to their wants in that line. At the inlet was the old Ashley House, kept by John Brown, Charles Martin and Warner Kinsley. This also was a noted resort for lovers of aquatic sports. Here gathered people from New York, Philadelphia, and many other places to seek pleasure, come for a rest from the busy cities, and to gather around the old bar-room stove fed with wreck wood, and renew old acquaintances and swap stories of previous visits to these resorts. At this time Dad Parker was the only person living there except the lighthouse keeper, and now not a vestige remains to mark the spots where the old Ashley House and Dad's house stood. The people are all gone and this generation know of these old places only as they hear the stories related by some of the older people. The next place was what we today know as the “Club House,” opposite Barnegat. Years ago it was known as “Double Jimmie's,” James James being the man who kept this old resort for the same purpose as the other old boarding houses, as they were called at that day, hotels being hardly known along the shore. When Long Branch was in its infancy it was known to seafaring men as “The Tavern House.” Capt. Charles Cox succeeded James, then Joseph K. Ridgway, George Vannote, after which for several years it stood alone and deserted until last year J.B. Kinsey bought and moved it to High Point. When these houses were flourishing beach parties were very fashionable during the summer months. There were not so many classes as there are today, and 25 or 30 young people would make up a party, go to Sammy Perrine's, at Harvey Cedars, take a fiddler along with them (they were not called musicians at that time), stay several days, have a good time, pay the bill and come home, and nothing thought of it. That wouldn't do today. As we ride along the shore roads today we see numerous signs, telling us that certain hotels are noted for shore dinners, composed of roast beef, chicken and perhaps occasionally a fish. These old beach resorts didn't advertise such dinners but they delivered the goods; one thing, especially, you don't often see at our shore palace hotels, baked or boiled sheepshead. We will state for the benefit of the many readers, that sheepshead is a fish that inhabited our bay several years ago, but today is a thing unheard of. Old-fashioned dinners, table groaning with the best that could be had, cooked by old-fashioned people who knew just how to make everything appetizing. They didn't have one of Mrs. Rorer's cook books nor the pure food laws that govern them. The sea nymph of that time did not appear with a one-piece bathing suit. They couldn't drive over in a car, take a dip and be home in a few minutes, neither could they slip across the bay in a power boat, very few yachts were in vogue, but a class of old-fashioned craft called “sail boats,” built on the skiff order. Further down the bay was Sammy Perrine's, at Harvey Cedars; this was afterwards kept by Joel Horner, Warner Kinsey, Charles Martin, Charles Bennett, James Hazelton, Isaac Jennings and Dave White, after which it was rebuilt by Billy Thompson, known as “Duke of Gloucester,” but since being rebuilt proved a failure. Here in olden times was the headquarters for the beach parties as there was a large building just to the south of the old hotel, known as the dance house, with an elevated platform in the south end for the fiddler (now orchestra). The original hotel burned down several years ago, but was rebuilt and the present one is built around the newer one. This was one of the best resorts for gunning parties along the shore. It was here the first life saving station was built, the crew being volunteers, under the captaincy of Sammy Perrine, there being no paid crews until about 1871. The next place, further down, was the old “Mansion of Health,” a well-known resort for sportsmen and pleasure-seekers. The came from the cities and West Jersey towns in wagons to Manahawkin, some of them stopping at the “Old Ferry House.” The Old Mansion, as it was commonly called, stood at the south end of Great Swamp, now Surf City. At that time there was quite a big swamp there where ship timber was cut and there were also fields of grain. Today hardly a sign of the swamp remains except a few stumps along the sand hills that have made up the past half century. There were a few families living there years ago whose chief occupation was whaling. We have one of the old harpoons used at that time by Aaron Inman, one of the old residents of that time. The Old Mansion was abandoned nearly fifty years ago and a few years afterward burned down. Further down, opposite West Creek, was another old-time resort, not so well known as some of the others, but more of a private party place. This was Pehala, an old-fashioned building, like many on the main years ago, with one part two-story and a kitchen and low bed room over that. This has been torn down since the railroad was put on the beach, and another larger and more up-to-date building erected near the old site. Some years ago an old house stood near what is now known as Ship Bottom. This was owned by Wesley Truex, an old captain of that life saving station. Then down toward what is now Beach Haven was Tommy Jones'. Many years ago people from this side would take cattle over to the beach in the spring and let them run on the wild during the summer. Beach Haven, one of our modern, up-to-date fashionable resorts, was started about 1874, and was reached by the steamer Barclay Haines, from Edge Cove, Tuckerton, where it connected with the trains. Bonds was another old-time place. Atlantic City, the last word in resorts, truly the world's greatest summer resort, the show place of America. This was started about 1853, on a barren beach, but today the roar of the sea is outdone by the roar of the busy throngs that inhabit the greatest thorofare in the world, “The Boardwalk.” What you can't see down to “Atlantic” you needn't go elsewhere to look for. Years ago mariners seldom saw a light on the Jersey coast except the friendly lighthouse that guided them past the dangerous shoals, but now from Sandy Hook to Cape May there is hardly a dark spot, just one glitter of electric lights marking the entire coast line. We have mentioned a few of the old-time resorts, but no use saying anything about the present state of our coast as to its pleasure resorts. Jersey is noted for skeeters, justice, barren pine lands, bootleggers, etc., but when you mention summer resorts we've got 'em skinned a mile.
Countless vessels have been lost along our shores for hundreds of years, each one a fingerprint: similar in concept, original in design.
Today's tragedy involves the fishing smack Red Dragon, sailing out of Atlantic City and lost in a nor'easter off Long Beach Island, as recounted by Toms River weekly newspaper, the New Jersey Courier. Times and tides may be renewed daily, but the dangers faced by shore fishermen remain ever the same. 5 FISHERMEN LOST AT SEA
OFF BEACH HAVEN IN BIG GALE
Sept. 24th, 1903
Five lives were lost off Long Beach on Wednesday of last week by the terrible gale. The fishing smack Red Dragon of Atlantic City, went down with all on board.
Thursday, the hull of the smack was swept ashore at Harvey Cedars. Lashed fast was the body of her captain, DeWitt Clark. Frank DuCasse, mate, and Danial Murdock, sailor, came ashore not far distant. Two other seamen, John Elms and Louis Swanson, were also drowned. The Red Dragon was owned by Captain John Young and John Tallman. She was about sixty feet keel, schooner rigged and a well equipped fishing smack. She left Atlantic City Tuesday for the fishing grounds off Beach Haven. She was weighted down with tons of ice, used for keeping the fish fresh. It is supposed that the schooner was anchored to ride out the gale; but the storm was much fiercer than her crew had expected. They cut away the mast and rigging, but still she was submerged by the seas. All except the captain seem to have washed overboard, and he came ashore with the wreck when the cable parted. On the other hand, the surfmen on Long Beach, as reported by David S. White of Harvey Cedars, have a theory that the schooner was headed for Delaware Breakwater or else for Little Egg Harbor Inlet, when struck by the fiercest of the northeast blow. They say the mast was broken off at the partners, and not chopped away, and that the sails had been first three-reefed, and then tied down. The clock in the cabin and a watch on one of the bodies both stopped at 24 minutes past seven. They hold that the smack put for harbor, and was scudding under bare poles when her mast went by the board and overturned her. After that the shift of wind brought her up the coast and beached her and the crew at Long Beach. Three of the drowned men, Clark, Ducasse and Swanson, left widows and families, Clark having five children surviving him. Murdock's body was taken to North Long Branch and buried from the home of his adopted parents, John S. West and wife. Saturday, surfman Abe Dothaday of Love Ladies Island station, found another body in the surf. It was that of John Elms of 318 Beech street, Philadelphia. Coroner J. Clarence Cranmer of West Creek, took charge of all the bodies found and gave a burial permit.
In the same edition of the New Jersey Courier was a report on the storm itself and its effect along Ocean County's shore communities, highlighting boats damaged and lost, built and owned by names familiar to our maritime history.
RAVAGES OF LAST WEEK'S FIERCE GALE
Reports of the damage wrought by last Wednesday's gale are still coming in, and mark it as the most destructive gale along this coast in a half century.
At Bay Head, pieces of the board walk were picked up bodily and hurled against the nearby cottages, in some instances as high as the roof. The Verplanck, Hawley, Barker and Cameron cottages were injured in this way. Nearly every cottage there bears some mark of the gale. Only three yachts were left at their moorings in the protected basin, but only a few were badly injured, including Hazard's launch Curlew, J.M. Chadwick's Minerva, and Mr. Wells' Rex. Verandas were blown off at the Bluffs and the Ocean View hotels, windows were blown in and chimneys torn down. At Point Pleasant, the beach board walk was blown about the beach, trees were torn up, electric wires went down, and chimneys were blown over. The frames for the new Episcopal rectory and for VanNote's new barn went down. At Mantoloking, in addition to other damage, the yacht Whisper, owned by Louis deF. Downer, went into the bridge and was damaged. All along the beach, board walks, houses and outbuildings, as well as boats at anchor, suffered much. The sloop in the draw at Barnegat Pier, that blocked the P.R.R. Trains on Wednesday, was the Arthur L. Fling, built a few years ago at Atlantic City for Eugene Longstreet. She was sailed this summer by a Norfolk, Va., man, and had just reached the Pier a day or two before. The most of the fleet broke loose while the gale was still northeast, and landed on the meadows, but the Fling held till the wind shifted and then went back into the draw. The power yacht Mattie, one of the larger craft at Sea Side Park, owned by Mr. Schibe, the Philadelphia base ball man, went onto the bridge and is a total loss. Others of the Sea Side Park fleet are being straightened up, having been brought back from different points along the upper bay where they stranded or sunk. Few were badly hurt. At Island Heights, the hull of Guy Luburg's launch is a total loss, only the engine being saved. The Maraquita, built by W.L. Force of Keyport, for W.A. Burnett, now owned by Messrs. Merrihew and Scott, has her sides and deck smashed, cabin gone, and looks a wreck. Webster's auxiliary yacht Myra, the Schoettle brothers' Hobo and Scat, W.K. Smith's Ruby, are among the worst damaged. Nearly every craft in the fleet was dismasted, and the total damage is estimated now at $15,000 [$446, 033 in 2021 dollars]. The sneakbox racers and other small craft did not escape, Carpenter's box Rose being a total loss, and others damaged. At Tuckerton, thirty big trees went down, the telephone service was crippled, boat houses and barns collapsed, and a new house being built for Nicholas Shepherd, is racked and twisted. The yacht Merry Thought, owned by John P. Crozer at Beach Haven, was blown five miles across the bay, going ashore at Jesse's Point, near Parkertown. The large schooner yacht Mattie W. porter also went ashore below Tuckerton. The sloop Vigilant of Tuckerton, was blown ashore near edge cove.
Two weeks later, the October 8th edition of the New Jersey Courier, reported a sad epilogue to the Red Dragon tragedy.
One of the men drowned in the wreck of the Atlantic City fishing smack Red Dragon off Long Beach on September 16th, was Louis Swanson, a Swede, and his body was the only one not recovered. Last week his sister, who had left her home in Sweden to join him in Atlantic City, reached this country and was greeted with the sad news of his death.
One month later, the Courier reported that his widow received $1,000 compensation in life insurance [about $40,000 in 2024 dollars] for his death.
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Though its origin is a bit lost to the mists of time, as WoodenBoat Magazine admitted in its Sept/Oct 2004 feature, the Melonseed Skiff was “developed to suit the needs of market gunners in the vicinity of Barnegat Bay... at a time when hunting was still more of a profession than a sport. They were designed to carry a single man, his gun, and decoys out onto the open water in pursuit of waterfowl.” Often built in Little Egg Harbor and Parkertown – the latter resulting in the Melonseed sometimes being referred to as a “Parkertown Skiff” - they range in size from 12' to 15'6” and are considered a “cousin” to the better known and more widely used sneakbox. It is unknown which predated the other, but the Melonseed is more of an open-water craft boasting v-shaped forward sections, a true stem and more refined entry while the sneakbox is used for marshes and has a more shallow entry. Melonseeds, WoodenBoat Magazine continues, “were given a strongly raked transom, which would tend to soften the blow from a following sea, lifting the boat over it. Amidships the builders put a harder turn to the bilges, thereby stiffening the boat. (The midsection of the sneakbox is a shallow arc.) This allowed it to carry sail with greater authority in rough weather and added a small amount of freeboard (the sneakbox had almost none)." Unfortunately, the Melonseed Skiff's more complex construction nearly doubled its price when compared to that of the sneakbox, and as the gunning market declined from an everyday economic-driven profession into a weekender's sport, their viability was all but eliminated. By 1951, the boat was considered “extinct,” while sneakboxes continued in production and use. For more on the Melonseed Skiff, including greater detail in its development and the history of its saving from total extinction by groups of interested backyard builders and maritime organizations, visit the Barnegat Bay Maritime Museum during open hours of Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 10 am to 2 pm. Or, click the link here to purchase the digital edition of WoodenBoat Magazine #180 online.
Photos of the Melonseed Skiff in this post are from Windfall Woodworks of Huntington, VT. Melonseed lines courtesy the Smithsonian Institution. |
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