Murder at Rocky Point Park:: Tragedy in Rhode Island's Summer Paradise

by Kelly Sullivan Pezza

  For those who liked real nail-biting entertainment, the performance by Mademoiselle Tardieu was the show to see. Seated in an automobile that had been hoisted to the top of a forty-foot-high tower, the brave young woman would swing downward, make a revolution and then swing back upward, where the car was released from its restraints to go sailing through the air. Before landing on an inclined platform fifty-five feet away from the tower, the lady and her vehicle would complete a somersault thirty feet above the ground.

  The amusements at Rocky Point Park never failed to entertain and impress. Vintage postcard, courtesy Jules Antiques & General Store.

  While memories were being made at Rocky Point, so was history. Thirty veterans of the Civil War held their forty-second annual outing at the park that July, all former members of the Seventh Rhode Island Volunteers. Among the group was fifty-six-year-old Francis Edwin Elwell, a famed sculptor.

  Elwell had sculpted the Seventh Regiment’s monument at Smith Granite Company in Westerly, Rhode Island, from blue Westerly granite. The statue, which depicts an infantryman who has picked up the fallen colors, represents the state’s lone regiment in the Vicksburg Campaign. It was erected at a cost of $5,000 and stands in the Vicksburg National Military Park.

  Orphaned at the age of four, Elwell was reportedly adopted by author Louisa May Alcott. He received his initial instruction in art from her sister Abigail and went on to become curator of ancient and modern sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. When he later had a disagreement with a museum official, he was fired from his position there and escorted off the property by a police officer.

  In 1901, the government of Rhode Island had made Elwell an honorary colonel of the Seventh Regiment. He passed away eight years after this visit to Rocky Point while waiting for a streetcar in Connecticut.

  Throughout the years, aviators continued to perform at the park, taking to the skies over the bay and eliciting oohs and ahs from the crowds watching from below. In May, Jack McGee of Pawtucket put on a great show for park patrons. The twenty-nine-year-old flew his Burgess-Wright biplane to a height of 1,500 feet so that acrobat Monsieur Burnette could drop out secured to a parachute. Burnette landed on the water directly in front of the park’s Mansion House.

  Prior to becoming a famed flyer, McGee had worked as a boxer, elevator operator, jewelry tradesman, automobile mechanic and chauffer. He had signed up for flying lessons in Massachusetts, but the school closed before he had completed his training. Regardless, he purchased his own plane and made his first solo flight just two years before his performance at Rocky Point. In 1917, he went to work as a test pilot for Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation. Just after eight o’clock on the morning of June 13, 1918, he was testing out a seaplane on Greenwich Bay in East Greenwich when a gust of wind upset his machine as it skipped along the water. The plane nose-dived twenty-five feet to the bottom of the bay, and McGee was drowned. His body was found badly tangled in the wreckage of the plane seven hours later by a dredging company diver.

  In addition to the rides, attractions and shows, contests were still very popular at Rocky Point. A dance contest, which took place in August, was won by popular vote by twenty-year-old Normal Joseph Verrier of Arctic and sixteen-year-old Mabel Grace O’Neil of Providence. The couple walked away with an exquisite silver loving cup as their prize.

  Being a fantasyland of caves, coves, gardens and groves, the natural beauty of Rocky Point Park easily rivaled its man-made entertainments. Of the many promenades located on the grounds, the one that proved to be the most enjoyed by guests was the boardwalk that ran along the bluff. While strolling there, visitors could enjoy the incredible portrait nature had painted. Once filled with the wonder of the beautiful landscape, they could continue on to the end of the bluff, where they approached a shop offering refreshments, candy and cigars.

  The staff on the grounds that year included James J. Lamb as manager of the dance hall; George Krokorian, who was in charge of refreshments; Charles Lyon as dinner hall manager and his son Sumner Edward Lyon as assistant dinner hall manager; John Fontaine, who ran the photography studio; L.A. Davis as foreman farmer; Ernest Smith as superintendent of the grounds; Charles Hill as manager of the Mansion House; and Anna C. McElroy as the manager of the quick lunch stand.

  That year, the price of the lobster bake had risen to sixty cents, and modern-day women known as suffragists took to the grounds of Rocky Point to make speeches about women’s right to vote.

  Three years later, the Monkey Speedway was added to Rocky Point. Located inside a circular tent near the park entrance at the south end of the midway, it showcased six chimpanzees driving tiny automobiles at great speeds.

  Also new was a ride called the Teaser, placed at the north end of the midway near the trolley loop. The ride consisted of two seats facing each other, with a steering wheel in between them. As riders spun the wheel, they were moved up and down and twirled in circles.

  The Eden Musée, a collection of wax figures bearing the likenesses of famous people, was also stationed in the building opposite the dinner hall.

  Among the entertainment that summer was the Six Flying Herberts, a group of aerialists who performed dangerous high dives and triple somersaults on three trapezes suspended thirty-five feet in the air, and the return of Walker’s Diving Girls. The regular Sunday baseball games played at the park featured teams such as the Boston Beaneaters and the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, despite the huge draw they brought in, the games continued to be a thorn in the sides of those who felt that such things should be abstained from on the Sabbath. Finally, three Warwick residents and a local reverend took it on themselves to visit the statehouse, where they appealed to the governor to stop the Sunday baseball games being held on the park grounds. The governor assured them that he would put a stop to baseball taking place anywhere in Rhode Island on Sundays, once and for all. “If the Warwick Police Commission can’t stop Sunday baseball at Rocky Point, I can,” he announced. Success in that endeavor was not found.

  Popular music and amusing contests often brought a full house to Rocky Point Park’s dance hall. Vintage postcard, Courtesy Jules Antiques & General Store.

  There had already been very vocal movements geared toward aborting the games, including one in 1889 and another in May 1911, when Reverend W.S. McIntyre of the Lord’s Day League of New England organized efforts to stop park owners from disrespecting the Sabbath. Most Rhode Islanders loved their baseball, however, and flocked to the ball field week after week to watch the Cherokee Indians and several other professional-league teams. On September 27, 1914, Babe Ruth had pitched for the Providence Grays when they played against the Chicago Cubs, hitting what should have been a home run out into Narragansett Bay. However, under the rules of the game, it was not regarded as such.

  Unfortunately, by the beginning of autumn, the ball field had lost its pristine image as the perfect place to view Sunday sports. Harrington had become ill and was unable to keep up the grounds as he had in the past. The Providence Grays, like many other major-league teams that had been playing at the park, expressed their feelings regarding the ball field’s being unsatisfactory for the future. They decided to stop holding their games there and find a new venue. The last professional baseball game at Rocky Point took place on September 9, 1917.

  13

  THE HAND OF FATE

  Hurricanes and Other Disasters

  Harrington died in 1918, leaving his family to decide the fate of Rocky Point. His widow, Amelia, leased the park to Paul and Alfred Castiglioni later that year, but like others who had taken over what appeared to be a risk-free opportunity, they would soon learn that events of misfortune occurring at the shore resort were not over. In 1919, the beautiful Mansion House caught fire and burned to the ground.

  Despite the setback, it was necessary that Rocky Point continue to evolve if it was going to keep its stellar reputation. A major overhaul took place the following year when a new bathing beach was laid out and $50,000 spen
t to add a new pavilion.

  By that time, the large variety of rides included the Witching Waves, two merry-go-rounds, a midway carousel, a roller coaster, the Whip, the Circle Swing and the Aero Plane. While admission to the park was still free, each ride and most attractions and exhibits now required the purchase of a ticket. Entrance to theater shows cost patrons ten cents. The majority of the rides called for six-cent tickets.

  Other enjoyments to be found included the Alligator Farm, the World’s Museum and Leo the Lion, the large cast-iron statue situated at the park’s entrance where many a child climbed atop to have his or her picture taken. The lion was later moved to the beach near the boat landing before vandals destroyed it.

  The new wooden Wildcat roller coaster was added in 1926, and in 1931, a bobsled coaster called the Flying Turns was installed on the grounds, both designed by Herbert Schmeck. The Flying Turns resembled a bobsled run with banked curves void of a track. The Tunnel of Love was also introduced for those who wanted a heart-pounding experience of another kind.

  A view of Rocky Point Park from Narragansett Bay. Vintage postcard, courtesy Jules Antiques & General Store.

  Rocky Point’s dock was busy all day loading and unloading thousands of passengers. Vintage postcard, courtesy Jules Antiques & General Store.

  Those who wished to experience the thrill of amusements like coasters and swings gladly handed over their ten cents. Paul S. Haney filled the position of office manager at the time, though he later went on to become employed at Crescent Park.

  In August 1930, the park was put in a rather unflattering light when the Afro-American, a newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland, accused Rocky Point’s owner and staff of practicing discrimination. “Rocky Point Amusement Company bars colored people from the bathing beach and swimming pool,” the article read. It went on to explain that the Young Men’s Bible Class of the Ebenezer Baptist Church had held its annual outing there at the park earlier that month. Of the fifteen-member class, two of the men had gone and requested towels and lockers at the bathhouse. It was alleged that the men were told by the attendant there that the management would not allow lockers to be rented to those of African American descent.

  “For many years, it’s been the custom of thousands of blacks from New England and New York to gather at Rocky Point on August 1, to celebrate the freedom of West Indian slaves by England,” the article went on. “This year, over five thousand gathered but not a single one was seen in bathing.” It was further alleged that the saltwater pool had been drained dry by the management to avoid having to refuse entrance to African Americans who expressed a desire to swim.

  If a reputation for bigotry was not enough, fate had even more in store for Rocky Point. Though the incredible seaside location made for a perfect park setting, it also made the grounds likely to fall victim when severe weather threatened. On September 21, 1938, a massive hurricane that no one was prepared for swept across New England, wreaking havoc with a wind speed of 160 miles per hour. Over six hundred deaths were reported, along with more than $300 million in damages. The erosion of dunes and beaches and the obliteration of hundreds of buildings changed the landscape overnight. New England had never before seen such unimaginable death and destruction.

  The majority of the buildings and rides contained within Rocky Point were reduced to splinters and twisted metal fragments by the crashing waves and heavy, violent winds. The Wildcat and the Flying Turns were gone. The midway was gone and the dinner hall swept away. The storm’s ravaging of the property was so severe that Rocky Point was shut down in its entirety.

  The previous year, six monkeys had escaped from their confines in the park and were residing in the woods just outside the grounds. Having survived the hurricane, the monkeys continued to be seen for several months, enjoying their freedom as they swung through the trees and perched on branches just beyond the reach of captivity.

  Following the devastation, the Castiglionis decided to return their lease to Mrs. Harrington, who then leased the grounds to Thomas F. Wilson of Providence in 1939. It was reopened briefly in 1940 but then closed once again, without Wilson’s completing the restorations.

  Mrs. Harrington decided to sell the property in 1941 but had little luck with that endeavor. Interested developers were no longer so eager to purchase the grounds once they discovered the enormous amount of rock that was contained on the property and the expense it would require to blast through it all.

  There were, in fact, some very interested buyers in the form of oil companies who wanted to build oil tanks on the property. However, Mrs. Harrington could not stand the thought of the beautiful landscape being destroyed.

  In 1945, the property was purchased by the Studley Land Company and, two years later, transferred to Rocky Point Incorporated, a partnership between Frederick Hilton, Joseph Trillo and Providence businessman Vincent Ferla. Along with his friends and family, Ferla put the park back in motion. The efforts took massive amounts of time and money. Aside from the basic cleanup of the park, it was necessary to rebuild structures that had been destroyed. A new Shore Dinner Hall was constructed and run by head chef John Gomes and a staff of two hundred. Measuring 260 feet by 80 feet, the all-wood building was set 30 feet farther out over the sea than the previous hall had been. Solidly built and set on nearly two hundred concrete piers, it was believed the structure could withstand almost any surge of water or gust of wind. To be on the safe side, however, hurricane insurance was taken out on the building.

  The saltwater swimming pool, which had sustained damage, was renovated, and a new dance hall called the Palladium was constructed. However, despite all the rebuilding and renovations, when Rocky Point was opened once again to the public, it did not garner as much success as it had in times past. The country’s economic hardships had brought about a decline in people spending money on such frivolous things as rides and games of chance. In April 1953, the park advertised that it was selling the Rocket ride and the Whip together for $17,500. The shining light that had once been Rocky Point seemed as if it were starting to dim.

  Though local newspapers no longer carried large, exciting advertisements for the once prosperous summer playground, they occasionally mentioned the park in other news. In August, a trio of men who were out boating in the bay had been fishing near Prudence Island when suddenly their outboard motorboat banged up against something in the water. Immediately, they spotted a twelve-foot practice missile for which the navy had been looking for the past four days. The men towed the missile to the dock at Rocky Point, and navy officials in Newport were contacted. Soon, a boat carrying ten enlisted men arrived, and the men hoisted the missile aboard to bring it back to Newport. The usual payout for the return of a missile was $100.

  One year later, Ferla and his partners would find themselves the next unfortunate victims of Rocky Point’s regularly unexpected tragedies. On August 31, 1954, Hurricane Carol crashed into the East Coast with ninety-mile-per-hour winds. Again, many of the park’s rides were almost completely destroyed, as was the newly built Shore Dinner Hall.

  The owners of the park sustained over $25,000 in losses and charged the J.L. Campbell Insurance Company with forcing them to simply endure the situation. Vincent Ferla claimed that he had instructed the insurance company to place $82,000 worth of insurance with the Guaranty Fire & Marine Insurance Company and to supplement it with insurance from other companies. Ferla charged that the company had failed to follow those instructions.

  The devastation came on the heels of yet another lawsuit, this one brought against the park owners by the owner of the Gowell Amusement Company, which owned the Tumblebug ride operated at Rocky Point. He testified that he had originally purchased the ride in Pennsylvania for $13,000 and that he brought it to Rocky Point in 1928, where he operated it for many years under the agreement that he was to give the owners of the park 25 percent of the gross income he earned giving rides to patrons.

  The Tumblebug, which was a machine holding six cars that rotated on a
circular wooden track around a center spindle, was put up for sale in 1938 by the City of Warwick when the owner became delinquent in his company’s property taxes. The owner repurchased the ride, created by the Traver Engineering Company, from the city with the intention of continuing its operation at Rocky Point, but then the park closed down.

  To keep the motors safe, the ride owner placed them in storage at a local machine company but left the remainder of the ride on the park grounds. In 1947, when the park changed hands again, all property, including land and buildings became that of a new owner. Some of the rides and concessions were privately owned, and they were listed on the agreement as being such, not part of the property transferal. The Tumblebug, however, was not listed.

  The bug ride at Rocky Point. Vintage postcard, courtesy Jules Antiques & General Store.

  The owner of the ride was notified to come remove it from the park, but he expressed his wish to return to its operation under the same agreement he had followed previously. Frederick Hilton was not agreeable to that and stated that he wanted a flat $3,000 yearly fee. When no agreement could be reached, Hilton had repairs made to the ride and sold it for $8,500. The new owner agreed to let the ride remain at the park and pay Hilton’s desired $3,000 annual fee.

  The previous owner claimed in court that the ride belonged to him and, before repairs, had been worth a little over $6,000. Hilton claimed its actual worth had been more like $500. The court ruled in favor of the ride’s previous owner and awarded him $3,500. Hilton’s appeal for a new trial was denied.