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| Inskip House / Ocean Plaza 1911 |
After Emma's death, the ownership of the Inskip house passed to Emma's sons, Harry and John Inskip.
John Swanel Inskip was born in 1885. John was named after his great grandfather, the Rev. John Swanel Inskip. Perhaps this is on account of his great grandfather's death a year earlier in 1884. In 1910, John graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy N.Y. as a Civil Engineer. Four years later he married Virginia E. Goss on Christmas day, 1914. The wedding was officiated by Paul D. Moody, who was the son of the famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody. John and Virginia had two daughters, Betty and Virginia. John worked in the automobile industry for forty-five years. According to an article in the New York Times announcing John's death, he began his career as a salesman for the Locomobile Company in New York and in 1920 he joined Rolls-Royce of America Inc. as New York’s branch manager. It also stated that later, he became president of Brewster & Co., an affiliated coach-building concern and that in 1931 he was appointed President of Rolls-Royce of America. It also said that in 1936 he organized J. S. Inskip Inc., to take over the functions of Rolls-Royce of America, which had been dissolved. In the Troy Record, in an article announcing John's death, it stated that "Mr. Inskip was also highly renowned as a designer of automobile bodies and many of his designs were used on Rolls-Royce chassis." On September 8th, 1961, at the age of 76, John S. Inskip died from a stroke, at his summer residence at Saugatuck Shores, Westport, Conn.
Harry F. Inskip was born as mentioned earlier, in 1883. He married Minnie Barton on September 28th, 1907. Harry and Minnie had two children, a son, Harry Jr. and a daughter, Dorothy. Harry Sr. was a businessman. He owned and operated a printing business and he also was the proprietor of the Reliable Brush Company in Troy, New York.
In 1925, after Harry and John inherited the Inskip property on Ocean Pathway and Beach Avenue, Harry took over management of the Inskip house. At this time the hotel's name was changed to the Ocean Plaza. Harry managed the Ocean Plaza for two summer seasons. In October of 1926, after the end of Harry's second season as manager, Harry and John put an ad in the Ocean Grove Times advertising that they were selling their hotel. In March of the following year (1927,) it appears that the Inskip brothers decided to rent the Plaza to Mrs. R.E. Voorhees of Summit, N.J. for the coming summer season. The following year the Inskip brothers rented to someone by the name of Mrs. Annie E. Wahl.
On Monday, February 11th, 1929, at 7PM, an Ocean Grove police officer by the name of Willis Atkinson noticed while out on patrol, that an Essex sedan was parked in the middle of McClintock Street. He began a search for the owner, in order to have the vehicle removed. At about midnight during his search for the owner of the Essex, Officer Atkinson heard a sound coming from the direction of the Ocean Plaza Hotel. After he ascertained that the sound was coming from the Ocean Plaza, and believing that a burglary was in progress, he summoned to his aid, Officers George VanWickle and Arthur Barkelew. Officer Barkelew guarded the front door of the Ocean Plaza, while Officer VanWickle guarded the back of the building. Officer Atkinson, by means of an outside staircase at the rear of the building, made his way up to a door on the second story. He saw that a window was raised, and that the door stood open. It was here that he saw a man making his way down the hallway toward the front stairway. At this point the suspect saw Officer Atkinson and then made a desperate dash down the stairs to the front door. When the suspect opened the front door, Officer Barkelew confronted him. On seeing the officer he slammed the door shut, bolted it and then in hopes of giving himself more time to escape, he yelled to the officers, “I'm not alone!” By this time a fourth police officer, Captain Catley, arrived on the scene. With Captain Catley’s arrival, the officers had the building surrounded. After the suspect’s escape was blocked by Officer Barkelew, the suspect made his way down to the basement. Then the suspect squeezed through a small basement window and made his way towards McClintock Street, in hopes of getting to his waiting vehicle, which was parked in the middle of that street. Again he found his way blocked, this time by Officer VanWickle. On seeing the officer, the suspect ran at top speed South down Beach Avenue and Officer VanWickle took up the chase. But the suspect soon eluded him and disappeared into the night.
After the suspect eluded capture, an investigation was launched by the Ocean Grove Police Department. The Ocean Plaza Hotel was searched, and it was discovered that the suspect’s intent was not burglary, but arson. The Suspect had devised an intricate system of electrical arrangements to set the Ocean Plaza on fire. This arrangement consisted of a system of electric wiring supplemented with tubes of gasoline, piles of bedding, chairs, paper, matches, and other materials of an inflammable nature, some of which had been gathered hastily together in the building and piled helter skelter. This arrangement was throughout the whole building. It was clear that the Suspect's plan was ready for implementation. All that was needed was the flip of a switch and the whole building would be ablaze. But most fortunately, Officer Atkinson stopped the ‘would be’ arsonist just in time. It was later learned that the suspect's car, which was parked in the middle of McClintock Street, was rented from a U-Drive garage in Long Branch. The car was rented under the name of George W. Johnson, which was later thought to be an alias.
After the suspect, "Mr. Johnson," escaped the Ocean Grove Police, he made his way to Belmar two miles south of Ocean Grove. There he approached a railroad flag shanty at the Seventh Avenue crossing and requested permission from the flagman to stay in his shack until the first train left for New York in the morning. After an offer of one dollar was refused, “Johnson” moved on. Later he was picked up and taken to Police headquarters by Officers Charles Bennett and Spencer Clasen of the Belmar police after he had inquired of them when the first train left for New York. “Johnson” is alleged to have told the officers that he had visited a nurse at West End. He also said that he was a family man and that He was a damn fool to be bothering with women when he had a wife and two nice children at home. After “Johnson” was taken to Police headquarters he gave the name of George W. Johnson, he also exhibited bills of a Troy Brush Manufacturing company, which he said he had been authorized to collect. One of the bills was for merchandise sold to the H.B. Hardenburg Corporation at Linden, New Jersey. A checkup that was later done by the authorities with the H.B. Hardenburg Corporation revealed that no representative, salesman or collector from the Troy Brush Company had ever visited them and that all of their transactions were with the company by mail. Johnson also gave his address as 215 Riverside Dr., New York, N.Y., which was later learned to be the residence of John S. Inskip, who was half owner of the Ocean Plaza with his brother Harry. The Belmar police later released “Mr. Johnson”, since there hadn’t been any complaints. The police at Belmar knew nothing of the attempted arson in Ocean Grove, until it was reported in The Press the next day. After “Johnson” was released, he took the 7:26 morning train to New York.
When Belmar police became
aware of the arson attempt and the escape of the attempted arsonist "Mr.
Johnson," and believing that the man that they had questioned the day
before was the same man, immediately communicated the information that they had
to the Ocean Grove and Monmouth County authorities, which were already on the
case. With this additional information, suspicion fell on Harry F. Inskip. Then
On Friday, Feb. 15th, 1929, Captain Catley of the Ocean Grove Police
accompanied by Detective Sacco of the Monmouth County prosecutors office, James
Letson of the Long Branch U-Drive company, Officer Charles Bennett of the
Belmar police and others, left for Troy New York, with a warrant for the arrest
of George W. Johnson, for attempted arson. Harry was identified by Letson and
Bennett as the man who gave them the name of Johnson, when renting the car from
Letson, at the U-Drive in Long Branch, N.J., and later when subjected to
examination at Belmar police headquarters by Bennett. After the identification
was made, Harry was served with the warrant and taken into custody. On
Saturday, Feb. 16th, 1929, a preliminary hearing was held. During
the hearing Officer Bennett reiterated his identification of Inskip as the man
who gave him the name of George Johnson. Officer Bennett was still firm in his
identification, even after being asked by Inskip's lawyer "if he would
still say both were the same person, if it was proven that Inskip had been in a
hospital last Monday and Tuesday and had not been in Belmar in three months.
" it appears that Inskip had an alibi. Letson was not at the hearing to
aid the testimony of officer Bennett having returned to New Jersey after
identifying Inskip the day before. The hearing was concluded when police
Magistrate Byron ruled that the evidence was insufficient to prove Inskip and Johnson
one and the same person. After this Inskip was released. A few weeks later
another warrant was issued, this time for Harry F. Inskip, for the attempted
arson of the Ocean Plaza Hotel. When officers from Monmouth County arrived at
Inskip's home, Harry Jr. told them that his father had not been seen or heard
from since the day of his release two weeks prior. It is not known what happened after this
point, on account of all the newspapers that covered the story suddenly
stopping all coverage. The next significant mention that was found of Harry was
seven years later in his obituary in the Ocean Grove and New York Times. As
stated in The New York Times in 1936 “ASBURY PARK, N. J., AUG. 12. -Harry F.
Inskip, former operator of the Ocean Plaza Hotel, Ocean Grove, and proprietor
of the Reliable Brush Company, Troy, N. Y., died yesterday at his home, West
Hamilton, near here. His age was 53. Survivors are his widow, a son, Harry Jr.;
a daughter, Dorothy B., and a brother, John, of New York.” I have endeavored to
give all of the available facts in this case, as to let the readers draw their
own conclusions. Was Harry guilty or innocent? That is for you to decide.
In June of 1929, the Inskip
brothers sold off their Ocean Pathway properties. The Ocean Plaza hotel was
sold to Clarence B. Rohland, who was born on September 17th, 1890,
in Richmond Virginia. Mr. Rohland served during World War One and after the war
in 1919, he married Mable B. Hennig. Clarence and Mable Rohland had two
children, a daughter Margaret born in 1921, and a son Hamilton born in 1925,
Before Mr. Rohland purchased the Ocean Plaza he managed the Warrington, which
stood at 22 Lake Avenue. A few years after he acquired the Ocean Plaza, he
purchased a neighboring hotel at 22 Ocean Pathway named the Lafayette. The name
was soon after changed to the Shore View; the current name of this hotel is the
Ocean View. On January 11th, 1954, Clarence B. Rohland died at
Fitkin Hospital, present day Jersey Shore University Medical Center.
This concludes the early
history of the Ocean Plaza Hotel. The Ocean Plaza has had many different owners
after Mr. Rohland, the history of which I hope to bring to you in the future.
If you found this post interesting please share and Comment. Next week I'm going to post some interesting facts about Thornley Chapel. Until next time… Justin Truth.
If you found this post interesting please share and Comment. Next week I'm going to post some interesting facts about Thornley Chapel. Until next time… Justin Truth.
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