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

by Kelly Sullivan Pezza

  Mason and Margaret celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary on July 24, 1904. The following year, they both passed away and were laid to rest in the Hill family plot within Elm Grove Cemetery in Mystic. There, they joined Mason’s first wife, the many sons and daughters they had lost all too soon and the granddaughter they had so adored in her five short years of life. Behind Mason’s large grave marker is the small scroll-shaped stone erected for Maggie. To her immediate left is where her mother lies. And to the other side of Mary Ann lies Frank Sheffield.

  The gravestones of Mary Ann, Maggie and Frank Sheffield at Elm Grove Cemetery in Mystic, Connecticut. Photograph by Kelly Sullivan Pezza.

  The engraving on Mary Ann’s stone reads, “Until the daybreak.” Frank’s stone is etched with the words “Shadows flee away,” and undoubtedly there was some thought put into making a connection between Frank and Mary Ann as both epitaphs come from the King James version of the Holy Bible, Song of Solomon: “Until the day break and the shadows flee away, turn my beloved and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.”

  John Franklin Sheffield, who had been the custodian of his tiny granddaughter when she was killed, was born on January 8, 1823, to John Sheffield and Eliza Lewis. At the time of Maggie’s death, he had made his home at 29 Coit Street in Norwich and was pastoring at the Greenville Methodist Church. He had followed in the footsteps of his father, John, by becoming a minister. John Sr. had been a successful carriage-maker before answering the call to preach and becoming ordained to serve in the Methodist church.

  The elder John’s brother, Washington Wentworth Sheffield, was one of New London’s leading dentists who blazed new trails in the subject of oral care. He established the International Tooth Crown Company and constructed a laboratory behind his house where he conducted experiments and invented such successful products as Dr. Sheffield’s Crème Dentifrice, Dr. Sheffield’s Tooth Powder and Dr. Sheffield’s Elixir Balm. He is credited with being the first person to market toothpaste in a tube. By 1900, John had removed to Putnam and died there on March 8 of that year. His second wife, Mary, passed away eight years later, on January 13, 1908.

  Maggie’s aunt Mary Charlotte Sheffield was born on June 10, 1848, and married George Brightman on June 8, 1881, in Marshfield, Massachusetts. On September 20, 1884, she gave birth to her one and only child, Edgar Sheffield Brightman, in Holbrook. She died on May 2, 1930, shortly before her eighty-second birthday.

  Edgar attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, to prepare for the gospel ministry. Upon completion of his education there, he studied at the Boston University School of Theology, followed by the University of Berlin and the University of Marburg, both located in Germany. He received his PhD in Boston in 1912 and went on to teach philosophy, psychology, ethics and religion at several institutions, including Brown University, and lectured at several others, including Harvard University. Edgar had a great interest in Hinduism and was a staunch opponent of literalism in religion and irrationalism in theology.

  Edgar married Charlotte Huelson on July 1, 1912, in Brooklyn, New York. She died in University Place, Nebraska, on May 24, 1915, at the age of twenty-nine, and her remains were transported to Connecticut on August 2 so that she could be laid to rest in Elm Grove Cemetery. Edgar next married Irma Baker Fall on June 8, 1918, in Middletown, Connecticut. He went on to become the father of three children and died in Newton Center, Massachusetts, in 1953.

  George Brightman was born in Mystic on August 24, 1852. He united with the Methodist Episcopal Church in Mystic at the age of seventeen. He was soon licensed to begin leading meetings, and wanting to be successful in answering his call to the ministry, he entered the East Greenwich Academy so that he might prepare for college. However, for reasons unknown, he was unable to continue his education there, so he left East Greenwich in 1881 and joined the New England Southern Conference. Out of the class of ten students, he was one of only five who went on to follow a path in religion.

  George’s first pastorate was later in 1881, at South Braintree, Massachusetts, where he remained for three years. He went on to preach at numerous places of worship in Massachusetts, including churches in Holbrook, West Abington, Nantucket, North Dighton, Plymouth, Attleboro, Provincetown and Edgartown. His work also took him into Rhode Island, where he served churches in Providence, Newport and Pascoag. He preached in Middletown, Connecticut, as well.

  While living in Edgartown, George became ill, and though he attempted to continue on with his life and career, he did not seem to be recovering from his malady. Finally, his doctor ordered him to seek a change of climate and engage in a period of rest. He did so but returned home after a while, feeling worse than he had before. While preaching his last sermon shortly before he died, everyone in attendance could see how seriously unwell George was. As his physical condition declined further, he was unable to quell the pain and often had to retire to a chair or kneel on the floor with his head rested. During this time, he would regularly speak about how much he loved his brethren in the ministry. He died in Connecticut on March 18, 1906.

  Frank’s brother, Charles Sheffield, was born in 1855 and married Adele Fiero when he was thirty-three years old. By 1910, the couple had removed to Huron Street in Hennepin, Minnesota, where he worked as a timekeeper in a flour mill. Charles fathered three children, and following family tradition, his eldest daughter became a teacher.

  11

  THE PLAYERS

  Ministers, Medicine Men and Millionaires

  Sanford Kinnecom, the officer who transported Frank to the county jail after Maggie’s death, was a lifetime resident of North Providence. In 1886, he was appointed chief of police for the North Providence Police Department, a position his father, John, had held until 1875. Eight years after the horrible killing at Rocky Point, he was employed as deputy sheriff of the Superior Court of Rhode Island. Kinnecom lived a long, active life despite the pressures of his career, and when he renewed his driver’s license in 1956 at the age of ninety-two, he became one of the oldest drivers in the United States. He passed away three years later.

  Reverend Smith Goodenow, one of the clergymen who presided over little Maggie’s funeral service, was born in Damariscotta, Maine, on May 15, 1817. His father died when he was a child, and at the age of ten, he was sent to live with relatives in Providence, Rhode Island. He attended Waterville College (now Colby College) for three years and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1838. Five years later, he received his license to preach. In 1864, Goodenow was employed as acting principal of the English Department at Iowa. He went on to become principal of Brunswick High in Maine, a private college preparatory school. While serving as superintendent of schools in Bath, Maine, he began studying for the ministry. Goodenow preached in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Illinois and Iowa before dying of old age on March 26, 1897. He was buried in Battle Creek New Hope Cemetery in Ida County, Iowa.

  Pardon Tillinghast, the judge who had thwarted the initial attempts of Frank’s attorney to have a psychological examination of the accused conducted, was born in West Greenwich on December 10, 1836. A slender, bearded man, he was just twenty-one years old when he took over the position of principal at a local grammar school. When the Civil War broke out, he left the security of his job to enlist in the Twelfth Rhode Island Volunteers. Before long, he was made acting quartermaster. After returning from military duty, Tillinghast began his study of the law. In the early 1880s, he was associate justice for the Supreme Court of Rhode Island. Later that decade, he served as judge of the Court of Common Pleas. The year before his death, he was made chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. He died on February 9, 1905, in Pawtucket and was buried in Riverside Cemetery in that city.

  Newell Belcher, one of the men whom Frank implored to turn him over to the police after killing his daughter, lived at 81 Greenwich Street in Providence at the time of the murder. He spent the greater part of his life employed at the family hardware business,
Belcher & Loomis, located at 89 Weybosset Street in Providence. A Civil War veteran, he passed away on September 30, 1898, just five years after helping to turn in Frank to authorities. He was buried at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.

  Physician Moses Fifield, who had endured the horrific task of examining Maggie’s dead body in the park’s theater, was a native of Hartford County, Connecticut. Born on March 23, 1823, he juggled his medical career with a position at Centerville Bank in Warwick, where he was employed as a cashier for over thirty years. A round-faced gentleman with tiny spectacles, he passed away on April 9, 1900, and was interred at Centerville Methodist Cemetery.

  Frank’s attorney, Nathan Lewis was born on February 26, 1842, in Exeter, Rhode Island, to one of the biggest landowners of the time. His wife, Rowena Lillibridge, passed away just two months after giving birth to the last of their four children, Nathan Richmond Lewis, who was born in 1879. The baby followed his mother to the grave two years later. Lewis’s first child was born in 1870 and was the only one of his children to live to adulthood. The second child was born in 1873 and died in 1874. The third was born in 1876 and died in 1877. Following his wife’s death, Lewis filled the position of town clerk of Exeter and went on to become an attorney. By 1920, he had become a Second District Court judge for the State of Rhode Island. Standing at just five feet, eight inches tall, with blue eyes and dark hair, Lewis was not an intimidating man until someone was face to face with him in the courtroom. Financially successful in his chosen path, just as his father had been in his own, he took on the support of his seventy-two-year-old father-in-law, who suffered from depression after Rowena’s death. The year after becoming widowed, Lewis married again, to a woman named Nettie Chester. He died in West Kingston on April 10, 1925.

  Willard Tanner, the state prosecutor who had wanted nothing more than to see Frank locked away for life for murdering his daughter, maintained an office in room No. 10 at 4 Weybosset Street in Providence. A partner in the law firm Tanner & Gannon, he later went on to serve as attorney general. The Brown University graduate had a somewhat imposing presence, measuring five feet, ten inches in height, with brown eyes and brown hair. His passport application in 1899 described his facial features as “roman nose, high forehead, long face and round chin.” From 1903 until 1907, he served on the auditing committee of Brown University. He went on to become a Rhode Island Superior Court judge. On May 21, 1946, Tanner passed away and was buried in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.

  Amasa Sprague, county sheriff in Warwick and one of the wealthiest men in Rhode Island, was born on December 19, 1928. His father, Amasa, owned the A&W Sprague Manufacturing Company, and the family resided in the Sprague Mansion in Cranston. In 1843, Sprague’s father, Amasa Sr., was murdered on his own farm, an event that brought forth a trial that gained worldwide coverage. An Irish Catholic man named John Gordon was arrested, convicted and hanged for the crime at the state jail in Providence. It was the last hanging in Rhode Island before the death penalty was abolished. Many years later, another man confessed to the crime. Sprague’s brother, Governor William Sprague, was famous for his involvement in the Civil War and for the exploits reported during his chaotic marriage and divorce. Together, the two men carried on the manufacturing company started by their father, but Amasa Jr. was sued in 1880 by his deceased niece’s husband and children when they alleged that he did not distribute the holdings of Amasa Sr.’s estate as he should have. Greatly interested in horses and racing, Sprague owned the Narragansett Trotting Park. In 1874, he married a woman twenty-seven years his junior, and he died on August 4, 1902. His grave lies at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.

  Michael Lynch, who had served Frank with the warrant charging him with the murder of his daughter, was born in County Cavan, Ireland, on January 3, 1842. He came to America around the year 1862 and spent the greater portion of his life as a law enforcement officer. From 1879 to 1884, he was employed as a constable at Rocky Point Park. During the 1880s, he was also appointed special liquor constable by the Warwick Town Council. His job was to make sure all laws regarding alcohol were upheld. As the Rhode Island population was divided up between prohibitionists and anti-prohibitionists, and Lynch had friends on both sides, it was an uncomfortable position to fill. In 1899, the town council accused Lynch of failing to perform his assigned duties of closing unlicensed saloons and enforcing the closing of saloons on Sundays and neglecting to persecute persons who were selling alcohol illegally. When his attorney failed to provide evidence that he had carried out his job appropriately, the town council removed him from his position. The loss of his job was humiliating for the distinguished-looking officer who maintained a scowling look of seriousness on his face at all times. When he was reappointed to the position in 1901, he took great measures to live up to the standards that had been set for him. From 1902 to 1929, he served as deputy sheriff of Kent County, taking the place of the deceased Amasa Sprague. On November 14, 1920, just after five o’clock in the evening, Lynch was seriously injured after leaving the Kent County Superior Courthouse and following a fellow attorney across the street to a waiting automobile. Just as he approached the car, a motorcyclist with a passenger in its sidecar struck Lynch and knocked him to the ground. A resident of Tollgate Road in Apponaug, Lynch retired as chief of police in 1929 and passed away on February 3, 1933. Two of his sons, as well as his grandson, went on to work as constables at Rocky Point.

  John Morgan, the Westerly physician who knew of Frank’s overpowering urge to murder his own daughter and who may or may not have relayed that bit of information to his patient’s wife or family, was born in Pendleton, Connecticut, on January 30, 1844. He worked as a clerk at the Westerly Post Office before enlisting for the Civil War in Company B of the Ninth Rhode Island Volunteers on May 26, 1862. After several months serving as company clerk, he reenlisted and was assigned to Company H of the Twenty-sixth Connecticut Volunteers. He was later appointed second sergeant of that company. Upon his release from the army on August 17, 1863, he went back home to Connecticut, where he gained employment as a cashier at National Niantic Bank. The following year, he entered the University of New York to engage in the study of medicine. After his graduation in 1868, he interned as an assistant physician for a year at Blackwell’s Island Hospital for Incurables. Located on one end of Roosevelt Island in Manhattan, the Gothic-looking charitable institution provided medical care to the poor, as well as to the inmates confined in the prison on the other side of the island. During the later part of 1869 and early 1870, Morgan interned as a house physician at the New York Hospital for Epileptics & Paralytics. He maintained a private practice in New York City from 1870 until 1879 and then moved to Rhode Island and opened a practice in Westerly, where he specialized in psychological medicine and nervous diseases. In 1884, he was appointed the first medical examiner for that town. The physician wrote several papers that appeared in medical journals concentrating on subjects such as diphtheria, aneurisms and spinal cord injuries. He co-founded the Washington County Medical Society and, in time, served as its president, secretary and treasurer. He also served as president of the Westerly Physicians Association. Morgan resided at 43 High Street in Westerly. He had spent two weeks visiting his daughter, Mrs. Charles F. Richards, at her home on Wheeler Street in Orange, New Jersey, when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died there on the evening of June 20, 1913.

  12

  THE SITE

  Fires, Lawsuits and Baseball

  Death at Rocky Point didn’t end in 1893. In the summer of 1905, the body of a man was discovered in a secluded area of the park. He was later identified as forty-two-year-old Fred Bruemel of Paterson, New Jersey. A saloonkeeper who had been married for fifteen years and the father of a fifteen-year-old son, he had committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. This would also not be the last death at the park.

  Running a large attraction like Rocky Point was a major task, but Harrington did so successfully while also taking over the management of its competi
tion, Crescent Park, in 1907. Crescent Park was another massive amusement resort situated along Narragansett Bay in the town of Riverside. Harrison called it the “Coney Island of the East” and, just as he did at Rocky Point, served shore dinners that packed visitors into the dinner hall. Harrington kept the midway at Crescent Park interesting with an underground river, electrical illusions, moving pictures, a Parisian carnival and a human roulette wheel.

  In 1910, Harrington was denied a license to serve liquor at Crescent Park on Sundays and obtained a lawyer to argue about the repercussions of such a decision. He had welcomed over 700,000 people to the park the previous year and feared that if the workingman was unable to procure a drink when he wanted to, his crowds would dwindle in number. Despite his lawyer’s protests, Crescent Park was forced to remain dry on Sundays.

  That same year, on November 10, Harrington bought Rocky Point Park outright from the Providence, Fall River & Newport Steamboat Company, which had purchased it from the American Steamboat Company, for $250,000. He had initially offered to buy the property for $150,000, but the steamboat company rejected the offer, necessitating Harrington to raise the amount he was willing to pay.

  Crescent Park, Rocky Point’s competition. Vintage postcard, author’s collection.

  Rides and attractions never before available for the enjoyment of New Englanders were brought in, and it seemed to everyone that Rocky Point would never stop outdoing itself or its competitors. Ferris wheels, roller coasters, a swimming area and a small railroad were attractions now drawing the masses to the seaside resort. The Gypsy’s Cave, the Mystic Moorish Maze, flying sleighs, underground river, electrical parlors, Oriental Past-times, giant Parisian Carousel and the Japanese Garden were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to all there was to do and see. There was also vaudeville, theater productions, band performances and dancing for the enjoyment of the crowds who visited.