The year 1923 began in Ocean County with a story that a two-masted schooner, Jeanette, had been rammed and sunk off Barnegat Light with a loss of two lives. Rumors spread that the schooner was a rum runner and in the process of unloading contraband under the cover of darkness to be brought into the bay through the inlet.

Local officials were on heightened alert, and on Jan. 11 the Asbury Park Press noted there could be some unexpected results caused by the increased vigilance.

“In a raid conducted by undersheriff Alfred W. Brown, acting for the prosecutor’s office, accompanied by a number of…