The Severed Hand in Sea Girt

The Holland Tunnel under the Hudson opened in 1927 after 7 years of construction.

New York Governor Al Smith was the 1928 Democrat candidate for President, and he started his summer campaign with a trip through the new Holland Tunnel to Jersey City where he was met with great ceremony by “The Boss”, Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague. They meandered their way past waving factorymen and crowds all down the coast to the Monmouth Hotel in Spring Lake where Smith checked in for the week. Starting early in the morning, Hague brought in express trains to Sea Girt from North Jersey every 12 minutes, and by the time Gov. Smith arrived at Camp Moore and the Little White House in Sea Girt Harry Moore and about 80,000 rallygoers were waiting for his arrival.

Al Smith brought 80,000 spectators to the Guard Camp

Smith was a Catholic, and the Irish Catholics of New Jersey showed up in force. Smith was the first presidential candidate to openly call for the repeal of Prohibition. Calvin Coolidge chose not to run, having been president for six years already. He picked Herbert Hoover to succeed him. Hoover took a more nuanced approach to the Wet or Dry issue and advocated turning the decision to each state. An effective part of the Republican strategy was to imply that Smith would be beholden to the Pope in Rome, and would favor the immigrants who put him into power in New York. Hoover, with the roaring economy at his back won in a landslide.

Edward V. Patterson Jr. was the main selling agent for lots in Sea Girt. His brother Benjamin Yard Patterson had hired him after Benjamin was part of the group who purchased the Sea Girt lots from Charles Noble. The Patterson’s were well known because their father EV Patterson was first the Rail Station attendant, and then the first Mayor of Spring Lake.

Paterson sold many of the lots in town from 1924 forward

In October, Edward was coming out of the Sea Girt Fire Company. He had been there from 9PM- 11PM. During Prohibition, men congregated places like the firehouse, when they previously might have gone to a bar.

When he got to his car, Patterson was shocked to find a cardboard box on his steering wheel. Inside was a severed human hand with a note “KKK- You are Next to Go”.

Patterson went into the Sea Girt Police department and showed them the box. After questioning by Chief Panz, Patterson indicated he thought it must be a prank, and had no reason to believe it was a serious threat. Panz contacted the State Police to investigate, to try to determine where the hand came from.

Patterson had a past. He was the head Cashier at the Bank of Bradley Beach in 1923. There was a rumor that he was speculating in stocks on margin. When the federal bank examiners were brought in, $50,000 was missing. Edward was dismissed and subsequently indicted. Edward had lost $39,000 in the market and was using bank funds to pay his debt. His brother had quickly paid off the shortfall, and the judge fined Edward with no jail time, with a promise that Benjamin would give him a job selling real estate.

The State Police interviewed the KKK, but its Grand Dragon in NJ Arthur Bell indicated that the likelihood it was one of their people was “absurd”.

The state laboratory examined the hand and determined that the hand had been treated with embalming chemicals to preserve it. The chemicals used were typical of medical schools. The purchasing of cadaver parts was fairly easy, and the State Police ended their investigation, figuring that no one was killed. No further investigation of the threat was made. Edward V. Patterson died of natural causes at the young age of 46 in 1935.