In August 1917, two Ocean County men were being carefully watched – one secretly by U.S. government agents, Frederick Ostendorff, the other by the nation’s press, Kingdom Gould.

Ostendorff was born in Germany in 1856 and in 1882 immigrated to Philadelphia, where he became a well-known restaurant owner. During the 1890s and early 1900s, he, his wife and two children made two visits back to Germany. He also became a summer resident of Beach Haven, where in 1914 he opened a large garage.