On July 12, 1906, a rowboat was found capsized by a steamboat which contained a search party for a couple that had rented that boat. A young boy on this boat noticed a large mass at the bottom and brought it to the attention of the crew. They pulled it up, thinking that it was just garbage but, to their surprise, it was a body.
The Beginning
Grace Mae Brown was born on March 20, 1886, the fifth of nine children. Her father, Frank Brown, was a farmer. Her mother was Betsy Minvera Babcock. They resided in South Otselic, Chenago County, New York on a dairy farm. She moved to Cortland in 1904 to live with her sister. There, she got a job at the Cortland Skirt Factory. While she was working at this factory, she met a young man named Chester Gillette.
Chester Gillette
Chester Gillette was born August 9, 1883 in Montana. His father was Frank, a silver miner, and Lousia Rice. His family moved to Spokane, Washington when Chester was three. His parents were financially comfortable but deeply religious, and eventually joined the Salvation Army after they lost everything in the Great Spokane Fire of 1889. The family traveled around the West Coast and Hawaii during Gillette’s adolescence. He attended Oberlin College’s preparatory school, paid for by his wealthy uncle, but left after two years. He worked odd jobs until 1905, where he took a job at his uncle’s business, the Cortland Skirt Factory.
The Love Story
Grace Brown and Chester Gillette began dating in secret. She was not the standards that Gillette’s family wanted for him. The Gillette’s were rich and Chester was handsome and from a good family. Grace, on the other hand was a farm girl and a factory worker. Chester didn’t want the others to know he as dating a factory girl. He had his eyes on a rich girl who was an acquaintance of Gillette.
In May of 1906, however, Grace revealed to Gillette that she was pregnant. At the time, unwed mothers were outcasts from society. Grace went back to her family farm where she and Gillette exchanged correspondence by letters.
Grace begged Chester to marry her through these letters, expressing her fear when her family found out about the baby. Chester finally responded that he would take her away to a romantic outing in July. Grace assumed that they would either get married or he would propose to her on this trip.
The Murder
On the first night of the trip, they spent their time in Utica. From there, they took the train to Tupper Lake. On July 11th, they took a train back towards Utica, stopping at Big Moose Lake in Herkimer County.
Gillette registered at the Glenmore Hotel under a false name which matched his monogrammed luggage. Grace had brought her whole wardrobe with her while, on the contrary, Chester brought very little luggage.
Gillette then took her out on a rented row boat. Vacationers had seen them boating and even go out for a picnic earlier that day. Gillette brought everything with him, including a tennis racket which was attached to his luggage. Around the early evening, Gillette smashed Grace’s head with the tennis racket, knowing full well from a letter that she could not swim. She then fell into the water. Gillette then fled o the Arrowhead Lodge under an alias.
Robert Morrison, the owner of the rented row boat, assumed that the couple had misjudged the size of the lake and ended up at a different hotel when they did not return after the sun had set. He was worried, however, the next day and formed a search party. They then found Grace Brown’s body and called the authorities.
The Investigation
The police found, through the investigation, that there was a couple with the names of Carl Graham and Grace Brown. The assumed that the man Grace was with would also be found in the lake, but after searchers dragged the lake, they found nothing. The authorities contacted Grace Brown’s family and found that she had not spent any time with a Carl Graham. She did, however associate with a Chester Gillette.
Police found Chester at Arrowhead Lodge through help from others and arrested him. He was socializing, laughing, and even bragging about the murder. Chester claimed that there had been an accident that resulted in her death. In another story, he claimed that he stood up and the boat capsized. Gillette did not help her, for fear that she would panic and drag him under. He shouted at her to grab on the boat and when she did, the boat turned over again.
An autopsy report showed that Grace was four months pregnant and was alive when she entered the water. She had also suffered a beating which caused bruising on her face. This had caused her death, not drowning.
The Trial
When Chester was in jail, he continued to maintain his innocence. Visitors were allowed to come in to wish him well or curse him to hell.
The case was the most sensational trial to be held in Upstate New York. Hundreds came to witness and famous newsmen, such as Bat Masterson, came from New York City to see the trial.
The trial began on November 12, 1906. Prosecution proposed that Chester was driven to murder Grace because of the insistence of marriage. They had no confession, however so the needed to collect as much circumstantial evidence as possible.
Guests at the hotel said they saw Chester speak harshly to Grace, although they could not hear the topic of conversation. They also witnessed Chester pace the hall nervously before the boat ride. The District Attorney Ward wondered why an innocent man would check into a hotel under an alias. The tennis racket, according to the coroner was suspected to be the murder weapon. The clothing and luggage was dry, even though Gillette had claimed to have retrieved it from the water. Gillette had taken a weird path to Arrowhead Lodge. Gillette also did not report the incident.
The fetus was presented as evidence in case the defense might deny the pregnancy. Chester’s lawyer, Charles D Thomas, promised that Grace’s condition would not be disputed because it had no bearing on the case.
The defense proposed the scenario that Grace was so distraught that she ended her life. Gillette testified this on stand, saying that she jumped in while he sat on the other end and cause it to capsize.
Thomas read out the letters Grace had sent to Gillette. Instead of finding Grace suicidal, the court empathized with her. Lawyers, jurors, and Grace’s family cried during these readings. Even Gillette shed a tear as he listened.
The Conviction
In the end, the jury believed the story the prosecution put together.
Chester enticed Grace into the boat with promises of a romantic day. He brought the suitcase and racket with him. When Chester found a private place out of earshot of other vacationers, he brought Grace to the shore and beat her with the racket. He then dumped her in the lake and made his escape trough a rugged and wooded trail to Arrowhead Lodge. He arrived bone dry, with his suitcase and racket in hand.
On December 5, 1906, after nearly five hours of deliberation, Gillette was found guilty of murder in the first degree. He was sentenced o death by an electric chair. Gillette was reportedly calm and smiling as the sentence was handed down. He telegrammed his father “I am convicted” upon hearing the verdict.
Gillette was transferred from Herkimer Country Jail to Auburn Prison, now the Auburn Correctional Facility, where he was electrocuted. After several failed attempts, he was finally executed on March 30, 1908.
As the end was near, it is said that he confessed to murdering Grace Brown, but only to his spiritual advisors. These advisors did not reveal the exact facts of his confession.
Gillette’s body was taken to Soule Cemetery where he was buried in an unmarked grave. It is said that his body was buried in a plot where the road was paved over, so the exact location is unknown.
Aftermath
Grace’s funeral was held in her home town and was buried in the Brown family plot.
The murder inspired Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, which was later adapted to the film called A Place in the Sun. There was a song called “The Ballad of Big Moose Lake” which was influenced by the murder.
The courthouse and jail still stand today and is the headquarters of the Sheriff’s Department. Tours are given by the Herkimer County Historical Society.
The public can take advantage of hiking, camping, and boating at the lake.
Sources
The Tragic Death of Grace Brown
Murder of Grace Brown: Relive Infamous crime at Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks
The Murder at Big Moose Lake
Chester Gillette
Mysteries and Murder 
