– Description of the sights that Chester Gillette and Grace Brown observed on their journey to the Adirondacks, which eventually led to Big Moose Lake. Excerpted from the book Murder in the Adirondacks, by Craig Brandon.

A story that has become legend.
The Adirondacks have always provided a backdrop for rich and colorful lore. Pieces of history and legend have found a haven in these quiet mountains. But perhaps one of the most fascinating events of all was a murder that happened at Big Moose Lake in the summer of 1906. The Chester Gillette – Grace Brown murder case has been the focus of considerable research and interest. It was the basis for Theodore Dreiser’s classic novel An American Tragedy and the movie "A Place in the Sun" with Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. More recently, the popular TV series "Unsolved Mysteries" devoted a segment of its program to the murder and the sightings of Grace’s ghost. Slightly less than a century ago, the murder still commands intrigue and speculation, whether told at Adirondack campfires or pondered by those who wander near the watery site of the crime on Big Moose.

Chester Gillette was the nephew of the owner of the Gillette Skirt Factory in Cortland, New York. It was there, while working in the stock room, that he met Grace Brown, the daughter of a Chenango County farmer. Chester and Grace began keeping company with each other. But as Grace’s affection for Chester grew, Gillette began to lose interest in the young girl. His attentions turned to other girls and he desired freedom from commitment. During the course of the brief, strained relationship between the two, a significant factor emerged. Grace Brown realized she was pregnant with Gillette’s child. On a summer day in 1906, the couple left on a trip to the Adirondacks. Grace believed she and Chester would be married on the journey. But Chester was coldly planning a way out of his predicament. His only escape from the desperate situation, he concluded, was to murder Grace. He needed a secluded place where he could make his move. He chose Big Moose Lake.

At Big Moose Lake, Chester rented an Adirondack skiff and took Grace to a remote part of the Lake known as South Bay, supposedly for a picnic. Grace ended up at the bottom of the lake with a gash in her forehead and Gillette escaped to Inlet, where he was arrested three days later.

The trial was held at the Herkimer County Courthouse. The courtroom sobbed when the district attorney read Grace’s letters, including her last one written as a farewell to her childhood home. It’s reported that while the dramatic courtroom sessions carried on, Gillette sat without showing emotion, chewing gum, until it was his turn to testify. At that time he claimed he had not struck the girl or caused her drowning. He said that Grace jumped out of the boat and committed suicide.

The jury didn’t believe him and he was sentenced to die in the electric chair in Auburn, New York. Gillette’s mother waged a campaign that led all the way to the governor’s mansion in Albany in a last minute attempt to save her son’s life. However, the governor denied her requests. At 10:18 on the morning of March 30, 1908, Gillette was executed by electrocution.