Chester and Grace: The Real American Tragedy

5/5/06- BIG MOOSE LAKE


BY THE MORNING OF JULY 11, 1906, GRACE BROWN'S HOPE OF A WEDDING DURING HER VACATION IN THE ADIRONDACKS WITH CHESTER GILLETTE HAD DIMINISHED GREATLY. THE TRIP HAD NOT BEEN GOING WELL AT ALL. TENSIONS MOUNTED GREATER THAN EVER AS THE PREGNANT GIRL CONTINUED TO PUT PRESSURE ON CHESTER TO DO HIS DUTY AND MARRY HER, BUT CHESTER CONTINUED TO PUSH HER FURTHER AWAY.

THAT MORNING DURING BREAKFAST AT THE HOTEL IN TUPPER LAKE, CHESTER AND GRACE GOT INTO YET ANOTHER HEATED ARGUMENT ABOUT MARRIAGE AND GRACE BECAME SO HYSTERICAL THAT SHE HAD TO BE ESCORTED OUT BY A SYMPATHETIC WAITRESS. LATER ON, WITNESSES SAW THAT SHE WAS STILL CRYING WHEN SHE BOARDED A TRAIN WITH CHESTER THAT WAS BOUND FOR OLD FORGE, WITH A STOPOVER AT BIG MOOSE LAKE, WHICH WAS ON THE BORDER BETWEEN HERKIMER AND HAMILTON COUNTIES. BY THEN, GRACE HAD REACHED HER BREAKING POINT.

ON THE TRAIN LATER ON, GRACE MANAGED TO CALM DOWN ENOUGH TO WRITE A POSTCARD TO HER MOTHER BACK IN SOUTH OTSELIC SAYING THAT SHE "WAS HAVING A LOVELY TIME ON HER 'UNEXPECTED VACATION' IN THE ADIRONDACKS. " WHEN SHE HAD LEFT, HER FAMILY ASSUMED THAT SHE WAS RETURNING TO CORTLAND AND TO HER OLD JOB AT THE GILLETTE SKIRT FACTORY. IT WAS NOT LIKE GRACE TO LIE TO THEM THAT SHE WAS HAVING A GOOD TIME WHEN SHE REALLY WASN'T.

WHILE GRACE WAS WRITING HER POSTCARD, CHESTER WROTE A POSTCARD OF HIS OWN. THIS ONE WAS MORE OF A BUSINESS ARRANGEMENT THAN A SIMPLE POSTCARD STATING THAT SOMEONE WAS HAVING A GOOD TIME. HIS POSTCARD WAS TO THE SKIRT FACTORY AND IT SAID: "PLEASE SEND FIVE DOLLARS TO EAGLE BAY SO I CAN GET IT ON FRIDAY. CHESTER." IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT HE PLANNED TO BE THERE THAT DAY TO RECEIVE HIS MONEY. HE MAILED HIS POSTCARD ON THE TRAIN.

WHEN THE TRAIN GOT OFF AT BIG MOOSE STATION, CHESTER AND GRACE DISEMBARKED AND BEFORE GETTING INTO THE STAGECOACH THAT WOULD TAKE THEM TO THE GLENMORE, HE MAILED GRACE'S POSTCARD AT THE STATION. IT WAS CONSIDERED TO BE ANOTHER CLUE THAT HE WAS PLANNING MURDER.

AT THE GLENMORE HOTEL, HE USED THE ASSUMED NAME OF "CARL GRAHM" AND GAVE HIS ADDRESS AS ALBANY. THIS TIME, HE DID NOT PUT GRACE DOWN AS HIS WIFE. INSTEAD, HE USED HER REAL NAME AND HER ADDRESS AS A FORM OF QUICK IDENTIFICATION WHEN HER BODY WAS FOUND THE NEXT DAY WHEN HIS BODY WOULD NOT BE. HE WOULD BE LONG GONE BY THEN.

THEN HE ARRANGED FOR A ROWBOAT RIDE ON THE LAKE. FROM WHAT THE PROPRIETOR SAW, GRACE DID NOT LOOK TOO THRILLED ABOUT GOING OUT IN A ROWBOAT. AFTER ALL, SHE COULD NOT SWIM AND CHESTER KNEW THAT. HOWEVER, CHESTER GOT HIS WAY AGAIN AND GRACE WENT IN THERE WITH HIM. HE BROUGHT ALONG HIS SUITCASE, WHICH INCLUDED HIS TENNIS RACKET, WHICH SEEMED STRANGE TO THE PROPRIETOR. MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO RENTED HIS BOATS DID NOT BRING THEIR SUITCASES WITH THEM ONTO THE BOATS.

THEY ROWED FOR HOURS, STOPPING OFF ON SHORE A FEW TIMES, ONE OF THEM FOR A PICNIC LUNCH. WHERE THEY HAD THEIR LUNCH WAS ALSO WHERE HE LEFT HIS SUITCASE. THEN SOMETIME AFTER SIX, A WOMAN FROM NEW JERSEY HEARD A SINGLE SCREAM FROM ACROSS THE LAKE. SHE COULD NOT SEE WHERE IT CAME FROM, BUT SHE KNEW THE SCREAM TO COME FROM A WOMAN.

WHAT HAPPENED THEN REMAINS A MYSTERY TO THIS DAY. MANY SPECULATED THAT CHESTER ATTACKED GRACE IN THE BOAT WITH THE TENNIS RACKET, RENDERED HER UNCONSCIOUS, AND TOSSED HER INTO THE LAKE. DID THIS HAPPEN? DID HE ACCIDENTALLY KNOCK GRACE OUT OF THE BOAT AND MAKE NO ATTEMPT TO SAVE HER, AS THEODORE DREISER MAY HAVE IMPLIED IN HIS BOOK, "AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY?" OR DID GRACE, AS CHESTER SAID AS HIS DEFENSE, COMMIT SUICIDE BY THROWING HERSELF INTO THE LAKE?

NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENED. ONE THING WAS CLEAR. ONE PERSON WAS DEAD AT THE BOTTOM OF BIG MOOSE LAKE AND THE OTHER PERSON VANISHED WITHOUT A TRACE.