the Gillette trial, November 19, 1906

 

It was a memorable day, beginning with testimony by Frank Brown, Grace Brown’s father and including testimony by Ada (Brown) Hawley (Grace Brown’s sister), Carrie Wheeler (Grace Brown’s landlady), Noah H. Gillette (Chester Gillette’s uncle, the owner of the skirt factory), and Harold R. Gillette (Noah’s son, Chester’s cousin); from factory employees; and from Albert B. Raymond, who, a few weeks before Grace Brown was drowned by Gillette, had rented a boat to Chester Gillette at an outing by Gillette and Grace Brown near Cortland (where the skirt factory was located) and noticed after they returned that Grace was in tears.

 

Washington Post, November 20, 1906

‘Gillette Faces Jury’ (father testifies; Harriet Benedict mentioned) – Washington Post 11-20-1906

 

Adirondack News, November (20?), 1906

1 ‘Probing Girl’s death (Harriet Benedict mentioned) – Adirondack News, November 1906

3 ‘Probing Girl’s death (Harriet Benedict mentioned) – Adirondack News, November 1906 (2)

 

trial transcript

Gillette trial testimony 11-19-1906

 

—posted by Roger W. Smith

  November 2021

what was Gillette’s motive?

 

 

I have been studying the trial transcript of the Gillette-Brown murder case.

What about the “other woman” (Sondra Finchley in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy)?

We know that there was no such romance in actuality. But what was Gillette’s motive?

I have pointed out that Harriet Benedict, rumored to be the other woman in the actual case, with brief reports to that effect in newspapers, was not only not engaged to Gillette; she did not have a romance with him.

But Gillette and Miss Benedict (later Mrs Levi Chase) were acquainted, and witnesses in the trial transcript reported occasionally seeing them in public together.

What do I think Gillette’s motive was? It is significant that while many employees at the skirt factory in upstate Cortland, NY where Gillette and Grace Brown worked saw them flirting and talking more than usual during work hours, it was commented upon that no one ever saw them out together in public. Gillette would visit Grace in the evening at her landlady’s house.

Gillette was the poor nephew, from humble beginnings, of factory owner Noah H. Gillette, his uncle. His cousin, Harold R. Gillette, was a supervisor at the factory. (Just as in the novel, the cousin seemed to have had little personal contact with Gillette.) I think Gillette did not want his romance with Grace Brown to become known because it would ruin his chances for professional advancement and his reputation — including, perhaps, his chances of marrying a rich girl. He seemed ashamed of the relationship.

He seems to have thought that he could do away with Grace “quietly” and escape detection. Then he could have returned to the factory from his “vacation” and resume his normal life. He was definitely interested in girls and in becoming a regular, accepted member of the Cortland social set.

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

  November 2021

the first newspaper accounts of the Gillette murder case

 

 

 

‘Gillette Says the Boat Upset’ – Syrcause Herald 7-14-1906

 

 

‘Mystery in Girl’s Death’ – NY Times 7-14-1906

 

 

‘Girl Murder Victim’ – Washington Post 7-14-1906

 

 

‘Gillette Accused of Miss Brown’s Murder’ – NY Times 7-15-1906

 

 

‘Lake Murder Arrest’ – NY Tribune 7-15-1906

 

 

‘Gillette a Prisoner’ – Washington Post 7-15-1906

 

 

 

‘Accused of Killing Girl’ – Chicago Tribune 7-15-1906

 

 

‘Flaws in Gillette’s Story’ – NY Times 7-16-1906

 

 

‘Lured to Her Death’ – Washington Post 7-16-1906

 

 

‘Accused of Murder of Grace Brown’ – Hartford Courant 7-16-1906

 

 

 

‘Is It a Murder’ (Gillete’s arrest) – Malone (NY) Farmer – 7-18-1906

 

Grace Brown murdered (gives DOB) – (Lowville) Journal & Republican 7-19-1906

 

 

‘Sister Sobs with Gillette’ – Washington Post 7-27-1906

 

 

Followers of this site may be interested in reading some of the earliest accounts of the Gillette murder case that were published in newspapers in July 1906. The case provided the factual underpinning for Theodore Dreiser’s novel An American Tragedy.
The newspaper accounts — posted here (above) as downloadable PDF files — are as follows:

 
GILLETTE SAYS THE BOAT UPSET
Syracuse Herald
July 14, 1906

 

 

MYSTERY IN GIRL’S DEATH.
New York Times
July 14, 1906

 

 

GIRL MURDER VICTIM
Washington Post.
July 14, 1906

 
GILLETTE ACCUSED OF MISS BROWN’S MURDER
New York Times
July 15, 1906

 

 

LAKE MURDER ARREST
New York Tribune
July 15, 1906

 
GILLETTE A PRISONER
Washington Post.
July 15, 1906

 
ACCUSED OF KILLING GIRL
Chicago Tribune
July 15, 1906

 

 

FLAWS IN GILLETTE’S STORY.
New York Times.
July 16, 1906
LURED TO HER DEATH
Washington Post
July 16, 1906

 

 

ACCUSED OF THE MURDER OF GRACE BROWN
Hartford Courant
July 16, 1906

 

 

IS IT A MURDER?
Malone (NY) Farmer
July 18, 1906
TRAGEDY AT BIG MOOSE
Journal and Republican (Lowville, NY)
July 19, 1906
SISTER SOBS WITH GILLETTE
Washington Post.
July 27, 1906

 

 

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   June 2020

Grace Brown and Chester Gillette (photo)

 

 

 

Grace Brown and Chester Gillette – The Atlanta Constitution, Sunday Magazine, April 21, 1935, pg. 6

 

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   September 2019

“Gillette Faces Jury”

 

‘Gillette Faces Jury’ (father testifies) – Wash Post 11-20-1906

 

 

“Gillette Faces Jury,” The Washington Post, November 20, 1906

This article was very well reported and written. It conveys what the public must have thought of the Gillette case at the opening of the trial and the attitudes and emotions of those affected, from Grace Brown’s father to Chester Gillette himself.

 

 

— Roger W. Smith

   September 2017

“The Ballad of Grace Brown and Chester Gillette”

 

 

 

 

Gillette, Brown genealogy

 

 

descendants of John Gillette

 

descendants of Leonard Rice

 

Descendants of Daniel Brown

 

Descendants of Charles H. Babcock

 

 

********************************************

 

 

This post contains four reports — posted above in downloadable PDF format — showing the genealogy of the families of Chester Ellsworth Gillette (1883-1908) and Grace Mae Brown (1886-1906).

Gillette was executed in Auburn, NY in 1908 for the murder of Grace Brown.

Chester Gillette was the prototype of the character Clyde Griffiths in Theodore Dreiser’s novel An American Tragedy. Grace Brown was the prototype for the character Roberta Alden in the novel.

The reports posted here were generated using genealogy software. They include:

 

 

Descendants of John Gillette

John Gillette (1729-1760) was an ancestor of Chester Gillette.

 

 

Descendants of Leonard Rice

Leonard Rice was an ancestor of Chester Gillette. Rice was the maiden name of Chester Gillette’s mother, Louisa Maria (Rice) Gillette (1859-1939).

 

 

Descendants of Daniel Brown

Daniel Brown (1696-1771) was an ancestor of Grace Brown (Chester Gillette’s murder victim), the daughter of Frank B. Brown (1856-1918) and Minerva (Babock) Brown (ca. 1858-1939).

 

 

Descendants of Charles H. Babcock

Charles H. Babcock (ca. 1832-1881) was the maternal grandfather of Grace Brown. Babcock was the maiden name of Grace Brown’s mother Minerva (Babcock) Brown.

 

 

—   Roger W. Smith

     June 2017; updated August 2020