Halloween Murders The Toolbox Killers | Yore Town Podcast Episode 30

There is a pretty shocking and mysterious murder that happened in Upstate New York in the early 1900’s A murder that is so scandalous there are conflicting versions of what really happened. It could be the most shocking murder to ever take place in Upstate NY. What are we talking about? The Murder at Big Moose Lake.

Big Moose Lake, at the head of the Moose River, is a large lake about five miles (8 km) north of Fourth Lake in the Adirondacks in upstate New York. The lake is within both Herkimer and Hamilton counties, and covers portions of the towns of Webb and Long Lake.

Just like most movies that have a murder in it or murders that make a movie it begins with a love story. Grace Mae Brown grew up in the village of South Otselic, Chenango County, New York, the middle child and daughter of a successful Chenango County dairy farmer. She was reportedly given the nickname "Billy" because of her love of the contemporary hit song "(Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey". Brown attended grammar school in the village, and became close friends with a teacher, Maud Kenyon Crumb, and Crumb's husband. Later, Brown often signed her love letters "The Kid", after the Western outlaw Billy the Kid. In 1904, at the age of 18, Brown moved to nearby Cortland to live with her married sister Ada, and to work at the new Gillette Skirt Factory. While working at the factory she met someone. That someone, Chester Gillette.

Chester Gillette was the nephew of the Gillette Skirt Factory. He grew up in Montana and bounced around from place to place in his not so stable childhood. He moved to Cortland NY in 1905 to work at the factory. Since he was the nephew of the owner he met people in the upper class society in Cortland. He then meets Grace and they began a relationship. A very secret relationship as she was a factory worker and wasn’t up the family standards. It then comes out that Grace Brown is pregenant. She’ 20 and he’s 23. Since it was the early 1900’s unwerd mothers were outcast from society. She decides for those reasons it’s best to go back home to her be with her parents. The two keep in touch writing letters back and forth. Love letters at that. In a lot of these letters it was said the she was begging him to marry her. Gillette finally agrees to take her away to the Adirondacks for a romantic weekend. Many believe that she thought it was he was going to propose or even marry her. Other reports suggested that he was going to bring her to a maternity house where she could live until she had the child.

The couple then travels around the state. They spent the first night in Utica NY where they registered at a hotel under false names. They even left the hotel without paying. They then jump on a trian to Tupper Lake the second night. They planned an outing by a nearby lake once arrived by train but it rained out so it ruined the day. They jumped back on the train and went to Big Moose Lake on July 11th. They then decided to rent a a canoe and spend the afternoon on the lake. People reported seeing hotel guest Carl Grahm aka Gillette check in with his bag and initials C E G with a tennis racket attached to it. Her lueggage was to be reportedly left at the train station. Odd right. Even more odd it was seen that he brought his suitcase with him on the canoe trip.

It is alleged that he used the tennis racket to smash brown in the head and she fell into the water. Brown had told Gillette in a letter that she could not swim. Gillette fled the scene and spent the night at the Hotel giving multiple stories of why he returned alone. Brown’s body surfaced not long afterwards, with the autopsy eventually revealing bruises on her head and a four-month-old fetus inside her.

After Brown's body was found the next day, Gillette was arrested in the nearby town.

Let’s skip ahead to the trial that occured in Herkimer was the biggest trial to ever happened in the area. Newspapers allover the state covered this story.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.