Chester Ellsworth Gillette (August 9, 1883March 30, 1908), an American convicted murderer, became the basis for the fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 Clyde Griffiths in the Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of...

 novel, An American Tragedy

An American Tragedy

-Plot summary:The ambitious but immature Clyde Griffiths, raised by poor and devoutly religious parents who force him to participate in their street missionary work, is anxious to achieve better things. His troubles begin when he takes a job as a bellboy at a local hotel. The boys he meets are...

, which in turn was the basis of the 1951 Academy Award-winning film A Place in the Sun.

Background

Gillette was born in Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

, but spent part of his childhood in Spokane

Spokane

Spokane is a city in the U.S. state of Washington.Spokane may also refer to:*Spokane *Spokane River*Spokane, Missouri*Spokane Valley, Washington*Spokane County, Washington*Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Paloos War*Spokane * USS Spokane...

, Washington. His parents were financially comfortable, but deeply religious, and eventually renounced material wealth to join the Salvation Army

Salvation Army

The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....

. The family traveled around the West Coast and Hawaii during his adolescence. Chester never took to the religious aspects of his upbringing. He attended Oberlin College

Oberlin College

Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...

's preparatory school on the generosity of a wealthy uncle, but left after two years, in 1903. After leaving school, he worked at odd jobs until 1905, when he took a position at an uncle's skirt factory in Cortland, New York

Cortland, New York

Cortland is a city in Cortland County, New York, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 18,740. It is the county seat of Cortland County.The City of Cortland, near the west border of the county, is surrounded by the Town of Cortlandville....

.

Affair with Grace Brown

At the factory Gillette met Grace Brown

Grace Brown

Grace Mae Brown was an American skirt factory worker whose murder caused a nationwide sensation, and whose life inspired the fictional character Roberta Alden in the Theodore Dreiser novel, An American Tragedy, as well as the Jennifer Donnelly novel, A Northern Light...

, another employee. Gillette and Brown soon began a sexual relationship, with Brown assuming Gillette would marry her. In the spring of 1906, Brown revealed that she was pregnant. She continued to pressure Gillette to marry her, writing him pleading letters often. Brown then returned to her parents' home for a time, but returned to Cortland when she discovered that Gillette had been courting other girls. One popular tale featured a Miss Harriet Benedict, a wealthy acquaintance of Gillette that the newspapers later speculated was the "other woman" that Chester had left Grace for. Harriet heatedly denied this, even going so far as to issue a formal press release proclaiming: "I have never been engaged to Chester E. Gillette ... our acquaintance was of ... a limited duration and that not a word or suggestion was ever made between us (about an engagement)."

As the spring and summer of 1906 progressed, others noticed an increasing frequency of Gillette's raised voice and Brown's tears at the factory or at each other's homes. Brown continued to press Gillette for some kind of decision, while Gillette played for time with vague statements about their future and of their going away on a trip sometime soon.

The murder

Finally, Gillette made arrangements for a trip to the Adirondack Mountains

Adirondack Mountains

The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....

 in Upstate New York. The pair stopped and stayed for a night in Utica, New York

Utica, New York

Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....

 and then continued to Big Moose Lake

Big Moose Lake

-Neighboring towns:*Big Moose, New York*Eagle Bay, New York*Inlet, New York*Old Forge, New York*Thendara, New York-External links:*People v. Gillette...

 in Herkimer County. At a nearby hotel, Gillette registered under a false name (although one that used his own initials, to match the monogram on his suitcase). He was carrying one suitcase and a tennis racquet. Brown at this point may have expected some kind of elopement ceremony.

On the morning of July 11, Gillette took Brown out in a rowboat on Big Moose Lake

Big Moose Lake

-Neighboring towns:*Big Moose, New York*Eagle Bay, New York*Inlet, New York*Old Forge, New York*Thendara, New York-External links:*People v. Gillette...

, where he clubbed her with his tennis racquet and left her to drown. He returned alone and laid low at his hotel. Later, witnesses would say that Gillette seemed calm, collected and perfectly at ease; nothing was amiss. Brown's bruised and beaten body was found at the bottom of the lake the next day. Gillette had done a poor job of planning the cover-up and was quickly arrested in nearby Inlet

Inlet, New York

Inlet is a town in Hamilton County, New York in the United States of America. The population was 406 at the 2000 census. The name is derived from its location on an adjacent lake.The Town of Inlet is on the western edge of the county.- History :...

.

Trial and execution

The trial took place in Herkimer County and quickly drew nationwide attention. Gillette's defense attorney claimed that his client was innocent, that Brown had committed suicide and Gillette was a helpless onlooker to the suicide. The jury convicted Gillette of murder. The New York Appeals Court upheld the verdict and Governor Charles Evans Hughes

Charles Evans Hughes

Charles Evans Hughes, Sr. was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican politician from New York. He served as the 36th Governor of New York , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , United States Secretary of State , a judge on the Court of International Justice , and...

 refused to grant clemency or give a reprieve. On March 30, 1908, Chester Gillette died in the electric chair at Auburn Prison

Auburn Prison

Auburn Correctional Facility is a state prison located on State Street in Auburn, New York, built on land that was once a Cayuga Indian Village. It is classified as a maximum security facility....

 in Auburn, New York.

In recent years

In 2007 Gillette's diary, which he wrote during the last seven months he was in prison, was donated to the Hamilton College Library by Gillette's grandniece. In addition to the diary, twelve letters written by Gillette during his time in prison were also donated. Eleven of the letters were addressed to Bernice Ferrin, a friend of the family who moved to Auburn, NY to stay with Gillette's sister Hazel. The twelfth letter, a farewell letter written the day before his execution, was addressed to Hazel Gillette. The diary and letters were published http://www.hamilton.edu/library/couperpress/occasional.html#gillette in December 2007, almost 100 years after the execution of Chester Gillette.

External links

• The Gillette-Brown affair
• Fatal Journey
• Find-a-grave: Gillette
• http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/classics/chester_gillette/ Chester Gillette and Grace Brown on CrimeLibrary