"The Murder That Won't Go Away" Library Exhibit Commemorates 100th Anniversary of Murder of Grace Brown

An American Tragedy Based on the Murder in the Adirondacks

A letter to Chester Gillette from Grace Brown, part of the exhibit.

A new exhibit in the Daniel Burke Library commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 1906 murder of Grace Brown at Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks, a story that has throughout the years become the basis for several movies, plays, folksongs and books, including Theodore Dreisser's novel An American Tragedy. Chester Gillette, Grace Brown's lover, was tried and convicted for her murder and executed in 1908. The case is still studied today for its use of circumstantial evidence in a conviction.



Marking the 100th anniversary of the murder, Burke Library is displaying Grace's letters to Chester and other material used by the district attorney leading to Chester's conviction. The library exhibit was made possible by Ward Halverson '92, the great-grandson of the Herkimer County district attorney, who entrusted Burke Library with the preservation of Grace's letters and other materials -- the indictment, autopsy report, a letter from Chester to his mother, the last postcard Grace wrote to her mother, the Glenmore Hotel registry and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about the murder case.

The exhibit is in the Browsing Room of Burke Library and open every day through Dec. 17. The library is open Monday - Thursday, from 8 a.m. - 2 a.m.; Friday, 8 a.m. - midnight; Saturday, 10 a.m. - midnight, and Sunday, 10 a.m. - 2 a.m.