Transcript
Page 1: Gillette/Brown murder case discussion, 1984, Norwich (NY) Evening Sun

communityswimming hole in«

Livingston County town,jd look right at home onold Norman Rockwellf. At least part of itJd.ne east end of the pondjjd fit right in — whereDgsters swing from ae into the chilly watersji arms and legs Hailing.Jie rest of the pond, •whereJe sunbathers go, mighta little too strong for thejurday Evening Post.

gut it's not too strong forI "World Guide to Nude•3 dies and Recreation,";ich lists Bullhead as oneseven places to go in up-

jte New York to sun in theIffThe latest edition of the

jiide, which lists for $14 95,as released late last year.; was first issued in 1980 byje Harmony Books Divisiont Crown Publishers, Newfork City.

The pond's- use byaturists has been known for*ars to clothed swimmersit the pond, mostly teen-agers and college students,&ut not to the rest of the.county.

W. Austin Wadsworth ofGeneseo, who owns the pond,is skeptical that nudebathers really swim there.But he says no one — with orwithout clothes — should beswimming there anyway.

"I've heard rumors <aboutnude bathers > . I'm not sure Ireally believed them. Thatlisting baffles me." he said.

Wadsworth says the guidefails to point out that thepond is private property, anduninvited visitors are notwelcome.

"The property is posted.We put new signs up every ,summer because people takethe old ones down." Wad-sworth said. "I have no ob-jection to the naturistmovement in principle, butthey should know that theyabsolutely h'ave no right togo to Bullhead. They aretrespassing and I do not•* ant them there "

The guide found out aboutBullhead from the NaturistRochester organization — aloosely knit group thatbelieves nudity is physicallyand psychologically healthy.

Mor ley Schloss. a

Rochester resident whospeaks for the group, saysmembers suggested to guideauthor Lee Baxandall ofOshkpsh, Wis., that Bullheadbe listed.

That was sometime before1980, when there was lesscommunity acceptance ofpublic nudity and the pondwas getting good play,Schloss said. Bui since then.Bullhead has lost itspopularity, he said.

"Nowadays Bullhead getsvery little naturist use,"Schloss said. "There are bet-ter places to go. The sidesare steep and it doesn't havea good beach. It's hard to getto. There's trouble with beerdrinkers who use the pondand make fun of mirfitv ".

The guide, which •mistakenly calls BullheadPond, Triphammer Pond,"also mistakenly directsvisitors to park in the nearbyLion's Club parkins lot.

William Van Norman, whomanages the clubhouse, saidout-of-state cars beganshowing up for the first time.last summer. "Canada,Texas, Ohio...you name it,"he said.

"Sometimes our lot is half-filled with them and I have toask them to move on." VanNorman said

The pond is so hard to getto that most LivingstonCounty residents have neverseen it. There's no road, oreven a trail. After leavingtheir cars, visitors have towalk a mile on the limestoneballast or the unevenlyspaced ties of the Livonia,Avon and Lakevi l leRailroad.

"This pond is so pleasant itdraws people from a widearea," the guide states. "Itlacks good flat swimmingareas, but remains popularand beautiful "

The favorable review istempered by a note that"some folks in swim garb"also use the pond.

The other upstate listingsin the guide are Lake Min-newaska. New Paltz; Em-pire Lake. Binghamton; SixMile Creek. Ithaca: South-wick Beach State Park,Watertown; Zoar ValleyShale Beach near Gowandaand Chautauqua Gorge,Westfield.

prtsei ;ing dieborhood, it may be worth atry," she '-aid.

Arthur Kremer, chairmanof the commission and theAssembly Ways and MeansCommittee, saidjhe divisionfailed to follow _its ownregulations about Super-vising the neighborhoodpreservation companies.

Ms. Scruggs-Leftwich saida lack of staff has preventedher ̂ agency from monitoringthe neighborhood groups asclosely as she would haveliked and said an effort tocomputerize some of thework might allow staff em-ployees to spend more timein the field with the groups.

Since the program was

"* 1

and budgeu-d ai $10.6 millionfor 1984-85 -I £?Sl 1*33. -

The program was begun tohelp existing pfiv^t'e gr'oOpsworking to preserve. .aridrestore old neighborhoods .-Itwas designed to pr6vide:.upto $500.000 in aid tea group fha three-year perted; butthethreeryear ,fimi;t~*r «afsrepealed and tne'dollar'-cajphas been circuniveritejt ,';r

Although the!aim",was!toprovide state aid. to groupsformed where thje .privatesector created them,- -Uiecommission criticized statehousing officials "for raitingto prepare a sta^ewltlfrpTa'nto set goals ahiljqbjectivesand measure their ijrpgiesjj.

Topic: GilletteBY ANDREW MILNERWould Chester Gillette,

convicted murderer of SouthOtselic resident Grace(Billy) Brown, have beenfound guilty if the murdertrial took place today?

Craig Brandon says no.Brandon, a U t i ca

newspaper editor, spoke onthe 1906 Gillette case, thebasis for Theodore Dreiser's"An American Tragedy," onSaturday at the springmeeting of the ChenangoCounty Historical Society atthe Rexford Street Museum,Norwich.

According to Brandon,Gillette's trial, whichreceived national attention,was an unfair one Brown's.fabled love letters, whichswayed the public's opinionagainst Gillette, had beenobtained from Gillettte'sCortland, N.Y. apartmentwithout a search warrant.Today that evidence wouldbe thrown out of court.Another piece of sensationalevidence, the fetus Brownwas carrying, allegedlyfathered by Gillette, wouldprobably be inadmissibletoday.

Brandon's well-researchprogram included an ex-cellent side show with rarephotos of both Gillette andBrown. Brandon also in-cluded thorough biographiesof both Gillette and Brown.•Following his talk, there

was a question and answersession where it wasrevealed there is still doubtwhether or npt Gillettte everconfessed to the murder.

Grace Brown was founddead in Big Moose Lake inthe Town of Webb in theAdirondacks on July 12, 1906.Two days later Gillette was

arrested and charged withthe murder. The Vial" Cookthree weeks and on Dec:- 4,1906, the jury found Gilletteguilty of first degree" ' mur-der. After an unsuccesful'at-tempt to appeal, •Gillette w~aselectrocuted on March 30,1908.

Saturday's meeting 'wasattended by many residentsof South Otselic, some .ofwhom were childreff". .and.grandchildren of people whoknew Grace Brown. ._.

Brandon has put his fin-dings in a book w-hjch/will J>epublished in Noyerhber ~}»yNorth Country Books, - '. ".

BWIproposedALBANY, N.Y,While the state has movedto ~make its penalties fordrunken driving some <rf thetoughest in the nation, twoNew York legislalors wouldlike, to do the same -furboaters who have more thantheir ration of rum , '.

On Sunday, state Sen. IS'or-man Levy, R-N'assau. andAssemblyman Michael -,||c-Nulty, D-Albany, 'announcedSunday that they have in-troduced legisla.tion'J-'totoughen penalties for 'drtJHkscaught on the state/s.'w.'ater-ways. They said half, of .allboating accidents involvedrinking boaters.- ̂ r;v;>f

Other fines and\sentencesfor drunken boatecstVouldbe made the same aj^lordrivers of land vehicles, theysaid.

|r\1 t i JU

. .--^