1981 interview with Roy Higby

Roy Higby was a 13-year-old at the time of the murder. He was a purser at a boathouse on Big Moose Lake and recalled his role in the search for a missing couple - Chester Gillette and Grace Brown -- several times to people curious about the case. Here are excerpts from a July 10, 1981 Utica Daily Press story. Higby died in 1990.

THE OUTING

The couple checked into the Glenmore Hotel at Big Moose Lake, owned by Higby’s uncle, the morning of July 11, 1906.

“Immediately after lunch, they rented a boat to take out to the lake. Gillette took all of his belongings with him, including the tennis racket, which seemed a little unusual at the time.”

THE SEARCH

The next morning the boat was found floating near the shore of South Bay, about a mile and half from the Glenmore, as well as Gillette’s hat.

“Everyone assumed the two of them had drowned.”

He joined several others searching the bay. “In those days, crude methods were used to drag the lake, such as looking into the water with stove pipes and prodding the water with fish hooks.”

BODY DISCOVERED

Eventually, a white blur could be seen at the lake bottom. “The engineer of the boat took a long, pointed instrument and began poking at the object. He was certain it was a body.”

KEEPING QUIET

Higby said if he’d related what he saw, the outcome might have been different.

“When the case went to court, my father had arranged with the lawyers that my name not be mentioned and that I not take the witness stand because of my age. I wasn’t even allowed to discuss the case with any of my friends.”

Grace’s body was taken out of the water. She had a deep gash across her forehead.

“Father told me to tell the district attorney my side of the story. After I told him, the district attorney said, “Jim (Higby’s father) if the defense had ever gotten this boy on the stand, we would have never convicted Gillette.”

GUILTY OR INNOCENT?

Still, Higby said he thought Gillette was guilty.

“If you asked me, Gillette killed her. It’s just a good thing the natives didn’t get to him before the police, or they would have killed him for sure.”

Higby said Gillette took all of his belongings with him, including the tennis racket that prosecutors said was the murder weapon.

“(That) seemed a little unusual at the time.”