Chester Gillette

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Chester Gillette (August 9, 1883 - March 30, 1908), an American convicted murderer, became the basis for the fictional character Clyde Griffiths in the Theodore Dreiser novel, An American Tragedy.

Gillette was convicted of drowning his girlfriend, Grace Brown, who had revealed her pregnancy after a concealed year-long relationship. After taking Brown out boating in 1906 in Moose Lake in Herkimer County, New York, Gillette returned alone, and gave varying explanations for what had occurred. Brown's body was found the next day, and Gillette was arrested in nearby Inlet.

Gillette was executed in 1908 in Auburn Prison by electrocution.