International murder casebook: Caution! Drown unwanted women here!

Big Moose Lake…  Herkimer County…. New York State…. USA, a vast lake and a well-known summer resort, and a grand tourist attraction at the turn of the century. Bobbing boats on the blue waters languidly in the morning… Happy tourists amusing themselves on and around the lake with their chosen companions….  And then some of them noticed, some objects floating lifeless in the calm waters, an overturned row-boat... a man’s straw hat… a woman’s cape floating lifelessly in the calm waters, mute but eloquent testimony that was something tragic had happened…

Curious tourists informed the lake authorities and soon Herkimer Country Police reached the picnic site.  The River Patrol Wing reached the site too and was pressed into service. They dredged the lake from one end to another and the search resulted in the finding of a female body. Who was the woman? Beautiful brunette curved in abundance, and charming even in death.

She was identified as Grace Brown of South Geostatic, New York State, and had been seen at Lake Hotel in the company of a young man. They had registered as Mr and Mrs Carl Graham, Albany, New York! Who was Carl Graham? The man’s straw hat was seen floating; did it mean that he too had been drowned? The police dragged the lake once again but nothing more was found!

Meanwhile, the post-mortem report had giving the situation color, something sinister and upsetting…. Grace Brown had died and left for the yonder blue. And interestingly she was pregnant! Obviously she had died of drowning and there was evidence of physical violence on her body. Murder?

Preliminary investigation by police revealed that Grace dame was 24 years old and was employed as sewing mistress in the Gillette Shirt Factory. She had dated Graham, a handsome guy...    cops found him in New York City and their eyebrows jumped beyond their forehead when he was identified by the Lake Hotel staff as Carl Graham! It was now evident that Grace had been a victim of a classic pattern and situation ending in callous murder….

Graham had always fancied himself to be a lady-killer. Of course his looks proved an invaluable asset for his favourite occupation, the happiness of pursuit, women of course! And another credit card that was mighty useful was his relationship with the factory boss. In those days factories were mostly sweatshop employing several girls from the wrong side of the tracks, poor, downtrodden, class immigrants and the professional Playboy style of selection specialist at the rate of fine art of taking the poor nubile and naïve girls for his favourite game and abandoning them after he had enjoyed them to the hilt and some more!

Grace came of solid old world lower middle-class and she believed the marrying the man she had fallen in love and keeping her body, skin and soul pure for the Lord of her life and she believed that Graham was that man and she offered herself body and soul and skin basking in his warmth and looked forward to the day of the laced veil, whispering ‘I Do’. The golden wedding band … the cake cutting and the grand reception…

Gillette had hoodwinked her with the alluring promises and lust and hugging had and not subsided fast as it would for him as usual and that’s why he kept the affair going longer than  usual quota! Grace’s friends had known about it all and came forward to tell the police and confronted with all the damning evidence against him Graham had no option than to make clean breast of it all….

When Grace found herself well on the way to motherhood without the blessings of holy matrimony she was shocked and told her a lover all about it and begged on bended knees to marry her. At one he readily said Yeah! And promised her to make the necessary arrangements for the day of the grand ceremony….  Meanwhile, back in his mind a plan, different and diabolical was getting ready to take off. (To be continued)

(The writer is a renowned film historian)