Mill Girl.

The story of Grace Brown's life and murder—later immortalized in Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy (1925)—not only brought to public attention the plight of mill girls but also symbolized the dangers inherent in America's transformation from a rural to an industrialized economy. Like many young men and women, Brown left a rural life—in her case, a life on her father's impoverished farm in Otselic, New York—to move to the city to find work. As a young woman in the textile industry in Cortland, New York, she encountered poor working conditions, low wages, and exploitation. Her life was controlled by the factory owners and operators.

Gillette.

When he met Grace Brown, Chester E. Gillette, the son of roving evangelical missionary parents who ran a nonaffiliated religious mission out of their home in Kansas City, Missouri, was twenty-two-years old. Gillette had moved to Cortland in...