OH-FOOTSTEPS-L Archives

Archiver > OH-FOOTSTEPS > 2006-01 > 1138736798


From: "Maggie Stewart, OH Archives" <>
Subject: Fw: Tid Bits - Part 70
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 14:46:38 -0500


----- Original Message -----
From: "Darlene & Kathi kelley" <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 11:49 PM
Subject: Tid Bits - Part 70



Contributed for Use in
USGenWeb Archives
by Darlene E. Kelley
November 15, 2005

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Historical Collections of Ohio
And Then They Went West
Know Your Ohio
Tid Bits - Part 70
by Darlene E. Kelley
notes by
S.Kelly

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tid Bits - Part 70

Cleveland's Most Famous
Con - Artist

She was born Oct 10, 1859 at Stathroy/ Eastwood, Ontario, Canada, a
daughter of a Ontario railway worker and named Elizabeth Bigley.

Nothing was known about her early years.
In 1881, at 22 years old, she was arrested in Woodstock, Ontario for
forgery, but was released on the grounds of insanity. The next year, she
married Dr. Wallace S. Springsteen in Cleveland, Ohio, but he threw her
out in 11 days later when he found out about her past.

Soon after, she changed her name to Lydia Scott and became a
fortune-teller; only to change her name again to Madam Lydia de Vere,as
it sounded better for a clairvoyant. Some accounts say this happened in
1886 and 1887, respectively.
One account says she was in San Francisco bilking unsuspecting people
with her clairvoyance, and then retuned to Cleveland in 1886.

Most accounts state she was sentenced in 1889 to nine and a half years
in the state penetentiary for forgery in Toledo. After serving four
years, she was paroled by the then - governor William Mc Kinley, and
returned to Cleveland changing her name yet again to ' Mrs. Hoover' and
working as a prostitute. Apparently, in 1887, she had a son, whom she
named Emil Hoover. Nothing is mentioned in any account as to who took
care of the son.

In 1887, she met and married Dr. Leroy S. Chadwick, a well respected
physician, who knew nothing about her past criminal activities. It is
said she met him in a borello on Euclid Ave, where she assured him she
was merely an etiquette instructor for the girls. It was apparent that
around this time she again changed her name to Cassie L. Chadwick.
Nothing is mentioned as to what the L. stood for or when she came up
with this name.

In 1897, Cassie set up her biggest scam, On a trip to New York City, in
the posh lobby of the Holland House Hotel, she was introduced to her
husband's acquaintance, Dillion, who was an Ohio banker. She told
Dillion she was an illegitimate daughter of the wealtiest batchelor in
America, Andrew Carnegie.. To prove it, she and Dillion took a carriage
ride to Carnegie's Fifth Avenue mansion.( Other accounts state she
merely asked Dillion to take her there. )

While Dillion waited in the carriage, Cassie went to the door and was
admitted in, where she stayed for about 30 minutes. Upon returning to
the carriage, she waved to a well dressed man in the front window, ten
tripped while entered the carriage, surreptitiously dropping a piece of
paper. Dillion retrived the paper for her and noticed it was a
promissory note for $ 2 million signed by Carnegie, whom Cassie said was
the man waving from the window.

Dillion wanted details, which Cassie supplied, after swearing Dillion to
secrecy. She said that Carnegie, out of shame for her illegitimacy, had
given her a promissory note worth 7 million, but her own shame she had
not drawn on them. She said she would inherit $400 million when Carnegie
died. In truth, the man in the window was the butler, whom Cassie had
occupied by purporting to need creditionals on a maid she intended to
hire.

Upon returning to Ohio, Dillion set up a safe deposit box for Cassie's
promissory notes and then shared her secret with almost every lender in
Northeast Ohio. Eager bankers began offering her loans up to $1 million,
with interest rates of 25 percent, believing millions were available to
be gleaned. Instead of demanding repayment, they let Cassie's loans
compound annually, figuring Carnegie would vouch for ay debts and they
would get their financial rewards after probate.
According to one source, her husband was with her when she placed the
promissory notes into the safe-deposit box at Wade Park National Bank in
Cleveland. Nothing else is mentioned about her husband in any of the
accounts.

Casse then became known as the queen of Ohio. She bought diamond
necklaces, clothes to fill 30 closets, and a gold organ for her living
room. She entertained lavishly even frittering $100,000 on a dinner
party. For several years she lived the high life, amassing loan debts
totaling over $20 million. Again, accounts differ as to whether
apparently exactly how much she had incurred in her expenditures. An
Ashtabula newspaper account of her death stated " the extent of these
transactions will never be fully known, but they ran up into millions.
They involved men of high standing in the financial world and caused
heavy losses to many bankers."

Banks were not the only ones to loan her money, millionaires did, too.
And one of them was to be her downfall. Herbert B. Newton, a Boston,
Massachusets Banker or entrepreneur, loaned her $190,800 and had the
gall to request repayment. Cassie was indignant. She explained her
securities were in the Wade Park bank. Newton went to the police and
brought suit against her on November 2, 1904. Upon inspection, Cassie's
promissory notes were found to be obvious forgeries.

News of the forgeries caused trouble for several Ohio banks. Citizen's
National Bank of Oberlin, had loaned Cassie $200,000, had a run that
forced it into bankruptcy. When Carnegie was asked about his daughter,
he issued a press release: " Mr. Carnegie does not know Mrs. Chadwick of
Cleveland. Mr. Carnegie has not signed a note for more than thirty
years.!"

Cassie was arrested on December 7, 1904, at her suite in Cleveland's
Hotel Breslin, lying in bed with her money belt, containing $100,000.
She escaped from her arresting agents and fled to New York to the
Holland House hotel, where she was soon arrested and returned to
Cleveland.

Cassie stood trial in Cleveland, and March 10th 1905, was convicted on
seven counts of conspiracy against the government and conspiracy to
wreck the Citizen's National Bank of Oberlin. She was sentenced to 14
years and fined $70,000. On January 12,1906, she began her prison term,
only to die less than two years later on her birthday October 10, 1907.

According to newspaper accounts, Cassie's health was already declining
during her trial. It said: " She fretted incessively over her
confinement until it became almost impossible to sleep. At times she was
so peevish the patience of the prison officials was sorely tried." While
fairly robust when she entered prison, Cassie lost 30 pounds by the time
of her death. Three weeks before, while visiting with her son ( who was
20 years old ), she suddenly collapsed and was confined to the prison
hospital. She remained there until she died. At times she was delirious
and, for some hours before she passed away, she was in a comatose state.
Her son was summoned from Cleveland, but he arrived just 15 minutes
after she died. Cassie L. Chadwick was 48 years old.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tid Bits - Continued in part 71.



This thread: