The qualities of a successful con artist are familiar. The chameleon-like ability to fit into any surrounding. The brazen confidence. The manipulative ability to quickly gain the trust of others with the intent of exploiting it.

Anyone who we know to be a con artist is usually pretty good at whatever racket they are running. Some con artists are so very good, and they ascend to a class of their own. Just such a criminal was the woman we know today as Cassie Chadwick. She used many names, but I’ll call her Cassie to keep it simple.

She was born in Ontario in 1856 and her given name was Elizabeth Bigley. By the age of 14, the tea leaves took no particular talent to read. Elizabeth was arrested for opening a bank account using a forged letter of inheritance. She was arrested the first time she tried to draw on it but was deemed not responsible for her crime. Not because she was a child, but on the grounds that she was insane.

At the age of 19, she arrived in Cleveland, Ohio, which remained her base of operations throughout her criminal career. She had a new scheme in mind for her workings in northeastern Ohio. Cassie selected the name Madame Lydia DeVere, rented half a house, and established herself as a clairvoyant. At the time, she’d never been married but that wouldn’t work for a clairvoyant so she represented herself as a widow. She rented half a house on Garden Street and set up shop.

Cleveland State University

Over the next seven years, Cassie lived lavishly, especially compared to your average fortune-teller. She got into a fair amount of trouble but seemed to evade consequences. At any rate, I couldn’t find any stories of her being tried before 1890 though, by then, she was on the hook for things she had done for years in the past.

On Nov 21, 1882, at age 26 and still representing herself as Lydia DeVere, Cassie married Dr. Wallace Springsteen, who lived on Garden Street. Their wedding was quiet and they were married by a justice of the peace. It was publicized after the fact in the Plain Dealer, one of Cleveland’s bit daily newspapers and the only one still published today.

Cassie moved into her new husband’s home at 3 Garden Street but didn’t even have time to properly unpack. The Plain Dealer  story had made the rounds. The very next day, tradespeople from all around the city and Cassie’s sister Alice York turned up on Dr. Springsteen’s doorstep, demanding repayment for Cassie’s debts, which were considerable. The doctor was shocked and initially disbelieving but it quickly became clear it was no joke.

Once Dr. Springsteen confirmed it was indeed true, he realized he’d been had. He ordered Mrs. Springsteen to leave and filed for divorce at once. They had been married twelve days. It was not a total loss for Cassie though. He paid off all the debts she accumulated, perhaps to teach himself a lesson about soothsayers!

Cassie briefly went back to her trade as a clairvoyant, but changed her name to Madame Marie LaRose. She married a second time. Her new husband, John Scott, was a farmer who lived in Trumbull County, southeast of Cleveland. She told Scott how her first husband had been horrifically abusive and, oddly enough, demanded he sign a prenuptial agreement. They lived together on his farm for four years. It’s hard to know why Cassie wanted to leave, but she must have. She went to Youngstown and made a sworn statement confessing adultery and filed for divorce.  My guess is that she preferred fortune-telling to cow-milking.

The next part of Cassie’s story is quick and blurred. As soon as she was free again, she picked up a new husband, a wealthy Cleveland businessman named C.L. Hoover. Cassie had a son while she was married, whom she named Emil.  Husband #3 died in 1888, leaving $50,000 in his will for his wife and son.

That brings us to 1889. It had been an eventful decade so far in the life of Cassie, but there was a still a year to go. Everything you’ve learned so far, is only the background to Cassie’s criminal career.

Go to the next part to read about Cassie’s first startling brush with the law!