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Once paroled, Cassie opened another clairvoyant shop and sometimes did millinery sales. She was using the name Cassie Hoover, passing herself off as a genteel widow. In those days, you could change your name and your past would never catch up with you!

She met Dr. Chadwick, a wealthy Cleveland physician, who lived in a mansion on “Millionaire’s Row” on Euclid Avenue. Dr. Chadwick was depressed. Cassie made her way into the doctor’s life and brightened it. She led him to believe that she was a wealthy woman. They were married in Pittsburgh and returned to Cleveland to live out their days in comfort. If she had just lived normally from that time forward, Cassie could have lived a life of wealth with nothing to fear. But of course she did not.

Soon after marrying the doctor, Cassie began taking out loans. She borrowed against $5 million in securities she owned. These securities were imaginary but Cassie was never asked for proof of them. Her wealthy husband was well known. When debts came due, she borrowed more money to pay them off and get more spending money.

For a moment, let’s leave Cassie aside and go to the bedside of a dying attorney named W.B. Bedortha, a man with a sterling reputation. Bedortha lived an exemplary life. He was, at the time of his death, the attorney for the National Bank of Oberlin. Oberlin is a small city located 35 miles southwest of Cleveland. Every business there is either connected to or dependent upon the college for survival.

Bedortha knew all of the secrets of the bank, even things the board of directors didn’t know. When he realized he was dying, he insisted on seeing the board. He had to tell them something important.

The board was bewildered by his summons. Why should bank business be troubling Bedortha at such a moment?  But they came as he asked.

Speaking was an effort but the attorney managed to say the bank had not a cent left. The board looked upset but not alarmed. Bedortha wasn’t himself, they murmured.

The attorney saw their disbelief and with a tremendous effort, he spoke again. The bank’s president, C.T. Beckwith, had made an enormous loan to a woman, a Mrs. Cassie Chadwick. She had given him securities but she did not repay the loan as promised. Bedortha said the president had recently consulted him. Immediately alarmed, the attorney hastily spent the 25¢ or 30¢ necessary to telegraph New York City. Confirmation immediately returned that Cassie’s securities were fraudulent. Bedortha had been seized by his final illness before he could act.

The scale of the disaster was terrible: Oberlin’s 300 students deposited all the money they had in the National Bank of Oberlin. The college itself had trusted a large percentage of its assets to the bank. The bank was broke and everyone connected to it was disgraced and financially ruined.  Possibly Oberlin College would have to close. At the end of the current term, the students would leave forever because their savings were gone and there was no hope of recovery.

Now in a state approaching panic, the board hurried to President Beckwith, praying Bedortha had made a mistake. Beckwith was a trusted man and an extremely shrewd businessman. The president greeted them with an ashen face. It was only too true.

The explanation Beckwith gave them was clear but senseless. Cassie Chadwick had visited the National Bank of Oberlin about 18 months earlier.  They had talked and she “gained his confidence.” As a result, he agreed to loan her all the money the bank had, about $240,000. In 2025, that would be about $8.6 million dollars. But Cassie was disappointed so President Beckwith loaned her all of his own money too. The bank’s cashier, observing this, loaned her all of his money too.

In exchange for this, Cassie presented a bank note signed by Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in America. The steel magnate and philanthropist had a fortune beyond the reach of most people’s imagination. Even a novice banker would confirm the security was genuine before making any loan. Beckwith did not.

The board was aghast. All President Beckwith could say was that he had been fooled. He and the cashier were arrested and the bank closed its doors at once, leaving the city of Oberlin in a state of shock and fear.

Cassie’s continual use of Andrew Carnegie’s name was curious, but it was familiar to those in her circle. For years, she had been telling people that she was Carnegie’s illegitimate daughter. The large securities were proof her father was wracked with guilt for not raising her with all the advantages she deserved.

One question that is natural to ask is, what was Cassie doing with all of this money?

Go to the next part to find out!