Cassie Chadwick

Start in the United States After a brief stay with her sister and brother-in-law, Chadwick rented the lower floor of a house at 149 Garden Street, Cleveland from a Mrs. Brown. Claiming to be widowed, Chadwick assumed the name Madame Lydia DeVere She convinced Scott to sign a prenuptial agreement, citing abuse from her first husband. After four years of farm life, Chadwick went to a lawyer in Youngstown and left a sworn statement confessing adultery. She directed her lawyer to file for divorce from Scott. ($ in today's currency). Chadwick relied on the assumption that no one would ask Carnegie about an illegitimate daughter for fear of embarrassing him. Since the loans also came with usurious interest rates, the bankers would not admit to granting them. Chadwick forged securities in Carnegie's name for further proof. Bankers assumed that Carnegie would vouch for any debts and that they would be fully repaid once Carnegie died.

Chadwick carried out a lavish lifestyle as a result of her con. She bought diamond necklaces, enough clothes to fill 30 closets, and a gold organ. She became known as "the Queen of Ohio." She claimed to give money to the poor and to the suffrage movement.

In November 1904, Chadwick received a $190,000 loan from Herbert B. Newton, a Brookline, Massachusetts banker. It was also discovered that a number of securities being held for her in various banks were worthless. When Carnegie was later asked about her, through a spokesman he denied ever knowing her. Carnegie further stated he had not signed a promissory note in more than 30 years.

Second U.S. fraud trial Andrew Carnegie attended Chadwick's trial, wishing to see the woman who had successfully conned the nation's bankers into believing that she was his heir. Other attendees included members of the Millionaires' Row families from whom she had tried so hard to gain acceptance. The trial was a media circus. On 10 March 1905 a Cleveland court sentenced her to 14 years in prison and a fine of $70,000 for conspiracy to bankrupt the Citizen's National Bank and conspiracy against the government (Citizen's Bank, as a federally chartered bank, was an agent of the federal government).

Prison On 1 January 1906, Chadwick was sent to the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus. She brought with her trunks of goods for her prison cell, including clothing, photographs, and furniture. The prison warden allowed this due to her celebrity status.

As her health deteriorated, Chadwick began writing explicit instructions for her funeral. She instructed her son Emil to send a portion of her hidden funds to Canada for the purchase of a tombstone for the family plot. Chadwick suffered a "nervous collapse" on 17 September 1907, leaving her blind.

In popular culture Chadwick was the subject of the Canadian TV movie Love and Larceny (1985), where the role of Betsy Bigley was played by Jennifer Dale.

In Seasons 2 and 3 of the HBO TV series The Gilded Age, the character of Maud Beaton, portrayed by Nicole Brydon Bloom, is loosely based on Cassie Chadwick.