The Lady of the Hypnotic Eye
November 21, 2023 5:58 AM Subscribe
Cassie Chadwick was an early 20th century fraudster who conned banks, shopkeepers and gullible men out of about 20 million in today's dollars. Claiming to be the illegitimate child of tycoon Andrew Carnegie, she used fake securities in his name as collateral on a series of further loans. She lived a lavish lifestyle buying trays of gems, solid gold picture frames, a pipe organ and giving 8 grand pianos as gifts one Christmas.
OK that was great! I knew none of it. Where's the miniseries? And this is the best part:
In March 1905, Cassie Chadwick was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud a national bank and sentenced to 10 years in the penitentiary. Carnegie himself attended the trial, and later had the chance to examine the infamous promissory notes. “If anybody had seen this paper and then really believed that I had drawn it up and signed it, I could hardly have been flattered,” he said, pointing out errors in spelling and punctuation. “Why, I have not signed a note in the last 30 years.” The whole scandal could have been avoided, he added, if anyone had bothered to ask him.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 6:23 AM on November 21, 2023 [10 favorites]
In March 1905, Cassie Chadwick was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud a national bank and sentenced to 10 years in the penitentiary. Carnegie himself attended the trial, and later had the chance to examine the infamous promissory notes. “If anybody had seen this paper and then really believed that I had drawn it up and signed it, I could hardly have been flattered,” he said, pointing out errors in spelling and punctuation. “Why, I have not signed a note in the last 30 years.” The whole scandal could have been avoided, he added, if anyone had bothered to ask him.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 6:23 AM on November 21, 2023 [10 favorites]
This would make a really good episode of The Memory Palace.
posted by blendor at 6:23 AM on November 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by blendor at 6:23 AM on November 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
I kind of love that she had cards printed up that read, “Miss Bigley, Heiress to $15,000.” Like that was a thing that people did, no need to mince words, that's the selling point right there.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:55 AM on November 21, 2023 [10 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:55 AM on November 21, 2023 [10 favorites]
The cards are indeed amazing. I haven't used a .sig file in years, but this is giving me ideas.
posted by phooky at 6:59 AM on November 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by phooky at 6:59 AM on November 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
Gareth Reynolds’s on The Past Times podcast where they read and comment on old newspapers would always remark how easy it was to fool people back then. Just get a haircut, say your name is whatever, and the townspeople will just go along with it.
posted by dr_dank at 8:05 AM on November 21, 2023
posted by dr_dank at 8:05 AM on November 21, 2023
giving 8 grand pianos as gifts one Christmas
That's indeed very lavish, this list seems to indicate the going rate of a new Steinway back then was less than one fifth of that.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:13 AM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
That's indeed very lavish, this list seems to indicate the going rate of a new Steinway back then was less than one fifth of that.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:13 AM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
What struck me was that there was no sort of class distinction going on. If I were faking my way into millions, I'd be very concerned that I don't talk or act like a millionaire, and subtle signals would give me away.
posted by mittens at 8:35 AM on November 21, 2023
posted by mittens at 8:35 AM on November 21, 2023
Did she ever run for Congress?
posted by jim in austin at 8:53 AM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by jim in austin at 8:53 AM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
What struck me was that there was no sort of class distinction going on. If I were faking my way into millions, I'd be very concerned that I don't talk or act like a millionaire, and subtle signals would give me away.
If you're rich enough, you get to be as eccentric as you like, as long as you do it with confidence!
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 9:38 AM on November 21, 2023 [7 favorites]
If you're rich enough, you get to be as eccentric as you like, as long as you do it with confidence!
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 9:38 AM on November 21, 2023 [7 favorites]
Hold on a minute! Even there she posed as a clairvoyant, telling the warden that he would lose $5,000 in a business deal (which he did) and then die of cancer (which he also did).
I NEED TO KNOW MORE. Would also like a chair that plays music when people sit down in it.
posted by queensissy at 10:08 AM on November 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
I NEED TO KNOW MORE. Would also like a chair that plays music when people sit down in it.
posted by queensissy at 10:08 AM on November 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
Apparently music-box chairs were just a thing back then? Yet...why have we not seen these in costume dramas?
posted by mittens at 10:47 AM on November 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by mittens at 10:47 AM on November 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
Probably a coincidence but I wonder if she was the inspiration for Cassie Lenue from television's Elementary; a young female con-artist who posed as the daughter of a rich family with the alleged intention of accessing the daughter's $5M trust fund.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 10:53 AM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 10:53 AM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
If I were faking my way into millions, I'd be very concerned that I don't talk or act like a millionaire, and subtle signals would give me away.
She pretended to be a millionaire's illegitimate child. All hush-hush. That would excuse her lower class background. Maybe claimed to be the daughter of a maid or something like that.
posted by pracowity at 11:05 AM on November 21, 2023 [8 favorites]
She pretended to be a millionaire's illegitimate child. All hush-hush. That would excuse her lower class background. Maybe claimed to be the daughter of a maid or something like that.
posted by pracowity at 11:05 AM on November 21, 2023 [8 favorites]
If I were faking my way into millions, I'd be very concerned that I don't talk or act like a millionaire, and subtle signals would give me away.
A funny thing about this grift is that flying in the faces of the sorts of thing that reasonable people spot or are cautious of is actually a feature, not a bug. You are looking for idiots. The sort of people who think a card that says "Heiress to $15,000" is credible or who don't bat an eye at your low-class signals. The kind of folks who then won't think "maybe we should call up ol' Andy Carnegie and ask if he wrote this promissory note" -- y'know, the perfect storm of moron and money.
posted by axiom at 12:27 PM on November 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
A funny thing about this grift is that flying in the faces of the sorts of thing that reasonable people spot or are cautious of is actually a feature, not a bug. You are looking for idiots. The sort of people who think a card that says "Heiress to $15,000" is credible or who don't bat an eye at your low-class signals. The kind of folks who then won't think "maybe we should call up ol' Andy Carnegie and ask if he wrote this promissory note" -- y'know, the perfect storm of moron and money.
posted by axiom at 12:27 PM on November 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
The sort of people who think a card that says "Heiress to $15,000" is credible or who don't bat an eye at your low-class signals.
This tracks. A while back, I read a story about someone who was walking around Duke University pretending to be a Rothschild. He'd carry a briefcase with a cellphone in it, back when cellphones were huge and relatively few people (particularly at a university) had one, like he might have to do financial stuff at the drop of a hat, and during a previous stint at Berkeley, he'd occasionally show up on campus in a full-length mink coat. And tons of people fell for it.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:29 PM on November 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
This tracks. A while back, I read a story about someone who was walking around Duke University pretending to be a Rothschild. He'd carry a briefcase with a cellphone in it, back when cellphones were huge and relatively few people (particularly at a university) had one, like he might have to do financial stuff at the drop of a hat, and during a previous stint at Berkeley, he'd occasionally show up on campus in a full-length mink coat. And tons of people fell for it.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:29 PM on November 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
What struck me was that there was no sort of class distinction going on. If I were faking my way into millions, I'd be very concerned that I don't talk or act like a millionaire, and subtle signals would give me away.
In addition to the point about her being a secret love child not raised with the family mentioned above, the lack of ossified social distinctions in the U.S. giving rise to great social fluidity and fraud is a well-worn theme of the nineteenth century.
posted by praemunire at 5:42 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
In addition to the point about her being a secret love child not raised with the family mentioned above, the lack of ossified social distinctions in the U.S. giving rise to great social fluidity and fraud is a well-worn theme of the nineteenth century.
posted by praemunire at 5:42 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Found this old WaPo article (ungated? seems so) listing more campus con artists. Lots of people reinvent themselves at college, some more so than others.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:44 PM on November 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:44 PM on November 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
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