(Elizabeth Bigley)

Born: 1859
Died: October 10, 1907
AKA: Constance Cassandra Chadwick, Cassie L. Hoover, Lydia D. Scott, Lydia Springsteen, Lydia de Vere

As a young woman and well into middle age, Cassie Chadwick used her elegant manner and acting ability to pull off confidence schemes that earned her thousands of dollars—and a prison term.

Forgery and fraud

Chadwick was born Elizabeth Bigley, near London, Ontario, Canada. The daughter of a railway worker, she was from a poor family. Chadwick began her career as a con woman and swindler (person who cheats people out of money) when she was still in her teens. At the age of sixteen, she attempted to forge a check for $5,000. (Forgers pass off fake checks as real. Sometimes they forge, or fake, the signature of somebody else. Other times they write checks drawn on accounts that don’t exist.) Caught forging...