Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-03-11
STRANGE CAREER
Life of Cassie L. Chadwick Like
That of No Other
Woman
IN FICTION OR IN REALITY
Born of Humble Parents, She Early
Left the Paths of Rectitude and
Was Disowned.

Cleveland. Ohio, March IL Mrs.
Cassie L. Chadwick. whose trial for
conspiracy TO evade the national bank
ing laws came to a close today, is in
many respects the most remarkable
woman of her time.
Mrs Cassie l. Chadwick, alias Mrs
c. L. Hoover. alias Mrs. w. S. Spring
steen. alias Alice NJ. Bostedo. alias
Maize. alias Nine La Rose. alias Nine
Perkins. alias Mrs. Wallace. alias Ly-
dia Devere. alias Nine. Lydia Scott,
alias LYDIA Clingao. alias Mrs Bagley,
alias anything else as the Devere. alias
Elizabeth Bigley. alias vicissitudes OF
her career as an adventures might re
quire. has lived in her as years life
like no other that was ever lived in tic-
tion or out of it.
More Vivid Than Imagination.
From its beginning in a Canadian
hamlet through maze of village scan
dals and a notorious career in Cleve-
land, thence to a career of crime in
Toledo whence detection sent her
convict to the Columbus penitentiary,
soon TO a life of ease in Cleveland, and
again soon to a mansion in aristocratic
Euclid avenue itself, where detection
again overwhelmed her. her life has
been one that no writer of fiction would
have attributed to a creature of imag
nation.
DisOwned by Family.
Yet she is a real woman-as many a
once honest man and once shrewd
banker knows only too well. Her ear
ly life was simple. Her father was a
farmer at Eastwood. a cross roads
hamlet. four miles east of Woodstock,
Ont. There she was born in 1857, on
her fathers farm. one of eight children
of Daniel BigIey The six daughters
and two sons were schooled and reared
alike In young womanhood Elizabeth
departed from the way of life she had
been taught Her brothers and sisters
grew into honest men and women. and
so completely did her way of life es-
TRANCE her from them that they not
only disowned her but latterly fatty |
denied any knowledge of relationship |
with her.
Begins Career Early.
In Woodstock, Elizabeth Bigley. TAX |
ing her early lessons in mischief. be
came a common person, as the law of |
fee bears witness. Her talent for for |
gerry developed early. When she was
q she was arrested on an indictment |
charging forgery Her trial, in 1879. |
was a sensation in the Canadian town. |
Her lawyers did not even claim that |
she had not committed the crime. Her |
only defense was that she was insane |
when she committed it. The jury was |
persuaded to this view and acquitted |
her. with a special finding explaining |
the verdict on the basis of insanity.
Her Coming TO Cleveland.
There is a brief hiatus here in the |
record of her life. In 1882. three years |
after her acquittal in Canada, she APP |
peared in Cleveland under the name of |
Mrs" Lydia Bigley. She began Dor |
rowing money prOmiscuously. She |
gave mortgages under fictitious names |
on her sisters furniture. This got her |
into law suits with her brother-in-law |
Oct. 81 1882. she was married to DR. |
w. s. Springsteen She had been treat |
ed and he treated her. She told him |
of a vast fortune" in Canada which |
some day she would inherit The wed |
ding ceremony was interrupted by a |
suit started against the woman by a |
money lender. and a week after the |
marriage the Sprinssteen home was |
sold TO settle the claims amounting to |
sl,1S0 against the woman. Eleven DAYS |
after the wedding the couple separa- |
ted.
Known CIaIrVOyanf.
The next spring she appeared at |
d.,
reported To friends that Maize" had
.'nsSSRd npoCpfullv av-ay" aDd bol /