The Washington herald., 1907-10-11

Columbus Ohio. Oct 10-Cassie Chad
wick, former high priestess of frenzied
finance and the most stupeadous woman
swindler in the history of the world, died
in the penitentiary here at 1O:l5 o'clock
tonight with these words on her lips;
4 am glad that the end is here"
Stricken with heart disease and several
complications, half blind. wholly deaf, de-
serted by all her family but her son, and
with no prospect but poverty at the end
OF the 5ve-odd years she had still TO serve
in prison, Mrs. Chadwick welcomed death
Son at Bedside.
AT her side was her son, Emil Hoover,
who stood by her Loyalty from the day
she was first exposed. She held his hand
in dying. Also her sisters, Mrs. S. NJ.
York and Mrs, Weston, of Cleveland, sat
by her side.
Once her mind wavered in delirium, and
she called for DR.. Leroy Chadwick. the
husband whom her schemes ruined and
disgraced.
For months Mrs Chadwick had been
failing. Since the day in 1903 that Federal
Court Judge Taylor sentenced her to ten
years and three months for her almost
innumerable crimes. she grew thin. care
worn, then deaf, then sightless. and. as
her appeals failed, hopeless and disconso-
late. Had she lived she would have been
free in 1913. but when the last appeal
failed she announced that she no longer
cared to live 10 serve her sentence.
Her Strange Career.
The career that led up to the death in
prison tonight is that Of woman who.
upon pure nerve alone mulcted men out
OF more money than they have been
swindled out of in this country since the
days Of the Mississippi Bubble
At least three banks failed through the
Carnegie notes she palmed upon them.
Not fewer than a dozen welI-established
business houses went TO the Wal on her
account The success OF more than one
man and the impOverishment Of pr0bablS
hundreds of families may be laid at her
doors.
Cassie Chadwick burst upon New York
in December 1904 Then she had been a
guest at the Holland House for more than
a month, living in magnihcence that
astonished even the habitues Of that
luxurious hotel. Her servants were in
legion, her diamonds myriads, she brought
whole coteries from Cleveland in private
cars TO see ''Parsifal." In a month she
spent $zC0,G09
From the Ohio city came word that her
mansion on Euclid avenue was the most
palatial in the West that her husband
was a society physician of international
note; that their fortune ran into tens OF
millions.
Suspicion Is Aroused.
Then, of a sudden, in the midst of this
Aladdin's dream, rumors started telling
of her impaired financial condition.
Mrs. Chadwick denied this with a con-
fdent smile.
She even borrowed more money. wrecked
another bank, got away on the sheer
humor of such an insinuation But an
obscure financial man named Herbert
Newton came over to New York from
Boston. He wanted her to make good
on two notes for $4,000 which she had
indorsed by subtle word Of mouth.
Then disaster fell like a bomb.
out of Cleveland came the accusation
that Cassie Chadwick was none other
than Nine Devere, ex-clairv0yant and
hypnotist, who, born In 0bscurity in
Canada, had been convicted Of forgery
there before her eighteenth birthday had
been paroled. fled only TO serve another
term for the same OIcuse in Ohio within
TWO years.
Her Relations with BecEwith.
How she cajoled aged c. p. Beckwith,
of the OberIin National Bank. until the
bank was broken and he went TO his
grave is welI-known recent history; also
how a dozen other Ohio institutions lent
themselves dry upon her promise to
pay Complaints began coming in by the
sheaf. News followed that her debts were
in the millions, that she could not pay;
that every note she had ever given was a
forgery or unbacked.
Her last card was played when she
said. I am the daughter of Andrew Car
negie. For day the woman triumphed
through the effect Of this astounding dis
closure, but when Mr.. Carnegie not only
denied his paternity. but repudiated the
notes, Federal officers swooped down on
her and she was hailed back to Cleveland
for trial
On March e, 1905, Judge Taylor, in that
city, sentenced her 10 ten years and three
months Imprisonment. She had been a