![]() ![]() Start in the United States Īfter 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. Her family sent her to live with her married sister, Alice York, whose husband was a Cleveland machinist. Her lawyers employed the insanity defense bolstered by Betsy's aberrant behavior in court. She supplemented the notes with a calling card that read "Miss Bigley, Heiress to $15,000." Betsy stood trial on Mafor passing forged notes. In March 1879, Betsy was arrested in Woodstock, Ontario, for attempting to negotiate forged promissory notes. After acquiring $10,000 in goods on credit, the scheme collapsed and Betsy fled Toronto. Within the year, in Toronto, Betsy attempted to present herself as Elizabeth Cunard of the wealthy shipping family using a forged letter of introduction and a bogus check. In 1878, Betsy was arrested for attempting to borrow money on a stolen pocket watch. At sixteen, Betsy ran away from home, but was apprehended by police after attempting to obtain a $250 promissory note from a prosperous farmer. Three years later, the Bigleys moved to a small farm near Eastwood, Ontario. She was the third daughter in a family of two boys and six girls born to Daniel and Mary Ann Bigley. Early life Ĭassie Chadwick was born Elizabeth Bigley on Main Appin, Ontario. She pulled off the scam in the Gilded Age of American history, during which time women were not allowed to vote or get loans from the banks, leading some historians to refer to her bank heist as one of the greatest in American history. Newspaper accounts of the time described her as one of the greatest con artists in American history. Chadwick (10 October 1857 – 10 October 1907) was the most well-known pseudonym used by Canadian con artist Elizabeth Bigley, who defrauded several American banks out of millions of dollars during the late 1800s and early 1900s by claiming to be an illegitimate daughter and heiress of the Scottish-American industrialist Andrew Carnegie. Seven counts forgery and seven counts conspiracyĬassie L. ![]()
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