A woman posing as Andrew Carnegie’s secret daughter scammed banks out of today’s equivalent of $20 million—armed with nothing but forged notes and absolute confidence. This is the rise and unraveling of Cassie Chadwick, one of the boldest fraudsters of the Gilded Age.

Source Materials

Crosbie, John. The Incredible Mrs. Chadwick. 1975.

Hazelgrove, William Elliott. Greed in the Gilded Age: TheBrilliant Con of Cassie Chadwick. Lyons Press, 2021.

Wade, Carlson. Great Hoaxes & Famous Impostors. 1976.

Hayek, Caroline C.; Gates, Sandra; Rankin, Robert J. “TheSocial Construction of Fraudulent Identity.”

“Cassie Chadwick: The Female Wizard of Finance.” Ohio History Connection, June 22, 2022.

“The High Priestess of Fraudulent Finance.” SmithsonianMagazine.

Newspaper coverage quoted from: Cleveland Plain Dealer;Clinton Republican; Oberlin Review.