Newspaper Page Text
THIS TTEATHEH. Forecast mad* at Saa Fr&aeUc* far thirty hocra. eadlar ml&slrht. Decem ber lit Eaa Frandaoo and rteialty — Oouiy eu&Oxy, probably rala; trtah. sooth winds, becoming h'.ffe. VOLUME XGVn—NO. Ill QUEEN OF FORGERS BEGINS HER REMARKABLE CRIMINAL CAREER WHILE SHE IS STILL A COUNTRY SCHOOLGIRl Cassie Chadwick's History Strangest of Life's Dramas THRIVES ON DUPLICITY Vast Wealth Won Through Her Power to Bend Strong Minds. Special Dispatch to The CalL * NEW YORK, Dec 10.— As a result of investigations carried on through a large corps of correspondents throughout the United States, The Call is en abled to present a connected history of the life of Mrs. Cassie L. .Chadwick. To give In detail the story of her career would require volumes. The revela tions made show her to have been one of the most remarkable women .the world has ever known — one who numbered among her dupes some of the foremost men of the nation and who since childhood has thrived upon du-* plicity. Daniel Bigley In the early '50*s lived on a small farm at Eastwood, province of Ontario. He was poor and .had a large family-height children in all, and the fifth was a daughter, born'in 1857 and christened Elizabeth, but knovrn to. the other members of the family as "Betty." "Betty" Bigley was never a particularly beautiful girl, and from early years suffered slightly from deafness. She also spoke with a lisp. J She was bright— very bright. At school she was easily the leader in her classes, but she was not popular. "Betty!' Bigley was - always strange— "peculiar," her schoolmates declared. She had a positive mania for fine clothing, finer than her father could give her, and for jewelry. She was not like other girls. Once she went to a barber shop and had her long hair cropped short and actually donned boys' clothing. She was always scheming, they said, to ob tain something for nothing. She carried cards which set forth that she was "Miss Bigley, heiress to 515,000." STSAXGE POWER OVER MEX IS MANIFESTED. \ Even then her power over men was manifest. She obtained credit from the merchants of Woodstock, about eight miles from her home, and one day she obtained $250 on a note alleged to have been signed by_a' wealthy farmer of Brantsford. When that note came due she took It up with another note, purported to have been signed by Richard Kip of Woodstock^ When this note came due there was no money to pay it. and 'the girl, in .-.November, 1879, ■was arrested for forgery. The defense was Insanity, and in' the trial many witnesses were found to come forward with testimony as to her oddness and eccentricity. She was acquitted. She afterward repeated her swindling operations in Cleveland, Ohio, while , at the home of her married sister, who had taken her with the intention of trying to effect a reformation. Jewels, gowns and dresses soon became hers.. When her personal credit -ran out she coolly took her sister's name and.be-. gan to get more, money by giving chattel mortgages on the Campbell house hold goods. Campbell was well to do, and she was enabled to run large ac counts at dry goods stores. ■ . . In Cleveland in 18S0 she married Dr. W. Springstein, after .pretending che was heiress to a. large estate In Cleveland. On the wedding night the bridegroom had the disagreeable experience of seeing a regiment ■ of stallment *nen descend upon the place and take away not only the trous seau of the bride and much of her furniture, but even, valuable wedding presents that she was supposed to have received from wealthy relatives in • Ireland. That ended the Springstein romance, and the physician left her.- Within a day the Campbell chattel mortgages became known, and the sisters parted. Mrs. Springstein brought suit for separation against her husband and lost it. He subsequently obtained a divorce.' RICH BUSINESS MEN VICTIMIZED. Mrs. Springstein left Cleveland soon after that and began to travel about the country. Her power of fascination, it is said, increased. For more than a year Lydia Clingan, Lylle Clingan or Lylie Bagley was heard • about all throughout the country as heiress to an estate abroad. Mrs. Alire Bestado. clairvoyant, appeared in an expensive suite of of fices of the Crocker block, Cleveland, in 1883. Her offices speedily became a meeting place for many men. some of them well known in the business world. Then began the usual campaign against money lenders and mer chants. She lived expensively and her Jewels were the admiration of the Another year saw a Mrs. Scott living in another section of the town, but a clairvoyant and recognized as Mrs. Bestado. Mrs. Clingan soon aft> erward took other apartments, and so did Mrs. Bagley, when creditors be came importunate; and, last of all. was Mrs. C. L. Hoover. "Mrs. Hoover" was the last name to be used fn Cleveland in the eight ies, and to the sisters and family in Cleveland, as well as in Canada word went that C. L. Hoover, an aged and wealthy man. had married her, only to die soon afterward. There was a son. He is her only child . Cleveland became too warm in 1S88, and that saw the disappearance of Mrs. Hoover and the reappearance of Mme. de Vere. clairvoyant, in Toledo Mme. de Vere's career stands out boldly and ends with a sentence to the pentitentiary for forgery, but hardly a day passes now that some new inci dent does not come out. Privately she was a clairvoyant, foreseeing, the fu ture, but beyond that she was many things. Chiefly she was an heiress to a great estate in England, tied up by litigation, and driven to make a"liveli hood. A grocer named King believed In this and gave her money Another man, whom the police could not tell about once gave her- $20 000 in negotiable securities for the same purpose, and only because they accident ally learned of this was the property recovered by the police. ' ■ r BLACKMAIL LEVIED UPON HER DUPES. Mme. de Vere had several assistants In her clairvoyant parlors— youne women. There are reports that some prominent Ohioans had preferred to pal considerable money rather than have the fact of their visits become known to their friends. There were at least two divorces in Cleveland In which Mme ' medTb^oad.^ having had a hand, and one-of .the-men faa^BiScV It all culminated with the Lamp incident, for which Madame de Vere was convicted of obtaining money under, false pretenses. . She was sentenced S nine and a half years' imprisonment in the. Ohio penitentiary She h «d served three and one-half years when .she was paroled by Governor McKin- It was not until 1897 that the Chadwick end of the case develoDed ' In Cleveland at the time lived a middle-aged physician nS w Shlppen Chadwick. father had been a wealth? man and left™* soniSd estate^ among which was a fine home on Euclid avenue, at Genesle street Dr.. Chadwick was a widower and the father of a daughter He wk- ™V strong, being a Eufferer from an injury to his leg. He called on the masseus* , for professional treatment. It was not so long thereafter that Mrs Hoover became Mrs. Chadwick, and the stage was set for the larger flnanciklooerl! Uons. that have just culminated in the arrest in this city " u » ncia » opera- LOS ANGELES. Dec 10,-It Is believed that Mrs. Cassie L. Chadwick . once-operated in Los Angeles as a clairvoyant. - Madame Devere, a clairvo v ant came here from Toledo in the latter part of the '80's. set up In busing, and practiced her vocation for several winters. Little was known of her wf excepting that she seemed successful and prosperous. • " ner-nere Full Text of the Carnegie Trust Compact Revealed CLEVELAND, Dec 10. — The feature of to-day's developments In the financial transactions of Mrs. Cassie L. Chadwick was the disclosure that she had In her possession, di rectly and indirectly, alleged securities to the amount of nearly 914,000,000. These all bear the name of Andrew Carnegie and are as follows: Note held by Citizens' National Bank of Oberlin. $500,000. Note held by . Citizens' National Bank of Oberlin. $250,000. Note admitted to exist' by President Beckwith. S500.000. Note held by Iri Reynolds,*$5,000, 000. Certificates of trusteeship for securi ties held by Reynolds, J 7,500.000. Total/ $ 13,750,000. * With this backing Mrs. Chadwick was The San Francisco Call. A. G. MfrATw™, District Forecast* enabled to obtain large loans during the last tjvo or three years, ' most of which were repaid, however. The only finan cial institution that so far as is known has been compelled ; to close on? ac count of the woman's, dealings has been the Citizens' National : Bank of Oberlin, the president and cashier < of which ' are now under, indictment \ and under ball on the charge . of misappli cation of national bank' funds. ■ The inducements ' offered to , the Oberlin bank \ officials . were stated ' to-" day to have been the '• promise of Mrs' Chadwick ;to x Messrs. .Beckwith and Spear that their bank was to be made the trustee of Mrs. .Chadwick's $5 - 000,000 and*thafthe\bank"ers wereUo receive a yearly salary of $10,000 for their services.- An additional bonus Continued on Page Column 2. FIgTY PAGES— SAN: FRANCISCO,, SUNDAY. -DECEMBER }Xi, ■: 19O4 T -P J AGES1 Vt$£Ol 38: ASKS MAYOR TO AID HER FIND PAPA Little Girl Writes a Patlietic Letter . ., to Skagway.: ; Special Diepateh to The CalL •TACOMA, Dec.' 10.'— A pathetic let ter., has. 'been/ received; by .Mayor Kel ler of . Skagway, Alaska, ! from aj lonely little San , girl who ■ is wor rying ' over • the : prospect j of a cheerless Christmas forvherself, her sick mother and two. little -sisters. But' with|all the confidence, In j her I father* that Is characteristic of- f tender years 'she thinks- all will.be well if she can find him. That is ' what she ' asks Mayor Keller> to ; do for , her. The letter Is written from -32 ::KiBling street, San Francisco,. and ; Is as, follows:... ■ . j "To the Mayor — Dear "Sir: Would you' please try :and -find my papa- for me? He went 'to. Skagway last, June and »has not sent; us 'any. money « and now mamma: is' sick and not 'able to work. 1 have ! two" little. sisters besides myself, so I thought if you^would'flnd my papa he . would send' us \ some money for Christmas. > Will; you please do this for me and you will surely make one little girl glad in San Fran cisco. * "My i papa's- nanfe is : James Berry, and he&a' marine fireman. - . - : > ■ ■- ■ "MAGGIE « BERRY." ' The marine firemen- and -their 1 helpers along i the water i front i had- grown used to the pathetic : inquiries f made day af ter,'day * by*, pale-faced, • 12-, year-old ; Maggie ' Berry," "whose | father/ James Berry,' stowed away : on the steamer Charles Nelson, bound v. for Skagway. For several weeks the ques tions remained"- unanswered. ;.Then'^^one day little Maggie found a man who had been'; a* stowaway/^ with ? her " father • on the trip . to . the Yukon. - -He said - that Berry : had . been - found hiding on • the boat v and. was : compelled- to work t his passage; to Skagway. v Arriving r there Berry ■ was without - mem ey,. and sfrierids and*, the last heard 'of him was working on; a .Yukon Riveristea'mer'at his occu-" pation of marine fireman.,^w.S ;.,*„,..,: , Then the 'little ; girl; returned ;'to> the scantily "furnished ;home;at?321t.Kisling street, where Uhe mother. andltwo other little ; children » 11 ve/j and * the ' letter i ap- 4 pealing • to \ Mayor I Keller,* of « Skagway w.as -written. That .was ; sevtf al , months ago and 'weary * weeks have passed Hn waltlngr.' for; ani answer. 1 , 1 • ♦ * ::: :.:* ■ : u-t: "In, the, meantime. ;Maggle made daily NOTORIOUS CONFIDENCE^VOMAN, HER ONI^^€^BB^.eA^^PBJO^UJSE^}M^jXmp FIGURE IN. REMARKABLE REVELATIONS. FLOATING HOTELS FOR SEA-GOERS fc ; Liners, to iBe Marvels-ol Con struction. Special Dispatch to The Calt ■r! NJCW ' YORK,* Dec." 10.^-If; either the steamship \ -America or yjhe : ''Kaiserin Auguste i Victoria; which are now be-; jrig built in. Europe by the" Hamburg-^ "American -line 'for trans-Atlantic' serv-' ice, ." was placed . in Madison, square, w th heri stern: at Twenty-third street and Madison [avenue, and' - heading .northerly, ' ;the' % bow -would rest < • at Twenty-sixth' street and Fifth avenue. If ;: stood'" on . end * alongside ;: the ; Washr ington Monument,' which ;is 555' feet high,' either;vessel .would tower 145 feet above. it.-' ,,. "_• ■"■. ' ' '■?, ■.. 5t,v 'Both steamships are to be wonders of construction,' convenience arid ■/■ luxury/ The* America .' will be in ; service next August; but the Kalserin AugustelVic toria will, not';- tbe finished until the spring of- 1906. ' Each will have-an up to-date grillroom,', where meals will ; be served a la carte, and passengers ; can have r luncheon and r dinner parties whenever ' they .choose, : and "each will have a large i gymnasium. <:j .•; _ '," ""Spaciousness will ; distinguish both ships. There \wlll be three great prom enade decks, one of which . will be re served I for, promenading ' andv the -oth ers for'deck chairs and lounging. 1 There will" be no "upper" berths in the l state rooms. -« Each'- room V wlll s have dimen sions of ten- by: seventeen feet. :. a: O Turkish baths -will -be: provided. , Whent passengers wish to pass from the " upper>decki to > any. of ,v the .'.four decks ; below, there will be elevators : f or their ; convenience, running t night ; and day. •■ • The ; America will /have a : displace-i trips to ; the Harrison street wharf, where , the ; Skagway \boats „ dock,^ and there learned from . a, fireman that 1 * her, father had 'said-; he * was never.' coming back, i So the < of the child f to the wharf V ceased ' and * to help her strug gling I mother tshe^r is '.to j take . a , position as jcash^ glrl'lnvone'.of :the\blg. depart ment stores Monday; morning.. • *»" . !' i Mrs.1> Berry i has *. been -separated ; from her. 1 husband I for-., two j years because *> of his fdissipated^habits: ■:; j was ; fond iof his|children: and 'always '^remembered them J at \ holiday;, times, : and ' his silence leads*; hereto .^believe Ithat * he * may^be dead^'.'. :../:"■-,-•.': -. ; .;..-....: -.-■ . v ,' ;■ .' ■: ' SUIT STARTLES THEIR FRIENDS Wife: of Dr. F. ",C. Gerlach of San Jose Asks Superior ■ Court ■ for a Divorce SHE CHARGES CRUELTY Couple Occupy Quite a Prpmi : jinent flPlace; in } the Social i^World of the Garden CHy Special Dispatch to The Call. *SANJOSE, : Dec/ 10.— Dr.vF. C. Ger lach.Vohe" of the' most" prominent physl clans in/this city; was sued .for/ divorce to-day jby Alice Qertach..'' Many charges of cruelty- are madejinlthercomplaint. .Mrs.- GerlactT was formerly Miss/Alice Cole, a daughter, of Delos Cole, a prom inent citizen of this city,' and before her. marriage was one. of the leading belles of. Son Jose.;- = ;.' . ; . • . • The Gerlachs / have . been' married about ten'years. .They have occupied a prominent: place in society and the suit for V divorce '. will : cause ' a Vs.ensatlon among-their. many -friends. _ For some time , ; all *• has > nof been serene ' in "'■_ the Gerlaeh' hoJhe and it Is saidMrs. Ger laeh^ has; taken her;, husband to' task for paying attention to. other ■women. '. The ;charge; of .cruelty, is. made, it Is said, . Instead of a more sensational one in order tbVvold notoriety.. The couple quarreled this'", morning' and Mrs. Ger laeh sought 'an attorney and" began her suit. • Dr. Gerlaeh' is City Health Officer and enjuys one'ofthe' largest practices in* town. i- He is prominent in several lodges and is said to be quite wealthy. : »!•. . . . .,:...:..;»..,■: - .-.. . , :. ::.•. ;-i. ment of "35,000 tons. . She will be 700 feef ? over ; ail, ; 74 • feet": in , beam' and j 53 f eet- t in depth- ' Thel Kalserin i Auguste jYictoria" will ,have 'a "displacement of 4000 tons,, a length of 705 -feet, a beam of :77j feet 1 and a depth'of 63 feet. '{ . - ," Each", ship"- wiliVhave a /carrying ca pacity I of: 3589 . passengers. ; Their, speed is • designed r;to be 'seventeen knots ' an ■hoixr.v/. :'.".?■ •' ':,-.. .;•..; "< "•' • : '.^■'.■■- i Pioneers -Hold . Semi-Annual Reunion. ■ '^ SAN? JOSE. ••' Dec. 1 0.— The f Santa Crara^County^Sqciety^'of^Pipnee^ its jsemi-ahnuar reunion'; and"^ banquet to-day* iii' Eagles' "HaH, > At , least /three hundred fbfj,thei6ld, ; settlers and i their families .were' present-'.-'A; musical and literary,, programme] was Tender^djahd 1 addresses delivered ;by«;Congfe3sv man-relect; E; A-'r Hayes ■ and ; Rev. v Dr: Hutsiriplller.' ; - Incidents -e of \ '■ pioneer days^were;: related fby/J. Z.V Anderson/ L Mrs.-E: C McCracken, -George 5 L. An drews and >. others.'gtiBfflSBftl Al-CAZAB— "Tie ... Profeaaoi'* . Xsom | Stcrjr.'\ Matinee to-day. CAUFORNIA— "Sis , HopJdWL*\ COLUMBIA — "A Chinese Honeymoon** CBXTKAL— •Tto» Suburban." Mati nee to-day. I . CHUTES— Vaudeville. . FISCHER'S— Vaudeville. GRAND— '/In Dahomey." MattaM to-day. MAJESTIC— "The Senator." OKPHCUM — Vaudeville. Matise* to day. TJVOLI — "Klnr Dodo." ' - PRESIDENT SAVES LIFE OF A FELON Gondejmned Murderer I ;J Grapted l iRepfieVe. Special Dlepatch to The Call. .OTTAWA, Ont., Dec. 10.— Evidently. President Roosevelt's Influence saved an American recently condemned to execution from, the gallows. A dispatch from ! Sandwich, Ont., says: ; - "It is stated that while the young col ored man, Edward Slaughter, who mur dered John* Rudden and, who has Just been sent to the. big Government peni tentiary at Kingston fpr life, was wait ing execution here under his original sentence his father, a" colored Baptist minister „• at . Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada, wrote a pathetic letter asking President. Roosevelt to save the life,of the" American, a mere boy, who had been in .-Canada only- four years when the crime was committed. . "A few : hour3 before the reprieve ar rived-the father received a letter from the* President statins that United States Consul General Foster at Ottawa had been asked to confer with the Hon. Charles Fitzpatrick, Canadian Minister of Justice, for clemency In, behalf of Slaughter as an American subject. To add to • this international aspect of the case, Congressman Alfred Lucking of Michigan also interested' himself and appealed indirectly to Fitzpatrick." NEW. YORK. Dec. 10.— "Much as I admire Roosevelt as a '; true man, ; we ' have ' seen^ to-day - the sorry example of the mistake a strong man can make. The. President was appealed to by a r colored' Baptist : minister to save ' the latter's son from the gallows for the murder of a farmer In Canada. The President- listened t to the ■ appeal and has succeeded In securing a com mutation ' of ' sentence. I : do not . ad mire : the ' President ■' f orj that." :This statement' was made to-day by Andrew • vD.' Whl te; formerly United States fi Embassador > to « Germany, •'> In the course of an address on "Evolution vs. Revolution, in .Politics" ■ before • v the League ; for , Political Education/ S.'^iVhite has .declared that high crime Is Jmore ' frequent ■ In \ this country, than anywhere ■_ else , in . the -world, , save < Sic ily.iand,that there : is a widespread su perstiticn'.here.that it is the duty of the -. people - to ; protect It was •; in calling: attention to * what ' he THE THEATERS. PRICE FIVE CENTS. DEW ROAD SOON TO BE UNDER WAY Goulds Are Ready to Build Western Pacific. 9 Ii, Special IJiapatch to Tbs Call. . NETW YORK. Dec 10.— Arrangements for 'a definite extension -of the Gouli system from ocean" to -ocean were com pleted to-day, when E. T. •Jeffrey, pres ident "of the . Denver and Rio Grand© Railway,' was elected vice president of the Western Pacific Railway Company at a meeting of the directors of that road in this city. This action marked the first public disclosure of the interest of the Gould system in the Western Pa cific. . * ! '■:■-. "After the meeting J. Barnett. presi dent of the Western Pacific, said that arrangements were being made to let immediately contracts for the construc tion of the Western Pacific road from Salt Lake City to San Francisco. Ha said that In a short time construction forces would be placed in the field. Barnett, David Walker, a Salt Lake City banker, and John Treadwell, a California railway mining operator, ar rived in this city from San Francisco during. the week for a final conference with the New York directors > of tha Western Pacific. They met here Edwla Hawley, EJ T. Jeffrey and William Tay lor, vice president of the Bowling Green Trust Company of New York. The re sult of the conference was a decision to begin construction. of the Western Pa cific, at, an early date. "After two years of careful prelim inary work and an exhausting exam ination of all routes of the Sierra Ne vada," said Barnett to-night, "we de cided to adopt the route through Beck with Pass, on a line slowly gradient from San Francisco. The route adopted will cross the Sierra Nevada* through Beckwith Pass on a line 1900 feet lower than. that of the Central Pacltic and no snowsheds will be required anywhere along the route." termed this mistaken leniency that the formor Embassador referred to the President as ouoted. "Crime is crime," said White, "and it is our duty to make 'its prosecution more speedy and, less Intricate. We should stand together to . exterminate criminals."'