Cassie Chadwick (a.k.a. Elizabeth Bigley) Artwork

The Reference Desk

Have you ever fallen down a rabbit hole into an obscure topic and suddenly need to know all the details and consume all the media related to it? You've found your people. Every other Wednesday, librarians Hailee and Katie take turns sharing the topic that has them bewitched. After a deep-dive into the subject-du-jour, fill your "to read" list with their related book recommendations.

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The Reference Desk

Cassie Chadwick (a.k.a. Elizabeth Bigley)

January 04, 2023 • Season 3 • Episode 5

In this episode, Katie is bewitched by Cassie Chadwick.

In 2021, everyone learned the name "Anna Delvey," fake heiress and SoHo grifter extraordinaire. But over a century before Anna partied with pharma bros and Fyre Fest scammers, Cassie Chadwick was laying the foundation for all female con artists; setting a bar so high for fraud and fakes few would ever come close to achieving her level of Master Swindler.

Born Elizabeth "Betty" Bigley on a rural Canadian farm, this gilded-age grifter would go on to operate under dozens of aliases. From clairvoyant to an heiress, Bigley wreaked havoc across the midwest with a lifelong string of scams. But it was as Cassie Chadwick, the illegitimate daughter of Andrew Carnegie, that her name and face would gain international attention when she pulled off one of the biggest financial frauds of all time.

If you are interested in purchasing any of the books mentioned in this episode, visit our bookshop!

Staff picks:

-The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller

-Abbott Elementary (TV series)

Recommended reading:

-Queen of the Con by Thomas Crowl

-Greed in the Gilded Age by William Elliott Hazelgrove

-Confident Women by Tori Telfer

-Pretty Things by Janelle Brown

-Lucky by Marissa Stapley

-Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

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