Chadwick was Canadian by birth, but mostly operated in the bigger cities of Ohio. She had a varied career, which included both a pretty much run-of-the-mill check kiting scheme and a clairvoyant act. Her biggest caper was attempting to pass herself off as Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter.
How did all of this work out for her? Not well. While there are careers that strive for immortality, impostors and con artists prefer to remain anonymous. This doesn't really require explanation. But if Cassie Chadwick wasn't exactly a success in her choice of criminal enterprise, she did manage to make the world a more colorful place while she was in it.
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Cassie Chadwick appears to have had a very good run as an extraordinarily skilled swindler during her time. It's easy to see how she came to be the subject of Annie Reed's biography.
A favorite conman I remember having read about was a guy named Victor Lustig who sold the Eiffel Tower twice. Posing as a French aristocrat 'Count' Victor made most of his living on trans-Atlantic cruise ships where he posed as a Broadway producer needing funds for a forthcoming show.
As for the Eiffel Tower deal, he pretended to be a government official using forged paperwork to approach rich metal merchants telling them the landmark was due to be torn down but the deal had to be kept secret because the public might be upset. The first time the con worked but the second time it didn't.
He published a list of 'Ten Commandments for Con Men' that still sounds like good advice for anyone.
https://smileandgun.wordpress.com/2015/09/02/464/
Know anybody who wants to buy a bridge?
It wasn't the greatest career from a moral point of view, but she had to beat the odds to even last as long as she did in this con game. It's an interesting life, no matter how you slice it.
I remember a joke about a Texan who went to Paris, pointed to the Eiffel Tower, and asked, "How many barrels a day do you get out of that thing?" The Tower draws so much attention, people can believe all sorts of things about it.
Flew too close to the sun, as they say. Lustig must have thought he had a real winner with the Eiffel Tower ploy, and couldn't resist using it again. He had to get burned sooner or later.
The Ten Commandments for Con Men show a big concern with everyday psychology in general. I suspect salesmen keep something like this on hand as well.
One thing the Eiffel Tower has in common with the Brooklyn Bridge is that they are in every sense of the word big. There's a whole principle to lie big if you really want to convince people. It doesn't always work, but it certainly does sometimes.
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