Part 14:
After Cassie Chadwick's death, she was mentioned frequently in the press, usually whenever a female forger or con artist was arrested. I was surprised how often this happened, and it took only a few minutes to come up with the following examples. There probably are many more I could have found had I spent an hour or two looking.

Pictured above is perhaps the most interesting con woman to grab headlines in the wake of Cassie Chadwick's case. She's Violet May Charlesworth, often called "The Cassie Chadwick of England." Her career ended when she was just 25 years old, and while she seemed surprisingly savvy about business affairs, she succeeded mostly on youthful good looks, a winning smile, and an unwillingness to take "no" for an answer.

More later on Ms. Charlesworth and the other con women of the early 20th century. First, a look at two postscripts to the Chadwick case:

Other con women used Cassie's game plan
It was a reference to Cassie Chadwick in a 1921 story about con woman Amelia Everts Carr, also known as "Petticoat Ponzi," that lured me into a search for more information about the woman whose birth name was Elizabeth Bigley. However, whenever she's remembered, it will be as Cassie Chadwick, with whom other con women were compared for many years. For example:

• "Much Like Mrs. Chadwick Was a Hohokus, N. J. Woman" was the headline in the Chicago Daily Tribune (December 26, 1904) for a story about Mrs. Juliette C. Henderson, who posed as the heir to a big estate, borrowed money in large sums, and spent it lavishly. She died leaving assets valued at $15,000 and owing $200,000.

• "Her methods are said to have outrivaled Cassie Chadwick's," said a story in Genoa (NY) Tribune (July 27, 1906). Mrs. Helen Hulshizer of Joliet, Illinois, was called “The Woman Plunger,” and it was said she, like Lydia Devere, hypnotized men and woman “of the utmost financial ability and social standing” out of thousands of dollars. Her exploits appear to be exaggerated. I found only one other story about her, from 1909 in the Chicago Daily Tribune. She was a fugitive at that point, and apparently successful at hiding. The Genoa Tribune story said she ha a daughter, Edna Thayer, who was an actress.

• Police are looking for Chan Chow Yut, “a veritable Chinese ‘Cassie Chadwick’,” said the San Francisco Call (November 28, 1907). The woman swindled the Los Angeles Chinese Women’s Deposit Syndicate out of $30,000, and was thought to be headed for Salt Lake City.

• A headline in the Waterbury (CT) Evening Democrat (February 15, 1908) called Mrs. Mary E. Cochrane a rival of Cassie Chadwick, probably because Mrs. Cochrane wrote letters of introduction and forged signatures of prominent people to dupe Francis T. F. Lovejoy, former partner of Andrew Carnegie, who gave a $100,000 mortgage on his Pittsburgh mansion to Mrs. Cochrane and received $1 in return.

• "Oneonta Produces a Cassie Chadwick" declared the Broadalbin (NY) Herald (July 19, 1908); The woman was a 50-year-old spinster named Caroline Andrews, who disappeared owing people in her town $20,000. She was described as one of the hardest workers at the Oneonta Baptist Church, president of the Ladies’ Aid Society and WCTU, and treasurer of the Woman’s Club. She borrowed most of the money she owes from friends, including one woman who mortaged her home to raise $7,500. She also was into a sister-in-law for $3,500.

• "May Be Second Cassie Chadwick" was how the Wilmington (DE) Evening Journal (July 21, 1908) introduced readers to Miss Frances A. Casnari, formerly of Baltimore, arrested for passing worthless checks. She'd already spent time in Maryland penitentiary.

• According to the Wausau (WI) Pilot (November 30, 1909) the "Cassie Chadwick of Wisconsin" was Mrs. Mary Mohr, sentenced to seven years in the Iowa peniteniary for defrauding a woman of $250 and 100 pounds of honey. Previously, she conned people in Wausau. Said a Wisconsin victims, "She could charm the money out of one’s pocket." He added, "It was the wonder of everyone how she did it, because she was homely as a Kentucky rail fence, and spoke a language that needed fixing.”

• A headline over a photo in the Los Angeles Herald (April 6, 1910) said, "Local 'Cassie Chadwick' Being Carried from Jail.” The story began: "Screaming at the top of her voice and kicking in an endeavor to free herself, Mrs. Ketturia M. Osborne, who gaine a reputation as 'Cassie Chadwick the Second,' was carried from the women’s department of the county jail yesterday afternoon and taken to the Southern Pacific Station, where she left for San Quentin to serve a sentence of five years." She specialized in real estate fraud, such as selling non-existent houses.

• The Albany Argus (November 19, 1916) referred to Miss Annie Sharpley as "a second Cassie Chadwick" after she borrowed $81,000 from several people “on no other security than her personality and ingenuousness.” She promptly lost the money in various business ventures and went into hiding with only five dollars to her name.

• Mrs. Myrtle Bowman Hayes was called “Modern Cassie Chadwick” by the Albany Knickerbocker Press (May 13, 1923). This was a fairly sensational case because Mrs. Hayes had forged the name of Charles M. Schwab to the tune of $325,000.

And now, here's Violet!
Somewhere in the middle of all the above was Violet May Charlesworth, who was so appealing she may have lived happily ever after if she hadn't made enemies of Mrs. Martha Smith and Dr. Edward Hughes Jones, whose combined contributions to Miss Charlesworth's fortune were relatively small. She very easily could have repaid Mrs. Smith, and she shouldn't have promised Dr. Jones she would marry him. Meanwhile, several men who had given her the means to acquire jewels, homes and automobiles were content to sing, "Thanks For the Memories."

But before telling you more about Miss Charlesworth, a synopsis of The Humbert Affair, the French scandal that broke in 1902, two years before Cassie Chadwick was arrested. Because Mrs. Chadwick was American and Thérèse Humbert was French, United States newspapers tended to make a bigger deal out of the Clevelander's crime, when, in fact, the Humbert case was far more spectacular. So while American newspapers compared Violet Charlesworth with Cassie Chadwick, in Europe she was more likely to be called "The Second Thérèse Humbert."

For more about the Humberts, the quickest way is to click on The Great Expectations of Therese Humbert. On the surface, she and Violet Charlesworth seemed to have little in common, except a lower middle-class upbringing, a desire for easy living and a lot of nerve, and Miss Charlesworth did something Mrs. Humbert couldn't — she used her good looks to charm her victims, and struck it rich a lot earlier in her life. While Mrs. Humbert's partner was her husband, Miss Charlesworth had a lot of help from her mother, who launched the con by spreading the word her daughter, whom she had named May, stood to inherit a fortune from the estate of the girl's godfather, Major-General Charles "Chinese" Gordon, a British hero who'd been killed in the Sudan in 1885, a year after May was born. (Charlton Heston played Gordon in the 1966 movie, "Khartoum.")

It was May's idea to call herself "Violet Gordon," which led to variations of her name — Violet May Gordon, Violet Charlesworth Gordon, even Violet May Gordon Charlesworth. Her mother probably had no idea of the problem she created for her daughter when she said the inheritance would be hers on her 25th birthday — January 13, 1909 — because that created a deadline for the scam, a deadline that would prove inconvenient, prompting Violet Charlesworth to make a fatal mistake.

In Derby, she's off and running
May Charlesworth grew up in Stafford, England, in an area of the country called the West Midlands. Her father was a mechanic, her mother was a dreamer and a schemer who originally came up with the idea for the scam that would make her daughter famous. This is how it was explained in "Sin and Scandal in Edwardian Britain: Fraudster Heiress Violet Charlesworth," by Evangeline Holland:

This Mrs. Smith was the widow who eventually would file criminal charges against the mother and daughter. It was money from Mrs. Smith's life savings that launched Violet Charlesworth on the most interesting part of her operation — speculating on the stock market.

A few years later, after Miss Charlesworth's scheme had been exposed, it was explained that the Panic of 1907 in the United States led to her downfall:

Time for some clarification. I have no idea if the New York Times article adjusted figures to account for the difference between the American dollar and the English pound. In 1910, when this article appeared, the reason for using a dollar sign may have been as simple as the symbol for pounds (£) wasn't available on the newspaper's linotype machine. Dollars or pounds, 2,500,000 was a huge amount in 1910, and that's what Violet Charlesworth was claiming would be coming her way on her 25th birthday.

As the above article indicated, her early speculation paid off. Here's what another newspaper wrote (and you'll notice it has the symbols for both dollars and pounds):

Believing the charming young woman was an heiress, Dr. Jones proposed. She accepted, and soon after they became engaged, he lent her £100, believing it was a safe investment. She soon asked for more ... and more.

After she had "borrowed" £5,000 from her fiance, Violet took a house in Wiltshire at a rental of £180 per week, and used it for her St. Bernard dogs; and a few weeks afterwards rented a house in Scotland at £250 per week.

When he testified against her in 1910, Dr. Jones said Miss Charlesworth put off their wedding with a story about a Colonel Williamson, who was handling the Gordon trust that would be hers on her 25th birthday. She said Colonel Williamson wanted her for himself and would make sure she didn't receive her money unless she broke her engagement to Dr. Jones.

Meanwhile, her bills mounted while her stocks tanked, and she kept creditors at bay by assuring them they would be paid soon after she turned 25 on January 13, 1909. But as that birthday approached, Violet Charlesworth plotted a way to avoid admitting to the world that she was a fraud.

Police knew from the get-go the story was a phony. There was no sign of the body on the rocks below, and the car showed no signs of damage and was driven away the next day. Violet had selected a poor spot for her accidental death. It was shown to be impossible for a body to reach the water from that spot. Also, the water below, even at high tide, is only 18 inches deep, but when the accident occurred, the tide was ebbing.

Violet Charlesworth obviously was still alive, and the search was on. Everyone was on the lookout for a young woman known for wearing a red cloak which had become her trademark.

Violet Charlesworth owed £60,000, but her assets totaled only £10,000. Some creditors had hopes of being repaid at least some of their debt when the young woman was offered work in vaudeville, but hers wasn't muchh of an act. All she had to do was walk around the stage in her red cloak while an announcer recited the story of her adventures.

A brief review in Variety (February 20, 1909) said she "was hissed and not treated any too well" by audiences, adding, "Violet isn't so much on looks." I thought that last remark was rather harsh because photographic evidence indicates she was rather attractive, but more cute than gorgeous. One photo, in particular, had me thinking the late Joan Hackett would have been perfect in the role of Violet Charlesworth.

While her first few shows packed 'em in, the novelty of Violet Charlesworth was over in a week, but it was several months before she faced the consequences of her scam, and only because of two complaints.

In March, 1910, Violet and her mother were convicted of fraud in the matters of Mrs. Martha Smith and Dr. Edward Hughes Jones, though the defense got the doctor to admit he probably wouldn't have proposed to Miss Charlesworth if he hadn't believed she was an heiress. Mother and daughter were sentenced to three years at hard labor.

Violet Charlesworth was released from Aylesbury prison on February 10, 1912, her sentence punishment shortened as a reward for good behavior. When her mother was released, I do not know, but both of them faded into obscurity.

To me, the weirdes part of the Violet Charlesworth tale is that when Major-General Charles "Chinese" Gordon, a bachelor, was killed in 1885, he left an estate worth only £2,315. You'd think the people who loaned money to a woman in the early 1900s would have known that, or, at least, done some checking.