I refer to Elizabeth Bigley's childhood nickname as Betsy, but you'll find young Ms. Bigley called Betty, Lizzie, Lylie, and probably a few others that I missed.

Among her aliases later in life, but before she became Cassie Chadwick, were Mrs. Alice M. Bestedo, Louise Bigley, Lydia Devere, Mme. De Vere, Lydia D. Scott, Lydia Clingan (or Clingad), Mrs. C. L. Hoover, Mrs. Bagley, and my favorite, Florida G. Blythe, though I read newspaper articles that spelled the first name Florinda and Flinda. Very briefly she also was Mrs. W. S. Springsteen during her first marriage to a doctor.

Whether she was married three times or four times depends on which story you read. I lean toward the three marriage version. More later.

Well, it was somewhere in Ontario
Likewise, her birthplace depends on your source. For example, the Wikipedia article says Elizabeth Bigley was born in Appin, a small town about 50 miles southwest of London, Ontario, but the information in the box to the right of the article lists her birthplace as Norwich, a small Ontario town about 30 miles east of London, which also shows up as her birthplace is some articles.

More often you'll see the birthplace as either Woodstock, Ontario, 40 miles northeast of London, or Eastwood, a small town just outside of Woodstock.

Whatever, Elizabeth Bigley was born in Ontario, Canada, on October 10, 1857, the year being particularly interesting when you consider her eventual claim that she was Andrew Carnegie's illigitimate daughter, especially when she reached a point when her life became a shambles in 1904 and she began telling people she was four years older than she really was.

Five, six or eight?
Also at issue is how many children were in the family of her parents, Daniel and Mary Ann Bigley. The most frequent answer is eight — six daughters and two sons, with Elizabeth daughter number three. However, Paul Roberts, in "Queen of Sham," a story on the Woodstock Newsgroup website, calls her parents Dan and Annie, and says they had just five children — Alice, Mary, Elizabeth and Emily, and a son named Bill.

But in Cassie Chadwick's obituary, the Syracuse Herald (October 11, 1907) said the Bigley's had six children. And Charles F. Hamlyn, described as the "proprietor" of "The Woodstock Express," wrote in 1904 that Alice Bigley (who married a man named Standish York) was actually Cassie Chadwick's half-sister, indicating there might be some children in the Bigley family who were products of previous relationships by Daniel and Mary Ann. Also, perhaps in an effort to explain why Elizabeth turned out so badly, there were some who claimed the Bigley's adopted her after raising her for a while as their foster child.

Mrs. Alice York was the most-mentioned relative in stories about Mrs. Chadwick. Mrs. York had moved to San Francisco after her husband's death in 1898, and she claimed her parents were Daniel and Mary Ann Bigley, and they had eight children, all alive in 1904. But Mrs. York's recollections sometimes didn't square with a few provable facts.

Emily Bigley married a man name Daniel Pine, and they lived in Cleveland, apparently in a house purchased after Betsy Bigley became Cassie Chadwick. The Pines had two sons who show up with Aunt Cassie in photos taken in Cleveland near the Chadwick home. Another Bigley daughter (or step daughter) named Jennie married a man named Campbell, and also lived in Cleveland for awhile before returning to Canada.

What's my line?
Again, this is nothing of earth-shaking importance, but everyone — even Alice Bigley York — seems to agree Betsy/Cassie grew up on a farm in Eastwood, Ontario, but did that make her father a farmer?

Many sources say "Yes," but others, who seem to be better informed, say Daniel Bigley was a crew boss for the Great Western Railroad, which indicates the Bigley property in Eastwood was not a working farm, though it may have had a garden that helped feed the family.

How much was that inheritance?
Not that it makes any difference now, but according to several sources, that card said, "Heiress to $15,000."

Some also say her name wasn't on the card, that it simply said "I am an heiress to $18,000," or $15,000, if you prefer.

Many years later, when, as Cassie Chadwick, she was exposed and headed for prison, a man name V. C. Lyster, identified as a wealthy stone contractor living in Ludlow, Kentucky, told the press he'd grown up in Woodstock, Ontario, and claimed to be the first boyfriend of Betsy Bigley.

Two newspapers who published stories about Lyster said his first name was Vote, which may have been an Americanized version of the German "Vogt." In any event, when he introduced himself to people, he must have sounded like a campaigning politician — "Vote Lyster."

He said, "I remember she had some cards printed, and on them she had printed: 'Miss Lizzie Bigley, heiress to $18,000'."

Like I said, hers is a multiple choice biography.

If you read a lot about Betsy Bigley/Lydia Devere/Cassie Chadwick, you quickly notice writers waste an inordinate amount of words analyzing her appeal to men. Most claim she wasn't attractive, hint that she was unattractive, even ugly or scary.

From photos I've seen, I'd say those people made their judgment on the basis of her looks in 1900, or a few years later, about the time her world came crashing down. But the photo above, taken in 1889 or 1890, when she was clairvoyant Lydia Devere in Toledo, with a prison sentence in her near future, shows an attractive woman, who would have no problem attracting men, especially since almost all of the men she conned were older, and you know what they say — "There's no fool like an old fool."

And further up the page is a photo of Betsy Bigley at the start of her crime career. If that truly is a photo of Ms. Bigley, then she was quite appealing as a young woman.

However, there was widespread belief — supported by the photo above — that through her life what men couldn't resist were her hypnotic eyes. And, yes, people were convinced Betsy/Lydia/Cassie actually hypnotized That was especially true in the case of Lydia Devere, who separated men from their money for several years, and did it mostly without resorting to forged checks.

After her Andrew Carnegie scheme was exposed in 1904, there was still talk about about Cassie Chadwick's hypnotic eyes, which prompted Alice York to say of her sister/half-sister, “She never indicated that she was possessed of any hypnotic power. In Toledo, it is said, she hypnotized a man named Joseph Lamb, an express agent. The papers were full of it at the time, and all the talk was hypnotism. The hypnotism talk, I repeat was nonsense."

It wasn't nonsense to a deputy sheriff named Porter who accompanied Cassie Chadwick to jail in 1904. "The first time Mrs. Chadwick got a good square look at me," he told reporters, "I began to blink under the piercing gaze, until I was forced to turn my eyes in an opposite direction. I grew dizzy from the effect, but some strange power caused me to return my gaze to hers."

At first, it may have been sex
Her sex appeal, as Lydia Devere and even in her twenties and teens as Betsy Bigley is seldom mentioned by those who write about her. In fact, most stories seem to dismiss her as having no sex appeal at all, although some people quoted in old newspaper stories go so far as to call her "a beauty" right up until the time she married Dr. Chadwick.

You'll even find an occasional claims she briefly was a prostitute and may have been operating a brothel in Cleveland when she met her final husband, Dr. Chadwick.

However, it was only in George Condon's chapter on the woman that I found the following incident, which may or may not be true, but in view of how she carried on later in life, I tend to think it contains more truth than fiction. If so, it's an interesting indication of the workings of Elizabeth Bigley's mind, even as a teenager.

What was she like?
In "The High Priestess of Fraudulent Finance," Karen Abbott says Betty Bigley lost her hearing in one ear and developed a speech impediment, which conditioned her to speak few words and choose them with care. Her classmates found her “peculiar” and she turned inward.

George Condon in "Cassie Was a Lady," says, "Nothing really notable occurred in Elizabeth Bigley’s childhood. She was a heavy reader, it is known, and her favorite kind of literature had to do with successful women. Her parents were heard to complain at times that she was a child with entirely too much imagination.

"She always seemed absorbed in thought," said Alice York of her sister., and would sit in silence by the hour. She seemed in a trance and never would pay attention to anyone. She would come out of these thinking spells as if bewildered. At such times she would not reply when questioned. She would have melancholy spells and nothing would rouse her."

Contrary to what Condon wrote, Mrs York said, "Cassie was not a great reader."

"In speech," Mrs. York added, "she talks slowly and lisps slightly."

And when she had money, Cassie Chadwick spent it freely and was perhaps too generous to those around her, which may have hastened her downfall.