Cassie Chadwick - Start in The U.S.

Start in The U.S.

After a brief stay with her sister and brother-in-law, she rented the lower floor of a house at 149 Garden Street, Cleveland from a Mrs. Brown. Chadwick, claiming to be widowed, assumed the mystic name Madame Lydia DeVere. She set up shop as a clairvoyant with funds from a bank loan on the York's furniture.

In 1882, as Lydia DeVere, she married Dr. Wallace S. Springsteen in Cleveland, Ohio. The couple exchanged vows before a Justice of the Peace on 21 November 1882. She took the name Mrs. Lydia Springsteen and moved into the doctor’s house at 3 Garden Street. A photograph and story appeared in Cleveland’s newspaper, The Plain Dealer.

The newspaper article led her sister, Alice York, and various trades-people to the home of Dr. Springsteen, demanding payment for debts his wife had accumulated. After Dr. Springsteen confirmed the stories about her past, he threw her out of the house. Dr. Springsteen filed for divorce (which was granted early in 1883) and settled her debts.

Chadwick again established herself as a clairvoyant in Cleveland. As Madame Marie LaRose, she met her next husband. In 1883, she married John R. Scott, a farmer from Trumbull County, Ohio. She convinced Mr. Scott to sign a prenuptial agreement, citing abuse from her first husband. After four years of farm life, she went, prenuptial in hand, to a lawyer in Youngstown, Ohio. She left a sworn statement confessing adultery and directed her lawyer to file for divorce.