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Fatal Fortune - The Death of Chicago's Millionaire Orphan (Hardcover)
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Fatal Fortune - The Death of Chicago's Millionaire Orphan (Hardcover)
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In December 1924, a 21-year-old millionaire orphan, William "Billy"
McClintock, died of an unusually virulent form of typhoid fever. He
was mourned by his financee, Isabelle Pope, who sought
unsuccessfully to rally her love by marrying him on his deathbed.
Shortly after Billy's funeral, questions arose as to the cause of
death, with insinuations of foul play. After reaching his majority
and inheriting his estate in April, McClintock had signed a will
drafted by one of his guardians, lawyer William D. Shepherd--a will
which left everything to Shepherd, but only if Billy died before
his planned February 1925 wedding to Ms. Pope. Ultimately, Shepherd
and his wife Julie were accused of killing not only Billy
McClintock, but Billy's mother and a doctor friend of the family.
This case caused a major sensation in Jazz Age Chicago, a society
fascinated with murder and mayhem. When the body of Billy's mother
was exhumed after sixteen years, it was found to contain enough
mercury to have killed two people. The Shepherds were the only
likely sources. Three physicians came forward to say that Shepherd
had approached them about obtaining typhoid germs. Yet, Shepherd
would beat the charges of Billy's murder; in fact, no one would
ever be charged in the death of Billy's mother. Was there a
murder--or two? Who stood to gain the most from these deaths?
McConnell recreates a slice of life among Chicago's elite and the
colorful characters who may or may not have sought their own piece
of the fatal fortune--so-called because its inheritors almost
always died within two years of receiving it.
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