"Big Bertha" Heyman: Queen of the Con

Bertha Heyman loved to con people, and the more challenging the con, the more she loved it. She immigrated from Prussia in 1878, and then proceeded to take America (and Canada) by storm with a string of elaborate cons from coast to coast throughout the 1880s. She spent time in expensive hotels, draped in finery, and in prisons, where she plotted schemes from her cell. She might not have been strong in ethics, but she had moxie! 

Further Reading:

• Rogue's Corner: Bertha Heyman (The National Night Stick)
• 'Big' Bertha Heyman, the Confidence Queen (San Francisco Examiner)
• "A Smart Female Swindler" (New York Times, 1881)
• "Bertha Heyman's Pride" (New York Times, 1883)
• "The Confidence Queen" (Daily Alta California, 1888)