Fatal Fortune: The Death of Chicago's Millionaire Orphan

by Virginia A. McConnell

In December 1924, a 21-year-old millionaire orphan, William Billy McClintock, died of an unusually virulent form of typhoid. He was mourned by his financé, 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.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2005

Reviews

[Jan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would probably give this 3 1/2 stars. And because it is Chicago I bumped it the extra half star.

Interesting take on the death of Billy McClintock, Jr., which followed the suspicious death of his mother, Emma McClintock. William Darling “Darl” Shepherd was present on both occasions. He was always giving her drugs and he may have poisoned her on a visit to Texas. With Emma there was a jurisdictional question in that while she was poisoned in Texas she didn’t die until they returned to Illinois. Billy loved oysters and had recently had oysters at the College Inn or some similar hot spot in one of the downtown hotels. Bad oysters can apparently cause typhoid. And Darl insisted he had the flu. There are different treatments for each.

I did enjoy that Shepherd had the same lawyer team as one of the “girls of murder city”, Beulah Annan, William Scott Stewart and W. W. O’Brien (the basis for the character Billy Flynn in the musical/movie Chicago). This was especially fitting as I was reading The Girls of Murder City at the same time that I was reading this. The two cases sandwiched the Leopold-Loeb trial where the defense was led by Clarence Darrow. But the prosecution in Leopold-Loeb and Shepherd were both led by the ambitious State’s Attorney, Robert Crowe. It may be that he was so exhausted by the first trial that he just wasn’t able to give everything to the Shepherd trial. He had witnesses that he didn’t call. Lines of questioning that weren’t followed up. Witnesses he didn’t show support for. At the time of this trial Illinois (and probably most other states) didn’t allow attorneys to call people as “hostile witness”. They had to call them as a “court’s witness” which shows a lack of faith in their own witness.

This came across more as a legal study. And I noticed that she relied a fair amount on available databases and other online sources.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, but research could have been more thorough. The originator of the fortune was a English man named William Hickling, who made his money through commerce not by marrying the widow of a nobleman. A few minutes’ research showed he married twice, both times in Illinois. He was a community benefactor, not an opportunist.