Speaker 1: Are you with me here? You'll look at pics of
Speaker 1: people from the eighteen hundreds and they look so serious
Speaker 1: and respectable. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but
Speaker 1: that wasn't always the case. They just kept their indiscretions
Speaker 1: under wraps. In Washington, d C. During the Civil War,
Speaker 1: Kate Chase was the reigning Society princess. Her father, a widower,
Speaker 1: was Treasury Secretary, and Kate was his official hostess and escort.
Speaker 1: So how did she go from being a rich, beautiful
Speaker 1: queen bee to selling eggs and produced door to door
Speaker 1: to make ends meet. I'm Patty Steele, from the toast
Speaker 1: of Washington to poverty stricken egg lady. It was all
Speaker 1: about sex. That's next on the backstory. The backstory is back.
Speaker 1: Imagine you're born into a life of luxury, a wealthy
Speaker 1: intellectual father, a beautiful young mother. You are exquisitely beautiful,
Speaker 1: incredibly well mannered, and best of all, celebrated for your
Speaker 1: intense intense despite being a woman in what was definitely
Speaker 1: a man's world. Kate Chase was the daughter of Salmon Chase,
Speaker 1: a brilliant guy who went on to become Abe Lincoln's
Speaker 1: secretary at the Treasury and eventually Chief Justice of the
Speaker 1: Supreme Court. Yeah, that's a lot to live up to.
Speaker 1: But Kate far exceeded everybody's expectations. She was gorgeous, tall
Speaker 1: and slender, with an incredible figure. But in addition to beauty,
Speaker 1: her expensive, fabulous wardrobe, and her style and charm, she
Speaker 1: was brilliant. She could handle herself in the most intense
Speaker 1: political conversations. When she first arrived in DC from her
Speaker 1: home in Ohio as her father joined Lincoln's cabinet, one
Speaker 1: politician described her as follows. She was about nineteen, tall
Speaker 1: and slender, exceedingly well formed. Her nose was somewhat audaciously
Speaker 1: tipped up, fitting pleasingly into her face with its large,
Speaker 1: languid yet vivacious hazel eyes shaded by long dark lashes,
Speaker 1: and arched by proud eyebrows. Eyebrows can be proud. He
Speaker 1: went on to say. The fine forehead was framed in
Speaker 1: waving gold brown hair. She had something imperial in the
Speaker 1: pose of her head, and her movements possessed an exquisite
Speaker 1: natural charm. No wonder she was admired as a great
Speaker 1: beauty and broke many hearts, and Miss Kate took a
Speaker 1: lively and remarkably intelligent part in conversations that soon turned
Speaker 1: itself upon politics. That is a fan. She was in
Speaker 1: demand for every social event. She visited army camps, she
Speaker 1: was friends with high powered politicians and generals, and with
Speaker 1: all that going for her, every man in Washington wanted her,
Speaker 1: and women either wanted to be her, or, like Mary
Speaker 1: Todd Lincoln, they hated her, which Kate actually seemed to enjoy.
Speaker 1: In fact, when Kate married the very wealthy Civil War
Speaker 1: general turned Rhode Island governor turned senator William Sprague in
Speaker 1: the social event of eighteen sixty three, Mary Lincoln refused
Speaker 1: to go with her husband Abe to the wedding. He
Speaker 1: went alone. He was not immune to Kate's charms. As
Speaker 1: a wedding gift, Sprague gave Kate a tiara that today
Speaker 1: would cost well over a million dollars. She had it all.
Speaker 1: Kate was devoted to her father, to the point that
Speaker 1: she actually had married Sprague solely as a financial resource
Speaker 1: to help her dad run against Lincoln in the election
Speaker 1: of eighteen sixty four. He wanted the Republican nomination. Both
Speaker 1: Kate and her father saw the White House as his
Speaker 1: ultimate goal, but folks found out that Chase's dad had
Speaker 1: plotted against the president in the run up to the election.
Speaker 1: Plus the war had turned around. All that allowed Lincoln
Speaker 1: to win his second term, much to Kate and her
Speaker 1: father's disappointment. But the problem was she was now stuck
Speaker 1: married to William Sprague, who had become an abusive alcoholic
Speaker 1: with a violent temper. He was a notorious womanizer and
Speaker 1: was rapidly descending into insanity. Well, it seems, Kate continued
Speaker 1: to enjoy all the intention in other men gave her.
Speaker 1: There were rumors that she had numerous affairs beginning shortly
Speaker 1: after her marriage. While she and her husband had four kids,
Speaker 1: the last two, according to gossip, might have had different fathers.
Speaker 1: Now along comes one of the hottest men in Washington,
Speaker 1: not just powerful and wealthy. Senator Roscoe Conkling was considered
Speaker 1: to be the best looking man in politics. He was
Speaker 1: devoted to exercise, unusual in those days. He was about
Speaker 1: six foot three, a big, well built guy who dressed impeccably,
Speaker 1: had incredible manners, and he was a remarkable speaker. Despite
Speaker 1: the fact that both he and Kate are married to
Speaker 1: other people, they fall in love or maybe it was lust.
Speaker 1: Their affairs uncovered when Kate's drunken husband shows up unexpectedly
Speaker 1: at their summerhouse in Narragancet, Rhode Island. Yikes, he finds
Speaker 1: Roscoe lounging in a bathrobe having breakfast with Kate. Sprague
Speaker 1: chases him out with a shotgun. None of this looks good,
Speaker 1: The New York Times to scribes the incident. Senator Roscoe
Speaker 1: Conkling was a frequent visitor at the Sprague's estate and
Speaker 1: was unpleasantly conspicuous in the proceedings which ended in the
Speaker 1: divorce of the Sprague's mister. Conkling had been forbidden by
Speaker 1: mister Sprague to come to the house, but Sprague later
Speaker 1: met Conkling coming from the rear of the house. Reports
Speaker 1: had it that Conkling jumped from a window, with Sprague
Speaker 1: coming after him with his old Civil War musket in
Speaker 1: his hands. Sprague apparently also threatened to throw Kate out
Speaker 1: of a second story window, but instead he has her
Speaker 1: locked in her room. Kate manages to escape and the
Speaker 1: Spragues separate permanently. The pair divorced a few years later,
Speaker 1: but she got no money from her ex. In those days,
Speaker 1: a woman involved in an affair forfeited any right to
Speaker 1: her husband's financial support. As for Roscoe, he went back
Speaker 1: to his wife. So Kate took her three girls and
Speaker 1: moved to her father's home outside of d c. While
Speaker 1: her son, Willie continued to live with his father. Sadly,
Speaker 1: Willie committed suicide at the age of twenty five. Kate
Speaker 1: became a recluse. Her father now long dead, no financial
Speaker 1: help from her husband, and the failure of her dead
Speaker 1: father's businesses, so she was penniless. In order to get by,
Speaker 1: Kate raised chickens and vegetables and sold eggs and produce
Speaker 1: door to door the last decades of her life. People
Speaker 1: said she looked years older than she was, but she
Speaker 1: allowed no photos to be taken of her. She died
Speaker 1: of liver failure in eighteen ninety nine, at the age
Speaker 1: of just fifty eight. In her obituary, the Washington Post
Speaker 1: called her the most brilliant woman of her day. None
Speaker 1: outshone her, but newspapers said only two or three close
Speaker 1: relatives gathered for her burial. They said, dust to dust,
Speaker 1: ashes to ashes. The mortal remains of the daughter of
Speaker 1: Salmon p Chase were laid to rest forever beside the
Speaker 1: dust of her illustrious father. This remarkable woman came closer
Speaker 1: to being queen than any other American woman ever has
Speaker 1: for a while, she had owned her time. The question is,
Speaker 1: how does that kind of an RC happen in just
Speaker 1: one lifetime. Hope you're enjoying The Backstory with Patty Steele.
Speaker 1: Follow or subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically,
Speaker 1: and feel free to dm me if you have a
Speaker 1: story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty
Speaker 1: Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.
Speaker 1: The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis
Speaker 1: Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
Speaker 1: Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
Speaker 1: and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
Speaker 1: comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty
Speaker 1: Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history
Speaker 1: you didn't know you needed to know