The Millionaire Orphan
True Crime Historian
Richard O Jones
4.4 • 729 Ratings
🗓️ 21 April 2025
⏱️ 91 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Commercial Free Safe House Edition
Episode 329 tells of an unusual modus operandi, the use of typhoid germs as a method of poisoning when an Illinois attorney goes on trial for the murder of a young man he raised after the death of his mother, who happened to leave her son a million dollar estate.
A big welcome back to our friend Susan Ferman, who will read passages written during the trial by the Chicago Tribune’s ace female reporter Genevieve Forbes Herrick about some of the women involved in the case.
Culled from the historic pages of the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers of the era.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Popular.com |
| 0:07.0 | Chicago, Illinois, December 5th, 1905. |
| 0:14.3 | Death once more has snatched the McClintock millions from the heir who was about to enjoy them. |
| 0:21.6 | This time, the victim is William N. McClintock, who came into his inheritance only last April when he turned 21. |
| 0:30.6 | He was to have been married on Wednesday to Miss Isabella Pope of Wilmette, his most intimate friends since they were schoolmates |
| 0:39.8 | at New Trier High School. Young McClintock was known as the millionaire orphan. In 1909, when he was |
| 0:49.2 | six years old, his mother died, leaving him nearly $3 million. By careful management, the estate has since |
| 0:58.0 | nearly doubled. On Tuesday, Miss Pope obtained a license to marry McClintock. He had been |
| 1:05.9 | gravely ill, but had shown a slight improvement. They had been engaged since June, her parents said last night, |
| 1:14.1 | but they would not explain on whose advice the girl applied for the license. Mrs. Julie Shepard, |
| 1:20.6 | at whose home in Kenilworth young McClintock lived, said neither she nor her husband had |
| 1:26.9 | interposed any objections to the marriage. In fact, she said, |
| 1:31.6 | every preparation had been made to have the ceremony performed while the young millionaire was in bed. |
| 1:38.0 | By the time Miss Pope arrived at the house with the license, McClintock had become delirious and the ceremony never took place. |
| 1:47.2 | He died early yesterday morning. |
| 1:51.9 | The McClintock fortune has had a strange history. A Mr. Hickling was the founder of it. |
| 1:58.8 | He died shortly after his marriage, and his widow, who inherited |
| 2:02.8 | it, shortly afterward, married William McClintock, Sr. She died, and the boy's father inherited |
| 2:10.0 | the millions. Then he married a Miss Emma Nelson of Topeka, Kansas, and they had a son, William Jr., who died yesterday. |
| 2:19.3 | The boy's father died in 1906 when the automobile in which he and his family were riding |
| 2:25.3 | frightened a horse. The horse reared and the wagon shaft was driven into McClintock's side. |
| 2:33.3 | He died instantly. His widow who inherited the fortune |
... |
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