Ida Wood: Woman Cloaked in Mystery

               

               There have been stories over the years about recluses dying under the veil of poverty, only to have it discovered that the old soiled mattress they slept on for years were stuffed with thousands of dollars. It was more prevalent after the Great Depression that people no longer trusted banks or the stock market to protect their investments, so money was stuffed in old coffee cans, mattresses and cereal boxes. Some people lived poor to throw off anyone who might believe that they had money. It would only be discovered after their deaths that they were really well off.

                No one was better at the deception of being poor than the famous Ida Wood. A socialite in the late 1800's, Ida Wood had remained a recluse in the Herald Square Hotel with her sister Mary E. Mayfield for twenty-four years. It was not until March 5th, 1931 that Ida Wood called out for help because her sister Mary had fallen ill. This began a journey for lawyers to unravel the mystery of Ida Wood following her sisters death. It was a mystery of squalor, money and false identity.

                Ida Wood was a young ambitious socialite in the 1850's when she met Benjamin Wood,  publisher for the New York Daily News and brother of the Mayor of New York. Mr. Wood as already married to his second wife at the time, however this did it stop Ida from pursuing him. They became lovers and ten years later they were married after his wife passed away. They became a power couple in major social circles. Ida claimed that she was from a prominate family from New Orleans and had aristocratic blood. Benjamin Wood was a charismatic man of high social standing in the State of New York. Because of their popularity, the Woods were invited to the more elite events. Ida was able to dance with the Prince of Wales and met Abraham Lincoln during his presidency.

            All was not rainbows and sunshine for the couple however. Benjamin had a serious gambling problem. Ida, a very business minded and creative woman made a deal with her husband that she would not complain about his issues with gambling in exchange he would give her half of his winnings and pay her whenever he lost. Eventually all of his property and businesses were signed over to Ida. When Benjamin died, he technically did not have a penny to his name; Ida had it all.

            After the run on the banks in 1907 Ida became paranoid and moved her, her sister Mary and Ida's daughter to the Herald Square Hotel. She never left the tiny two room Suite for twenty-four years. Slowly the hotel suite fell into squalor. Trash and dust accumulated over the years. The hotel maids were only able to collect the soiled bedding a few times over the years and no one was allowed in the suite.

           By the time Ida was forced from her room, she was in her 90's. It was obvious that she had become senile and was in poor health. She tried to convince her caretakers and lawyers that she was in fact poor. As the room was cleared of trash it was clear that she was anything but poor. They found expensive jewelry, rare Irish Lace and un cashed bonds hidden in cracker boxes, and littering the floor. They even discovered $500,000 dollars in $10,000 dollar bills pinned to the inside of her nightgown she was wearing.

           Things became more complicated when people claiming to be family members began to write the courts, demanding to take her home so they could care for her. The judge overseeing her case began to investigate her claimed linage in order to figure out who was truly related to Ida. What he discovered was even more reeling than her currant situation.

          The judge discovered that Ida Wood, who claimed to have the Surname of Mayfield and who also claimed to have an aristocratic background was not who she had claimed to be. Ida was born, Ellen Walsh and was the daughter of poor Irish Immigrants. She had run away from home as a teenager and went to New York with one ambition in mind; to raise her social status through deception. She changed her name and created a completely fabricated past for herself. She listened to social gossip and read social columns in the paper in order to familiarize herself with prominate socialites. She continued to run across the same name time and again in her research; Benjamin Wood. She knew that she would not be able to cross paths with this man so she chose to write him a letter proposing an affair with the understanding that he was already married. Benjamin agreed to the affair and for ten years they met in secret. Even though he never knew the extent of her lies he did assist in the web of deception, claiming her youngest sister as their child before they were married in 1867.

        When Ida Wood died on March 12th 1932, most of the mystery had been unraveled. Most of her life had been built on a foundation of lies, which continued to mount up to her death. She was a very creative con artist, fulfilling her dream of a socialite and business woman. In the end she did everything she could to hide who she really was and the fortune she had accumulated. One does not have to condone her action, but one does have to admire her cunning.



Resource:

www.Nomadchic.com

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