A closer look
Charles Vance Millar was a wealthy Canadian lawyer and legendary prankster who died in 1928, leaving behind a wildly chaotic will that offered a massive fortune to whichever Toronto woman could birth the most children in ten years. Known as the Great Stork Derby, this deeply unhinged philanthropic social experiment kicked off an intense, decade-long baby-making marathon among desperate, poverty-stricken families right in the middle of the Great Depression. The bizarre legal mandate survived multiple aggressive challenges in the Canadian Supreme Court, causing a nationwide spectacle as newspapers rabidly tracked the most prolific local mothers like they were professional athletes. When the ten-year deadline finally arrived, four incredibly exhausted women successfully tied for first place by pushing out nine babies each, splitting a massive jackpot of half a million dollars. Millar successfully proved from beyond the grave that you can absolutely orchestrate a decade of localized demographic chaos if you just dangle enough cash in front of desperate parents!
