Belle Cora

Belle Cora
Representation of Cora
Born	1827 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Died	1862(1862-00-00) (aged 34–35)
Other names	Arabella Ryan
Occupation	Madam

Belle Cora (1827?^[1][2]–February 18/19, 1862), also known as Arabella Ryan,^[3] was a madam of the Barbary Coast of San Francisco during the mid-nineteenth century.^[4] She rose to public attention in 1855 when her lover, Charles Cora, killed U.S. Marshal William H. Richardson after they had a conflict at the theater. She died in 1862.

Two portrayals of Belle Cora's childhood exist.^[1] The first lists her as the daughter of a minister in Baltimore who became pregnant as a teen.^[1] Upon discovering this, Cora's father threw her out of the house, prompting Cora to move to New Orleans. There, her baby died and she met Charles Cora.^[1] The alternate version, more prominently upheld, depicts Belle to be the daughter of Irish Catholic parents in Baltimore.^[1] In this version, Cora and her sister worked at a dress shop next to a brothel.^{[citation needed]} Intrigued by the house, they became involved with the sex trade.^{[citation needed]} At some point, Cora ventured to Charleston, South Carolina. During her time there, she became the mistress of a man who was later killed.^[1] His death prompted Cora to move to New Orleans where in 1849 she met Charles Cora.^[1][5]

In December 1849, the couple moved to Sacramento, California and, while there, Belle helped fund Charles's high-stakes gambling.^[1] After some time, the couple moved to Marysville, California, and Belle opened her first brothel, called the New World.^[6][7] gambling parlor and offered games like poker, roulette, faro, and dice.^{[citation needed]} At 23, they moved yet again and she opened a brothel in Sonora, California.^[1]

In 1852, Belle set up a parlor house on Washington street, in San Francisco, opposite the house of fellow madam, Ah Toy.^{[citation needed]} Reverend William Taylor recounts the parlor house as being furnished with redwood, velvet, silk, demask, beautiful paintings and playing pianoforte, harp and melodeon.^[8] Belle hosted dinner parties with aldermen, judges, the mayor, and even members of the legislature.^[1] Even after an expensive legal battle and the lynching of her husband, Belle continued to run her brothel.^[9]

Belle Cora held a competing party (which had more guests) the same night as the wife of U.S. Marshal William H. Richardson, which is said to have begun a rivalry between the women.^[10] The feud was further provoked one evening at the American Theatre.^[11] Richardson's wife complained to the manager that the Coras were seated in the same balcony as she was, as she felt that area should be reserved for more respectable guests.^{[1][12][13][14][11]} However, the manager refused to remove the couple, saying that they were regular customers of the first balcony.^[11] William left swearing vengeance upon Charles.^[11]

On November 17, 1855, between 6 and 7 o'clock,^{[citation needed]} Charles Cora shot Marshal Richardson in the breast in front of Fox and O'Connor's store on Clay street between Leidesdorff and Montgomery Street.^[15] He died instantaneously from the wound.^[16][17][15] Charles Cora was arrested, handed over to the city marshal, and later placed in the county jail.^[15]

Protests and lynch mobs erupted after the murder, so Mayor James Van Ness placed Charles under a higher security accommodation for his own safety.^[18] Local citizens raised fund for a monument for Richardson in the Lone Mountain Cemetery and $15,000 for his children.^[15][19]

Belle funded several attorneys to represent Charles Cora including Edward Dickinson Baker and James A. McDougall.^[20] Belle paid Edward Dickinson Baker $15,000 of his $30,000 retainer in gold and sent meals to Charles Cora while he was in jail.^[9] In addition, she even went so far as trying to bribe the star witness Maria Knight to change her testimony.^[21] Alleging that Richardson had threatened Charles with a knife, the lawyers framed the case as one of self-defense.^[16] On 1856 January 17, Charles's trial ended with hung jury.^[22]

On May 15, 1856, the 2nd Committee of Vigilance was formed, and by May 17, the committee had gained 2500 members. The collected guns and began to conduct "army" drills.^{[citation needed]} The following day, 3,000 armed members of the committee took Charles and James P. Casey.^[23] On 1856 May 18, in Sacramento, Governor Johnson, in response,^[19] appointed William Tecumseh Sherman as the Major-General commanding of the San Francisco division of the California State Militia.^{[citation needed]} The related case of James Casey (who had shot newspaper editor James King of William in an assassination attempt) prompted the committee to aim a cannon at the jail and demand the release of Charles and Casey.^{[24][25][26][20][27][28]}

The 2nd Committee of Vigilance scheduled a new trial for 1856 May 20;^[29][30] James King of William died the same day.^[31] Samuel Brannan delivered a speech on justice and the enforcement of the law before the trial.^[32] Both men were found guilty, and on 1856 May 22, the committee sentenced both to hang the following day at noon.^[15][30] Before the execution, Belle and Charles got married by Father Michael Acoltti.^{[citation needed]}

For fear of escape, 3,000 men and two field pieces led Charles to his execution,^[15] at the committee's headquarters at 41 Sacramento Street in front of a crowd of 20,000.^{[citation needed]} Charles said nothing as the noose was placed around his head.^{[citation needed]} The cord was cut at twenty minutes past one o'clock, leaving Charles to drop six feet and hang for fifty five minutes before being turned over to the coroner.^{[33][34][35][30]}

Belle Cora died at 35, in 1862, of pneumonia. She was buried in the Calvary Cemetery next to her husband. In 1916, the San Francisco Bulletin published a serial on Cora by Pauline Jacobson and, as a result, Belle was disinterred and reburied with Charles beneath a common headstone at the Mission Dolores Cemetery.^{[36][37][38][13]}

Karen Joy Fowler's alludes to Cora's influence on social norms in novel Sister Noon.^[10][39] During a societal shift toward "civilizing" society, Belle had maintained her business, which had been seen as immoral.^[1] In the book Arresting Dress, the author Clare Sears opines that Cora inspires female financial agency and the use of sex for empowerment.^[11] In addition, Cora advocated against gender stereotypes, as demonstrated by her legal battle with the Vigilance Committee;^[how?] ultimately she set the precedent to resist further legislation like that of sodomy laws in the 20th century.^[11]

• List of people from San Francisco

• Adams, Charles F. (2018). Murder by the Bay: Historic Homicide in and about the City of San Francisco. Quill Driver Books. ISBN 978-1884995460 – via Google Books.
• Duke, Thomas Samuel (1910). "Famous Vigilance Committee and Battles With Squatters". Celebrated Criminal Cases of America. San Francisco: James H. Barry Company. pp. 20–22. OCLC 3811019. Retrieved February 12, 2020. By Thomas Samuel Duke, Captain of Police, San Francisco; Published with Approval of the Honorable Board of Police Commissioners of San Francisco, 1910. (Public Domain Free Download)
• Fowler, Karen Joy (2002). Sister Noon. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-65984-7. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
• Hurtado, Albert L. (1999). Intimate Frontiers: Sex, Gender, and Culture in Old California. UNM Press. ISBN 978-0826319548 – via Google Books.
• Jensen, Vickie (2012). Women Criminals: An Encyclopedia of People and Issues. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-33713-0. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
• Levy, JoAnn (2013). They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0806189932 – via Google Books.
• Sears, Clare (2015). Arresting Dress: Cross-Dressing, Law, and Fascination in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-7619-4. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
• Williamson, G. R. (2012). Frontier Gambling. G.R. Williamson. ISBN 978-0985278014 – via Google Books.
• Woolley, Lell Hawley (1913). California, 1849–1913; or, The rambling sketches and experiences of sixty-four years' residence in that state. Oakland, CA: De Witt & Snelling.

• Weirde (1994). Dr. Weirde's Weirde Tours: A Guide to Mysterious San Francisco. San Francisco: Barrett-James Books. ISBN 978-0-9643559-0-3.