Belle Cora

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Belle Cora (Arabella Ryan)
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Belle Cora
Representation of Cora
Born1827
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Died1862(1862-00-00) (aged 34–35)
Other namesArabella Ryan
OccupationMadam

Belle Cora (1827?

U.S. Marshal
William H. Richardson after they had a conflict at the theater. She died in 1862.

Early life

Two portrayals of Belle Cora's childhood exist.

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][4]

Career

Photograph of the Cora House in 1853

In December 1849, the couple moved to

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

William Taylor recounts the parlor house as being furnished with redwood, velvet, silk, demask, beautiful paintings and playing pianoforte, harp and melodeon.[7] 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.[8]

Murder of Richardson and the aftermath

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.[9] The feud was further provoked one evening at the American Theatre.[10] 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][11][12][13][10] However, the manager refused to remove the couple, saying that they were regular customers of the first balcony.[10] William left swearing vengeance upon Charles.[10]

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.[14] He died instantaneously from the wound.[15][16][14] Charles Cora was arrested, handed over to the city marshal, and later placed in the county jail.[14]

Protests and lynch mobs erupted after the murder, so Mayor James Van Ness placed Charles under a higher security accommodation for his own safety.[17] Local citizens raised fund for a monument for Richardson in the Lone Mountain Cemetery and $15,000 for his children.[14][18]

Belle funded several attorneys to represent Charles Cora including Edward Dickinson Baker and James A. McDougall.[19] 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.[8] In addition, she even went so far as trying to bribe the star witness Maria Knight to change her testimony.[20] Alleging that Richardson had threatened Charles with a knife, the lawyers framed the case as one of self-defense.[15] On 1856 January 17, Charles's trial ended with hung jury.[21]

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.[22] On 1856 May 18, in Sacramento, Governor Johnson, in response,[18] 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.[23][24][25][19][26][27]

The Hanging of Charles Cora

The 2nd Committee of Vigilance scheduled a new trial for 1856 May 20;[28][29] James King of William died the same day.[30] Samuel Brannan delivered a speech on justice and the enforcement of the law before the trial.[31] Both men were found guilty, and on 1856 May 22, the committee sentenced both to hang the following day at noon.[14][29] 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,[14] 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.[32][33][34][29]

Death and legacy

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.[35][36][37][12]

Karen Joy Fowler's alludes to Cora's influence on social norms in novel Sister Noon.[9][38] 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.[10] 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.[10]

See also

Footnotes

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Jensen 2012, p. 360.
  2. ^ Levy 2013, p. 150.
  3. ^ Levy 2013, p. 149.
  4. ^ Connatix (June 12, 2006). "Gambling in the Old West". HistoryNet. Historynet LLC. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  5. ^ Levy 2013, p. 154.
  6. ^ Lunsford, Sarah (January 21, 2010). "Take a chance on a longshot". Calaveras Enterprise. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  7. ^ Taylor, William (1858). California life illustrated. New York: Carlton & Porter. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  8. ^ a b Jensen 2012, p. 361.
  9. ^
    JSTOR 4382972
    .
  10. ^ a b c d e f Sears 2015.
  11. ^ Kamiya, Gary (February 20, 2015). "Cheating, violence in the cards at Gold Rush's gambling dens". SFChronicle.com. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  12. ^ a b Gentry, Curt (1964). "The Madams of San Francisco: An Irreverent History of the City by the Golden Gate". Doubleday – via Google Books.[ISBN missing]
  13. ^ Hurtado 1999, p. [page needed].
  14. ^ a b c d e f "Eyewitness: San Francisco Committee of Vigilance". 1856. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  15. ^ a b Duke 1910, p. 21.
  16. ^ Wilson, John L. "Stanford University School of Medicine and the Predecessor Schools: An Historical Perspective: Part II: E.S. Cooper in San Francisco. Chapter 11. The Vigilance Committee of 1856 – Medical History Center". lane.stanford.edu. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  17. ^ Woolley 1913.
  18. ^ a b California in Time: The Fight over Slavery through the Civil War parks.ca.gov
  19. ^
    JSTOR 25158368
    .
  20. ^ Levy 2013, p. 171.
  21. ^ "Gold Rush Chronology 1855–1856". www.sfmuseum.net.
  22. ^ "California Historical Landmark #192: Site of Jenny Lind Theatre and San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco". noehill.com.
  23. ^ Duke 1910, pp. 21, 22.
  24. ^ Williamson 2012, p. [page needed].
  25. ^ Kamiya, Gary (July 26, 2014). "Demagogue editor fired up readers, revolutionaries". SFGate. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  26. ^ "Hanging of Cora and Casey by the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance". www.sfmuseum.org.
  27. ^ Adams 2018, p. [page needed].
  28. ^ "Assassination of James King of William: Surrender of Jas. P. Casey and Charles Cora to the vigilance committee, on Sunday, May 18th, 1856" (Print). Library of Congress. San Francisco: Reynard Press, Inc. 1961. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  29. ^
    LCCN 92508320
    . Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  30. ^ Duke 1910, p. 22.
  31. ^ Woolley 1913, p. 11.
  32. ^ "Execution of Casey and Cora – San Francisco, 1856". Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  33. ^ "Sex, Vigilantism, and San Francisco in 1856". Common-Place. 03 (4). July 1, 2003.
  34. ^ "The Sonoma County Journal from Petaluma, California". Petaluma, California. November 24, 1855. p. 2.
  35. ^ Duke 1910, p. 23.
  36. ^ Beyl, Ernest (September 2012). "A short history of bordellos in San Francisco, part 2". Marina Times. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  37. ^ Jensen 2012, pp. 361–362.
  38. ^ Fowler 2002, p. [page needed].

Works cited

General references

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