This Madam Would Cease at Nothing to Save Her Man

“She was a voluptuous creature.” So mentioned veteran San Francisco police detective Ben Bohen in 1890 when recalling Belle Cora (depicted at proper), essentially the most infamous lady of Gold Rush–period California. The attractive and cultured Cora ran San Francisco’s preeminent bordello. Amongst her purchasers and associates had been influential politicians, businessmen, legal professionals and judges. However when Belle’s lover shot and killed a outstanding U.S. marshal, she discovered herself in direct battle with not solely town police and prosecutor but in addition the scary 1856 Committee of Vigilance. Regardless of such formidable adversaries, ultimately her true nemesis proved to be one other lady, a California pioneer of a completely completely different material.

The Coras Head West

San Francisco’s Gold Rush vixen was born Arabella “Belle” Ryan in Baltimore, Md., in 1828. Belle and sister Anastasia, two years her senior, had been orphaned in childhood. The Ryan ladies attended grammar college, however as teenagers they went to work in a dressmaking store. Detective Bohen, a number of years Belle’s junior, additionally grew up in Baltimore and knew the Ryans. As he later defined, the sisters typically delivered robes from the store to the “hurdy gurdy” ladies in a close-by bordello. “The women had been compelled to go to and from this place incessantly, and in time developed a need to steer the free and rollicking lifetime of the ladies for whom the attire had been meant, and shortly afterward commenced a profession of dissipation.”

In 1848 a stressed Belle boarded a steamship sure for Charleston, S.C., the place she took up with a lover. Her selection of companions was poor, for he was quickly killed. Belle then boarded one other ship, this one sure for New Orleans. There, as Bohen recalled, “She met Charles Cora. He was a affluent gambler and was struck by her magnificence.” Twenty-year-old Belle was certainly enticing, with a spherical face, thick brown hair, hazel eyes, a good complexion and a plump, well-endowed determine. She in flip fell for the dashing gambler.

Cora was a well known determine within the card rooms of New Orleans. Born in Genoa, Italy, in 1817, he immigrated to America together with his household as a boy. One in all his gambler associates, J.J. Bryant, later mentioned Charles’ mother and father had deserted him within the wide-open city of Natchez, Miss. “He was an ignorant Italian boy,” Bryant mentioned, “and had been picked up and raised by a lady who was the keeper of a home of prostitution in Natchez.” Earlier than turning 30 Cora had plied the Mississippi River as a profitable and rich gambler. In 1846 he drifted again downriver to settle in New Orleans, the place he grew to become famous for his success on the faro tables.

Cora stood 5 ft 7 inches and was heavyset, with hunched shoulders, darkish hair and a drooping mustache that lined his mouth. Like most gamblers, he dressed immaculately, accessorizing with an embroidered vest and a prime hat. He was additionally quarrelsome. In Could 1847 Cora obtained right into a brawl and assaulted a New Orleans police officer. 5 months later he engaged in one other fracas in a New Orleans dance corridor and landed in jail. A yr later Cora met Belle Ryan, and from then on the pair lived collectively as man and spouse, although they by no means legally married.

On the time Charles and associate Sam Davis had been operating a faro financial institution on Carondolet Road, close to the French Quarter. Within the spring of 1849, in a precursor of later occasions in San Francisco, Cora assaulted a person who’d insulted Belle. In revenge the person turned in Cora and Davis, who had been arrested and charged with operating an unlawful playing home. After a much-publicized listening to a choose launched the pair after every paid a whopping $5,000 bail bond, roughly equal to $200,000 in immediately’s {dollars}.

Information of the large gold strike in California was then sweeping the globe. Resolving to hitch the Gold Rush, Charles and Belle boarded a gulf steamer, crossed the Isthmus of Panama, and took one other steamship north to California. Fellow passenger E.L. Williams recalled that Cora and three companions began bother aboard ship till the captain lastly clapped all three in irons. Rumor had it Cora and cohorts carried on them $40,000, with which they deliberate to start out a faro financial institution in San Francisco. In late December the steamer sailed by the Golden Gate.

Belle and Charles certainly discovered ramshackle San Francisco a far cry from Baltimore or New Orleans. The harbor of the roaring boomtown was filled with a whole lot of deserted vessels, their crews having jumped ship and left for the goldfields. Its 25,000 inhabitants had been overwhelmingly younger and 90 p.c male. Most lived in canvas tents and tough wood-frame homes. A promising sight to the disembarking couple, nevertheless, had been the handfuls of saloons, playing halls, fandango homes and bordellos.

An Incident on the Theater

In 1849 girls had been so scarce in San Francisco that when a member of the fairer intercourse strolled down the board sidewalks, crowds of lonesome, homesick miners would flock out of the saloons and playing tents, hats in hand, simply to catch a glimpse. Prostitutes accounted for a lot of the scant feminine inhabitants.

Leaving San Francisco for richer grounds, Belle and Charles took a ship sure up the Sacramento River to Marysville, gateway to the Sierra Nevada goldfields. There, in partnership with one James Y. McDuffie, they opened a playing corridor and bordello referred to as the New World. “I keep in mind seeing a wager of $10,000 made at poker by Charles Cora,” recalled one Forty-Niner who patronized the New World. “He gained his wager.”

In 1852, flush with money, the couple returned to San Francisco, the place Belle took to utilizing her paramour’s surname. There, on the nook of Dupont (present-day Grant Avenue) and Washington streets, in what immediately is Chinatown, she opened a brothel in one of many ubiquitous wood-frame homes.

As girls remained scarce, males flocked to Belle Cora’s bagnio, which grew to become essentially the most profitable of the greater than 100 brothels on the town. Although plain on the skin, its inside was replete with fancy furnishings and even fancier courtesans. Among the many clientele had been outstanding retailers and political figures, together with the mayor. As Belle prospered, she lavished cash on Charles, which he rapidly misplaced within the faro dens. The modish madam additionally tapped her newfound wealth to purchase a flowery carriage, wherein she loved driving about city along with her ladies and to the theater along with her husband—that’s, when he was on the town.

As he had on the Mississippi, Charles roamed extensively, following the playing circuit to Marysville, Sacramento and round once more. On Oct. 26, 1852, he obtained right into a quarrel with a harmful gambler, Thomas Moore, on the El Dorado saloon in Sacramento. Each males jerked out Colt revolvers, one strolling out into the road, whereas the opposite stood within the brick doorway. Prospects scattered as the 2 opened hearth. Thankfully for Cora, none of Moore’s pictures discovered their mark. A police officer quickly arrived on the scene and arrested each males. Every was launched after forking over a $1,000 bond, and neither confronted prosecution.

Within the spring of 1855 Belle moved into a brand new, two-story brick constructing at 27 Waverly Place. By then San Francisco had drastically modernized. Changing the tents had been multistory brick buildings on streets paved with cobblestones and illuminated by gasoline lamps. The enhancements prompted miners and retailers alike to ship for his or her wives and households, bringing an increasing number of respectable, middle-class girls to city. The latter growth introduced Belle no finish of bother and scorn. On the identical time Charles remained fiercely protecting of her.

On the night time of Nov. 15, 1855, Belle and Charles attended a play on the American Theater, with seats within the unique first balcony. Within the row immediately in entrance of them was William H. Richardson, 34, the U.S. marshal for northern California, accompanied by his 22-year-old spouse, Lavinia, and a feminine buddy. The Richardsons had been married for 2 years, and Lavinia was six months pregnant. Richardson, like many San Francisco pioneers, was a former soldier, a heavy drinker and fast to take up an insult or a quarrel. Neither he nor his spouse had any concept a infamous madam was sitting immediately behind them.

At intermission the lights went on, and Lavinia and her buddy observed males within the pit under leering at them and laughing. Lavinia complained to her husband, and Richardson went all the way down to confront the offenders. The boys defined that they had not been Lavinia, however relatively at Belle Cora, simply behind her. A livid Richardson stormed again to the balcony and demanded Charles and Belle depart without delay. After they refused, the marshal complained to the theater supervisor. The latter declined to eject such rich patrons, so the Richardsons left in a huff.

The following night William Richardson occurred throughout Charles Cora within the Cosmopolitan saloon. Each had been consuming, and so they exchanged indignant phrases. Cora then introduced to onlookers, “This man goes to slap my face!”   Richardson replied with a smile, “I promised to slap this man’s face, and I had higher do it!”

At that, their respective associates stepped in and separated the pair.

The following night, November 17, Cora was consuming within the Blue Wing saloon on Montgomery Road. As was his customized, he carried a pair of single-shot derringers in his pockets. When he heard {that a} man outdoors was asking for him, Cora stepped by the door and located Richardson ready on the sidewalk. The marshal was additionally armed, carrying a hid derringer and a silver-sheathed bowie knife.

In dialog, the 2 walked to the nook of Clay and Leidesdorff streets, the place Cora immediately pushed Richardson right into a doorway.

“What do you imply to do?” exclaimed Richardson. “Do you imply to shoot me?”

“No, however I wish to speak to you,” declared Cora. The gambler as a substitute seized the marshal’s collar together with his left hand, then yanked out a derringer and thrust it into Richardson’s breast.

“Don’t shoot!” the marshal pleaded together with his assailant. “I’m unarmed!”

Cora fired as soon as, and the bullet tore into Richardson’s chest, a mortal wound. Cora held the marshal upright for lengthy moments, then abruptly dropped his corpse and strode up the road.

Arrested virtually instantly, Cora was scarcely in jail earlier than outraged residents had gathered outdoors, calling for his lynching. Belle was overcome with nervousness, for she effectively knew that on the California frontier murderers had been usually sentenced to dying by hanging. She was decided to avoid wasting her man from the noose.

Witness Tampering

On the coroner’s inquest two days later the primary witness referred to as was 35-year-old Maria Travis Knight, who, like her husband, got here from a decent, well-to-do New England household. In testimony confirmed by different eyewitnesses, Maria described the killing and swore Richardson had not been holding a weapon when shot. Her testimony was important, as she’d been passing down the identical sidewalk and was standing solely steps away when the deadly shot was fired.

Belle grew frantic when Charles was indicted for homicide, his trial set for Jan. 3, 1856. She despatched a outstanding legal professional to the Knight residence. Explaining that his shopper was overcome with grief, the lawyer beseeched Maria to fulfill with Belle. At first Knight refused, however when a member of the family appealed to her Christian sense of obligation, Maria lastly consented.

The following night, guided by a confidante of Belle’s, Knight climbed a vacant lot to the rear of the infamous bordello. “A protracted path by a good looking flower backyard led to a door of the home, which was opened from inside by two servants,” Maria recalled. “Behind the servants stood the madam, who referred to as herself Mrs. Cora. She was smiling and cordially invited us to enter.” Forty years later Knight recalled her hostess vividly. “She was fantastically attired in black silk with pricey laces,” Maria wrote. “Though she possessed the grace of a extremely cultured lady, I shrank from her and needed to run, however feared to make an try to flee.” After 10 minutes of informal dialog, Belle poured her visibly anxious visitor a glass of wine.

“You appear nervous,” Belle mentioned sweetly, “and the wine will enable you to.”

However middle-class girls didn’t socialize in brothels, and they didn’t drink alcohol.

“I’ve by no means tasted liquor of any form,” Knight informed Cora.

“[Belle] quietly put the glass on the tray after which sat down by me,” recalled Maria. “She talked in regards to the climate, her well being and trivial issues, after which most significantly inquired after my very own well being.” Belle then briefly left the parlor and returned with a cup of tea, saying, “I’ve brewed it expressly for you.”

By then Knight was overcome with concern, suspecting each the wine and the tea had been poisoned. Once more she refused. After extra small speak, Belle lastly turned to the subject of Richardson’s dying. Maria replied with the identical account she’d given on the coroner’s inquest. Then Belle requested, “What did Richardson have in his hand?”

“Nothing no matter,” Maria responded. “I distinctly noticed that his fingers had been prolonged and that it will be inconceivable to carry something together with his arms huge open.”

Belle cross-examined Knight, making an attempt to get her to alter her story, however Maria wouldn’t budge. Seething with anger, Belle abruptly stood and loomed over her visitor. “Lady, if you happen to anticipate to get out of this home alive, you should say that you simply noticed Richardson with a pistol in his hand! That’s the solely floor we’ve got to avoid wasting my husband’s life.”

Although terrified, Knight managed to answer in an excellent tone, “Madam, I didn’t see a pistol in Richardson’s hand, and I can’t say that I did.”

An enraged Belle rushed to the parlor door and swung it open. Two males burst by the doorway. Knight acknowledged certainly one of them—Dan Aldrich, a well known gambler. He held a metal dagger in his hand. Maria later testified that Aldrich towered over her with the knife and growled threats. “My life could be spared if I might settle for $1,000 and depart the nation,” she recalled the trio telling her. “I need to additionally promise by no means to return.”

Frantic to flee, Maria readily agreed. Belle informed her they’d later reveal the place the bribe cash was buried. Knight then rushed from the bordello and down the lengthy hillside to her residence. As quickly as she’d recovered her wits, she reported the entire affair to the prosecuting legal professional. In the meantime, Belle got down to bribe different witnesses. She additionally employed three of essentially the most outstanding legal professionals in California, paying them $5,000 every to defend Charles.

When the trial started a number of weeks later, Knight was once more a key prosecution witness. Charles Cora’s legal professionals produced a parade of witnesses for the protection. A number of of his gambler associates from New Orleans swore he had a status there as a peaceful man, which was false. Few of the protection witnesses had appeared on the coroner’s inquest, but two males in flip took the stand and claimed Richardson had had a knife in hand when shot. On cross-examination each admitted that they had visited Belle at her brothel earlier than the trial, although every insisted he’d not been bribed.

Although it was clear there had been witnesses tampering and bribery, the trial resulted in a hung jury. San Franciscans had been shocked. Knight had testified not solely that Richardson hadn’t had a weapon in hand, but in addition that Belle Cora had threatened her life and tried to bribe her. Her account was plainly true, for no respectable lady would ever admit having set foot inside a brothel. Public shock turned to outrage when proof surfaced that Belle had additionally supplied a bribe to no less than one of many jurors. “Rejoice, ye gamblers and harlots,” wrote crusading newspaper editor James King of William in ridicule of the decision. “Assemble in your dens of infamy tonight and let the pricey wine stream freely, and let the welkin [heavens] ring along with your shouts of pleasure!”

The editorial struck a chord, for town had been underneath the thumb of corrupt Tammany Corridor politicians from again East. The latter’s enforcers, often called “shoulder strikers,” had been ruffians from the road gangs of New York. That Could 14, whereas Cora languished in jail awaiting a brand new trial, a crooked politician named James P. Casey mortally wounded King, who had uncovered Casey as an ex-convict from New York. Briefly order upward of 8,000 males, lots of them veterans of the Mexican Struggle, reorganized town’s famed Committee of Vigilance. Seizing weapons from state militia armories, they took management of San Francisco’s authorities. Their headquarters, a two-story constructing on Sacramento Road fortified by a sandbag breastwork, was often called “Fort Gunnybags.”

On Could 18 greater than 1,500 vigilantes surrounded the jail and, on the level of a heavy cannon, seized Charles Cora and James Casey. Two days later, throughout the confines of Fort Gunnybags, the prisoners had been tried by the vigilantes and sentenced to dying. Belle’s cash and affect had been irrelevant. On the day of execution, Could 22, Charles requested a Catholic priest to present him the final rites. The daddy refused except he first married Belle. She promptly got here to Fort Gunnybags, the place the priest carried out the marriage. An hour later Cora and Casey, with nooses draped round their necks, stepped onto gangplanks protruding from two second-story home windows. Inside moments each plunged to their deaths.

Over the subsequent two months the vigilantes hanged two extra murderers and rounded up some 40 shoulder strikers and different onerous circumstances, inserting many aboard ships sure for Central America and Hawaii. In the meantime, Belle Cora returned heartbroken to her bagnio on Waverly Place. Maybe to take care of her grief, Belle took opium. She quickly grew to become hooked on it and later to chloroform. In fable and fashionable historical past the madam gave up her wild life and lived quietly in San Francisco. That was hardly true. She continued to run her bordello one other six years. In 1857, when a policeman tried to make an arrest in Belle’s place, certainly one of her ladies broke a bottle over the officer’s head. Two years later one other of her courtesans was arrested after promenading downtown in a revealing “French sq. neck” gown. A number of different disturbances and scandals came about at her brothel. Then, in 1862, Alexander Purple, a thug whom the vigilantes had run out of city in 1856, reduce his throat within the basement of Belle’s brothel after she’d rejected his advances. He later died.

Two weeks later, on Feb. 18, 1862, Belle herself died on the bordello from the results of the routine abuse of chloroform. California’s most infamous lady was solely 35 years outdated.

What grew to become of Belle’s nemesis, Maria Knight? In 1859 she divorced her husband, months later marrying outstanding sea captain Samuel J. DeWolf. Six years later, on July 30, 1865, DeWolf’s steamer, Brother Jonathan, ran aground and sank off northern California, taking with it DeWolf and most of his 244 crewmen and passengers. A yr later Maria stopped by the artwork studio of Gideon Jacques Denny, San Francisco’s foremost marine painter, to purchase an oil on canvas of Brother Jonathan, when Denny’s ex-wife walked in and noticed the pair speaking. Overcome with jealousy, the girl pulled a pistol and fired as Maria fled for her life. The widow DeWolf outran the bullet and lived to age 86, dying in 1906. In later years she typically regaled listeners with the story of her run-in with Charles and Belle Cora. She was the final residing eyewitness to the lethal quarrel that helped ignite the nation’s largest vigilante motion.

this text first appeared in wild west journal

 

San Francisco-based author John Boessenecker is a particular contributor to Wild West and the creator of 12 books in regards to the American West. For additional studying see his e-book Towards the Vigilantes: The Recollections of Dutch Charley Duane, in addition to The Madams of San Francisco, by Curt Gentry, and Historical past of California, by Theodore Henry Hittell.