Skip to main content

Belle Cora, Best Known Madam of Old San Francisco

In the history of San Francisco, there are two infamous Madams... Belle Cora, and Ah Toy. The former is arguably much more infamous. 

There are several versions of Bell's origins, but most historians believe she is the daughter of strict Irish parents who happen to live one house over from a brothel, and Belle and her sister became intrigued with the oldest profession. Later, Belle went off on her own, and after a while, made it to New Orleans, where she met Charles Cora, a riverboat captain who's also an avid gambler. The two became inseparable and decided to make their way West. They tried several cities in California until settling in San Francisco by 1849, just as gold was discovered in Sonoma. They established a parlor / brothel at the corner of Dupont and Washington... with the most beautiful women... and the highest prices, catering to the elite of the city. Belle was the most expensively dressed woman in town, and Charles himself was no slough, believed to have a net worth of 400K, which is practically billionaire status in today's money. 

However, the city itself is changing from the frontier port it was in 1849-1850 into a bustling proper city by 1852, with a population in the 20K to 30K range, and the city kept on growing. As more people arrived, more "civilized" people arrived as well, and they wanted the vices expelled, or at least, minimized. And both Charles the gambler and Belle the madam are public symbols of the vices they wanted to remove from the city. 

The fateful day was November 15th, 1855. The story was that Belle was in some sort of a tiff with Mrs. William Richardson, wife of a US Marshall. That day, both Belle and Charles attended a play sitting in the first balcony, the most expensive seats in the theater. Mrs. Richardson tried to be a Karen, something akin to "oh, this theater lacks class, allowing such riffraff to sit in VIP seats. Where's the manager! I want to see the manager!" When the management refused to eject the Coras, both Richardsons stalked out of the theater. 

The next day, Charles Cora and Marshall William Richardson encountered each other multiple times all over the city, in front of many witnesses, sometimes hostile with heated words, sometimes friendly and sharing drinks. Then under very murky circumstances, while walking on Clay St and Leidesdorff, Charles Cora fired one shot at William Richardson, killing him instantly. 

Belle did EVERYTHING to save Charles. The prosecution outright accused her of trying to buy off and/or intimidate the star witness. Belle hired the best attorneys available in San Francisco, and personally delivered meals to the city jail. The trial actually resulted in a hung jury, and newspapers shouted about alleged bribes paid out by Belle and her collaborators. 

With a bit more time, there was a chance that Charles could have been retried and possibly freed, but that chance evaporated when another shooting occurred in 1856... On May 14th, 1856, City Supervisor James Casey shot newspaper editor (and notorious muckraker, probably a historical Alex Jones) James King of William. This touched off a wave of vigilantism, resulting in a new "Vigilance Committee" being formed. On May 18th, 2000+ citizens, fully armed (and they even commandeered a cannon), formed a mob and went to the prison where Casey and Cora were held, and demanded the two be handed over. And the sheriff, after being threatened with the cannon, gave up and surrendered both. 

Both were retried, this time without their defense attorneys (one of the vigilants acted as their defense). Casey was convicted unanimously, but Cora actually came close to a tie, but in the end was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang on the 22th. 

Belle somehow heard of the news and convinced the vigilantes to let her spend his final hours with him, and 2 hours before his execution, they were officially married. And at 1:21pm, Casey and Cora were hung at what's today, roughly Battery and Sacramento. 

Belle Cora retreated to Cora House, their parlor, and was not seen for a month. After that, she sold the place, and gave away most of her fortune to philanthropic causes, esp. children's education. She died in 1862 of pneumonia, at the age of 30. 

Cora House itself is gone, burned in the 1906 earthquake. It was at now Grant and Washington. 

Cora House, circa 1853


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

About the author

Kasey is a professional tour guide and amateur historian who specialized in Chinatown History and Tours. You will often find him guiding groups sampling delicious food and learning interesting historical tidbits about Chinatown most weekends.

Popular posts from this blog

Dragon Gate and its Surprising History

You can't come to SF Chinatown and leave out Dragon Gate, aka the Chinatown Gate, at the corner of Bush and Grant. But do you know its history?  Chinatown Gate, aka Dragon Gate, San Francisco Dragon Gate (aka Chinatown Gate, aka Dragon's Gate) was designed by Clayton Lee and others in 1967 in response to a mayoral competition, and his was the winning entry. Originally two gates were proposed, but the other gate leading to Barbary Coast was dropped due to lack of funds, and cost overrun.  The gate itself was designed after a Chinese "pailou 牌樓" or "paifang 牌坊", which were the "gates" that marked separate fang 坊, or "ward" within a city. However, later it evolved into a purely decorative element. As with tradition, the gate faces South, and is composed of a large gate with two smaller side gates.  The gate has a lot of its materials donated by Taiwan (Republic of China) including artisanal tiles, roofing, and the two guardian lions. Despite...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chinatown Q&A: Things You Probably Never Thought to Ask

Here are some questions that are a bit too short to deserve their own posts, but are interesting information nonetheless.  Q: When did Chinatown become known as Chinatown?  A: According to PBS's "Chinatown Guide" , the first Chinese in the area settled either on the street next to Portsmouth Square, or in the immediate block around it. The area was first known as "Little Canton", and it wasn't until 1853 that the local press named the area "Chinatown".  Q: What books should I read if I want to know more about San Francisco Chinatown?  A: In no particular order: San Francisco's Chinatown by Judy Yung and the Chinese Historical Society of America , full of vintage photographs, this book documented the life in Chinatown never seen before.  The Children of Chinatown: Growing Up Chinese American in San Francisco, 1850-1920 by Wendy Rouse , discusses the seldomly touched subject: children in Chinatown, who really feel the prejudices against them and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chop Suey Still Available: New Woey Loy Goey Restaurant

Chop suey is reputed to have been invented in Chinatown. The story goes that in the 1850's, Chinatown is barely established, but word was already out that Chinese food is cheap and delicious. So, late at night, 2 miners fresh off the gold fields, wandered into this Chinese restaurant, even as the owner and cook is about to close up. Already half drunk, they want food, and they want it now! To avoid confrontation, the cook went into the kitchen, found whatever scraps of vegetables left, tossed them all into the wok, whipped up some sauce, added whatever scraps of meat he had, added an egg, and served it on a plate and gave it to the miners.  The miners loved it, to the surprise of the owner, as they wanted the name of the dish as they want to order it again when they come back.  The owner, flabbergasted, simply told them 雜碎 tzap-suey which literally means "mixed scraps". The miners heard that as "chop suey", and a legend was born.  Keep in mind this is a story, a...
Post a Comment
Read more