Belle Cora, known as Arabella Ryan, was a madam of the Barbary Coast of San Francisco during the mid-nineteenth century.
12 Facts About Belle Cora
2.
Belle Cora rose to public attention in 1855 when her lover, Charles Cora, killed US Marshall William H Richardson after they had a conflict at the theater.
3.
The alternate version, more prominently upheld, depicts Belle Cora to be the daughter of Irish Catholic parents in Baltimore.
4.
Belle Cora's death prompted Cora to move to New Orleans where in 1849 she met Charles Cora.
5.
In December 1849, the couple moved to Sacramento, California and, while there, Belle Cora helped fund Charles's high-stakes gambling.
6.
In 1852, Belle Cora set up a parlor house on Washington street, in San Francisco, opposite the house of fellow madam, Ah Toy.
7.
Belle Cora held a competing party the same night as the wife of US Marshall William H Richardson, which is said to have begun a rivalry between the women.
8.
On November 17,1855, between 6 and 7 o'clock, Charles Belle Cora shot Marshall Richardson in the breast in front of Fox and O'Connor's store on Clay street between Leidesdorff and Montgomery Street.
9.
Charles Belle Cora was arrested, handed over to the city marshall, and later placed in the county jail.
10.
Belle funded several attorneys to represent Charles Cora including Edward Dickinson Baker and James A McDougall.
11.
Belle Cora was buried in the Calvary Cemetery next to her husband.
12.
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.