Cherry De St. Maurice was born about 1888, at sea, or so it says on the 1910 census.
She owned the Cherry Club in Sacramento, CA
Then prostitution known as the Tenderloin.
Cherry was a smart business women, a entrepreneur, She demanded respect and equality, who created a parlor house that drew more than just the business of prostitution; it became a salon, a social club—a gathering space, in many cases, for Sacramento's elite. Legislators and businesspeople would stay and they'd talk and they'd share ideas.
In 1911 a man named R.M. Francisco claimed she forged his signature on 6 of his blank checks.https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62386450/cherry-de-st-maurice/
Then that same year A man had a shoot out in front of her club.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62386333/cherry-club/
Three People were involved in a plan to rob Cherry, who was said to be very wealthy.
The Villains:
#1 Jack Drunmgoole A Prize fighter who was born in 1888 in Chicago, IL.
Inmate:#30905 San Quentin
Rec: 16 Sep 1917
Crime: Murder
Term: Life
He would die in the Prison Hospital 28 Nov 1920
#2 Samuel J. RaberHe was born in Illinois about 1890. He was a Cafe Entertainer, a pimp and an opium fiend, if opium wasn't available for him to smoke he would use cocaine. He had been in trouble many times before.
Inmate: #9251 Folsom Prison
Rec: 26 Oct 1914
Crime: Murder
Term: Death
He was hung 15 Jan 1915
#3 Cleo Sterling who was Samuel Raber's girlfriend I did not find a photo of her, she was acquitted.
Here are the newspaper articles on this horrific murder.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62386114/cherry-de-st-maurice/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62385970/cherry-de-st-maurice/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62385384/cherry-de-st-maurice/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62385197/cherry-de-st-maurice/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62386162/cleo-stirling/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62386256/cherry-de-st-maurice/
This is where Cherry lived and was murdered 327 L Street, Sacramento, CA.
Her murder was so famous that it was even reported in Australia.
In 1914 the Cherry Club came up on the market for sale
I would love to know what was in the letter the police found and whose names were mentioned. She was obviously scared she was going to be murdered, which could not have been an easy thing to know, who besides your lawyer could you trust. If there was a will what happened to it? I didn't find it. Was De ST. Maurice her real name or a name she made up for her exclusive business??? I only found 1910 census for her it was said she was with another madame in San Francisco but because of the laws there and the police raids she left. One story I read said she might have been born in Illinois, I am thinking so as the 1910 census says her father was born in France so St. Maurice may have been her name, also the 1910 census says she was married, she must not of taken his name. The other records I found were all city directories and a Find Grave Memorial.
I found one record of a women named Jacqueline Josephine De St, Maurice, who came to New York in 1905.
Name: Jacqueline Josephine De St Maurice
Declaration Age: 27
Record Type: Declaration
Birth Date: 16 May 1890
Birth Place: Passy France
Arrival Date: 12 Sep 1905
Arrival Place: New York, New York, USA
Declaration Date: 21 Dec 1917
Court: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Declaration Number: 67430
Box Number: 75
What a story to be told if I could find out who she was. I think she was brilliant, gorgeous and smart, a women before her time.
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