According to the 1880 census, Maurice I. Zippert was a twenty nine year old clerk who lived at 111 East Chestnut Street, an address he shared with Fred Butler, Nathan Cern, Marcus Cohen, Henry Frankel, Carrie Pflugradt, and Joseph Silberberg. Plainly, a Jewish boarding house. On February 10 of that year, Maurice attended the Turn Verein masked ball dressed in a Mexican costume.
In 1883, Zippert was accused, along with four other Jewish men including his roommate, Reinhold Rosendorf, of arson in the burning of the Palace of Fashion and was found innocent during the subsequent trial. The happy verdict may not have been enough to convince Zippert that his future lay in Leaville and is reported to have departed shortly thereafter.