Americans are famously pettish about submit to unelected swayer . But for a menstruum in the nineteenth hundred , San Francisco boasted its own Saturnia pavonia . resident are so proud of him , in fact , that he remain a symbolisation of the metropolis even to this day .
Joshua Abraham Norton was mostly in all probability suffer in England in 1818 . While he was still young , his parents actuate the house toSouth Africa , where his father sold shipping supplies . By the metre Norton was 29 , he ’d suffer his parents and both brothers , but he ’d gained a considerable inheritance . When he arrived in California in 1849 to capitalise on the atomic number 79 kick , he was deserving $ 40,000 — more than $ 1.1 million today .
Norton coiffure out to become a tycoon , and for a prison term enjoyed a considerable fortune as well as a repute as a member of the city ’s elite . But his dream eventually became his undoing . In 1852 , a famine in China had push up the price of Elmer Leopold Rice . With the monetary value of the grain in the U.S. having increased 800 % , Norton bought a 200,000 - Cypriot pound shipment of rice from Peru . Unfortunately for Norton , not only was the Peruvian rice of inferior quality , but within a week of that ship ’s arrival several other ships conduct loads of Peruvian rice deluge the market . Norton might have recovered — he’d prospered in several different businesses before this scheme — except he process the man who ’d tumble him off about the shipment , leading to a drawn - out and pricy court character that reached the California Supreme Court , which govern against him . The bank foreclosed on many of his real estate holdings , and Norton declared bankruptcy .
We do n’t know for sure whether what pass next was because Norton live a mental break or whether he simply decided to embrace an bizarre modus vivendi . All that ’s sure is that on September 17 , 1859 , Nortondelivered the follow proclamationto the editor in chief of theSan Francisco Bulletin :
These demands were n’t entirely unreasonable for the time , with withdrawal in the strain and abolitionistslosing patiencewith inaction . The editor program of theBulletin , perhaps recognizing gold where he saw it , release the self - styled Emperor Norton I ’s edict .
Readers , predictably , could n’t get enough of him . Norton set about appearing throughout town , dressed in cast - off military raiment ( both Union and Confederate ) , include a high hat lid with ostrich feathers and a ceremonial cavalry sword . Hedissolved the union , appoint himself “ Protector of Mexico , ” and issued statement about how to improve both the city and the nation . He spend his days walk through the street , scrutinise the realm and demanding taxes . Luckily for local institutions , he often accepted a hot meal as payment .
Wikimedia// Public land
In some slipway , Norton ’s promulgation were an early example of what we now call clickbait . While he continued to issuesome proclamations(more on those below),editors would also write their own , knowing it would sell more papers . Theaters and restaurant reserved choice seats for Norton , bed that his presence or endorsement would pull visitant . As early as the 1850s , he began appear as a quality in comic operas , novel and cartoons . Mark Twain , who worked as a reporter at theSan Francisco Daily Morning Callat the time , reportedly establish in him inspiration for “ the top executive ” inThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . Wherever Norton appeared , audience thirstily followed . The 1870 censuslists his military control as “ emperor . ”
1870 Census via familysearch.org // Public knowledge domain
Yet for all that businesses and publications exploited his ikon and his presence , Norton extend to live modestly . He sold imperial bank notes to tourists for income , and was described as an earnest , intelligent , and politically take man . An apocryphal story asseverate that Norton , who was raised Judaic , contemn certain eccentric of racial discrimination when he saw it : During one anti - Chinese riot , he allegedly inserted himself between the two side and recited the Lord ’s Prayer until the rioters simply leave .
Some of Norton ’s acts seem signally prescient . One of his verified proclamations decrees that abridge be builtjoining San Francisco to Oakland , which at the sentence residents call back could eclipse San Francisco as the major rail hub of the West . The Bay Bridge was finish in 1936 , on the button where Norton recommend . And long before San Francisco became a mecca for flower people , Norton could be come across riding through Ithiel Town on a pay back - gear bicycle . He was also a staunch defender of the city , institute a $ 25 fine ( about $ 500 today ) on anyone who dared abbreviate its name to “ Frisco . ”
Whether he was acting under a delusion or just gaming the urban center , Norton lodged himself unwaveringly in San Francisco ’s mythology . When he died of a stroke in 1880 , an estimated 10,000 multitude saw him put down out at the city morgue — though some claim as much as 13 percent of the city ’s population , or 30,000 masses , paid their respects before his burial . Today , Norton is apatron nonsuch to Discordians , and several micronations reward him with a vacation on January 8 , his demise date . There are Emperor Norton tours in San Francisco , led by costumed interpreter ; chocolatier Ghirardelli used to dish a special named sundae in his honor . He ’s appeared in pop culture everywhere from malarky bands to the TV showBonanzato comic strip ( include both abrief star turnin Neil Gaiman’sSandmanseries andtributesfrom cartoonistKate Beaton ) .
His only foot race - in with the law as emperor — an arrest for lunacy by a cub patrolman — prompt such scandal that when the top dog of police put out Norton , he also come out an apology , ordering that all police salute Norton as he pass . " The Emperor Norton has never shed blood , ” wrote theDaily Alta California . “ He has robbed no one , and rape no country . And that , gentlemen , is a hell of a destiny more than can be said for anyone else in the king line . " In the end , Patricia Carr may have posit Norton ’s human relationship to his sports fan and with himself most elegantly of all : Though he is named as an emperor , she wrote inAmerican History , “ There are no mention marks on his gravestone . ”
