Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Ascension to the Throne of Emperor Norton I, "Emperor of these United States and Protector of Mexico"




story here

I saw this on a mailing list at work. I was curious, so I looked him up on the 1870 census, and sure enough there he was with occupation "Emporer".

Check out the 1870 Census page 81, line 24.

I guess they are not quite the same thing, but this story reminded me that there is a neat little book out about independent micro-nations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_micronations

http://www.amconmag.com/article/2007/nov/19/00033/

Yup, people don't realize how popular Emperor Norton was, he is still, as Sir Gaddy can attest, a very much known name in the city. I like that census, one fellow was shown to be an occultist!

Same guy as described in the Sandman comic?

Sounds like a fascinating character. And for someone who lived in the middle of the 19th century, he had a dog with an amazingly modern-sounding name: Bummer.

Two dogs (well, they say) Bummer and Lazarus, the apocryphal tale is that he had three seats reserved at every opera performance, one for himself and one each for the dogs (not quite true, but fun). Mark Twain knew the Emp and used him in his books too.

Our beloved Emperor Joshua Norton has had a part of my shows for the past six years or so,
and was a featured character in our “Eccentrics of San Francisco’s Barbary Coast” show this Summer.

He was a wonderful character, and both the true and not-so-true stories of his life and reign as Emperor are fascinating and entertaining. I do hope when they complete the new Bay Bridge they will give it its rightful name, as Norton had the idea before anyone else.

I’ve done tons of research on Joshua Norton, and think someday of doing a whole show of magic around his part in San Francisco history. Between Norton and Mary Ellen Pleasant (my séance historical character) there could be a lifetime of magical work to be done!

Magically,
Walt

I've been thinking of an Emp Norton SF Pub Crawl for a couple of years now, understanding more about the nature of walking tours, and what makes them successful, after doing Jim Fassbinder's SF Ghost Hunt one Halloween (overflow tours), but the logistics have so far eluded me...

Also, simply put, I'm not up to Norton's... um, stature?

After all one must look the part, and I'm not willing to gain 50 pounds+ or so for it.

Interesting stuff...thanks for putting this up, Gaddy.

And the only person on those pages with an x in the "vote denied" column. Spoilsports. If only Norton had had a tower, an army and got prickly about lèse majesté. He would have shown them.

Speaking of dog names I think they may have been pretty standard for years. I've read historical references from a couple centuries ago of dogs name Brownie and Molly, Brownie is a pretty durn doggish name.