Joshua Norton, Emperor of the United States and bum of San Francisco

This is the story of an Emperor who held court in a cheap appartement, with a camp bed, a table and a chair as only possessions. His royals attributes hanged on nails on the walls, along with pictures of Queen Victoria. This is the story of a bum who believed he was the Emperor of America.

In a crappy San Francisco boarding house, people used to bow down to the Emperor when they saw him. And when Joshua Norton was angry about the state of the country, and yelled about his intention to abolish the American Congress, they politely listened. They didn’t have much else to do anyway.

After all, they were in the presence of none other than his Imperial Highness Norton the First, Emperor of the United States of America.

Joshua Abraham Norton is 40 years old when, totally ruined, he realizes that his country is heading for disaster and needs a leader with a strong will to save it. And since there is nobody up for the job, he decides to take it up for himself

In 1859, by a warm September morning, Joshua Norton takes action : he walks right to the San Francisco Bulletin and hands to the editor in chief a very impressive document : “I order you to publish it right away !”, he says. As he reads the note, the journalist can’t believe his eyes, and, to the surprise of all his colleagues, he says yes. The next day, the citizen of San Francisco discover this in their paper :

To the unanimous demand of a vast majority of the American people… I, Joshua Norton, declare myself Emperor of the United States of America.

Joshua Norton went as far as asking all the elected representative to join him right away “to make the necessary amends in the law of the Union, in order to fight against the evil that is eating our country alive”. The editor had seized a great opportunity to sell a lot of paper. And it worked.

The call doesn’t bring about any member of Congress, but Joshua Norton instantly becomes a local star.

Here, I’ll quote “Cranks & Crackpots” by Margaret Nicholas :

For the next 21 years, Emperor Norton revelled in his self-appointed talk. […] Stocky, bearded and dignified, he strode about the streets of San Francisco wearing a pale blue army officer’s uniform with gold epaulettes and brass buttons, a tall black hat with a bright green plume and a pair of outsize boots slit at the sides to make room for his corns. A heavy sabre, bought from a local blacksmith, clanked at his heels.

After having, as he promised, abolished Congress, the Emperor patroled the streets, keeping an eye on things, ending up printing his own money and trying, of course, to levy his own taxes. He even went as far as turning up at diplomatic events where he wasn’t invited : “Hi, I’m Emperor Joshua Norton the first. I demand passage !”

One of his hobby was to write the most important people in the world, as if he was equally important. When the war of Independence started, he wrote to Lincoln and Davis to propose himself as a negotiator for both parties. They didn’t respond. He also sent a lot a letters to Bismarck during the war between France and Prussia.

Through no will of his own, he became one a the touristic landmark of San Francisco. Nobody knew, however, that he once had been a cunning businessman.

Flashback. With his father, the young Joshua went for adventure in South Africa. Together, they bought land and help with the construction of Port Elizabeth. John Norton, Joshua’s father, quickly grew a small commercial “empire”. But Joshua, the son, had another dream… When his father died, Joshua sold everything and went to California. It was the gold rush and Joshua managed to benefit from it, transforming his 40 000 dollars into a fortune, more than 250 000 dollars. Confident, he gambled again, this time on rice. And…

He lost everything.

Joshua Norton is forced to sell his house and going into that small boarding house. Vanquished, Joshua stops going out and lives like an ermit.

His only consolation at the time is reading the news. He’s very interested in the current affairs of the country and especially : its economic situation. Having made some reading, he comes to the conclusion that his own full is not to blame on a bad investment, but rather on American politics. He get angrier and angrier at the though, and rants alone in his shabby flat. His friends try to help him, but to no effect : Joshua Norton is not the same man anymore. He’s no longer that flamboyant business man, who liked to gamble. He’s mad all the time. To make him laught, his friends start calling him “Your majesty” and “Your highness”.

They don’t know that those words are going to have a strange and tremendous effect on him, leading him to know on the door on the San Francisco Bulletin.

After having declared himself Emperor and abolishing Congress, Joshua enrages because… nobody really listens to him. Mad as hell, he decides to abolish the Republic and declare himself Emperor of Mexico.

For money, he tries to print bonds with his face on it, but nobody wants them. So, most days, he wanders around to “levy a tax” of a few cents in shops, allowing him to bring back around 25 dollars a day to his “palace”.

But the Emperor is not a petty man. He takes his mission very seriously and spend his day inspecting public facilities and discussing crime levels with the San Franciscan police. After a time, people in the city start to really like him : more often than not, people let him eat for free in the restaurant, he can take public transportation for free et can go see a play whenever he wants to. At each occasion, he defends the city with passion, going as far as publishing as special warning in 1872 against the shortening of its name :

Whomever, after my fair warning, should be heard saying “Frisco” should be considered guilty of the highest of crime, and should have to pays to the Imperial Treasury, the sum of 25 dollars.

One night, he is arrested for vagrancy and spend the night in jail. When the chief of police ears about it, he runs to the Emperor in person and apologizes for the terrible mistake. The newspapers echoes this indignation : “He has shed no blood, robbed nobody, deprived nobody of his country, which is more than can be said for most fellows in his line”.

Everybody loved the Emperor.

When he faces a crisis, the city is always there to help him, notably during the famous “wardrobe crisis” :

I, Norton I, have heard serious complaints from our adherents that our Ipperial Wardrobe is a national disgrace…

Men’s outfitters in the city took the hint and the wardrobe crisis was averted. To his last day, the Emperor always had big ideas and ambitions for the city. He even imagined building a bridge across the San Francisco Bay… what a crazy idea !

January, 9th 1880, Joshua Norton is walking the street, with a proud look. Suddenly, his hearth stops. He collapses. Dead. San Francisco is in mourning. The death of the Emperor makes the headline of all newspaper : “The King is Dead !”, “Norton I, Emperor of the United States by the grace of god, and protector of Mexico, has died”.

More than 10 000 persons will go to his funerals. Today, his tomb is still covered in flowers, even on the internet.