Latest / PNW Haunts & Homicides / America’s Only Emperor: The Strange, True Story of Emperor Norton

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America’s Only Emperor: The Strange, True Story of Emperor Norton · PNW Haunts & Homicides

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: San Francisco, the City by the Bay, City of Fog,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the Paris of the West, the Gay Bay, but never
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: ever San fran Oh no, no, no, no, no no.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: And if you dare to utter the despised word Frisco,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: you're in trouble. But whatever you call it, it's a
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: city of drama, a city of legends, and most importantly,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: a city absolutely crawling with legendary characters. And today, on
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: this very special crossover episode, we're going to talk about
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: one of San Francisco's most iconic legends in America's only Emperor.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: History is messy, weird, wild, anything but boring. We're rainy
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: day rabbit Holes, exploring the unhinged side of history, politics,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: and culture. Let's fall down the rabbit hole. Dunt dun dum.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Welcome back, friends and spooky bitches, because today
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: we are joined by the gorgeous Gabby gals from PNW
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Haunts and Homicides. Caitlin Say hi, Caitlin Hello, and Cassie
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: you say hi, Cassie. Oh hello, creepy people. You might
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: remember our beautiful podwives from last year when we joined
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: them in their city of Portland to explore the Shanghai
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: tunnels and learn all about the historic Crystal Hotel. Oh
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: plus hot tub time. Oh yeah, oh yeah that stays
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: between all. So I was gonna say, did we share that? Yeah?
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: PNW Haunts and Homicides is where ghosts, murder, and Pacific
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Northwest Weirdness all hang out together. Basically, if it's spooky,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: weird or slightly cursed, they're covering it. So what are
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: you waiting for? Go subscribe to PNW Haunts and Homicides now, okay,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: I'll wait. Oh wow, she's bossy.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Shaye, you're hired.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: I do what she says? You, guys, I wouldn't I
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: wouldn't mess around.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, honestly.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Now, before we get started, I think we should come
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: up with a mashup of our two podcast names. What
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: do you think? I'm down? I like it. Okay, So
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: I've got I've got a top three, so you have
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: to tell me what you think. Okay, So the first one,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Rainy Day Haunts and Holes. Does that sound a little
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: too sexual? I mean it could? Or could?
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Isn't that great?
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah? Double? I like it? Yeah? Okay, how about this
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: PNW Rabbit Homicides Rampant Rabbit hump Homicides.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, we had, by mistake, been referred to
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: as humps and homicides, so I feel, you know, it's in.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: The spirit of our show. So for me, it kind
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: of it's like rabbits snapped and I'm just imagining. Are
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: you guys familiar with Monty Python on the Holy Grail?
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: There's like, yes, just rabit like a wheel, people in
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: there and it's all it's got like fangs, it's got
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: blood down, it's fur. I'm just thinking of that. Okay,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: So how about this one rainy day homicide holes? I
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: knew it. We have a hole, Yes, had to have
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: holes in it. Hole, I like the holes the holes
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: have to say or does that just sound like our
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: vaginas have knives? I mean, hey, that could be the
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: cover art. Like a bikini woman. There's knives sticking out
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: of the like like you know how you get like
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: hair sticking out of the edge of the pin.
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: That's exactly what I was picturing. Yes, a bush, a
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: knife bush.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: I have not had a chance to research it, but
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: I've actually heard about a device that they are using
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: from what I remember reading in South Africa. Think of
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: like almost like a diaphragm, but like a really angry one.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Holy shit, and.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: They're using it as like a protective device.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: I've heard this before when say oh wow, okay, so
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: it's got sharp pieces.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Wow, yes it has teeth.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Interesting, Okay, I have to look into this. I've
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: not heard of it.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: I'm going to plan to look into this for sure.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: I haven't had a chance to. I just saw it
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: the other day and I was like, I.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Think there are certain people that should always have that
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: in place, Like if you're auditioning for anything in Hollywood.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: At the abbey.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Possibly a good idea.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: At the abbey. I heard that's real bad. You're on
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: a private jet with millionaires. Certainly true spaces I was
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: gonna say, I'm just gonna say, anywhere on planet Earth
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: as a woman, Yeah, basically, yeah. I mean a lot
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: of times you just have to have it in your purse,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: but in certain places you have it, but kind of
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: like sometimes you have to Yeah, well.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: That's a different kind of purse.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's where I keep my keys. I don't know
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: about you guys. All right, no matter what our ship
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: name is, it's definitely a rainy day in the Haunted
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: P and W today because we're together, Okay, so I
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: know that the assignment that we had agreed on for
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: our crossovers was specific Northwest legends, but you guys did
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: kind of go off on that because our episode about
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Finn's Treasure was not it was more Colorado and like
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: it wasn't really P and W.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: The Wyoming Montana. Uh, I mean, yeah, it's adjacent. I
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: claim them, Yeah.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: W adjacent. I do too, because they have yellowstones, so
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: they have to be which is.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: What we were coming exactly.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: So you took creative liberties with the assignment, and I also,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: of course took creative liberties with the assignment directions. Now
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I recognize that San Francisco is not part of the
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Pacific Northwest. Somebody sent us a really terrible review of Cali.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: I don't even know that San Francisco is not part
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: of the PAW.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: It's my podcast.
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: We read somewhere that there was there was a description
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: that once included parts of northern California, but I didn't
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: see how far that's northern California is, so in some
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: definitions it is also I.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Always say, we're podcasting from the P ANDW, so whatever
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: we talk about it counts, So shut the fucks there
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: you go, that's true. If we talked about it. Northwest
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Japan now was officially out of the bazilfic Northwest it's
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: on the path.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Right, is another good way to get around it.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: And San Francisco isn't even part of Cascadia. But honestly,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Washington and Oregon have way more in common with San
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Francisco than San Francisco has with southern California. I think
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: I think.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: That probably makes sense.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And frankly, we have way more in common here
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: in Washington and Oregon with San Francisco than we do
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: with say, Idaho. I agree, where you're basically required to
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: join a militia or be really shitty about trans people
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: using the bathroom, I agree, right, yeah, I agree.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: I'm on board with the whole potato thing.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: But Cassie is not Wallace, Idaho. If that's a place
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: we should go take a trip. Wallace, Idaho is northern Idaho.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: But it's like this little tiny gym full of transplants
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: that didn't go there for the militia and it's just
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: an art and fun and well, we will disown all
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: of Idaho except for Wace. And they're quirky, I mean,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: they made They made a thing in the middle of
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: the road that in the middle of one of their
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: intersections that said center of the universe. Oh that's right,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: the go back to government. Yeah, yeah, do it. Because
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: they in order to preserve their town and stop the government,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: they made all their entire towns and historic uh historic monuments.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: I love that. Oh yeah, that was right, because they
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: wanted to tear down a bunch of the historic buildings
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: to build the freeway. So they made the entire downtown.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Because I ninety used to stop there and then you
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: had to go through town, stop at the stoplight, go
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: around a corner, a couple more corners, and then get
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: back on a freeway.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: It didn't continue through at all, and so they wanted
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: to make it go through by basically running through the town.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: And the town said, oh hold on, hold on, we
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: got to fight this, give us a minute. And then
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: they made every every building a historical monument so they couldn't.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Tear down Very smart. Yes, I love that. Yeah, they
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: have lots of lore there. They're crazy. While is that
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: ho look it up. There's tons of hants. Oh yeah.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: So I would like to officially offer San Francisco a
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: partnership with Western Washington and Western Oregon and consider it
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: an honorary member of both the P and W and Cascadia.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: What do you think, Let's do it. Are you in charge?
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I am in fact, I'm in I'm going to make
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: it a proclamation.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: Oh m hmm, by the power vested in Shay.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: The power vested in me that I've given myself. And
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: this leads us into today's topic because this story isn't
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: a legend technically, but it is about a legendary historical character,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: someone who like me, absolutely loved making proclamations. Today we
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: are talking about Joshua A. Abraham Norton, the Emperor of
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: the United States. Oh boy, oh, let's go back to
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: our favorite time and history, the eighteen eighties, nineties, hundreds.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: I'll do that.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: It feels very timely right now.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Though, uh huh, I know reincarnation. We well, this is
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: an emperor that you would actually be like, okay with,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: I'd actually vote for this. Yeah, yeah, we'll get that.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: We are traveling back to the eighteen hundreds, a time
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: of discovery, destiny, and questionable hygiene. San Francisco was exploding
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: after the discovery of gold in northern California in eighteen
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: forty eight. California wasn't even an actual state, yet almost overnight,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Sleepy Port Town became a mud splattered carnival of ambition.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Ships flooded the bay fast than they could be unloaded,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: so many that abandoned vessels were turned into warehouses, saloons, hotels,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: and occasionally mistakes. The streets rang with hammers and shovels,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: piano music spilling out of gambling halls, arguments in a
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: dozen languages, and the constant hum of men convinced they
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: were about to strike it rich gold. Dazed men poured
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: in from everywhere, farm boys, sailors, dreamers, grifters, gamblers, young, broke,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: and wildly optimistic. And where that kind of optimism gathers,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: so do the people hoping to separate it from its money.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: If you couldn't mind the gold, you could mind the miners.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: The city was loud, filthy, and chaotic. Fortunes were made
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: and lost Between breakfast and dinner. Laws were suggestions, justice
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: was flexible, and reinvention wasn't just possible, it was expected.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: You could arrive in the morning and be someone entirely
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: new by nightfall. In short Sam from Cisco was eccentric, ungovernable,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: and wildly theatrical, exactly the kind of city where the
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: idea of an emperor of the United States doesn't sound
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: completely impossible. And into this beautifully unhinged mess walked Joshua
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Abraham Norton. That's very imperial. What a name? Yeah, Jan
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: for short? Hey Dan, my god, Emperor Jan. That's just
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: gonna have ember Jan. I love it. Joshua Norton was
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: born on February fourth in London to Jewish parents, maybe
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: in eighteen fifteen, maybe in eighteen twenty or baby eighteen eighteen.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Historians argue records are fuzzy for Arnon, well, they're kind of.
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: He's probably born at home and someone said later, yeah,
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: I think he support a couple of years ago.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure it was. Yeah, exactly. There were some
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: things going on.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: It's the eighteen hundreds stuff at all.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: You know, maybe since he was emperor, he just didn't
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: want people to know his age, so he's like, yeah,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: it was very secret documents, but most people have collectively
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: agreed to just go with eighteen eighteen. A few years later,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Joshua's parents, John and Sarah Norton, packed up Joshua and
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: his two brothers and set sail from London to South
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Africa as part of a British colonial effort happening at
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: the time. Oh boo, so right out of the gate.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Joshua's life is marked by big moves, imperial ambition, and
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: people thinking they can just pick up and start over
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: somewhere else, which is brand.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah and colonial.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Take what yeah? Oh, I like to have that. Okay. Oh,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: it's kind of like dogs being on things like that's
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: mine all that.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: I'm feeling a little bit. That's a little too close
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: to home for me right now.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: No, nothing anymore. The puppy owns it all. Has somebody
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: on your stuff?
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: I don't what yeah, No, Honestly, I took my bath
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: mat out of the dryer this morning, and the last
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: thing that Charlotte did in.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Like the hour before I hopped.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: On to record with you guys, was too unceremoniously pee
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: on it yet again.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: It's her pea pad. She was like, oh, this is
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: nice to be here. It's also there.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Is a literal pea pad in is comfortable.
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: This is fuzzy. It smelled good because it just came
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: out of the job.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, she's boogie.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: It did smell good.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, she is bougie, you guys, I hate to tell
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: you my beautiful, adorable, angelic dog. Today I took him
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: for a walk and he was rooting around in the
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: grass and he was eating catshit no Broca's in the wild. Yeah,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: that's what I was thinking normally out of the cat box.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: This is yep. So I have now been brushing his
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: teeth and the cat's teeth every single night for the
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: last week. So we'll see how that works. Okay, here
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: we go with the same toothbrush. Actually, yes, I just
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: washed it between. They don't know, they don't care, all right. So,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: by the age of twenty one, with help from his father,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Joshua opened his own ship supplies business. He was ambitious, confident,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: and clearly trying to follow in his father's footsteps. Unfortunately,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: the business went bankrupt within eighteen months, and then things
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: got much worse. Joshua's father's business began to fail, Then
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: his mother died, Then both of his brothers passed away. Finally,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: in eighteen forty eight, his father, John died as well.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Within a relatively short span of time, Joshua lost his
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: entire immediate family. So with nothing left for him in
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: South Africa, Joshua took what remained of his inheritance, reportedly
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: around forty thousand dollars, which do you want to guess
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: how much that is today?
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: It's a fuck ton of money.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, forty million? Oh no, not quite. That's very ambitious.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Nice job, four hundreds. It is about one point six
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: million dollars today. Oh wow.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: I mean I would take it.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's that's a pretty good start. I
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: don't get him home, Yeah yeah.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: I would slum it with a casual one point.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: I could take you for the future there, Yeah, yeah, true,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Cassie True. And in eighteen forty nine he set sale
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: for San Francisco and the promise of the gold Rush.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: And this is where for a moment everything works out
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: for jan So I'm taking I love better than saying
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Joshua Norton. Norton got to work immediately. He established Joshua
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Norton and Company, a real estate and important conn and
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: within just three years had transformed that forty thousand dollars
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: into two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which is roughly
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: shit ten point five million dollars today. Get it?
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: Wow. Okay, So I've always said I'm not interested in
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: using the wija board.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: I actually think I would like to get to this.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Fellow, get a little like investment advice. I need something
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I don't know, two materials. What do you think about
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: crypto six six? Yeah, he increased it by six times,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: right yeah, maths yeah cracious.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: Okay, well it went from what forty thousand and fifty Yeah,
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: it's just over six times.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: And house short of time again three years, three years.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: That's insane. Somebody who really has nothing except for as
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: far as like business skills or I mean, it seems
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: pampered with his family, right yeah, I mean yeah it was.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: He he started his first business at twenty one with
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: money from his father, and it was the same business
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: basically his father was in. His father was in like
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: a ship supplies company. So he started his own company
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: and it failed within eighteen months. So you know, he
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: turned it around, was able to make.
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: A fortune created all by his own and he don't
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: call it a company, right, Well, he so he had
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: so it was a real estate and importing company.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: So he was buying up land around San Francisco. And
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: this is at a time during the Gold rush when
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: people are pouring in, so the value of land is
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: just going through the roof. He owned several tracks of
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: land in San Francisco, including the extremely desirable North Beach area,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: which we know is pretty fougie at this point. Yeah,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Joshua Norton or Jan was prosperous. He was respected. He's
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: circulated in the upper esche of San Francisco society, and
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: he lived the lavish lifestyle of the very rich. And
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: then came eighteen fifty two. That year, a devastating rice
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: famine hit China and a ban was imposed on rice
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: exports out of the country. The result, the price of
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: rice skyrocketed by about nine hundred percent. Holy nobody could
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: afford the San Francisco tree, Nice called Jony. Oh my gosh, Norton.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, how much of the American diet was really
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: made of rice?
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I'm curious about that too.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: I have to wonder.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know that that is something to look into,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: I know, especially in San Francisco at this point, Asian
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: immigrants were pouring in because of the gold.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: I think that's the bigger issue, is that.
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the population that that time like part of like
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: their native food culture, they're probably not able to access
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: it well.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: And part of the reason, actually, part of the reason
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: that a lot of immigrants were coming from China was
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: because of this famine. So yeah, yeah, it was. I mean,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: a lot of these people were poor farmers, a lot
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: of them rice farmers, and yeah, there was a blight
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: on the rice, and yet people were starving to death
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: in China. So they were lured to the United States
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: with this belief that they were going to come here
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: and that gold literally grew on trees. Okay, So Norton,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: being a savvy and confident businessman, saw an opportunity. He
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: attempted to corner the rice market. For roughly twenty five
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars, which is about a million dollars to day,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: he purchased an entire shipload of Peruvian rice at twelve
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: and a half cents per pound, when the going rate
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: in San Francisco was around thirty six cents a pound.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Oh damn, it looked brilliant, not uh oh oh, because
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Norton wasn't the only one who had the same idea.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Multiple ships carrying rice from Peru arrived in San Francisco
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: all about the same time, and most of the rice
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: was higher quality than the rice that Norton had bought.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Oh no, so the rice market in San Francisco collapsed.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Rice prices plunged to three cents a pound, where we
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: bought it for twelve and a half cents a pound.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Oh so, he tried to void his contract, claiming he
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: had been misled about the quality of the rice. What
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: followed was a lawsuit that dragged on for nearly two years,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: slowly bleeding him dry, and in eighteen fifty four, the
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: California Supreme Court ruled against him. This rice gamble had
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: ruined him. He lost most of his fortune over this,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: saying he tried to recover. In eighteen fifty five, he
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: ran for San Francisco tax collector, hoping that public office
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: might help him claw his way back. It didn't. By
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: eighteen fifty six, at just thirty eight years old, Joshua
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Norton was forced to declare bankruptcy. He moved into a
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: cheap boarding house on Kearney Street, and, in one last
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: attempt to remain visible, to stay relevant, respectable, just someone,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: he announced his candidacy for the US Congress in eighteen
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: fifty eight. When the election took place, the following year,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Joshua Norton's name wasn't even on the ballot. Oh no,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: So between eighteen fifty six and eighteen fifty nine, Norton
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: slipped almost entirely into obscurity. Many historians believe he was
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: in a deep depressive state. And it's hard to argue
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: with that. Yeah, yeah, right, that makes sense.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: Such highs and lows, I mean, not getting on the
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: ballot makes it pretty hard to win. And then that's
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: kind of a fiber. It's a whole thing. It's a
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: real snowball that.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: We're you know. Within fifteen years he had lost his
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: entire family, built and law a massive fortune, and fallen
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: from the heights of San Francisco society to near invisibility.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Just stick a forkun and me's done.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: High's and lows, highs and lows. For about a year,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: he basically disappeared. Historians can't figure out what he was
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: doing in that year. And then Joshua Norton jan re emerged.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: And when he did, he did it with a flourish,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: which we will get into after this quick break. Welcome back.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: I'm here with Caitlin Oh and Jody. I'm Joey we're here.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: We're here.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: With Jody and Caitlyn and Cassie. It's like it's like
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: when I talked to my brother on the phone and
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, I was talking to my mom. Oh
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: your mom. Yeah, it really is yeah. Yeah, oh yeah,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: your mom. Oh yeah, our mom. Sorry. Hen of the
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Pow Haunts and Homicides Podcast. Okay, ladies, where did we
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: leave off the Emperor? He turned destitute.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he disappeared, He had highs and lows, ups and downs,
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: disappeared and now he's back.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: He's back. Joshua Abraham Norton was about to re emerge,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: reborn like a monarch butterfly if that butterfly came back
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: with the pinions and a god complex. In July of
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: eighteen fifty nine, Norton took out a paid advertisement in
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin. It wasn't subtle. It
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: was a full on manifesto addressed to the citizens of
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: the Union. In it, Norton outlined what he saw as
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: a national crisis and made it very clear that this
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: crisis required immediate attention. Of course, and then in September
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: of that same year, he escalated, as one does surprise,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Joshua Norton personally hand delivered a letter to the bulletin.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Inside was a proclamation, the first of many. All right, Caitlin,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: you've got a pretty solid British accent. I'm gonna send
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: you one.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: You're okay, thinking beans on toast.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: At the peremptory request and desire of the large majority
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: of the citizens of these United States, I Joshua Norton,
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: formerly of I'll go obey Cape of Good Hope, and
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: now for the last nine years and ten months past
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: of San Francisco, California, declare and proclaim myself emperor of
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: these United States.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Community around on the plaza. It's not over. I'm sorry,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: there's so much more, Okay.
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: So she led with really talking up my British accent,
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: but then she just said pompous and that was.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: That's perfect, doing perfect, as I was like, thumbs up,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: it's perfect, excellent.
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: Oh do go on, and in virtue of the authority thereby.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: In me vested Jesus Christ, do hereby.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: Order and direct the representatives of the different states of
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: the Union to assemble in Musical Hall of this city
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: on the first day of February next then there to
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring,
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: abroad in our stability and integrity. I'm sorry, that's just
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: really hard to say about the United States.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: With us and it hunger games or something. The first
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Emperor of the United States, I vote Caitlin for Emperor. Yeah, Emperor. Yes.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: The paper printed the letter in that evening's edition largely
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: for humorous effect, and with that single act of indulgence,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: something remarkable happened. Thus began Norton's twenty years reign over
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: San Francisco and technically the United States. The San Francisco
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Daily Evening Bulletin took particular delight in him, faithfully publishing
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: nearly all of his proclamations, often weekly, as Norton issued
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: decrees with increasing confidence and frequency, and he wasted no
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: time getting to work. The very next month, in October
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: of eighteen fifty nine, Emperor Norton decided to abolish Congress.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Abolish Congress.
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: I think we all really need to understand that. Unfortunately,
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: this is what happens when, oh my god, I can't
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: even think of the word anymore. You know when we humor, Yes,
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: that's the one. Well, boy, this is what happens when
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: we humor meetonger, particularly white men. Unfortunately, historically you give
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: him an inch and they take a mile.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Call it six? Who are myoc This is the Emperor
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: of the United State.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: You know?
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Okay, it's just a vibe. Does anybody want to take
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: on the next one? Or do you want me to
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: do it? I will. Let's see what I can do
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: with this one, okay? Is imperial majesty. Norton the first
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: has issued the following edict, which he desires the bulletin
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: to spread before the world. Let her rip, Yes exactly.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: Fred fart noises, fart noises?
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Why do farts come up in every pumping?
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: My?
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, my god.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: It is represented to us that the universal suffrage, as
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: now existing through the Union, is abused, That fraud and
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: corruption prevent a fair and proper expression of the public voice.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: That open violation of the laws are constantly occurring, caused
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: by mobs, parties, factions, an undue influence of political sex.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: That the citizen has not that protection of person and
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: property which he is entitled to by paying his pro
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: rata of the expense of government, in consequence of which
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: we the Royal we do hereby abolish Congress. And it
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: is therefore abolished. And we order and desire the representatives
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: of all parties interested to appear at the Musical Hall
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: of this city on the first of February next and
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: then and there to take the most effective steps to
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: remedy the evil complained of.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: Okay, So now I really do wish that we were
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: doing videos, yeah, because I want I really would like
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: everyone to see my face when I say, sir, this
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: is a Wendys.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Do we know where he was for a year? Because
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: he right?
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: No more, he does not know where he was, because
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: I am quite confident whatever the appropriate hallucinogenic drug at
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: the time was pastime during that year?
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Was this when Elisiopia was that when they first accidentally
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: found it. I don't know. Did he trip on some mushrooms?
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Did he find some masho Opian was rampant in that
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: in San Francisco at that time, So you know, Okay.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: So the very next day after making the proclamation abolishing Congress,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: Norton followed up with another letter to the Bulletin explaining
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: that General Winfield Scott was not actually in the Pacific
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Northwest dealing with the San Juan Island dispute see our
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: episode on the Pig War of eighteen fifty nine. Yeah,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: but had instead traveled west to escort the Emperor to
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: Washington City so that Congress could be probably disposed. Oh,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: of course.
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: Of course, of course.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: General Scott unfortunately declined to come and escort the Emperor
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: to Washington. End of excitement. I can't imagine why.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, surprising no one.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Undeterred, Norton's next act was to abolish the Supreme Court,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: which would be nice. I wish abolished Congress and the
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: Supreme ar out, But gosh, if only i'd bring Jan
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: back right now, vote Jan yeah, right right now over
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: what we have vot Jam He's actually saying sane in
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: this time, exactly. It's a great idea. Then in December,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: Norton was outraged by Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise, who
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: had ordered the hanging of abolitionist John Brown on December second.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: Thember responded accordingly, proclaiming, I do haded by discharge him
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: Henry A. Wise from said office, and a point John C.
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: Breckinridge of Kentucky to said office of governor of our
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: province of Virginia. So now he's deciding who's governor. Somebody
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: from Kentucky is now the governor of Virginia.
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: Okay, well, I mean, hey, here's the thing is, when
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: your emperor, that is a thing that you can do.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: It's his responsibility.
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, well and an abolitionist, correct me if
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: I'm wrong, but.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: Those are those guys. So he was mad. Yeah that
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: John Brown, who was an abolitionist, had been hanged.
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: And as am I.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: And here's the thing is, Emperor Norton was actually really
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: progressive for his time. According to the Emperor Norton Trust,
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: which is an organization that has been founded to kind
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: of collect all of the story about Joshua Norton and
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: keep it alive and honor him in the city. He
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: was an adversary of corruption and fraud of all kinds, political, corporate,
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: and personal. He was a persistent voice for the dignity,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: fair treatment, and legal rights of immigrants and other marginalized groups.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: Holy shit, So he commanded what a novel idea, I.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: Know, especially in eighteen fifty nine. Yeah, really, he commanded
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: that courts allow Chinese people to testify because at that point,
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Chinese and Native Americans also were not allowed to testify
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: in court. So if you attacked and assaulted a person
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: of that was Chinese or Native American, they could not
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: actually testify against you in court of law. It was
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: a freebie. Yeah.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: I don't think those were the only population, no, I know.
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: I think there were a number in San Francisco that
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: was horrific, right, yeah, yeah, that those would be the
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: predominant group's impacted.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: So yeah, he warned, the eyes of the Emperor will
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: be upon anyone who shall counsel any outrage or wrong
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: on the Chinese. So he was an advocate of the Chinese.
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, fuck around and find out.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Exactly he demanded, love that for us. He demanded that
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: African Americans be allowed to ride public street cars and
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: be admitted to public schools. With respect to Native Americans.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: He proclaimed that all Indian agents and others involved in
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: frauds against the Indian tribes should be publicly punished before
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: as many and I'm saying Indian because that's what he
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: was saying, but before as many Indian chiefs as could
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: be assembled. He supported women's suffrage woo like, so early
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: start out thinking like this guy is crazy, which maybe
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: he was, but he was also kind of awesome.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, hey, listen to that can be true.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: He was a religious humanist and pluralist who favored church
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: state separation, warned against puritanism and secretarianism, which I don't
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: know what that word is. I wrote it, but I
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: don't know what it is. Refused to endorse any single
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: church or synagogue and instead attended them all. Oh, he
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: would just go from church to Oh, that's cute.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: So everybody loved him.
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: They're like, yeah, he hangs out with us, like every
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: Sunday and or.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Friday nights got busy weekends, Sundays, yeah.
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: He also prohibited the enforcement of state Sunday laws, which
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: discriminated against Germans and Jews. He defended the people's right
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: to fair taxes and basic services, including well maintained streets, streetcars, ferries,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: and trains. And he was an advocate for technological innovation
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: when it served the public good. And Norton didn't stop
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: at the US borders. Dicerned about the safety of the
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: Mexican people, he declared himself Protector of Mexico and ordered
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: ten thousand troops to be deployed to Mexico City to
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: stabilize the government. He's like this obnoxious, crazy man with
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: all the right mode like ideas. Spoiler alert, the troops
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: were not deployed.
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well it's them, Yeah, exactly exactly.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: But eventually the fraud and corruption plaguing his great nation
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: became too much, even for an emperor. On his birthday,
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: February fourth, eighteen sixty, Norton proclaimed that the United States
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: itself should be dissolved, declaring, we are certain that nothing
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: was save the nation from utter ruin and falling to
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: pieces except an absolute monarchy under the supervision an authority
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: of an independent emperor and Supreme Council. Assimilation to the
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Russian form of government, with such alteration as may be
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: adapted to the American nation. I'm concern Yeah, and then
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: all the same, Yeah, I.
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: May have follow up questions when my brain stopped steaking,
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: and when it became clear that no one was really listening.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: In July he tried again.
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: Whereas it is necessary for our peace, prosperity, and happiness,
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: as also to the national advancement of the people of
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: the United States, that they should dissolve the Republican form
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: of governments, and establish in its stead an absolute monarchy.
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: We Norton the First, by the grace of God, Emperor
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: of the thirty three States and the multitude of territories
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: of the United States of America, do hereby dissolve the
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: Republic of the United States.
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: And it is hereby dissolved.
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: And all laws made from and after this date, either
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: by the National Congress or any state legislature, shall be
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: null and of no effect. All governors and all other
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: persons in authority shall maintain order by enforcing the heretofore
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: existing laws and regulations until the necessary alterations can be affected.
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: Given under our hand and seal at Headquarters, San Francisco,
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: this twenty sixth day of July eighteen sixty.
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: That was actually in that what I was gonna say,
• 40:01
  Speaker 6: like just some random gets up and just dissolves the
• 40:05
  Speaker 6: United States.
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: And listen, you guys, he's said dissolved twice, so like
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: he was pretty hus.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: Or meant it. He definitely meant dissolved. And this went
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: on year after year. Now, all of this might sound
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: like the ravings of a madman, someone who desperately needed help,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: and to say it's not, but that may well be true, okay,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: But instead of locking Emperor Norton away in an institution
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: where the goal would have been to torture the madness
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: out of him, San Francisco did something unusual. They embraced
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: him Ordnate for free at local restaurants, often paying with
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: imperial notes that he made himself.
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: Shut I dook up, he declared, I'm doing it right now.
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: Where is my little tiny.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like, get canva out, I'm on this. Or he
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: would declare that he was owed taxes by the establishment,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: and so they would pay in kind with food and services.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: Oh I love that he always had a seat at
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: plays and public performances. They would literally save a seat
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: for him. Residents made sure the Emperor was fed, housed,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: and cared for. Like people bought into this. He was
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: like the pet of h I feel like they kind
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: of probably felt bad for him, Like, oh you think
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: your that's so cute. Yeah, they were taking care of
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: the crazy guy.
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're there, they're there, head pat.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: He was even given a regimental uniform hand me down
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: pieces from both Union and Confederate soldiers, so his uniform
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: was a mix of both. Did they have the Salvation
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: Army back? I think so, I think goodwill. He carried
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: an ornate walking stick, sometimes an umbrella, and after his
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: death a small collection of walking sticks were found in
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: his boarding house room, so he was really into these
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: walking sticks. On formal occasions, he upgraded the look oversized
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: gold eppelets, a sword and a beaver hat topped with
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: an ostriche plume whoa oh in my and in his lapel.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: He would always have a carnation donated by the local florist,
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: and his proclamations weren't random. Norton read newspapers daily. He
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: spent afternoons in the library reading, learning and writing. He
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: played chess with the locals. He attended public lectures and debates.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: He even sat in on sessions of the state Legislature
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: in Sacramento. And in between he patrolled the city. He
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: loved inspecting streets, sidewalks, and infrastructure and calling attention to
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: areas that needed improvement. Beneath the fantasy proclamations were often thoughtful, articulate,
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: and elegantly written commentary disguised as absurdity. Yeah, yes, ravings
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: of a madman. But beneath it there was substance.
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: But at least he was a well spoken and clearly
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: like educated and informed to some degree.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: That's what I was wondering.
• 43:31
  Speaker 4: His proclamation proclamations were definitely phrased and written with somebody
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: who knew how to write official proclamations or had heard
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: them enough to be able to write. Yeah, they were,
• 43:43
  Speaker 4: you know, they were written like he had the authority
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: to declare these things, which was the crazy part.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: He grew up in England, you know, which was a monarchy,
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: so you know these were he was kind of familiar
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: with that structure. So one of my personal proclamations of
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: Emperor Norton's had to do with the name of his
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: beloved city. Now this might maybe or maybe not actually
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: attributed to him, but we're just for the sake of
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: a good story going to believe that it is. Yes,
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: we're going. So here's what it says. Whoever, after do
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: and proper warnings, shall be heard to utter the abominable
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: word frisco, which has no linguistic or other warrant, shall
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and shall pay
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: into the Imperial Treasury as penalty the sum of twenty
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: five dollars.
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: So no, okay, put it on my tip. I wonder
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: how he would feel about vocal.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: Fray and Emperor Norton may have even been partially responsible
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: for the Bay Bridge true story. On January eighth, eighteen
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: seventy two, he proclaimed, where I was going to say,
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: I hope it's a proclamation. Whereas we observe that certain
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: newspapers are agitating the project of bridging the bay, and
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: whereas we are desirous of connecting the cities of San
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: Francisco and Oakland by such means. Now, therefore we Norton,
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: the first de gratia, Emperor, do hereby prohibit the Ravenswood
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: scheme being carried into effect an order that the bridge
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: be built from Oakland Point to Telegraph Hill via Goat
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: Island and lo and behold in the early nineteen thirties,
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: So a little bit later, the construction of the San
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge began right where the Emperor suggested,
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: And ever since then there have been efforts, serious ones
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: to rename the bridge in his honor.
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: I'm not mad.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: Now I'm here the Emperor Norton Bridge. That sounds much
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: better than the Bay Bridge, Virgin Agin.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: The jan Bridge.
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: Eventually, the city's tolerance was tested in eighteen sixty seven,
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: a police officer arrested Emperor Norton under a law allowing
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: the detention of people deemed insane. Oh oh no. The
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: reaction from San Francisco was immediate and furious. I be
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: newspapers mocked the arrest. Citizens protested, merchants complained. The public
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: was not having it so this is amazing. The chief
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: of police not only ordered Norton released, but issued a
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: formal public apology stating that the Emperor had harmed no
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: one and was deserving of respect. So in response, Norton
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: did what any reasonable monarch would do. He issued an
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: imperial pardon, my.
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: God, he is an biken.
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: From that point on, police officers were known to salute
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: Emperor Norton as he passed them in the streets, and
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: it wasn't just symbolic affection. Norton routinely used his public
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: presence to diffuse real world harm. During one anti Chinese rally,
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: when tensions were escalating towards violence, Norton walked directly into
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: the crowd and began reciting the Lord's Prayer over and
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: over loudly, wo until the crowd grew quiet and eventually dispersed.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: It was one of several moments where Norton placed himself
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: between vulnerable communities and public hostility, using spectacle, calm, and
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: moral authority instead of force. And like we mentioned before,
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: he even created his own imperial currency, beautifully printed notes
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: signed by the Emperor himself. And while they had no
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: lead value obviously, many businesses accepted them anyway, either as
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: souvenirs or as a show of loyalty. Today, surviving notes
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: are worth far more than their face value. Ever was Wow,
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: if there's some left, Yeah, I think some businesses around
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: San Francisco probably have. Sound so cool. I feel like
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: going on a hunt. Now we got to look for
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: signs of Emperor Norton. Norton also maintained a steady correspondence
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: with world leaders. He wrote letters to Queen Victoria, at
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: one point suggesting marriage. I mean that's made. That's one
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: way to get become legit exactly. Yeah, that he could
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: have been Emperor king or whatever. Less a serious diplomatic
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: proposal and more reflection of how fully he inhabited his
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: role and to support himself, he sold photographs of himself,
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: formal portraits that allowed citizens and tourists alike to take
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: a little piece of the legend home with him. On
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: January eighth, eighteen eighty, Emperor Norton collapsed on a street
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: corner while on his way to a lecture at the
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: California Academy of Sciences. He died before reaching the hospital.
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: I'm come sad now, yeah, I notice miss softy. I
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: am a softy. The city mourned more than ten thousand people.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: Some estimates go as high as thirty thousand. People lined
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: the streets for his funeral procession. It was one of
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: the largest San Francisco had ever seen For a man
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: with no official power. It was a remarkable testament to
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: how deeply he had been woven into the city's identity,
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: and despite later rumors, Norton was not homeless. He lived
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: in a modest boarding house on Commercial Street, supposedly subsidized
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: by local benefactors, and despite persistent speculation that he had
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: secretly retained his fortune, no hidden wealth was found. What
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: remained were his uniforms, his hats, his walking sticks, a
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: single gold coin at a lifetime of carefully preserved dignity.
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: Among those who watched Emperor Norton move through the city,
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: was a young journalist named Mark Twain. Don't know if
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: you'd ever heard of him. Oh shit, that guy, yep.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: Twain would later model aspects of the character of the
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: self declared king in the Adventures of Huckleberry finn On.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: Norton a gentle, tragic ruler whose authority existed only because
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: people chose to believe in it, and that may be
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: Emperor Norton's greatest legacy. He was never a con man,
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: he never demanded obedience. He didn't rule through fear of violence.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: His power came entirely from collective agreement, from a city
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: that decided kindness, humor, and imagination were better responses to
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: madness than cruelty. To this day, Emperor Norton remains a
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: symbol of San Francisco at its best, eccentric, defiant, compassionate,
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: and just a little bit theatrical, a reminder that sometimes
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: the most radical thing a city can do is choose
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: to care. That's the story of Joshua Abraham Norton, the
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: Emperor of the United States. That is just a crazy story.
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: I wish there was a video at that time or
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: some some way to document There had to be something
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: about him personally when you met him, because you know,
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: when you're reading this, it's just crazy. It's just crazy crazy. Yeah,
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: it's hard to see anything else, but people truly, like logically, yeah,
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: but clearly people did see him that way. Yeah, if
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: there's got to be photos, but like you can't really
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: capture maybe all that wasn't a photo. But oh, there's
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: some good photos here. I'm going to send you a couple.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: He totally reminds me of Santa Claus when you were
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: talking about how he existed because people believed in him.
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: It's so Santa.
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: Ah, that's so Santa.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's that's well, that was a great story, Shay.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: That was really we were very all of us are
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: like so into it. We're looking them up. We're a
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: picture trying to picture how he was as a person.
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: There wasn't just like a lot of respect from like
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: you know that that that quirky crazy guy down the
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: road that everybody takes care of. He's just a good guy,
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: harmless whatever. There. It was more than that they respected
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: him and believed in what he had to say. Yeah,
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: and so much of it made sense, and then so
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: it so much didn't. Yeah, Well, you know everyone has
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: ideas the other way around. Actually, it was more of
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: his approach if he hadn't declared himself emperor and made
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: all these proclamations and ended the United States, Like you know,
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: he was onto some things with human rights, and he
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: was onto something with with abolishing Congress. Yeah, well, I
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: mean they're useless at this point, Yeah, exactly. Yeah, he
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: really became kind of like a mascot of San Francisco.
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: They really adopted him and loved him him and they
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: still celebrate him even to this day. Yeah, there's people
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: that dress up as him. I love that.
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: That's say cute.
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: You know. I actually was aware of Emperor Norton, but
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: I wasn't aware that he was a real person. So
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: there's a one of my favorite authors is Christopher Moore,
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: and there's a book called Dirty Jobs, and it takes
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: place in San Francisco, and Emperor Norton shows up as
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: a character in there. They just call him the Emperor,
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: and it was the stopping he would go around and
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: do proclamations and whatnot. And I just thought it was
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: a fictional character in Christopher Moore's story. I had no
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: idea it was based on this real character. Now, there's
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: another little story within this story that I'm going to
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: save for our next five minute Friday about two dogs
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: that were famous in San Francisco at this time, and
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: they were rumored to hang around with Emperor Norton, called
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: Bummer and Lazarus. Were they in one of the pictures
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: I was actually see pictures there? Yeah, yeah, there. It's
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: just a little story to dogs that were beloved in
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: the city, and they showed up in this book by
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: Christopher Moore as well. They were the Emperor's dogs in
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: Christopher Moore's book. Now, if if it was true, if
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: they hung out with him, that's that's debated, but they
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: were definitely dogs. So anyway, I love this story so much.
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: It was very much a feel good story in the end. Yeah,
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: and it's it's strange to find people with his kind
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: of morals and ethics in that time. So he obviously
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: was suffering from mental illness or just or.
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: Just any time some book.
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: Sometimes he wasn't following a movement, he was starting a movement, yes,
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: of the beginning of a movement really, though there's a
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: lot of debates about his mental health, right, Obviously he
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: had some mental health issues. Though there's a There was
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: a whole essay written that I read about. You know,
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: people will try to say that he had bipolar disorder
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: or was schizophrenic, but this one essay thinks that no,
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: probably not, he didn't. He didn't present with any symptoms
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: of hallucinations or paranoia. He was very high functioning. The
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: theory is he went into a deep depression after losing
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: his fortune, and this was a way to cope with that,
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: and he created a new identity for himself that could
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: be respected and cared for without money, without having to
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: have the wealth to travel in high society, he could
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: get the respect of people without that. You know, whether
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: or not he started out on a whim doing this
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: and then was like, well this kind of is fun
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: and then maybe in the end he believed it. Who knows,
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: But you know, he didn't arm anybody at all. In fact,
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: it sounds like he actually helped people. So yeah, I.
• 56:05
  Speaker 3: Don't know, hot take not a doctor, But is it
• 56:09
  Speaker 3: possible that he was just a very like almost like
• 56:14
  Speaker 3: a meta theatrical hierarchical writer like SNL and the Onion
• 56:20
  Speaker 3: did not exist. This just he's like, you, guys, I'm
• 56:24
  Speaker 3: doing this, Irene. You know, this tasy Yeah yeah, oh
• 56:33
  Speaker 3: my god, yes, yeah.
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: You know, and Emperor Norton his proclamations, well they were
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: they were very theatrical, but he really did bring up
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: the issues of the time in them. So yeah, it
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: was like you said, kind of like, you know, like
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: the onion is satirical but does speak to the issues
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: of the time. And and yeah, I think that you're
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: onto something there that it was kind of like that,
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: like ask now, like an onion just maybe not so
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: you know in your face like it is today.
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: I don't think people were ready for it, right, maybe
• 57:08
  Speaker 2: it goes I'm here.
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 57:11
  Speaker 2: San Francisco was like, we fucking love this guy.
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: It's really heartwarming that the city treated him as kindly
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: as they did. I mean I thought so too, Like
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: that is sweet, right yeah, and that to this day, right,
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: and that's progressive for the time too, right, and especially
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: like San Francisco was a little sand fran right. Yeah,
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: you know they're they're a little progressive in the in
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: the human rights. Uh yeah, yeah, in some ways. And
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: you know, it was a rough place at the time.
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: I mean the gold Rush brought in the gold Yush,
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: and it was there was you know, it was kind
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: of lawless for a while. They had to be like, oh,
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: we need some loss, right, oh shit, But you know,
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: it's it's amazing that they found that compassion, and maybe
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: part of that was from it being a bit of
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: a melting pot. While they didn't treat immigrants super great
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: all the time, you know, it is nice to see
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: that at least they treated him well when in a
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: time when people with mental illness were treated pretty horribly
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: a lot of the time to literally torture.
• 58:11
  Speaker 3: But at least we've learned from all of that, right,
• 58:14
  Speaker 3: because we would never treat people with mental illness or
• 58:17
  Speaker 3: people that were immigrants, or.
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: We don't do that anymore like that.
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: We wouldn't do that anymore.
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: Look at us manifesting, you know. And it's it's not
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: like this country would bring back torturing children to torture
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: the gay away from them, right.
• 58:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: Boy, that's pack people conversion therapies. You know, it's always worked.
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: I think it works great. All right, guys. Well, I
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: appreciate you being here with us to go on this
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: rabbit holes again. So much fun. It was, Thank you,
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: It was so great you guys the other weekend. Thanks
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: for hanging out tonight. All right, well, thanks again to
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: the ladies from PNW Haunts and Homicides. Go out find
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: PNW hauntsond Homicides dot com. You can find links there
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: to where you can listen and more. Follow them, listen
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: and you'll get more great content from them. All right, guys,
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: we love you. We will see you later day spooky
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: bitches or is that your that's I'm stealing your thunder?
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: We say, have a creepy ass day? Do you want
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: us just there? You go? Okay, have a creepy ass day.
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: You've been listening to Rainy Day Rabbit Holes. We thought
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: maybe you had forgotten? How could you forget? We are
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: your hosts, Shay and Jody, and you can find all
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: things on our website, randydayrabbit Holes dot com like sources, notes, pictures, links, whatnot.
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: That beautiful website is designed and managed by the amazing
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: and talented Letha Davis at Easybreezy dot com. That's easy
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: brute e a s y b r z y dot com.
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: All episodes are edited and produced by me Shaye and
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: you can reach out with any questions or comments at
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: Shae at Rainyday Rabbit Holes dot com. That's s A. T.
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: E A. Thanks for listening. Please share the podcast with
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: your friends and family, and stay curious. See you down
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: the rabbit hole.