The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 5, January 30, 2005, Article 8

EMPEROR NORTON'S NAME MAY GRACE 'HIS' BRIDGE

A news item we missed last month was brought to our
attention by an article in the Fall/Winter 2004 issue of The
Brasher Bulletin, the newsletter of the Society for Private 
and
Pioneer Numismatics (SPPN). A December 15, 2004
article in the San Francisco Chronicle described efforts to
rename the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridge after
Emperor Norton, the colorful 19th-century character known
to numismatists for the scrip notes his issued to fund his
"government".

"More than a century after a quirky San Francisco character
who called himself Emperor Norton I ordered a bridge be
built spanning the bay, a move is under way to name the
later-day Bay Bridge in his honor.

The drive was publicized by Chronicle cartoonist Phil Frank
in his strip "Farley" -- perhaps a fitting forum for a man who
walked the streets of San Francisco in the late 1800s with
a plume in his hat and a sword in his hand, issued his own
currency and declared that calling the city "Frisco" was a
High Misdemeanor."

"The resolution, if approved by Mayor Gavin Newsom,
next will travel to the Oakland City Council and on to
the California Legislature.

Frank, who also is a historian, said he came up with the
bridge-naming idea while working on cartoons illustrating
how students these days know little about California
history."

"Joshua Abraham Norton -- who, according to his Chronicle
obituary, hailed from Scotland -- was a businessman who
came to San Francisco by way of South Africa in 1849 to
try his luck in the Gold Rush. It is said that he lost his 
fortune
-- and his mental stability -- after making a bum investment
in the rice market a few years later.

In 1859, he proclaimed himself Emperor of the United States
and, shortly thereafter, the Protector of Mexico. For the next
20 years, he issued proclamations defending minorities and
championing civil rights, which were reproduced in local
newspapers. He roamed the city accompanied by his dogs,
Bummer and Lazarus, and some eateries honored Norton's
own specially printed paper money.

In 1872, Norton ordered "a bridge be built from Oakland
Point to Goat (Yerba Buena) Island and thence to Telegraph
Hill." Though his proclamation received little notice at the
time, such a bridge would open in 1936, described by
President Herbert Hoover as "the greatest bridge ever
erected by the human race."

Full Story
ive/2004/12/15/MNGUMAC6LN1.DTL

The Brasher Bulletin reprinted the article as well as the
cartoon series and an article by Dr. Robert J. Chandler
titled "What Do We Want? The Emperor Norton Bridge!
When Do We Want It? Now!" Chandler, an E-Sylum
subscriber referred by Dave Bowers, is the Chairman of
His Majesty's Bridge Committee.

Good luck to the committee in their quest! Huzzah!

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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