The only '
recognized' monarchy to reign in the United States died on this date.
Joshua Norton was a businessman in
San Francisco in the
1800's. In the
1840's, just before the Gold Rush, he tried to corner the market on rice and failed. He went from being very wealthy to being destitute overnight and the experience completely shattered his reason. A couple of months after this event, he put on a formal admiral's uniform, complete with gold braid and epaulets and strode in to the office of the newspaper. He handed the editor a large, official looking proclamation which stated in quite formal language that, due to popular demand, he hereby declared himself
Emperor Norton I of these United States, and the Protector of Mexico. He bade all his subjects show him loyalty and the other courtesies due a person of such eminent stature.
On the evening of
January 8, 1880, Joshua Norton collapsed on the corner of
California Street and
Dupont Street (now
Grant Avenue) while on his way to a lecture at the Academy of Sciences. His collapse was immediately noticed by another citizen who raised the alarm, and "
the police officer on the beat hastened for a carriage to convey him to the City Receiving Hospital." Norton died before the carriage could arrive.
Norton's funeral was a solemn, mournful and large affair. Some accounts report that as many as
30,000 people lined the streets to pay homage, and that the funeral cortege was two miles long. He was buried at the
Masonic Cemetery, at the expense of the City of
San Francisco.
The day after his funeral,
January 11, 1880, the
San Francisco skies were blackened with a solar eclipse.
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