Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics
Subject: Sandman: Three Sept and a January
From: [g--t--r] at [vax1.mankato.msus.edu]
Date: 25 Jun 92 16:28:49 -0600

I got this out of _The San Fancisco Chronicle Reader_(printed 1962), a
selection of newpaper articles from the title periodical.  Thought Sandman
readers might find it intresting.

        The characters San Francisco has always loved best are those it
invented.  Once born of the popular imagination they were savored and
exaggerated.  In death they burrowed even deeper into the folklore of the city.
        The prototype for all such San Francisco characters was Norton I, an
eccentric who assumed the role of Emperor of the United States, Protector of
Mexico and a number of lesser honors.  He was accepted with great toleration.
        Currently, impersonators of Emperor Norton still appear at civic
functions.  A downtown tavern employes its version of the Emperor as a greeter. 
And in recent years Norton's grandiose proclamations have appeared in *The
Chronicle*, heralding springtime with a hunt for treasure he has caused to be
buried within his capital city.
        In the case of Norton, San Francisco has kept its tongue in cheek for
nearly a century.  This report demonstrates some of the legend's original
flavor.  the Headline stated simply:


                                Le Roi
                               Est Mort

                                              January 11, 1880

        Imperial Norton is dead and turned to clay.
        His funeral took place yesterday afternoon from the undertaking
establishment at No. 16 O'Farrell street.  All the afternoon the remains lay in
state in the rear room of the Morgue.  Thousands flocked thither for a last
look at the man whose peculiarities of mind, garb and person had rendered him
familiar to all.
        The man of imaginary majesty, Emperor of the United States, Protector
of Mexico and prospective consort of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and
Empress of India, narrowly escaped burial in a plain redwood box.  Some people,
noting the odd manner of life of the old man, have unkindly surmised that his
hallucination was simulated, and that he had adopted his strange life as a
cover of a miserly hoard of unaccountably-acquired wealth.  When his effects
were searched it was found, as his best friends knew, that he had no means.
        On his person was found five or six dollars in small change, which was
all his store.  He has no personal effects of any value, and but for the kindly
remembrance of people of means who knew Norton and had business relations with
him many years ago when he was a citizen of substance and standing, he would
have had a pauper's funeral at the city's expense.  A subscription paper to
procure a funeral fund was drawn up and taken to the Pacific Club where the
sponsors soon had all the money they deemeded necessary.  The subscription list
still lies on the table of the clubroom.
        After the autopsy Friday the body was prepared for burial.  It was
clothed in black robe with a white shirt and black tie, and placed in a neat
rosewood casket, trimmed handsomely but without elaboration.  The generral
interest felt in the deceased was soon manifest.  Early in the afternoon of
Friday people who remembered the singular old man kindly, many of them
gratefully and affectionately, bbegan to call and ask to be allowed a last
glance at the familiar face.  Among them were several ladies whose dress
betokened prosperity.  Some of them brought bouquets to be placed on the
coffin.  One, the daughter of a former well-known citizen and officer of the
city government, in addition to her bouquet brought a delicate boutonniere,
consisting of a tuberose and sprig of maiden's hair, and pinned it to the lapel
of the burial robe.
        This lady appeared in deep mourning and betrayed the deepest feeling of
any who gathered about the bier.  She stated that she had known the deceased
from her childhood and when he was prosperous had received many and great
kindnesses at his hands.  When she was a little girl he used daily to present
her with flowers, which at that time were very costly.
        Early yesterday morning the stream of visitors to the bier began.  By 7
o'clock quite a number had dropped in, some of them laborers who had got off
the car on their way to the shops, to take a last look at the remains of one
whom none remembered save with kindly feelings; others were business men who
stopped on their way downtown for a similar pupose.  Soon the number began to
increase and there was a steady stream of people pressing through the office to
the little back room where the remains lay in state taking a last glance at the
features and filing out at the side exit to make room for the
constantly-increasing throng of visitors.  By noon there were hundreds of
people gathered on the sidewalk waiting their turn.  Policemen were called in
to regulate the entrance.
        The visitors included all classes from capitalists to the pauper, the
clergyman to the pickpocket, well-dressed ladies and those whose garb and
bearing hinted of the social outcast, however, the garb of the laboring man
predominated.
        The coffin lid was partially removed, exposing the features in view. 
They were placid and composed as in life, bearing no sign of suffering in the
supreme moment.  It was remarked by some of the visitors that the outline of
features and habitual trimming of the beard, which were observed in dressing
for the grave, presented a remarkable likeness to the last Emperor of the
French, whereupon the reporter of a morning contemporary pricked up his ears
and made note of it, and went off to enlarge upon the details of the
resemblance with much display of learning, concludeing with the statement that
the dead man claimed to be an illegitimate son of Louis Napoleon, and going on
to show that probably the name on the coffin plate was wrong, which, of course,
is highly absurd.
        The coffin plate, following the best information obtainable, states
that Norton was 65 years old.  Louis Napoleon, who was born at the palace of
the Tuilleries April 20, 1808, if still living would be his senior by only six
years.  Norton never claimed to be his son.
        The floral tributes, wreaths and bouquets were so numerous as to
completely cover the coffin lid, the only exception being the silver plate,
which bore this inscription neatly engraved:



                              Joshua A. Norton
                            Died January 8, 1880
                               Aged About 65