Emperor Norton: San Francisco's Beloved Monarch

In January 1880, a man collapsed and died on a San Francisco street with a few dollars, a ceremonial sword, and a fake telegram from the Tsar of Russia in his pockets. The next day a newspaper headline read The King Is Dead, and some 10,000 people turned out to view his casket. This is the story of Joshua Abraham Norton, self-proclaimed Emperor of the United States.This episode traces Norton's rise as a cutthroat commodities merchant, his catastrophic bet to corner the rice market, his financial ruin, and his reinvention as a beloved monarch who reigned over San Francisco for two decades on charm and the city's collective goodwill.The 1852 Peruvian rice deal undone by ships he could not know were already sailingHis 1859 proclamation naming himself Emperor and his decrees abolishing CongressThe uniform, beaver hat, and self-issued currency accepted by local businessesThe public outrage that freed him after a wrongful arrest for mental treatmentHow Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson drew characters from his legend