The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-11-20
THE CALIFORNIAN EMPEROR.
A Statuotte of Norton the First of San Frame
cisco Turns Up in New York.

A statuotte of Norton the First of San Franc
cisco Turns Up In New York.
The establishment was not one that made Q
bid for feminine custom. Still. Of the pair o.
strollers who were looking keenly at the sights
Of the avenue. 1t was the woman who came to-
a dead stop and with blissful unconcern led
her companion to stand in front Of the window
Of the place gazing at q shabby statuette In
plaster. which was its sole ornament. Before
they moved on she said to her escort:
Doesn't 1t make you Just homesick to SEQ
Emperor Norton back East2 l wonder who 10
can be? Most likely one of the old-timers.
You must take the number and stop in SOM
time when you're alone"
The statuette was shabby to the last deRree,
aud just about as inartistic as it is possible for
plaster Of Paris to be. 1t represented a man
in middle life. wearing a frock coat and q silk
hat with Straight sides and fat brim, the
riGinal stovepipe of ante-bellum days. The
addition of a feather to the hat and the injudi-
cious use Of crude paints absolutely robbed the
modelling of the least chance to pretend that
1t had been intended to be a work Of art. Yet
uncouth as It was, and set in unattractive sur
~roundinRs, 1t had moved q woman Of refine
msnt to- to express 4nreS q feeling OF ho%%esiekness
would have felt just the same way. The origi-
nal OF the statuette was a figure once as well
known In San Francisco as the bonanza kings
or the builders Of the Central Paciflc.Sa poor,
broken-witted waif Of the seething turmoil OF
Papper Alley. and the Stock. Board. one who
called himself Norton the First. King Of Cali
Alley earned, the name. when things were
booming on the Comstock. when men and wo-
men went frantic to buy and sell Crown Point
and Best and Belcher, and Consolidated Cali
i {orniis and Rdn sifgin nRion With d1o shafaeteristfn Cali
icism. they called this speculation by It's right
name: they PLAYED" this stock, they cop
pered" that; knowing that 1t was just as un-
real as faro, they used the terms ofthat game,
the alley and came out at the other q million.
aire; moro often the man who could not af-
ford to lose made the trip In the reverse order
and emerged a pauper. NoEton's fortune gone.
as the Emperor.
1t was Just like San Francisco of that epoch
to catch II up as a Jest. to treat him soberly In
was Norton the First and an Emperor. CALI
fornia proceeded to turn his mad within into an
equally whimsical lest, In the money foyer
1t was a restful Joke. All the city and the State
were scramtling to get wealth; there was one
all that he could wish. Merchant princes
laughingly took their titles as Minister OF this
department and Of that in Emperor Norton'9
Cabinet, Somebody had a lot Of bonds printed
rs the issue Of the monarch. The town cashed
He carried o sheaf Of them with him, and
called on Ralston and. Sharon. on Flood and
arose. He could always get four bits or a doll
lar for q bond OF his empire. For the remain-
ing few years OF his lie he was the guest Of
San FRANCISCO. D.
copy OF the figure in the whole, city. Of. New
York. and that one has no label by which the
curious can identify III: but when q. Caiifornian
sees It, there does arise [, sense Of homesick-
ness for which Emperor Norton is directly re-
sDonaible.