For nearly a century, one of the favored “chestnuts” served up in biographical accounts of Emperor Norton has been the claim that, when the Emperor’s uniform became tattered, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors — the City’s elected government — bought him a new one.
It now appears that this undocumented story may have gotten its start in a little book about the Emperor that was published in the late 1920s — nearly 50 years after his death.
But, during the period of Emperor Norton’s reign, 1859–1880, neither San Francisco’s newspapers nor the City’s own Municipal Reports have any record of such official government largesse.
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If you know the Emperor Norton story well enough to know that…
When the Emperor died in January 1880, he was buried in the Masonic Cemetery, in San Francisco.
As part of the Great San Francisco Cemetery Eviction of the early twentieth century, the Emperor’s remains were moved to new grave, at Woodlawn cemetery, in Colma, Calif.
The Emperor’s reburial ceremony took place at Woodlawn on 30 June 1934.
…you may have assumed that the Emperor “remained” at the Masonic Cemetery more or less until the time of the reburial ceremony.
In fact, Emperor Norton was disinterred 20 months earlier.
So, where were Emperor Norton's remains located from the time they were disinterred in San Francisco in October 1932 until the time they were reburied in Colma in June 1934?
Here are a few clues.
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From the collection of the California Historical Society comes this wonderful silent film from 1933. The film, by Charles G. Kirk, features views of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge under construction, as well as some great scenes of downtown San Francisco and Fisherman's Wharf.
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