Emperor Norton for Safer Railroads
An Invention & A Series of Proclamations Show a Focus on Railroad Safety Between 1869 and 1873
ON 13 SEPTEMBER 1872, the ponderously named Brooklyn Home Journal and Alamada County Advertiser ran the following item about Emperor Norton’s invention of a new railroad switch:
Item on Emperor Norton’s invention of a railroad switch, Brooklyn Home Journal and Alameda County Advertiser, 13 September 1872, p. 2. Source: Genealogy Bank
The next day, September 14th, the Pacific Appeal newspaper — the Emperor’s designated imperial gazette — ran the Emperor’s own Proclamation about his invention and clarified that, in fact, the first half of the East Bay news item was quoting a previous item published in the weekly Mining and Scientific Press, a serious and well-respected San Francisco journal of technology-focused industry news:
Proclamation of Emperor Norton, Pacific Appeal, 14 September 1872, p. 1. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection
Mining and Scientific Press was established in San Francisco in 1860 and continued under this title until merging with the New York-based Engineering and Mining Journal in 1922. After a brief interlude as Engineering and Mining Journal–Press, the consolidated magazine reverted to Engineering and Mining Journal in 1926 — and continues to carry that name today.
In 1872, the subtitle of Mining and Scientific Press was “An Illustrated Journal of Mining, Popular Science and Progressive Industry.” Following is the banner of the September 7th issue and the Emperor Norton item as it appeared in that issue.
In his 1986 biography of Emperor Norton, William Drury mentions the Pacific Appeal’s reprint of the Mining and Scientific Press item. But, this appears to be the first documentation and display of the item itself since the Emperor’s lifetime.
Banner of Mining and Scientific Press (top) and Item on Emperor Norton’s invention of a railroad switch, Mining and Scientific Press, 7 September 1872, p. 12. Collection of the California State Library. Source: Internet Archive
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NEARLY A YEAR LATER, 2 August 1873 saw the first test run of Andrew Smith Hallidie’s Clay Street Hill Railroad. Regular passenger service began on 1 September 1873.
The cable car developed and promoted by Hallidie was a two-car design consisting of (1) an open-air grip, or “dummy,” car with outward-facing bench seats for passengers towing (2) an enclosed passenger “trailer” car.
By way of a handwheel-controlled screw, an operator on the dummy car lowered and lifted the grip, enabling the vehicle to move when the grip was lowered and closed around the cable and to coast to a stop when the grip was released released and lifted.
Emperor Norton offered his review of the new cable car in this Proclamation published on 20 September 1873 — three weeks after the start of service.
Focusing primarily on the screw, the Emperor writes:
“Whereas, we are informed that the screw which works the Clay Street Railroad is not strong enough for that purpose, and that it is, consequently, dangerous to the lives of passengers...the Directors of the company are hereby ordered to see that precautions are taken to make travel on said railroad perfectly safe by using a screw with at least twenty-four inches diameter.”
Proclamation of Emperor Norton, Pacific Appeal, 20 September 1873, p. 2. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection
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THE THROUGH-LINE of Emperor Norton’s invention and Proclamations of 1872 and 1873 is safety.
One measure of the premium Emperor Norton put on safety is the note of humility the Emperor strikes in his Proclamation on his railroad switch invention, when he writes that he “desires that there should be a thoroughly practical and mechanical Switch, and his ideas to be improved upon….”
The Emperor less concerned with getting credit for his invention than that others run with it and put it into action.
The impetus for an automated mechanical railroad switch was that the existing “manual” version — human switch tenders — was resulting in routine train derailments and crashes, with passengers suffering debilitating injuries and death.
This crisis came to a head in late 1869. On November 21 of that year, in an editorial item titled “Mismanagement Somewhere,” the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that four of the six railroad accidents of the previous week were “directly attributable to the carelessness and ignorance of the railroad employees.”
Editorial item, “Mismanagement Somewhere,” San Francisco Chronicle, 21 November 1869, p. 2. Source: Newspapers.com
In the following lengthier editorial the next day, the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin wrote:
“The rules and regulations for employees, accompanying the time tables, show an anxious desire on the part of the Company to avoid ordinary causes of accidents; but if the employees are not generally competent, experienced and watchful men, these rules will be of little use. Such as accident as that of this morning may be attributable to causes beyond the control of the men engaged in running trains, but the frequent collisions of late can only be laid to neglect or inefficiency.”
Editorial, “More Railroad Accidents,” San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, 22 November 1869, p. 2. Source: Genealogy Bank
On November 25, the Chronicle was back with an editorial “And Still They Come — What Is the Remedy?” that concluded:
“Railroad accidents can only occur through culpable ignorance or culpable negligence. If a switch-tender cannot read his own time-table no wonder that collisions occur. And if Superintendents and Directors place men who cannot read in such positions, no wonder that accidents occur.”
Excerpt from editorial, “And Still They Come — What Is the Remedy?”, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 November 1869. p. 2. Source: Newspapers.com
Observing all of this, Emperor Norton weighed in two days later with the following Proclamation, published in a Stockton paper, that foreshadows his engagements on railroad safety a few years later.
As I’ve not seen it mentioned in any other secondary account, I believe this is a new discovery and a previously unreported decree.
The Emperor writes:
“Whereas, The railroad accidents are becoming too numerous to be pleasant to the traveling community; and whereas, we, Norton I., Dei Gratia Emperor, have been frequently appealed to since the first inquest to take some action, so far as possible to prevent accident in the future, in order to restore confidence and allay alarm, do hereby decree: That all the present switch tenders be removed and more experienced and competent men be placed in office, who shall first have been examined by a competent Board, and further decree that the President and Board of Directors be replaced by others more careful, if our orders are not heeded.”
Proclamation of Emperor Norton, Stockton Daily Independent, 27 November 1869, p. 2. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection
Emperor Norton was not the Protector of Mexico alone.
He was the Protector in general.
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