The Sporting Emperor Norton
Emperor Norton tried his hand at riding a bike — roller skating — even jumping rope.
Later, the Emperor was a regular attendee at everything from horse races to endurance walking marathons to wrestling tournaments.
Here’s a first effort at documenting an underappreciated “sporting” thread in the Emperor’s story.
This includes:
many new details about known episodes (velocipede; skating), 1869–72
several new episodes, 1873–79
Also includes documentation of what may be the last reported sighting of Emperor Norton.
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