Emperor Norton Status Report, Midwest Edition
THREE MONTHS AGO, I penned an article about a brief description of Emperor Norton that appeared in the July 1875 issue of Scribner’s Monthly, then was excerpted and reprinted in no fewer than 26 newspapers across 10 states during the 9-week period following original publication. This was the most oft-printed and widely broadcast description of the Emperor during his lifetime. I called it “the Emperor Norton National Fame Accelerator of 1875.”
In my article, I noted the second-place finish of an earlier description of the Emperor that was included in a letter published in a September 1864 issue of the Christian Inquirer, a Unitarian weekly in New York. The letter, with its thumbnail sketch of the Emp, was reprinted in at least 10 newspapers across 9 states.
I find only one other “write-up” of Emperor Norton published during his lifetime that was reprinted in more than 5 papers. The description originally appeared in a correspondent’s letter published in the Chicago Tribune on 26 May 1877.
The letter was by Oscar Lennox Misch (1848–1878). Misch’s parents had immigrated to the United States from Prussia and had settled in New York City, where Misch was born.
By 1870, Misch was in Chicago and was earning at least part of his living writing travel and fiction pieces for newspapers and magazines.
By the mid 1870s Misch’s health was beginning to fail. On at least two occasions, Misch took extended trips to sunnier climes for rejuvenation, attaching himself to the Tribune as a correspondent.
In October 1875, the following notice appeared in the Tribune:
Item on Oscar Lennox Misch leaving for Mexico and South America, Chicago Tribune, 31 October 1875, p. 4. Source: Newspapers.com
When Misch returned to Chicago in April 1876, the Tribune ran an article about his trip that opened like this:
Introduction to “Mexico: Results of a Tour of Personal Observation in That Unquiet County,” article about Oscar Lennox Misch’s 6-month tour of Mexico, Central America, and South America, Chicago Tribune, 23 April 1876, p. 2. Source: Newspapers.com
On 25 February 1877, the Tribune reported Misch’s return from an apparently shorter health-related trip to California:
Item about Oscar Lennox Misch’s return from trip to California, Chicago Tribune, 25 February 1877, p. 8. Source: Newspapers.com
It seems that Misch beat home his own letter from San Francisco that was datelined February 17th. The letter was published in the 26 February 1877 edition of the Trib, under the following stack of headlines:
Headlines of Oscar Lennox Misch’s correspondent’s letter from San Francisco (“Frisco: A Breezy Letter from the Pacific Coast”), Chicago Tribune, 26 Feb 1877 p. 3. Source: Newspapers.com
In his letter — which occupies nearly two full columns of journalistic real estate — Misch takes a brief detour into a description of Emperor Norton, by way of introducing his host on a given day, an “ex-millionaire” who “never omitted to hand the Emperor Norton I. 50 cents whenever he encountered him. “
Here’s the passage:
Excerpt from Oscar Lennox Misch’s correspondent’s letter from San Francisco (“Frisco: A Breezy Letter from the Pacific Coast”), Chicago Tribune, 26 Feb 1877 p. 3. Source: Newspapers.com
My neighbor…never omitted to hand the Emperor Norton I. 50 cents whenever he encountered him. He connected this imperial lunatic in some strange way with luck in California street. The Emperor is getting old and shabby; his appearance is not at all prepossessing; the gilt cockade in his hat, and the insignia of some order, probably that of the Slipshod which hangs on the lappel of his dirty coat, need regilding, and as he has done considerable in his day to prove to the world the eccentricity of the San Franciscan, a grateful city whose inhabitants never fail to point him out to strangers as one of the “sights,” should see to it at least that his face is occasionally washed. They do as much for the animals in Woodward’s Gardens.
Oscar Lennox Misch’s original letter in the Chicago Tribune was nearly two full columns long. Which is to say: Long.
A month later, an abridged, uncredited version of the letter — with the title “Pacific Coast Millionaires” — ran for a week in at least 7 newspapers in neighboring states.
The abridged version included the original Emperor Norton section.
Here are the 7 reprints I’ve found so far — for a total of 8 publications of Misch’s description of the Emp. All dates are 1877:
KANSAS
Kansas Reporter (Wamego) — 22 March
Larned Chronoscope Daily — 23 March
MINNESOTA
Anti-Monopolist (St. Paul) — 29 March
MISSOURI
North Missouri Register (Macon) — 22 March
California (Mo.) Democrat — 22 March
Jefferson Democrat (Hillsboro) — 23 March
Advertiser–Courier (Hermann) — 23 March
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