Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley by Richard Schwartz

18, 1888, issue of the Berkeley Advocate: This bit of doggerel appeared in the Jan. He sung his own praises in the papers, often writing under assumed names, and was a prolific poet who penned ode after ode about his favorite subject - himself. He was extricated from his dangerous position by some friends, and is now sick in bed.”īut Boyd recovered from the mishap and went on to be appointed as both a policeman and the janitor at the newly erected Town Hall, earning the princely salary of $10 per month.

He indulged in too much tangle-toe a few days since and tumbled into Strawberry Creek, where he remained waterlogged for two hours. Boyd, the expressman, has again fallen from grace. Typical is this story from the May 12, 1883, issue of the Berkeley Advocate, which hinted at Boyd’s fondness for liquor: “He participated in a very important historical event with great bravery, but it’s completely forgotten today,” said Schwartz.īoyd’s adventures were faithfully chronicled in the local papers, who knew a good story when they saw one. His job was capturing slave boats, arresting the slave traders, and freeing the captive Africans.

“He had a wagon and a horse named Slow and Easy, and he’d deliver anything - your furniture, your mail or you, wherever you’d want to go.”īoyd had a colorful history even before he came to Berkeley, serving in the U.S. Norton’s Berkeley connection is just one of many buried treasures that Schwartz has unearthed. After it was over, the two emperors had a great time talking together for hours.” “The president whispered something in his ear, Dom Pedro smiled broadly, and the ceremony went on as planned. “Dom Pedro looked puzzled and asked the president what was going on,” said Schwartz. He and university president Daniel Coit Gilman were sitting on stage in front of a huge audience when Norton unexpectedly walked in, wearing his full regalia, and sat down beside them. In 1876 a real emperor - Dom Pedro of Brazil - came to Berkeley for a campus convocation. One pretty young woman got an appointment as ambassador to Bulgaria.” “The students loved him so much, they would swarm him and sing songs in his honor. “The Emperor would come over here on the ferry, dressed in his full regalia, to review the cadets at Cal,” said Schwartz. So says Richard Schwartz, whose new book, “Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley,” reveals that Norton, the self-styled “Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico,” spent a lot of time on this side of the Bay, too. But what nobody knew until now is that his majesty loomed large in Berkeley’s history, too. Many people know about Emperor Norton’s connection with San Francisco.

Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley by Richard Schwartz