Regarding John Bird's inquiry:
        Indeed, Emperor Norton was written up many times.  I've been amazed
that I haven't been able to find any Mark Twain writings on him
considering M.T. was a journalist in San Francisco during the time of
"Emperor Norton's" reign.

        From  PIONEER JEWS / A NEW LIFE IN THE FAR WEST, by H. and F.
Rochlin,Houghton Mifflin Co., 1984:
        Emperor Norton (1819-80), called the "wisest and shrewdest of
madmen,"
lived off the generosity of (San Francisco) merchants, banks and
restaurant owners who honored his worthless "Imperial Currency."  At his
death his estate was found to be a "two dollar gold piece, three dollars
in silver, and an 1823 franc."  Norton was the son of South African
settlers.  When they died, and an only brother, he went to San Francisco
in 1849 with an inheritance of $40,000.  He losy the entire fortune in a
bad investment and disappeared for a time.  When he surfaced, he had
renamed himself Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of
Mexico, but later dropped the Mexico part.  He wore a blue uniform with
gold epaulets, had a blue cap or a beaver hat ornamented with a feather
and a rose, and carried a carved serpent-headed wooden cane.  His two
pet mongrel dogs, Bummer and Lazarus, were his constant companions.
Restaurant, shop and theater owners, stationmasters, and steamship
officials all honored his personal scrip.  His edicts and pronouncements
were covered by the leading California newspapers.
        When he died in 1880, 30,000 San Franciscans attended his funeral.
Rejected by his Jewish co-religionists, Jews, who found him an
embarrassment, he was laid to rest by the Episcopalians in the old
Masonic cemetery.  When those burial grounds were abandoned 50 years
later, San Franciscans raised funds again for a full service featuring
the Municipal Band of San Francisco, vocal music of the Olympic Club,
and a salute by a United States Army infantry battalion.
        I have also read accounts of his San Francisco doings in popular
histories of San Francisco, and I believe, some years ago, in American
Heritage Magazine.  Maybe someone does know of something by Mark Twain?

Elinor Reiss