- Joshua Abraham Norton: At the peremptory request of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these United States.
- Walter Colton: The blacksmith dropped his hammer, the carpenter his plane, the mason his trowel, the farmer his sickle, the baker his loaf, and the tapster his bottle. I have only a community of women left and a gang of prisoners, with here and there a soldier who will give his captain the slip at the first chance. I don't blame that fellow a whit. Seven dollars a month, while others are making two hundred or three hundred a day. - Walter Colton.