This year marks the sesquicentennial of two noteworthy events in seminal San Francisco, providing SF State students the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of history.

Shoehorned into a secluded wooded ravine a mile from campus is the site of the Sept. 13, 1859, duel between political rivals in the same party, U.S. Sen. David C. Broderick and California Supreme Court Chief Justice David S. Terry.

California Democrats were divided on the slavery issue in the 1850s. As a Lecompton Democrat, Terry espoused the slavery platform, but Broderick did not. At a state convention for the Lecomptons, Terry made a speech blaming Broderick and his anti-slavery faction for his defeated re-election bid. Broderick read the speech in the newspaper and became incensed. He subsequently attacked Terry's character and professional integrity. Terry in turn demanded reparations.

In the ensuing weeks, letters were exchanged and tempers festered, and, after goading from associates, the duo agreed to settle the issue in a manner then considered gentlemanly: dueling.

The much-publicized event was to take place in a field south of Lake Merced on the morning of Sept. 12, but it was squelched when police arrested both men. Finding that no misdemeanor occurred, Broderick and Terry were released later that day.

The duelers assembled again the next morning, but this time immediately south of the San Francisco-San Mateo County line.

Broderick, who was considered the better marksman by some accounts, shot first but accidentally fired into the ground before he could take aim on Terry. The shot from Terry entered Broderick's right breast, piercing a lung. The wound slowly consumed Broderick.

"They have killed me because I was opposed to the extension of slavery and the corruption of justice," Broderick said in his final hours.

His Sep. 16 death shocked the city.

"Broderick's supporters and the anti-slavery forces more generally made him a martyr to the anti-slavery cause," said Robert Cherny, a SF State history professor. "It was, in a limited way, a rehearsal for the funeral of Abraham Lincoln several years later."

Besides amplifying pre-Civil War political tension, the outcome ended dueling in California.

Terry stood trial in Marin County for the incident, but was acquitted.

Today the site is marked with two stone posts bearing the names of the duelers, ten paces apart, where the men stood to clash. The location is accessible via the Lake Merced Hill community at 1100 Lake Merced Blvd. or the Broderick-Terry Dueling Site Park at 50 El Portal Way in Daly City.

On the day following Broderick's tragic death, eccentric Joshua A. Norton - who lost a fortune from real estate investments in a scheme to capture the San Francisco rice market in 1853 - declared himself Emperor of the United States in the Sept. 17, 1859, San Francisco Bulletin. Protector of Mexico was later tacked onto the title.

Capturing San Franciscans' attention for 20 years, Emperor Norton I strolled regally about his capital city donning a navy military uniform festooned with gold epaulets, plumed hat and sword. Stray dogs Bummer and Lazarus occasionally accompanied him.

Some believed this legendary character insane. Many tolerated him. Most revered him.

Norton frequently attended public functions and extended courtesies to visiting dignitaries and celebrities. He dined at restaurants gratis and even issued his own currency, promissory notes honored citywide.

Preoccupied with corruption and ineptness in government and fighting for the welfare of his constituents, benevolent Norton ruled by eloquent official proclamations published in newspapers. He called for abolition of Congress in 1859 and the dissolution of the Democratic and Republican parties in 1869. He decreed that a suspension bridge be constructed to connect San Francisco and Oakland in 1872, a posthumous triumph realized when the Bay Bridge opened in 1936.

Norton first expressed disdain for San Francisco's long-abhorred moniker. "Whoever after due and proper warning shall be heard to utter the abdominal word 'Frisco,' which has no linguistic or other warrant, shall be deemed guilty of a High Misdemeanor, and shall pay the Imperial Treasury as penalty the sum of twenty-five dollars," he proclaimed in 1872.

Edicts aside, Norton took his self-imposed civic duty seriously. He personally inspected the city's buildings, thoroughfares, cable cars, parks and police.

The lifelong bachelor was buried in San Francisco's Masonic Cemetery in 1880 and moved to Colma's Woodlawn Memorial Park in 1934 - both times at the expense of admiring San Franciscans.

Devotees still visit the gravesite at 1000 El Camino Real and leave tchotchkes for the sole U.S. emperor.

When Woodlawn sales assistant Lisa Cabog was asked who the most popular person buried there is, she said, "It seems like Emperor Norton."

Sources: "The Terry-Broderick Duel" by Carroll Douglas Hall, "The Locality of the Broderick-Terry Duel" by Herman Schussler and "Emperor Norton the Mad Monarch of America" by Allen Stanley Lane.