The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-16
Sc RICH NOMADS THESE.
OF ONE FAMILY AND HAYE
$4,000 IN GOLD,

" L
Starting from Brasil They wandered the whole
world over and VIII Settle Herewith starr
Ranch and Will Raise Caffeine Tr,se
Ruled by One OF Its Patrinrch's Four Sons.
Miguel Nicolai and his family, Consisting Of
nfty.ave persons, arrived horo yesterday from
Europe on the Hamburg-American line steamer \
Patria. Tho family will DO landed at tho Bat
terry to-day, as they came over in the steernre
and were not permitted to 20 ashore last night. |
The had ten dogs with them, q cat, and ak |
bags OF gold. together with various curios gath |
cred from all sections Of the globe. Tho gold IN |
In American fve-dollar, ten-dollar, and twenty |
dnllar gold pieces, the cash capital Of tho
family amounting, according to its head, to
e220.oo o |
Tho Nicolai family has travelled moro than
10000 miles. The heed Of tho family IL 20
years old. He is q Brazilian gauoho, or ranch
man. Fifty years ago, as he stated yesterday to |
aSCN reporter, he began to raise cofroo, chill |
dren. and cotton in Brazil. All of his children |
are alive, as 10 his wife. The children are Emil |
lilo, who Is chief Of tho Nicolai band. who
manages the family affairs, and is custodian Of
the family funds, and his three brothers, Mar |
cello, Tomaso. and Juan, sub-bosses or deputy
chiefs. Chief Emilio is 40 years old. He has o
son named after the head Of the family, Miguel,
who is 80 years old. Miguel, Jr., has q son named
after Chief Emilio, Emilio, Jr., who is 1s years
old. The lattcr is married and is the father of q
boy 3 years old, whose name Is Juan. So that
there is young Juan. and Juan's father, and
Juan's grandfather, and Juan's great.grand-
father, and his NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
Very little is known about the rest Of the fam
lily, for when a Sun reporter boarded the Patria
yesterday before she pulled up to her pier ho
asked Chief Emilio how many children there
were in the family, and Emilio answered:
81 cannot aay- I don't think apv ~ ra copntod
them up. know that there arc fifty.six persons
In our family, all told. l know this, because 1
have been in the habit OF paying bills for fifty
six persons. When We took passage on this
steamer they had no room for our family in the
regular Storage in the stern of the boat, so they
put us ali up here together in the forward steer
age, whore we enjoyed ourselves without inter
ference on tho way over from Europe.
This is not the first time that we have been
In the vicinity Of New York. About four years
ago, when business became bad down in Brazil. we
sold out our ranches and plantations, and il was
agreed that I should act as chief Of our band.
We decided to come to the United States, and
raised all the cash we could on our property and
exchanged it for United States money. The
family at that time was not as big, of course. as
1t is now, but we came to New York and then
went to Louisiana, where we settled on q cotton
plantation. As the members Of the family all
STUCK together anu never Quarrelled, we
got along nicely. II there were any dis
putes between any members of the band. it was
left to me to settle them. Everything was left
in my hands. II q marriage was to DO con-
tracted, I was consulted. Then I would make
an investigation. II thought It proper to al
low the marriage to 60 on, I would start tho new
branch of the family under prosperous circum-
stances. II it was thought best not to have a
marriage contracted with any member Of the
family, / would simply explain the matter and
argue It in & proper manner until I convinced
fare not to marry.
Probably there IL not Q king or an emperor
anywhere in the world who rules his people as I
do. The reason that I am able to rule them so
well is because I give them almost everything
they want. The handling Of the money belong
ing to the family is q very responsible duty. My
brothers and my father act rs Q sort of consult
Ing board. and everything ! propose comes be;
iLtion,' / abide by the result And then request
re made By my brothers, By my nSNf. father It b. my,
sell HA TO Of as US : s psai T seo sSf ERn 81 sS' t e ie slae good
enough to make ourselves understood. Natu-
hsvss. acquired German, Freneh. and Italian
The female members Of the family do not speak
a aos n ansIIsh; With nlhs outsider tsisR to ' @ssssEsr 1 ssd s aS
goes with them. They know that We arc greatly
sssiS 800 to them RI and are. ..s sixsy: TEo .Id6s Z
nicely Is because the women do not inter:
tsre in our affairs. Sometimes one OF
IKE fruit, and I buy that. II we want them 70
DO Gof i and nc P they az it, Sot a3d the c Shfmi1SRrs 1i soll tSs% sai IT,
II does them no harm; It is good for their health
4 Wien be op they " t are n hInsr y they %ste eat sH seil. h1 %Ren
they eat well they are kept in good health, SO
the members Of the family does all the doctor
ing that we need. We don't pay any under
death in f the family GafiSu since s1 my father afS ra AND mother moth r
were married.
and money. That Is ali any one live for. We
are greatly attached to each other; None of the
children is quarrelsone, because they meyer, see
are taught to love every member of the family.
vii tell you the way we come to be here
to the Cnltsd States first, we made a a lot Of
down there that We learned to speak French.
Then tn We took 2 trip out to Missouri; de,
was not a prosperous country, so we came
right up to New York, and on the 15th
had, nearly s325.ooo at that time: but our trip
TO Europe cost us over $4,000. 1t was our in
fbs asinsss e iS go to E @s @sn aRd to e Ru. Isio b ts' w rSne d
Hamburg, and when we got to s.. peters6ure
we soon learnsd we had q made e great mistake g
'NNFFf @.'iS w w. AS''N 'HHS 49, hr"P
est meat there cost go cents a pound. Other
provisions were Just as high in proportion. We
decided IL would be better for US TO return 70
America and raise cattle here. Then We thought
We might get a good price for our meat II we
sent IL TO Russia. II would pay us better to sell
meat to the Russians than to buy 1t from them
However, we got away from Russia as quickly
as we could.
Then We went to France. We found nc
chance for 10 to make money there, so We Wen
to switzerland. 1t WAS worse there. Then We
vent 10 Italy, where we found people starving
30 we went TO Prussia. We found Germany tt
BE- a very nice, country. but not as nice as the
United States"
When Chief Emilio pronounced the words
lpited states each of the members OF his bane
hands, and the Chief, continuing, said: "You
see how our family love this country. Every
time the name of the country 10 mentioned they
throw kisses TO America. Tbey cannot forge
that they prospercd. here in the United States
and that while they lived well they had no wor
riment over their business affairs. Well, to MAKE
my story short, we travelled pretty near ali oyel
IN %JrId forgot to say that after leaving
Brazil we visited China and India; part of the