The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-05-06

He Owned the Biggest Restaurant In
LonAea asa Was worth Millions,
Thanks 10 HIS wife's Hard
Wsrk aaa Careful Management.
The chancery division o. the English
high court Of justice brought out an In
teresting romance this week IN connection
with the proprietary Of the Cafe Royal.
one Of the larxest-if not the largest
most cosmopolitan. best known and best
restaurants In London. or In the world.
The Cafe Royal Ii the fayorite restaurant
OF Upper Bohemia" a. that part OF ar
tistic Londcn that has risen above the
haIf-crown table d'hote and that part that
never cared for expenses likes TO call IT
self. as distinguished from the Savoy and
Princess. for instan .. which makes
speciality OF ultra-swelldom- 1t il also the
nome in Lcadon, not only Of the sojourn-
er from France, but OF the wandersr
from every other part OF the continent
Russia, Italy. Spain and even Germany
and Austria-while every American who
has ever properly done the metropolis
win remember the great eating house In
an evening in the year that one does not
find citizens Of the great republic at al
most every other table in the Cafe Royal.
To all this vast constituency. the pro-
prietor, "Old Nicolis," as he was invari-
ably called. who died a year ago. was as
well known by sight and reputation as
the restaurant ITSELF and yet Ii is doubt
full II score OF his customers had ever
exchanged a single word with him, and
AZ -
that one failed to mention II. Nicolls.
who was about IS years Of age at the time
Of his death. and whose estate Is valued
at more than S.00o.000. was probably the
most ignorant. arrogant and purse proud
doit that ever rose from poverty to af-
huence. He was a very big man. more
than feet tall and correspondingly broad
across the shoulders, and was always per-
fectly dressed. circumstance unusual In
the type he represented. which was due to
the fact that he intrus,ed his sartorial at
fairs absolutely to valet forced upon the
restaurant proprietor by son-in-law who
knew about such things. Nicolls idea
OF the enjoyment Of his great wealth was
to swagger into the big room on the lower
floor OF the Cafe Royal In the middle OF
the afternoon. without paying the slight
est attention to obseQufous servants or ad-
miring guests, and to occupy three seats
French fashion. with divaE seats, and
there was room for three persons on each
side OF each table. Nicoils would spread
himself out In the middle OF the shree-seat
divan and sit there for hours at time.
day after day. gazing at the wall just
above the heads OF the people at the other
tables Whether his mind TO him king
dom was and he was celebrating during
these periods. or whether he was merely
In d q I'M tolf II
own greatness. none will probably ever
know. He was one Of the heaviest share
holders I'm the Empire music hail. and the
second-tier stage box on the left-hand side
was his exclusive property. Here he might
be seen almost every night Of the week
all alone. casing straight ahead Of him
over the performance on the stage, with
the same studious absorption he mani
Tested In the restaurant In the afternoons.
There were rumors In the Cafe Royal OF
occasional revels in which Nicois was
said TO Join, with the ladies' OF the ballet
after the fall OF the Empire curtain, but,
as the most vivid Imagination was utterly
unable to conceive that any such emotion
as gayety ever agitated the bosom Of The
great man, these reports were not cred
TIED.
The real pride of Nicols' existence, how
ever. was In his son-in-law and grand
son-in-law. Destiny was In q logical mood
when she consti. tied Henri Pigache the
son-in-law OF Daniel Nicols NIcoEs
owned the biggest restaurant in London
and Pigache the biggest belly He IL with
out exception the latest man man I have
ever seen. and have been to the clam
bake OF the Connecticut Fat Mems Club
al Dorion's point. While ! regret to hum
BILE forever the pride Of that complacent
organization, regard for truth eompe!s me
10 say thar the latest member would look
'ke a starved sylph beside Henri Pigache
Why. one side Of pisache's Wa ar
would have made an entire suit Of clothes
for Phileius Dorion himself. Pigache mar
ried Nicoils' daughter. who was an only
child. Hence II IL that NJ. and Nine
Pigaehe have daughter who. also mar
rying young. brought the browning glory
20 Old Nicols' career in the Marquis de
Rroufies for grandson-in-law. The spec
tscie of Nicolis. Pigache and the marquis.
whose age was somewhere between that
OF the other two. attempting TO be genial
over a cohwebed bottle from the Cafe
ROYAL celiars-said to contain seine OF The
choicest v.ntages there are--was one TO be
remembered.
Meanwhile Nine Nicolls was conducting
the entire business of the Cafe Royal-as
she always had done from the time they
hrst established Ii. thirty-two years ago
across the way from the great building n
now occupies In single room i'm Glass
house street. where she did the cooking
and marketing while her big husband
waited at table. Compa rs lively few OF
me cafes customers knew Nine Nicolls
even by sight, though she might have
been seen almost any evening IN cne OF
the upstairs restaurants after the rush
was over, gcssplng with the female serv-
ants, al CT whom were relatives and con-
nectiens from the part Of France where
she and her husband were born Some
times she appeared In the cafe on Sunday
most deliberately att.re9 and wea ring
beautiful 1"~els. and obviously uns~ou,-
Portable. She WAS so busy that she did
not find time 70 associate with the
PEACHES and the De Brouiles. and doubt
lsss. the company % her maids and de-
nen'zn's was more agreeable 10 her than
that az her aristocratic daughter and
granddaughter and .heir exalted hns-
bands. As she was 81 born worker how
ever. and the affairs or ;he Cafe ROYAL
occupied oil her waking hours. she was
happy and contented until her husband
who became more ard more nsegacepha-
'ous he grew older. began 20 interiors
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