The Indian chef who brought curry to America, then vanished

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistRanji Smile opened what's called America's first Indian restaurant in nineteen oh one, and then he became a fake prince, according to the BBC.

2. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorFake prince is a strong phrase.

3. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorHis first name was Prince, a Providence paper said in nineteen oh one, so he's technically correct and nobody checked.

4. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentThe San Francisco Examiner went with Prince Jack Rinzi of Harachi, Beloochistan. Harachi. Somebody in that newsroom just heard Karachi and started typing.

5. 

   Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistAnd a Buffalo paper in eighteen ninety-nine called him Joe. Joe!

6. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorHis own business card said Jo Ranji Smile, Indian Chef and Artist, Purveyor of All High-Class Indian Condiments, Major Domo of Sherry's.

7. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorThat's four titles and one fork.

8. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentHe's got more handles than I do, and he did it in print. Nobody has ever been this verified and this unverified at once.

9. 

   Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistHe arrived from Karachi in eighteen ninety-nine, cooked for Gilded Age elites at Sherry's, and was doing demos in department stores by nineteen oh seven.

10. 

    Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistAnd then the trail goes cold, like a front that just stops.

11. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorWikipedia says he left New York in nineteen twenty-nine. Sell the restaurant, change the name, vanish. Sensible, really.

12. 

    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentDale, you'd be a meme in that card photo.

13. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorWould I? Go on, then.

14. 

    Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistBack then he was America's first celebrity chef. Now he's a hundred years of misspellings.

15. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorPrince, Joe, Jack, Jo. The papers got his name wrong four times, and they never once got the curry wrong.