The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-02
The Surprising Case Of Rumpf.

AS the official term Of EDWARD JARGoN
HANDLING DAMsEN, the Hoher Landvogt,
or High Sheriff. draws to a close under
pressure of multiplying charges of incom-
petence and ineficiency, the supply of anus
ing episodes of a whimsical character does
not decrease. Ludicrously inefficient him
self, DAMsEN has surrounded himself with
aids and subordinates Of equal incompe-
tence. One of these is RUMPF. He is one
Of DAMsEN'S Ludlow street Jail guards, an
umbrella member by occupation, and a paid
officer of New York city by Landvogt
DAMsEN's appointment.
On the night Of April IA CARL BLANCK. a
reputable German citizen, a member OF the
Aschenbroedel Verein and one OF the officers
Of the Musical Protective Union, was asleep
at his residence, when there began a loud
disturbance at the outer door, accompanied
by CALCULATIONS of impotence in Platt-
deutsch. The intruder was DAMsEN's man
RUMPF. He demanded that the door should
be opened in the name of the law. Mrs.
BLANCK inquired the cause of RUMPF's in
Vasion. He responded that he had come to
arrest Meinherr BLANCK, and to take him
to the prison OGefiingniss) dead or alive.
Meinherr BLANCK, II law-abiding German
American citizen, hastily attired himself in
answer to this summons, and asked RUMrF
in German what warrant of authority he
had for thus molesting him. RUMPF re-
sponded that he was an employee of DAMsEN,
that he wore n badge given him by DAMsEN,
that he was accustomed to take no nom
sens" when in the discharge of his official
duties, and chat he carried a pistol, by the
Sheriff. authority, and would enforce ODE
dience to his demand.
1t appears that seven or eight years ago,
before the era of reform, when DAMsEN was
dealing in valentines and postal cards at his
little shop in Avenue A, Herr BLANCK had
received from the Sheriff of New York a
special deputy's badge. The Sheriff is by
law the peace officer of the town, and he Is
empowered to impress into it's service as
many citizens as he may require where n
breach of the peace is threatened. 1t has
Ions been customary in the Sheriff's Office
TO supply special deputies badges, for which
q Zee is paid TO the city, to porters, bank
messengers, private watchmen, j%anitors,
hotel detectives, and Others, Herr BLANCK
had charge Of the service Of papers for the
Musical Protective Union, and he had
bought n badge, but he found that il was
not necesf ary to his labors, and had not
made use Of it for four or five years.
RUMrF, in one OF the lager beer saloons of
the east side, in which DAMsEN and his
aids c%ongreEate when off duty or not an
swering legal charges, heard Of this, and
took upon himself 10 arrest Herr BLANCK
unless the latter would surrender the spe-
cial deputy's badge,
Such n proceeding was, of course, a gross
assumption of authority, for Jail keepers
and prison guards have no right OF the kind
unless under a warrant issued by a court.
RUMPF had no warrant. When Herr
BLANCE, awakened from his slumbers, un-
derstood the matter, he invited RUMPF to go
with him TO the Twenty-seventh precinct
station in Fast Eighty-eiGhth street, There
upon RUMPF, without any apologies TO Mrs.
BLANCK, whose serenity he had disturbed,
or Herr BLANCK, whose slumbers he had in
terrupted, fled from the residence, pursued
by BLANCK and Others OF the neighbors.
RUMPF ran through East EiRhty-ninth
street, followed by a crowd of men
and boys numbering, 1t is said, nearly two
hundred. This remarkable spectacle OF
an officer OF the law Of New York
fleeing from a crowd OF Angry citizens, was
presented on the night of April Ia. RUMPF