The Diamond Palace Jeweler Who Vanished Owing $15,000
Simon Rumpf sold his Second Avenue store and disappeared, leaving creditors and a former partner to untangle the debts.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Simon Rumpf, formerly of the Diamond Palace, on Second Street, has disappeared from this city and numerous jewelry houses that credited him are out no less than $15,000 on his account. All his real estate in this city has been sold, and last Tuesday evening Rumpf transferred the Diamond Palace to J. F. Basye & Co. Since that time he has not been seen, and the most diligent search has failed to reveal his whereabouts.
Rumpf had been in the jewelry business for several years, and up to three months ago had for a partner Joseph Mayer, who is now conducting a wholesale jewelry store in the New York Block. Mayer figured in an attachment suit Wednesday morning last, as a result of his partnership with Rumpf. When the two men were together they borrowed $1,700 of William Harris, a clerk in their employ previously to 1892, and gave Harris a note for that amount. They paid the interest and $100 of the principal. On hearing of the transfer of the Diamond Palace to Basye & Co., Harris, suspecting that he might lose his money, sued out a writ of attachment against Mayer’s stock, and had it served Wednesday. Mayer was indignant and promptly dismissed the attachment by paying the note.
Where Rumpf is, and what he is doing, is a problem that many interested people in this city and elsewhere would like to have solved.
“Where Rumpf is, and what he is doing, is a problem that many interested people in this city and elsewhere would like to have solved.”
A vanished jeweler with $15,000 in debts is a reminder that Seattle’s retail reputation was built alongside booms in credit and speculation. Then as now, a sudden disappearance can leave a trail of creditors, partners, and unanswered questions.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.