Rummu Jüri

H. Langeste

His proper name was Jüri Rumm (Jüri is pronounced Yury) but he is known as Rummu Jüri because Estonians have the habit of referring to familiar persons in the old folksy way, pronouncing the family name (in genitive case) before the forename. In the old country everybody knows about him but in Canada few know his name, so I would like to introduce Rummu Jüri.

Rummu Jüri was a notorious bandit, the biggest robber and horse thief in 19 th century Estonia. But he was also very popular and storytellers have turned him into a folk hero. His persona has inspired people to write books and stage plays. A beer brewed at Pärnu has his name on the label. One operetta (in 1954) and two Estonian movies have been produced about Rummu Jüri's adventures, the latest having its premiere in 1993. It is said to be an exciting adventure story about plundering, fighting and how the idol escaped from custody - plus some romantic interludes involving a peasant girl and a baron's daughter.

There are few hard facts about Rummu Jüri. But this has not stopped anyone from writing about him. Andres Ehin published a novel in 1980 titled The "Memoirs of Rummu Jüri" though the title comes with the author's own commentary: "freely distorted". Critics say, that historical truth and reality were evidently not the author's objective. Rummu Jüri never kept a diary himself, which could have been used for judging the dependability of the other writings. His reputation spread orally and like rumours, all things said about him, did not necessarily happen exactly as written. But who cares? They created a legend of Rummu Jüri, as though he was the Estonian Robin Hood.

Baltic nobleman Count Alfred von Keyserling mentions him in his memoirs. Keyserling was a prison superintendent in Irkutsk region and they met when Jüri was serving his 15-year sentence in Siberian exile. Jüri waited upon the nobleman during his sauna baths - massaged and whisked him with birch twigs and as a pastime, told stories about his own life. He had said that he took from the rich and gave to the poor. He had been welcome in any cottage and was treated with the best food they had. And women had adored him, girls liked to hang their arms around his neck.

We know that Jüri Rumm was the oldest son of a tenant farmer in Kehtna, born on August 2 nd 1856. For centuries country folks had resented the oppressive land owning Baltic Barons, but after Rummu Jüri was flogged with 15 strokes for petty thievery, that feeling turned into deep hatred. Jüri wanted revenge and turned into an outlaw. One story is that young Jüri was whipped when, as a servant-boy in Kehtna Manor, he snitched a piece of meat from the larder for his poor and ailing father. Another story is that he had stolen wine from Valtu Manor, where he worked as a gardener's helper. He rode away from Valtu with the best riding horse from the stable, leaving a message for the baron: "Good bye sir, you shall not see me again, but I will be back and take your gold and silver". He is said to have returned one night at suppertime and set fire to the barn. After everybody rushed out to the burning barn he emptied the house of valuables, leaving a note: "Jüri kept his word".

Jüri pillaged other bluebloods' mansions too, forcing the nobility to take the persistent housebreaker seriously. When he hit the Sausti Manor house, he openly threatened to do the same thing in every nobleman's home in Estonia. The landowners association posted 100 roubles reward for his capture and the city council of Tallinn added 75 roubles to it. That amount of money was about 6 months wages for skilled tradesmen in St. Petersburg's construction industry. In a newspaper he was nicknamed "Fra Diavola" (the Devil's Brother) after Daniel Auber's opera by that name. He was also considered the Estonian equivalent of "Rinaldo Rinaldini", a fictional character created earlier in the century by the German writer Christian Vulpius. Vulpius' Rinaldo Rinaldini was a noble minded Corsican bandit, who fought against the French overlords, but stole only from those who deserved to be plundered.

This was an accurate characterisation really, because Rummu Jüri was a notorious bandit too, but to most of the common folks he was good hearted and likeable. He did not kill people and only stole from the big estates. He robbed the aristocrats in order to harm them, not because he wanted to get rich. He never touched folks of his own extraction - the tenant farmers and landless peasants. Often he shared his loot with the needy people. Once he had bought a chicken from a poor widow and paid the fantastic sum of 25 roubles for it. For comparison, a seamstress seldom earned more than 100 roubles a year.

Rummu Jüri was caught several times but managed to escape from custody, either on the way to being locked up, or from inside the jailhouse. People helped him to hide from the authorities. Finally his luck ran out when someone betrayed him.

Kehtna Manor

A simpleminded peasant with a loose mouth had said to a buddy in a tavern, that Jüri was at his place. Someone overheard it and told to the police. They captured him for good in 1879, when he was only 23 years old. Jüri Rumm was arrested at his home turf in Kehtna community. No chances were taken. Jüri was handcuffed and tied with ropes to a sleigh. With one man sitting on either side of him they rode him to jail in Tallinn. In the cell he was handcuffed onto a steel bar, thus making it impossible to break out. This way he could not eat by himself and he had to be fed by the guards like a little baby. A picture of Jüri was taken for the records. They took him to the photographer's place with a nine-man escort, one of them a horseman. He was sent to Siberia to spend the next 15 years there.

Soon after his deportation some newspapers published rumours about Rummu Jüri escaping from the railroad car where he was transported, which caused some panic among the Baltic Barons. However, the prisoner was well guarded on the train too, and the rumours proved to be false. The Trans Siberia railway had not been built yet, so the prisoners had to be moved by other means. Quite likely there was a fair amount of walking involved. Years later Rummu Jüri returned to Estonia for a short visit, but then he returned to Siberia voluntarily. Jüri had said that he now enjoyed a good life there.