mayoral freaks

Another good one from 100-Year-Old Weblog.

"Phil" Murphy is the police officer who has been detailed to the offices of the mayor in the city hall to deal with cranks and obstreperous callers. He has been connected with the police department for several years, and has served at the depot and other public places in handling crowds.

"How do you propose to deal with the cranks when they annoy the mayor?" Murphy was asked yesterday.

"Jolly 'em, jolly 'em," replied Murphy. "There's only one way to handle a crank. Fawn him, play on his vanity and get him to believe that his bug is all right. Get his confidence, humor him and feed him taffy and mentally blindfold him. When you have him in this condition there is not trouble in taking care of him."

I wonder if Jerry and Mark, the guards on the 29th floor of City Hall, read this blog.