Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-05-12
COUNTY TAx-COLLECTOR.
Answer from " Hill Mclean " 90 the Re
port Of the Grand Jury of shelby
County.

port OIL the GFand Jury OF shelby
County.
a Document with FIgures-The Grand
/ jury is simply Misfaken-That
p is All.
MEMPHIS, TENNs May II, 1872.
EDITORS sAPPEAL-Grand Juries serve
7 many excellent purposes. They bring
: to light hidden things which the public
: are deeply and vitality interested in
E knowing; they expose fraud and cor
1 ruption; they show up extravaganza in
appropriations, and errors and..inaccura-
cies thick "as leaves at Nalambrosa, -
and inform the public Of the "most
> culpable, if not criminal, negligence -
in public officials, from which no plea
of the accused can relieve him, or can
be adduced in extenuatiOn. These are a
few of the things which Grand Juries
f do, or attempt to do. They sit in secret
, and get information from all sorts of
sources, and it sometimes happens that
! they obtain information about an indi-
: Yidual or public officer, and publish it
I to the world as a disclosure, of which
J the individual or officer knew nothing
himself; and things which, if q Grand
AltAA ICb OAGl tntII ElRlla-
lures as facts, he would have pronounced
fdlsehOOds. did not know, until the
! Grand Jury informed me of the fact,
that was indebted to the State of Ten
nessee in any sum or in any manner;
{ much less did / know, or even
SUSPECT, THAT WAS DELINQUENT
to the State to the amount Of one hum
dred and thirty-seveR thousand dollars,
as their report states. A most astound-
ing development! A most wonderful
i discovery! A most fearful disclOsure!!!
This Grand Jury has opened the
eyes and the ears of the public. and as
the people see and read the report the
wonderful news spreads, and everybody
hears that Billy Mclean is defaulter
/ to the State over ore hundred and thirty
thousand dollars-the Grand Jury says
so. And then the Grand Jury solemnly |
asks, 'sif this be true in regard to the |
States" what might be the,the facts with |
regard TO county revenue?
/ am also very modestiy informed 1
that this item demands a most "{ucid !
/ explanation" at my hands; in other |
words / am called upon "to rise and ex- !
plain.n
On reading thereport / at once came to
the conclusion that the most charitable 1
judgment | could pass on the Grand Ju-
~ in this connection was, that il did /
not know what it was doing, and before
attempting a reply, information was
sought for from one of its members.
This question was put, "did you as a /
member of the late Grand Jury believe I
that Mclean had collected one hundred 1
and twenty-siX thousand dollars State /
tax for the year 1872, and had failed to |
pay il over? After several indirect an
swers, he finally acknowledged that he |
did SO believe. l then kRejO that the |
members of this
GRAND JURY DID NOT KNOW WHAT
THEY WERE DOING.
Now ] ask this question: Why did |
not this Grand Jury call upon me, or /
some one in my Office, for information, /
or for an explanation, before making 1
such report? They could have called 1
upon me for the "lUcid explanatory /
which they say they want, Just as well /
before their adjournment, as to make 4
the charges through a published report /
and demand il through the press. am
informed that this Grand Jury was in
session between three and four months.
and never, during that time, visited my
office-never examined my books
never sought information touching the
matter from me or those in my employ.
A very brief explanation in regard to
this Sl26,5Tl 80 is this: As soon as Jas.
Reilly, Clerk of the County Court, had
completed the tax books for 1871, by ex-
tending the taxes, etc, etc, he certified
TO the State Comptroller that the State
tax levied for that year was S227, $50 81.
for Shelby county. The Comptroller
then charged me with that amount on
his books. l obtained the books on the
ninth day of November, 1871, and if ]
am now delinquent Sl26,0 then, by
the same reasoning, on the same day /
obtained the books, and before l had col
lected one dollar of the taxes, | was de
linquent to the State S227, $50 81. But
HOW STANDS THE MATTER NOW?
| am required to settle with the State
once i'm three mOnths-NovembeT, De-
cember and January passes. NV col
lections for those three months amounted
to Sl0l ,S22 %. Dedueting my commits
sion / remitted the balance. For this
amount got credit on the books of the
Comptroller, Gentlemen of the Jury. I
the Sl26, 900 you have paraded before
the public, the S126,000 you have un-
earthed, the Sl26,O you say / am de- .
linquent for, We're the uncollected taxes
for February lst, 1872, being the balance {
OF S227, 900 placed in my hands for collee-
ton in November last S101 900 having {
been collected and accounted for. Three {
months more have passed-February, {
March and April On the first day of {
May | ascertained that had collected I
additional State taxes S26, 975 07; de- I
Quoting commissions l always deduct {
commissions / forwarded the balance. {
On the first day of May, 1872, the exact I
Of rrr.o,IlaafaI faf.
ISL was SOS, ,4s2 81. This information I
would have been given to the Grand I
Jury had been called upon; but yet l {
find on the eighth day of May the
Grand jury, by a published report, ere
ates the Impression in the mind of the
public that have collected and still
owe the State for 1871 Sl28,00O.
NOW, GENTLEMEN OF THE GRAND
JURY,
there are three of your members
II will not call names1 who, IL they
ever paid any State and county
taxes in my Office I do not know 5
II. -Four of you have paid your taxes for 1
1871 and the remaining six are delin-
quent for State and county taxes for
1871. Their combined State taxes on I
their own and on property they repre- S
sent, and which is still unpaid, amounts S
10 Sl2uo W. IN Olnet WORDS, t0ey have !
charged me with being delinquent to {
the State $4,000, Of which amount q
$500 90 is their own delinquency, and /
vet they sOlemnly and on their Oaths, I
have seen fit 10 charge me with their {
own delinquency. Gentlemen, you GER
tainIy did not know what you were do
ing, but simply did this, when the Comp
troller said that the balance due of un-
collected taxes for 1871 was Sl26, 600.
You placed the wrong construction upon s
1t and only inferred that il was money {
which had been collected by me, and |
for which / was delinquent. Grand
Juries should not rely too much upon /
inferences. In reply to what is said
FOR THE YEARS 1859 AND 1870,
l most respectfully refer to the follow i
ing letter from Comptroller Pennebaker:
OOsPTROLLERs OFFICE,
NASHVILLE, Tenn, April Is, 1872. 1
William Mclean, ESQ:
SIR--Upon comparing your state
ments, this day received, / find they do I
not agree with the hooks Of this office. I
ia account 1863, you claim fees on sales,
$500, when by orders OF Attorney-Cse Csers
eral ycu were allowed only S2709. You (