Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1875-10-01

How the City Forces Men to Settle.
Tho PeculIarit1es Of tho Method OF
Kidding, and the Nature of a Tax
Title.

Tho PecuIIarit1es OF tho Method Oh
bidding, and the Nature of a Tax
Tito.
Few readers of the Daily ADVERTISE,
can have failed to peruse the interest
ing continued story contributed to this
journal recently by General Sherwin-
a story full of accurate, if not graphic
descriptions of local scenery, and
abounding in illusions to people whose
names must have been readily recog-
nized by thousands of Bostonians, 1t
bore the title of "City Collectors
Notice." and was prefaced as follows
| The owners and occupants Of the
following described parcels OF real es-
tate, situated in the city of Boston, in
| the county Of Suffolk aud Common
wealth of Massachusetts. and the pub
lie, are hereby notified that the taxes
thereon severally assessed for the years
hereinafter specified, according to the
list submitted to me as collector of
taxes, remain unpaid, and that said
parcels Of real estate, or such undivided
portions of them as may be necessary.
will be offered at public auction for
sale at the office of Mcclellan & Knight,
room No. 10, Old State House, on
Saturday, Sept. 25, 1874, at 8 O'Clock,
M for the payment of said taxes, TO-
gether with costs and charges thereon,
unless the same shall be previously
discharged.
Doubtless all novel readers who
became absorbed in the succeeding
columns OF the collectors literary pro-
gestivs Of some of Walt Whitman's
loftiest verse, were disappointed at the
uncertainty in which the fate of the
numerous characters was left. Would
Patrick O'Houiihan, whose eautiful
estate in Lmerick street was so charm
ingly described by our author, be able
at last - raise the four dollar. eighty
seven and q half cents necessary to res
cue his manor from the clu Oh of he
law. or wonld that heartless villain,
the MORTGAGE, whom every well-reg
ulated borrower detests with all his
inpecunious soul, lay his gree dy hand
upon itf The collector gives no hint,
and the story, like the Mystery OF Ed
win brood, must ba finished, If fiuished
at all, By hess worthy hands.
The sequel of General Sherwin's
story vas duly enacted IL the Old
Stat II Iues on Sat1r iay. Alb ut thir-
" persons were present. The auction
eAr's het contained little over twenty
six hundred items, which fact shows,
as the number originally advertised for
sale was about thirty five hundred, that
the advertisements brought nine hun
dred deiinquents to the collectors
office with their tax money in their
hands. There was, in fact, great
rush of these eleventh-hour men ON
Friday, the receipts amounting to
sometlpg ike fifty thousand dollars.
Many more called and settled on Sat
uIday, so that the entire number of es-
tates saved from the ammer is con-
siderably over thousand The sale
began at about nine o'clock in the fore
noon and continued until quarter be-
fore four IN the afternoon. Every es-
tate on the list WAS put up, and be-
tween seventeen and eighteen hundred
were sold. This is, of course, very
quick work. The auctioneer announced
the estate offered and the amount of
tax due, calculated mysteriously the
monosyiiable "All, and unless It was
itnmadia:eiy taken said Monday" in
dloating THAI it was postponed until
that dsy. The bidding is quite differ
ent from that at ordinary sales. When
an estate is put up and a man says he
will take If, the auctioneer knocks it
down to him unless somebody else Of
fers to take fraction Of it, the law
practically requiring the sale OF no
more Of tho estate than will suffice to
pay the tax. For instance, if Mr.. A.
offers to take the whole and Mr.. B.
take three-quarters, The latter
gots it unless Mr.. a. offers
to take smaller fraction. There is
still another peculiarly about these
sales not generally understood. John
Smiths estate, consisting of house
and land worth, say, three thousand
dollars, is in debt for taxes to the
amount of forty-fve dollars. It is
knocked down to William Brown, who
merely pays the tax and receives from
called a tax title. This deed does not
mako him the absolute owner of the
estate. The law still recognizes John
Smith as the owner, and he can redeem
his property at any time within two
years after the sale by paying Brown
the forty-five dollars with ten per cent.
interest aud all necessary intervening
charges. or course, il the property
was not redeemed it would become
Browns, but such things are not al
lowed to happen. Mortgages, too,
have the right of redemption at any
time within two years after being mott
fed of the sale. no matter how long it
may be before the notice reaches them,
and at the sale they have prior right
over all others to take the estates on
which they hold mortgages. The rea-
son for this Is obvious. The sales may
be adjourned from day to day not ex-
ceeding seven days in the whole, and
all estates not sold within that time are
decided to the city, to be held subject
to redemption like the others. Thus
the six or seven hundred estates not
sold on Saturday will be put up to-day.
and those that then remain will be Of
fered again, aud SO on from day to day
as long as anything is left. to the end
of the seventh day. For any further
information desired on this subject see
Mcclellan & Knights, or the General
Statutes. Daily advertiser.