Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-07
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
Reply to County Trustee Rawling

EDITORS APPEAL-In the APPEAL of the
thirty first of May, card appears over the
signature of Mr.. Rawlings, county trustee,
in answer to one of the series of resolutions
adopted by the Independent Workingmen's
fifth ward club, in which he says of one of
the resolutions: 'Some might infer that it
alluded to me. / hope and trust it does not.
If it has any allusion to me, | beg to be adj
vised, that | may prove to the contrary" In
answer to Mr.. Rawlings, we would respect
fully reply, that it alludes to all who may be
guilty of depressing the laboring and work
ingmen to secure unnecessary fees out of them
by compelling them to pay costs in addition
to their polI-tax. We make the charge that
official in t1e collections of the poll tax are
Expressing the poor, colored and white, and
the proofs are In our possession, copies of
which accompany this card. Mr.. Rawlings
says he ordered the garnishments to be
stopped until the parties refused to pay the
same; but, for all that, the oppression still
goes on. The very day that the
card appeared one OF the poll-tax
collectors presented a notice to par
parties near the Charleston railroad depot,
and after receiving the promise that the tax
would be paid, not half an hour passed
before an officer served garnishment on the
parties, and in Mr.. Rawlings name. These
parties appeared before the magistrate, the
poll-tax was accepted, but no costs attached.
That being the case, what necessity was there
of the garnishment the original printed for
these cases by j. S. Galloway, and are in our
possession.
State of Tennessee, Shelby county-State of Ten
nesSee as. L. Johnson
l summoned you to appear before j. s.
Galloway, a justice of the peace for said
county, at his office, No. Sc Madison street,
Memphis, Tennessee, on the third day of May,
1875 at one o'clock, against whose property
| have distress warrant In my hand In favor
of the State of Tennessee; and what effects
OF said L. johnson you have in your hands,
or know of any other person having, to the
best of your recollection, knowledge or belief,
and | notify you not to pay to said defendant
any debts, now and hereafter to become due,
but to retain possession of the same, and all
property and effects of said defendant which
may come within your control up to the tune
of your answer to this garnishment.
Given under my hand this first day of June,
1873.
j. j. RAwLINS. Trustee.
j. NJ WILLIAMS, Deputy Trustee.
You will see, Messrs Editors, that this
garnishment was served on the first of June,
1873 and the party summoned to appear on
the third day of May, the same year. when
already month had passed. We also fur
nish copy of the original receipt given to
Calvin Horne, one of the eleven employed by
P. M. Patterson q Co.:
Dist. No. 147-Follo No. =. Supple.
MEMPHIS, TENN, April 80, 1878.
Mr.. Calvin Horne , 49,, 1917
Received payment
j. J. RAWLINS, Trustee.
Per E. l.. RAWLINGS. Deputy Trustee.
This shows, Messrs. Editors, that this tax,
with ten others, was paid on the twenty
ninth day of April, 1878. Somewhere about
the eighteenth or twenty fifth of May follow
ing, P. M. Patterson & Co. were served with
a St1,na mi fnr ba Of
in the eleven cases. We now furnish a copy
of the receipt, wherein each and all paid the
above cost, preferring it to being involved in
serious lawsuit:
81 40.
Received, Memphis, June 1, 1873, of CAL
to j. M. Williams, in full of his cost in poll
tax case. Receipt taken from Williams for
SIS rs, of which this is part.
p NJ. PATTERSON Il CO.,
per b. A. wills.
In Mr.. Rawlings's card, he says: 81 have
instructed my collectors, if they can bring
anyone to their mind from whom they have
wrongfully collected any money, to hunt HIM
up and send him to me and | will refund the
same" When they apply for redress, the
question is, Have you paid your poll-tax?
Answer-We have. Well, then, that is
you paid your costs? Yes. Well. that is
what we want. And they are informed that
they may go home. accompanied with some
abusive language. We can produce wit
pesses who went to pay their poll-tax at Mr.
Rawlings's office. three or four months ago,
and the money was refused, with the state
ment that it would cause hard feelings be-
tween the office and the collectors.
Here is copy of a receipt, given on NJ on
day, June 3, 1878, which we cannot under
stand, unless it is that Mr.. Holman has as
sumed Mr.. Rawlngs's burdens temporarily,
in order that Mr.. Rawlings may lay in the
shade until the election is over.
DISTRICT No. 14-W. No. }.
MEMPHIS, TENN, June 3, 1873. {
State of Tennessee:
Mr.. John Miller debtor to State and county
taxes for 1876-poll-tax, So.
A true copy.
Received payment.
County Trustea