The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-02-15
LIST OF DELINQUEN L


John Smith p 10
Put up sir IN PIc@
[ lost no time in seeking an interview
with Uncle Billy, and giving him plainly to
understand that | WAS gravely offended at
this unjust Treatment, and damadlnB that
nv mime be removed from the list. iie
very ,mlingly remarked that my taxes
had been paid, the name on the list was the
name of the other John Smith not mine at
| all. DESTROYS Of setting myself right
through the public press, demanded a Ger,
tificato to that effect, which, sir, he declined
to give, and upon my insisting, coolly nd
vised me to have my tax receipt printed IN
the newspapers; and that was all | could
get out of him.
| Not long afterwards the collector OF de-
linquent taxes Games upon me, for the
amount with damages. !, Of course, refused
to pay, and expected row, but upon the
production of my tax receipt he went quiet
| ly away which sir, though l don't claim to
be dangerous man at all, it was very well
he did.
OF course ] could do no less than Call
the Shoritf's attention to this call having
been made upon me. lie expressed no
surprise, and, I may say, but little sympa-
thy Having asked if had paid the
taxes over apain, or given the collector
bis dinner, TO which questions of course
[ gave a negative reply) he said that
he couldnt see that | was damaged in the
operation. [ have always supported that
mans election, but told my friends how |
had been treated, and intmated that there
might be such thing as carrying things a
little too far. However, | met U, i. on
the street pretty soon after that, and he III
vited me to go to dinner with him. Gas far
as my observation extends he never stands
treat. and | went, ana he took occasion to
explain things, this way: That the Auditor
charges him with the full amount of the
taxes assessed in Copiah county; that he is
CREDITED with the amounts of such delin-
quent taxes as he may be, in fact unable
to collect after exhausting the legal means
for collection. That the roll, prepared by
the Assessor, and corrected by the Board of
Supervisors being once place i'll his hands,
no correction of error, however manifest,
could be made. Aud that to the best of his
knowledge and belief there is, and at the
the time the assessment was made, was, no
other John Smith in Copiah county, but
myself.
This, You see, threw the whole blame
where it properly belongs, upon the Board
of Supervisors; whose sduty it is, their
action in the matter being 'fnal and con-
elusive to see that my name, my prop
3rty, and the amount of tax to be paid on
t, shall not appear twice ON tue roll, and, |
once on the delinquent list
They have a certain time allowed by law to
examine the assessors returns, to correct |
the errors aud place the corrected book in |
the hands of the sheriff. They are paid
handsome per diem for their services, and |
the way their work was done has been the |
cause of all my trouble in this matter.
Now, while / entertain, personally, the |
kindest regards for all the members OF the |
Board, from the competent, well fed |
President, to the lean member from Beat
No. 4, l cannot forget the fact, respect or
no respect, that John Smith poll. ST; l
clock 80 II, is on the delinquent list,
But, upon complaining to the President
Of the Board, I was informed that the hon
orable body of which he had the good for>
tune to he a member, and over whose de-
alterations he had the honor TO preside, etc,
did not, AMI could not know, and in the
nature Of things could not be expected /
to infer, that the ancient and honorable
family of Smiths, in as large and populous
a county as ours, would have but a single
''by the name of John"
That the Board labored earnestly. carefully,
ETC., in their examination Of the
book, as returned by the assessor, that in
the aforesaid book, two John Smiths were
assessed. or one John Smith was assessed
twice las the case might be) and, with the
lights before them r. with five George
Washingtons staring them in the faco-with
scores Of Tom Johnsons and Bill Thomp-
sons before them, they had no means of
knowing, or reasons for imagining, that
John was alone on The long list of Jas
Smiths. VIM. Smiths, Thos. Smiihs-whiie
Smiths, black Smiths and the like on that
long roll of respectable taxpayers. That
IN the absence OF any Individual knosledge
Of the matter on the part of The members,
or any information from outside sources,
the books were adopted ar turned over by
the assessor. That ! Lad not been before
the Board 10 state ON oath or otherwise,
that was not two John Smiths, aud the
other John Smith having equally Jailed TO
show 10 the members that he was not John
smith, he thought that On .ht not 10 bear
malsco Int lie willing 10 allou that the .