The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-02-06
FAcrs vs. FICTION.
I.spIy or ". }. Jene. . T. i. smltn.
ANOTHER swINDLE.

| DtcuS Oh Sdiu county, charging illegai
fecs-fees that are not authorized nor
contemplated by the statute, to-wit: The
said Jones charges 81 - for the record
ing of mortgages that the law allows but
50 cents for, and $1.00 for the recording
| of deeds that the law allows him but 20
cents for. And the said Jones keeps
posted up in his Office what purports 10
be statement of the fees allowed by
! law, WHICH statement is false; the said
Jones has been so informed and dared
not deny il. And the said Jones has
| been informed that his charges were IL
! legal and in violation of law. and yet the
said Jones persists in charging fees that
he knows are in violation of law
F. E. SMITH.
In view of what is stated above,
deem it duty TO myself and to those
who have placed me in this position, TO
state the facts concerning the accusation
above, and to expose its utter falsity, and
to try and explain the motives which
could have led the gentleman 2 to make
such villainous and slanderous state
ments- In the first place he seems to in
| fer that the over charging and illegal
fees have originated since have become
register. while the fact is that the only
change that has taken place since my
election has been reduction of fees, as
can he seen by preference had to the re-
| ception book in this Office
Smith lied willfully, or from Igno-
rance of the law-aud Smith is an attor-
ney at law (0-when he said that we
were only entitled to 20 cents for COM
/ mon warranty deeds and 90 cents for
mortgages. The legal fee on an ordina-
ry warranty deed is S1.O5, when there is
but one descriptiOn-the smallest are
never under 80 cents; but if there is
more than one description we are enti-
tied to 10 cents additional for each de-
scription, for entering it in the numeri-
cal index. If there were five descrip-
tons or lots we would be entitled to
$145. But unless there are more than
four or five descriptions, OF unless they
are very complicated, we never charge
over SIS cents less than legal fees, at
least calculation.
The customary fee for mortgages, be-
fore and after the introduction of the
numerical index, has been $1.25. We
had taken for granted that it was legal
and correct. We find by investigating
that a mortgage with one short descrip-
ton amounts to $1.15, with two or more
description 10 cents additional for each
description. Again, if the description is
long, the fee will be $125. We do not
know by what kind of computation
Smith came to the conclusion that the
fees were 20 cents and 80 cents. The
statement that dare not deny, that l
charge illegal fees is absolutely false
do deny it and pronounce the assertion
of Smith an uumitigated lie
! challenge Smith to point ont any
particular in which the statement of
fees posted up in this Office is false. 1t
was placed there by my predecessor,
Mr.. Page, for whose memory the people
of Lyon county have too much regard
to hear to anything that may he melted
out by The vile hands of Smith. The
statement is literal copy of the stat
utes, and if the gentleman CO does not
understand il it is because he does not
understand the statutes or because he
lies wilfully. When we consider that
the gentleman % is u lawyer by profes
sion, we conclude the falsehood must be
willful.
What motives could have actuated
Smith 10 do what he has is a IN ;stery.
1t must be that he has a great deal of
leisure and no other business 10 attend
to. l would suggest that lie occupy
some of his leisure moments in invcsti-
eating the law on this subject, before
making his slanderous accusations.
The law does not anticipate that we
shall count every instrument that comes
into this Office for record, but if any per-
son disputes our fee, he is at liberty to
do so, and need not pay more than is
legal, in case it should be demanded of
him.
About two months ago. Smith brought
five mortgages into the office and asked
what the recording fees would be. l
told him that as the descriptions were
short, and as the instruments were short
in other particulars, we would record
them for 81 each, Smith stating that
he would have a great many more to
record. He then left, without paying
the fees for recording. After making
inquiries and being informed by Il Ger
tain gentleman, that he would not trust
Smith for cent, | determined not to
put them on until paid, and
told Smith, when he came here the same |
day, that he had better pay for his mort
CAGES before we would record them. |
also remembered that Smith had brought |
two chattel mortgages here sometime in |
June. Our fee for them was % cents |
each, but the law allowed us 40 cents |
each. Smith paid % cents in all, prom |
Using to pay the remainder at some fu-
ture time. CThe time has not yet arrived.) |
AS told this to Smith he said it was |
well enough to make these farmers paw |
when they brought in their instruments, |
but not with the business men of the |
city; and he told me to record the mort |
cages and bring them the next day and |
he would pay for them. recorded them /
and took them up the next day, and from |
some cause or other Smith did not have
a cent of money. He has not had any
since: at least, we have received nothing
for recording the mortgages. not even 80
cents each. He also brought a plat of IA
subdivision for record and inquired in re-
gard TO fees. We told him we were allowed
$500 for anything less than hun
dred lots, to which he Immediately re-
piled, without asking a reduction-that
we We're not. | then asked his legal
opinion as to what We were allowed, but
received no definite answer. | then told
him we would not record it unless he
paid the legal fees. He then paid the
fee These may be some of the causes
the gentleman O. had for writing what
he did; but we think it would have look
ed little better for him to have tender
ed at least 90 cents each for the merit
CAGES before making his assault.
Another motive which may have af-
iected the gentleman @ and a reason
why lac complains in regard 10 fees is
because so many of the instruments he
draws up, have to be re-recortled, so tlat II
comes very heavy on him and his clients.
A person who (as we have been in
formetD charges $500 for drawing up
five deeds, without taking the acknowI-
edgments, and which deeds had to be re-
vlsed and corrected before they were of
any validity, ought not to complain if
we charge 500 for recording mortgage
and acknowledgment, for filing and in
licking in general and numerical index
es, and for entering in reception book,
and running all over town for the
money.