The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-05-12
THE TAX CASE

: The suit of Geo. Crismon, collecto
4. of Salt Lake County, against tn,
, Bingham Canyon and Camp FlOyt
Railroad. was ended yesterday, al
least for the present. This case
brought for the recovery of taxes
under the old and the new tax laws
has occupied the attention of the
court for about a week, the greater
part of which was devoted to argu-
mentS as to the admissibility OF
testimony offered by the plaintiff.
AS stated on Wednesday morning,
Judge Hunter ruled against the
county regarding the taxes delin-
quent for the years prior to 1878, on
the same grounds as those given in
the case of the collector against j.
G. Sutherland, which was analogous
On Tuesday the plaintiff attemp-
ted to introduce testimony as regards
the taxes delinquent since and in
Guiding 1878, when the defense OBJ
jected on the following grounds:
1st.-That the assessment roll for
1878 did not contain Il sufficient de-
|scriptiOn of the property of the de-
fendanL.
2nd.-That the assessment did not
give the name of the defendant cor
rectly.
3rd.-That the tax roll for that
year was not certified by the county
clerk at the time required by the act
of 1878, and before its delivery to the
tax collector.
4th.-That the tax imposed on the
defendant was not prefixed by the 8
mark.
5th.-Because the collector, not
having a properly certified tax roll
in his possession, had no warrant to
distrain for taxes, and that until he
had such a tax roll, he had not eX-
hausted all the remedies by distraint,
as required by law, before bringing
suit, and therefore could not main
tain this action.
The objections were thoroughly
argued on Tuesday, the arguments
about the regular hour
for adjournment, when the ques-
tions were taken under advisement.
On Wednesday morning, Judge
Hunter, in a verbal ruling
on the objections interposed
by the defense, oVerruled the
first and second objections, and sus-
tanned the remainder; that is, he
held with the collector on all points
relating to the form of the assess
ment roll and abstract or tax book, |
except that there was no dollar
mark attached to the numerals;
holding, although he might have |
some doubts about the point him
self, that the Supreme Court of the
Territory, having decided that the
absence of the dollar mark was fatal,
be was bound by that decision. He
also held that the collector was
bound to pursue the methods pointed
1ut by the revenue law in the col
ection of taxes, and the first step,
upon taxes becoming delinquent,
was to seize and sell personal, or in
is absence real property, sufficient
% pay the taxes, and, it not being
shown that the collector had seized
he property of the railroad COM
lany, he had no right to bring the
Iuit.
Counsel for CrismOn here rose and
stated that in the suit of the railroad
company against them, Judge Shaef-
'er had granted an injunction pro-
libiting the collector from Selling
II selling the railroad company'S |
property, and that the injunction re-
NAMED in force until the time
by law for the seizure
md sale of property for de-
inquent taxes had expired,
and thus they were, by Judge |
Schaeffer, prevented from doing the
very thing this court now held ne
,essary to be done before a suit |
could be commenced; and they Of
fered in evidence the records of the
court to show these facts. The
offer was objected to by the defense,
and the evidence excluded by the
court. The plaintiff being unable |
to do anything farther, then rested
his case, and the defense, without
any case whatever, moved
for non-suit, which was granted.
An exception was taken by the
plaintiff, and sixty days time
granted in which a statement, ETC.,
on motion for a new trial could be
and filed. What further
action will be taken in
the case is not known, but
by the anomalous rulings of the
two judges in the same court, it
seems that the county is in a sOr-
rowful condition, and practically
barred from obtaining justice.