The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-10-31
OAKLAND, ND, Oct. 9th, 1885.
w. H. TOWER.

ED. REPUBLICAN In the last is
sue OF the REPUBLICAN my attention
has been called to a series of charges
attempted to be made against the
Democratic mismanagement of the
affairs of this county, which seem to
have originated from the fertile brain
OF some critic who has shown more
malice than facts and figures. The
7th paragraph refers to certain re-
turns made by me to the County
Commissioners of this county of sew
eral tracts of land not heretofore as
sessed or appearing upon the tax
books or this comfy, and the charge
is there made that the Commission.
ers had no authority to employ me
for any such purpose, and the infer
ence is lett that the peoples money
Wa Asquandered performing this
Work, and receiving reasonable pay
for the same.
Nov, if the writer of this article
had gotten some one to have referred
him toChap. 260 of the Acts of 1884,
would have seen that the Commits
sioners are expressly authorized to
make new assessments on property
brought 10 their knowledge, and
this INDEPENDENT of the tax colIec-
tor.
Now it is a we'll known fact, and
has been matter of common COM
plant among the taxpayers of this
county, that there is now and has
been ever since its organization
a large quantity of valuable land had
lever been assessed or subjected to
taxation, the present Board, believ-
ing these statements to be true, en-
ployed me to look into the matter
and ascertain to what extent these
lands remained unassessed and to
bring to them proper description of
said land and the names of the own
ers. Acting under their instructions
l Immediately gave the matter my
attention, and after labOring and
going to good deal of personal ex-
pense making examinations records
in Cumberland and at the Land Of
fee in Annapolis, which occupied my
time more or less for about six
months, | returned to them list of
lands not heretofore assessed, amount.
ing to ,SS5 acres, which has increas.
ed the taxable basis of the county
S58,775, and bringing into the treasu-
ry Of the county the sum of about
S77G taxes. And if l felt at liberty
to occupy further space in your
paper in making this reply | should
be glad to furnish the people of this
county the names Ofthe tracts of land
so returned by me, with the number
of acres in each, the names of the
owners, &C., and a reference to the
I6COIuS WHGIG Sdlu lduuo lIS uSSSllD-
ed, which will show conclusively
that the above list is not fictitious,
and that the charge made against me
is entirely false, / deem it proper to
say that if any citizen desires any
further information upon this matter
to prove the falsity Of the charge
made against me in the REPUBLI-
CAN, shall be glad to furnish any
of them with the list of said lands, if
they will take the trouble to call on
me, so that if the above tax is not
collectable, it will not be the fault of
the Commissioners or tax-cOllectOr,
but will be the result of a failure
on the part of the Legislature to
pass proper laws to collect the
same. Now, in conclusion, desire
to say that up to this time | have re-
ceived for the above labor and inves-
LEGATIONS the small sum ofS50, which
has resulted in bringing a large
amount Of money into the county
treasury, some of which has already
been collected by the tax collector,
and the remainder will be collected
by proper effort on his part.
Very respectfully,
J. T. MITCHELL.
1, Richard T. Browning, collector
of taxes for Garrett county, do here
by certify that the above facts and
figures set forth in the letter of John
r. Mitchell, are true, and that have
already collected portion of the
taxes therein referred to, and have
reason to believe that l shall be able
to collect the greater amount of the
same.
r. T. BROWNING.
The tract called "Troas," contain
ing 1,50Ss acres, which has been as
sessed to Col. r. S. McCulloch by
Mr.. Mitchell, is not owned nor claim
ed by Col. McCulloch, The McCul'
Ioch g. Templeman patent for "Troas'
was found to be void, because the
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