New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-05-26

lCSelt IN september, 1881. Through mis-
conception on the part OF county auditors
OF a not very lucid circular issued from the
office OF the auditor OF the state, or through
a misconstruction OF the law by the state
auditor who issued that circular, the de-
linquent sale OF 1881 was made to include
IN many counties not only property on
which taxes remained unpaid in 1879 and
prior years, but also property on which
the taxes OF 1879 and 1880 (became delin-
quent in 1880 and 1881 had not been
paid.
In these cases owners redeeming their
property through the generalforfeiture sale
OF 1881 paid the state taxes for 1879 and
1880 as we'll as for 1878 and prior years,
took the receipt OF the state and rested in
the reasonable presumption and belief that
their titles were without flaw. This pre-
sumption was not disturbed until 1883,
when the supreme court in the case OF Daw-
son and Kip held that the taxes OF 1879
80 were enormously included in the omni-
bus sale OF 1881. It then appeared that in
many cases the same description Of real
estate included enormously in that omni-
bus sale were also included in the regular
annual judgments and sales OF delinquent
property in the years 1880 and 1881 un-
der the General Laws OF 1881. In at least
two hundred OF these cases in Ramsey
county the county auditors books
show no record OF redemption though the
state had received and receipted for the
taxes in the forfeiture sale OF 1881. There
we're thus two possible titles to these de-
scriptions OF property-one gained by the
purchaser usually the owner Of the land)
at the forfeituse sale Of 1881 and another
gained at the customary annual sales of
property for delinquent taxes in the years
1880 and 1881. In the case under consid-
GRAFTON the latter title passed to the state
by the failure OF other persons to bid at
the sale, and the time for redemption ex-
picing in 1888, becomes absolute in the
state, which could transfer it to any pur-
chaser by the usual process OF application
to the county auditor and order OF sale up
on this application by the auditor. An
other supreme court decision, in the case OF
'Chauncey and Wass 1855, held that titles
acquired at the general forfeiture sale OF
1881 were junior to those that might be &C
'quired from the state under the regular
delinquency forfeiture OF 1880 and 1881
by the process above Indicated. Here was
the opportunity OF the tax title speculator,
whose path was made smooth for him by
the singular credulity and incapacity OF the
auditor OF Ramsey county and the covetous
and culpable collision OF his deputy and
clerk. There were in the city OF St. Paul
at the beginning of the present year some
OF an aggregate value OF $2OO,OOOto $780,
900, on which the state had received the
taxes for 1879 and 1880, as for all prior
and subsequent years, which the
county auditor had repea teddy cred
tied as free from state lien on ac-
count OF taxes as they passed from owner
to owner, in the rapid transfer OF an active
real estate market, but which the state had
acquired through the technical delinquency
OF these same taxes OF 1879 and 1880, an
absolute senior title, which it stood ready
to transfer to any applicant upon the pay
ment OF a few dollars of state taxes. just
when the attention Of the tax title specu-
Gators was directed to this promising field
For their industry does not appear. There
is dubious and fragmentary evidence OF
attempts to acquire tax titles OF this de-
scription during the last months OF 1885
and the first months OF the present wear,
but they seem to have been unsuccessful.
BLAME ON OFFICIAL SHOULDERS.
1t was reserved for the official staff OF
the county auditor-the functionary spe-
cially charged by law with the duty OF pro-
tecting the interests OF the taxpayers-to
organize, inclusion with an outside specu-
lator, the first effectiye raid upon the
property exposed to legalized plumber by
the defects OF the law or it's administration
John B. Pugsley is the deputy and Stanley
r. Dean the clerk of James O'Brien, audi
tor OF Ramsey county. The evidence OF
Pugsley before the grand jury, confirmed
and supplemented by the statements made
by Henry D. Lang and Walter e. Sanborn,
and by him repeated in his evidence show
that during the month OF March or April,
Pugsley, Dean and Lang formed sort OF
copartnership for thepurchase OF tax titles,
which Lang contributed the necessary non
ey and Pugsley and Dean such information
as they could give from the auditor books
IN their official relation to him. The three
partners were to divide equally the profits
OF the transactions in which they engaged,
and did SO divide the profits of all transac-
lions consummated Pugsley. the only one
OF the trio who has not fled the country,
swearing that he received $16O as his share.
There seems no doubt that Dean furnished
Lang transcript from the auditor books
OF descriptions OF property subject to sale
by the state, and that the two subordi-
mates influenced the feeble minded au-
ditor to order such sales as were
made. Their plan seems to have been for
Lang to acquire the tax titles, then to seek
to dispose OF them at a profit to other
dealers in such wares, or to employ them
to extort money from the owners OF the
fee to the property. Several real estate
dealers test ify to having been approached
owners OF property to several attempts,
sometimes successful to extort sums OF
money in consideration to quitclaim deeds.
The entire sum realized by these transac.
lions before they were summarily checked
was only 81, 100, but the magnitude OF the
values attacked indicate the possibilities
latent in the consL tracy. The transac-
ton most definitely traced from begin
ming to end was one in which Lang, acting
for the syndicate, sold to his employer,
Walter H. Sanborn, tax title obtained
as above described, to certain West St.
Paul property in which the Sanborn broth
ers are interested. The title cost Lang
forty or fifty dollars, and Sanborn paid
him over $500 for it, Lang retaining SIS
as conscience money. Sanborn afterward
gave Ansel Oppenheim, who is interested
in the same property, a quitclaim deed to
his portion withoutconsideration. About
the same time Lang borrowed $500 ofJohn
B. Sanborn in the ordinary course OF bust.
ness, giving his note and good collateral
therefor.