Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-04-24
0UTRAGING THE POOR.
HasDsHIPs CAUSED nv TBE PRESENT
MUNICIPAL LIEN LAWS.
How small Property owners. wbo Have Been
Unable to Pay rns,r Taxes In Time,
Are Hauled Up ana Forced to ray
Outrageous suns to Obtain
Their Release

An instance Of peculiar hardship was wit
messed in the prothouotary's office the other
day. A poor woman, whose face aud dress
betokened her long struggle against pow
erty, presented herself to pay some taxes
that had been assessed against a small prop.
erty which she had managed by dint OF M ing
and scraping to keep In her possession. As
she stepped forward aud gave her name and
the amount that was assessed N unpaid,
what seemed almost like a smile stole over
her careworn features. The thought that
her property WAS to be freed from this an
noyng lien seemed To be written on her face.
But tho cup Of joy was dashed from her
lips when the prothonotary's clork an
nounced that there was assessed against the
property not only the unpaid tax, which was
a little more than s., but a bill of costs
amounting TO more than SIS. It was too
much for tho little woman, and she burst
into tears. Before tho big bill of costs she
was PROSTATE, as the small sum that she had
fondly believed would purchase her piece
for another year was not sufficient to pay
one. half of the accumulation that had grown
around tho original debt. She paid what
she had on account and went away with hot
tears of sorrow chasing each other down her
cheeks.
Now there il no doubt in the world that
this was an outrage.
why? Listen to the facts.
LIGHT IN DARk PLACES.
II frequently happens, when the assessors
bills for taxes are presented, that small prop
erty owners OF meagre means are unable to
pay them in the required time. Knowing
not the rigors OF the law, they may perhaps
think 1t will not make much difference If
postponed ior time They are AZ rule
poor people, aud think perhaps that fact will
plead for them. But they Will discover their
error all too soon, when they are hauled up
in the style referred to In the above story OF
the poor woman.
If YOU will 20 into tho prothouotary's
office aud ask any OF the geutlemanly Off
cials therein to see the Municipal Lien
Docket No. J. you Will tnd the latest cases
OF liens filed for unpaid city taxes. Begin
ming on rage II and ending on page 81 are
grouped IS liens, the sums i'll question rang
ing from NJ cents to little less than SlO0
ON tho bigger half Of these you Will find
what seems an insignificant memorandum !:
"Scire iacias-term, No. - That means
that execution has been issued on the iudg-
ment. In other words, If the owner OF the
property does not step up aud pay the tax
and costs, the sheriff Will proceed to sell the
property aud thus get them.
LOOMS FORMIDABLE.
This looks very formidable, don't it? But
az a matter of fact there Is no record of a sale
OF city property having been made for the
sole purpose of satisfying city taxes. SO that
It Is not stretch of the Imagination to define
the execution process in municipal liens to
lie largely a " blutl game. But those who
find themselves in this between the devil
and deep sea predicament are usually very
willing to pay the bill of costs that is run up
against them, considering 1t a cheap way of
avoiding tho sacrifice of their property. They
do not closely scrutiniZe the itemized cost
bill to find if all the charges are legal. They
simply ask /" how much" pay it and depart,
vowiug that they will never be similarly
caught again.
\ reporter Of the lNrELL1GENCER, of n
curious turn of mind, was looking over the
Municipal Lien Docket, No. ;, and on page 10
found "A claim for g. - on seventh ward
property, that being the amount Of city tax
assessed against that real estate for lsS5. 4
sci Id had been issued to February term 1856.
A reference to the common pleas appearance
docket showed how the owner of the prop
erty paid, in addition to 81. So taxes, the fol.
lowing bill of costs