Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-05-28


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35ss 8, !. So
s. -. ~ u ,I y -
II s.
49, sounsy Z On sne Tax
- shaf g - ny Kesatl.
/ b The erand iury 81 Ramsey co,Intv aftar,
nearlyls d week. Ieliberat TOM ana m. tak.
Ing 81 evidence rom score 7nf. vitnessea
submit btad 3 speciial renDrt nnorS 'fks4 M.
title frauds practiceI IL Ramsev comfy.
and IL 10 understoo d that several persons
have been indicted. The report 81 4 severe
arraignment Of all concerned, Including the
county auditor and his assistants, aid the
late assistant d. s. Ittorney. Tie .rand
jury say: s IA &
The special cases of abusa under inyeat;,a.
tion arose out 81 the so.called onnnibus de-
linouxnt tax sale a. 1881 nnl1er tha psner.
a forfeiture law a that vear Rv that
law county auditors were directed To n.
| clude in the delinauent tax iudamert and
sale az 1897 All 1nronartv m vshich - ros
due in 1878 and nrinr yeara fbecoma al.
linauent IN 1873 and nrinr /. vearsl -.
manned Eunnaid Thia law vas in tenile7 IN
operate a 8 General 4clea rinc an n ia 70
ard 81 satflino 81 f;tlea O, 3 raal rrnna-tr
in The stafe In tnsand incIndins the rea,s
1888. Title "a ali nronartv not "a.
deemed under its provisions passed abso.
lutely to tho state. Pronertv own
ers generally awaited 4; themselves 81 the
opportunity to nerf.ct their t;fias and
had tho law been intellnently and care mi,
lyconstrued and adminjstered It's onera-
ton would have been Wholly satisfactorv.
The history of the errors which have been
made in the other taaea bera,, y ith thp 40 Il
itself in Seutember. 1881. Thronrh ! mia mia.
conception On the part al county auditors
| OF q not very lucid circular ixane.l from the
office OF the auditor OF the state. ar thronah non
a nisconstruction Of the law 81 the state
auditor who issned that circniar tho a..
| linuuent sale Of 1881 was made e. ;nc,,,de
| in many counties not only. property On
| which taxes remained unpaid in 1874 and
| prior wears. but also nronertv. m which
| the taxes Of i S79 and ia86 2ibecame dal;n.
| quent in ] $50 and 1851 had not ~been
paid .. i /. &, liz
In these cases owners redeeming their
| property through the general forfeiture sale
I 1880 as well as for 1878 and orior wears
took the receipt OF the state and rested in
| the reasonable presu mntion and belief that
| their titles were without flaw. This nre-
sumption was not disturbed until 1Ss3
| when the supreme court in the case Of Dnw.
son and Kip held that the taxes OF 1879.
| so wero enormously included in the omni.
bus sale Of 1881. It then appeared that in
many cases the same description of ron
estate included erroneously IN that omni-
bus sale we're also included in the regular
| annual judgments and sales of deina1ent
| property in the wears 1880 and 1RS1 M.
der the General Laws of 1881. In at least
two hundred Of these cases in RAMSEY
! county the county auditors hooks
show no record OF redemption, though the
1 state had received and receinAed for fhe
i
were thus two possible titles to these de-
scriptions OF propertv--one gained hv the
purchaser usually the owner of the IanG1
at The forfeituse sale of 1881 and another
gained at the customary annual salea NJ
property for DELINQUENT taxes IN tho wars
1850 and 1881. In the case under cons;d.
Grafton the latter title nassed to the stat to
by the failure OF other nersons to hid at
the sale. and the time for redemntion ex.
piring in 1874 becomes ahsc.lntn in tho
state. which could transfer It to INV mr..
chaser by the usual process Of annlication
to the county auditor and order 1t snle nm.
on this application by the auditor. Al.
other supreme court decision, in the case OF
Chauncey and Wass Il 1881 held that titles
acquired at the general t6rfeiture sale Of
! 1881 were Junior to those chat might he &C.
! uuired from the atate nnaer the regular
| delinquency forfeiture of 1880 and 1851
by the process above indicated. Here was
| the opportunity Of the tax title sneculator
whose path was made smooth for him nv
| the angular crednlitv and inca nac;tv nj tia
| auditor of Ramsey county and The covetors
| and culpabIe collnsion Of his denutv and
clerk. There were in the city of St. PAIL
| at tho beginning OF the present vear soma
| 200 to $50 DESCRIPTIONS al real nronertv
| OF an agcreqa te value of 5000. COOto S3O0.
| 900, on which the state had received the
! taxes for 1879 and 1850. as for all nrior
and subsequent years. which the
| county auditor had repeat edlv cred-
! tied as free from 81 state lien on nc
| 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
,lcquir ed .throu ugh 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 pny-
| ment Of q few dollars Of state taxes. lust
when the attention of the tax title specu-
lators was directed to this promising field
| for their industry does not appear. There
| is a dubious and iraementary evidence al
| attempts to acquire tax titles Of this de-
| scription during the last months Of 1855
| a nd the first months of the present wear.
| but they seem to have been unsuccessful.
:. BLAME ON OFFICIAL sHouLnrRs.
It was reserved for tho official etaff of
| the county auditor--the functionary spe-
| cially charged by law with the duty OF pro
| tecting the interests OF The taxpayers-to
organize, in collision with an outside specu-
| lator, the first elective raid upon the
! property exposed to legaliretl plumber by
the t}efecta az the law or its ad ministra tion