The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-03
A BEAUFORT BILL
FOR REIMBURsING TIE OWNERS
OF CERTAIN PROPERTY
Sold by the General Government
After the War-Speech of Congress
man Elliott Tho pJlI Will Pasa

! sofa by the General Government
| After the War-Speech of Congress
man Elliott-The Bill VIII Pass.
From. the AUGUSTA Chronicle.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31.-Did you ever
know the whole town Of Beaufort had been
sold for taxes!
Well, anyhow, | did not until to-day
when / learned it from Congressman Eli
| otis speech before the House Judiciary
Committee on the direct tax refunding bill.
Mr. Elliott has a bill which he asked the
! committee to adopt as an amendment Of the
direct tax bill. He spoke forty minutes.
AT the conclusion of his speech, which Mr..
Dibble pronounced as having been unu-
sually able, lucid and forcibIe, the commit
tee re-committed the direct tax bib and Mr..
Eliott's 20 a Subcommittee 10 report on the
next regular meeting Of the whole com
mittee
About 1863 the town of Beaufort, assessed
at 900, was sold for direct taxas and
bought by the government for $1,000.
One hundred and ten thousand acres OF land
IN the parishes st. Helena and St Luke
! were sold and bought by the government
Tor mere song, 40, coo acres bringing only
&c. per acre and 10000 bringing SOC. per
acre. All this land at that time was worth
easily so per acre, although by state
| statute amounting to exemption, it could
only be assessed at 81 This property was
sold by order Of President Lincoln, to
Board of Selection, consisting of Gems.
| Hunter and Saxon and three Federal Com
! mlssloners Of South Carolina, directing
them to sell such property as they thought
| proper Tor any government purpose. The
plantation land was re-sOld in twenty-aCre
! lots under the Ffeedman's Bureau act 10 the
1 of .alg, ct Z
acre. The Beaufort property was also re-
sold, and to-day the people of that town
who reside in their homes owned before the
war have either redeemed them or bought
them of strangers. When The sale was made
there was only one white man at home in
Beaufort. The government in re-selling the
property realized in one way and another
S4eO, 600, by far the greater part of which
was derived from st. Helena parish, whose
quota of tax was only about 5000. Under
an act of 1872. fifty-four lots of Beaufort
and fifty plantations were redeemed from
the government.
Mr.. Elliott seeks an amendment to the
direct tax bill, re-imbursing the rightful
owners of those 10000 acres and Of
Beaufort In cases where redemptions have
occurred, as mentioned above, the cost only
OF the redemption will be repaid In cases
where the owners are still deprived of pos
session, the amendment provides that they
be paid the assessed value of their Beaufort
lots and actual value at the time of sale of
plantations. Mr. Elliott thinks that
81 500, 900 will be sufficient to cover the gov
ernment's obligations. The money is not
to go to the State, but to the claimants
individually by the Secretary of
the Treasury or by the Court Of
Claims in cases of difficulty. This is
the first attempted legislation for re-
dress. Suit was entered in court of South
Carolina before Chief Justice Waite. The
case was lost on decision against the pro-
duction of any proof as to Irregularities of
sales and the sale receipts. The court held
| that there was no gong behind the returns
and the Supreme Court, as then const-
tuted, confirmed the lower court. Althouy h
| these sales were prohibited by the General
commanding. under threats even of arrest,
they were continued without any successful
interruption. The owners of these lands
are scattered all over the South now, many
of them being in Georgia. They will be
glad to learn that the general belief is that
the committee will recommend full pay
ment.