Evening journal., 1891-05-22
PETITIONERS REFUSED.
COLLECTOR DoueHERTY WILL NOT
BE REMOVED.

1awfu1-hust Walt Until MAY 20 ana
Proceed on the oTolai Bend Petition
indefinitely Postponed.
The Levy Court OF New Castle county |
will not remove Tax Collector John J.
Dougherty upon the petition Of his sure
titles
On Wednesday the Levy Court met,
heard the petition. and.made the matter |
the special order for this morning
Shortly after 10 o'clock this morning |
the Levy Court met. On motion Of Mr.. |
Clark the matter WAS taken up Clerk |
Eliason read the petition OF the sureties. |
President Buckingham called upon r. |
g. Bradford, attorney for the court, for |
his opinion in the case. Mr.. Bradford
replied that as Mr. Rodney was repre-
senting the petitioners in the case, he
thought It would be better to hear from
him. Mr. Rodney was not in the room
Mr. Rossell, of the Security, Trust and
Safe Deposit Company, said that s@some
of the sareties had gone out for him.
Mr. Bradford then arose and said that
under the provisions Of the Five Com
missioner bill it was impossible for the
Levy Court to grant the request Of the
petitioners He said that the petition
was iled under the provisions OF the law
Of 1887 relating to collectors, and the
repeating clause Of the Five Commits
sioners bill wiped that out as we'll as the
Office of county collector
Therefore he considered that the only
thing for the court TO do under the law
was to refuse the petition, and to wait
until the Goth Of this month, when the
twenty days allowed collectors to settle
with the county treasurer have expired,
and then proceed to enter judgment upon
his official bond.
tho other side of the Question.
At this juncture. Mr. Rodney, attor-
ney for the petitioners. appeared He
said that he had no further statement to
make than that In the petition presented
on Wednesday. and the one he would
present this morning Assoon as he had
/ finished he presented the following state
mtnt to the court:
"To the Levy Court Of New Castle county,
''GRNTLRdEN The undersigned, John
B. Rodney, Attorney for the sureties of
John J Dougherty. late Collector Of taxes
| for the Northern District Of Wilmington
hundred, respectfully submits the fol-
lowing statement in support Of the petit
tion filed on the 20th instant, asking
that the said collector be restrained from
| the further collection of taxes, etc
THE books ana accounts of your
court show that the said collector is
charged for the year 1890 with county
and poor taxes amounting to e6l 675 So /;
negro school tax for same year, not
ascertainable from your books. estimated
at 1,000 $62, 675 49, Mr.. Dougherty
has mRds cash payments Of $37 224 10;
errors allowed him for 1899, $6l5 %
errors allowed him for 1890 Sc, 107 7S
commissions for 1890 (estimated),
S3.297,17 $472i4 80; balance due.
$t5, 431 81
"Mr Dougherty had in hand on April
2 1891. county orders not vet placed to
his credit, amounting TO $267, and may
have cash or obligations to turn over
with his books which, with these orders
III further reduce his indebtedness
ION April % and 20 last, a partial
examination Of the collectors books wa.
! made, with his permission, by two &C
countants selected BY the sureties Thil
examination showed that there wer,
0 items not marked paid" aggregating
For 1899 Gncluding negro school tax
$4,8l9 43 for 1890, Oncluding negro
school tax $40 200 81; total, $14,Si9 IA
From this there has been collected ans
I paid over to the county treasurer. anS
included In the credit above given
} 81, 225 reducing the face of tn,
duplicates to 1S,5o474; leaving al
j apparent shortage of 81 S36.77.
/ ''Since the examination Of the books
: however, It has transpired that certain
items, then supposed to be unpaid. ha,
in fact been paid and the sureties are ap
prehensive that other similar errors ma
I raf hn ho oln
$ stated will be augmented b,
whatever amount these errors may ag
gregate Moreover the expense o
2 collection Of the uncollected taxes mus
also be paid from tie amount realized Of
!, the open accounts And, as you ar
|, aware, the collection Of the large amour
q due for 1889 depends altogether upon th
willingness OF the tax payers to save th
sureties further loss. Any collecto
sppointed by you would be prohibited b
law from receiving these taxes,
"Iu view of tho foregoing the suretie
desire to have more thorough examins
t tion made Of the duplicates of the lat
It collector, and proper person appointe
8 to close up his accounts; aud they, there
fore, respectfully ask that their petitio
q be granted without further delay
= Respectfully submitted.
'TSigned JOHN q. RODNEY,
Attorney for Sureties
sPetition Indefinitely Postponed.
The petition for the removal OF Mi
= Dougherty was then indefinitely post
4 poned on motion Of Mr. Jolls. 1t WI
. done by viva voce vote and there WI
: not dissenting vote.
What Mr. Bradford Says.
AS Mr. Bradford was coming out
! the office Of the clerk OF the peace
y was asked what course the Levy Coul
II would now pursue He took q copy
3 the Five Commissioners bill out OF b
,r pocket and pointing to the TWEEN
Be days limitation clause said thl
while he could not speak positively,
presumed that the action OF the Lev
ID Court would be governed by that al
v. steps would be taken to proceed on u
Of official bond il Mr.. Dougberty could N
* make settlement at that time.
miscellaneous Business.
The Court then went into miscsllaneo
business.
After spread-eagle burst Of patrio
fe ism on the part Of President BuckinI
nam. who left the chair in order TO ma
1 it, it was decided TO place a flag staff a
flag upon the Court House in honor
:, Decoration Day.
ls A petition from the election Office
for paw for holding the constitution
", convention was presented, read and /
I'D necessary steps to renumerate them we
taken.