Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1891-07-18
Political.
AnOpCn Letter


for Hegany and garrett Counties
GENTLEMEN In view of the ap-
preaching election of members of the
House of Delegates and county COM
mlsSloners, 1t becomes my duty to eX-
PLAIN the present status of the untaXed
lands IN these two counties, belonging
to nonresident owners, and what is
yet necessary to be done in order that
they may be fully defined, located,
and legally assessed. AS the result of
four years persistent labor and re-
search, as the agent of these counties,
Selected by your predecessors | have
aScertalned the fact that upwards of
$4,000 acres of land in Allegany and
l25, 600 acres of land in Garrett county
are not taxed /; making in all 1911 900
acres, or more than one fourth of all the
lands IN both counties that have es-
capped taxation for more than q
century.
Soon after discovered these large.
discrepancies on the assessment books.
IN 1857 | was authorized to go 70 the
Land Office at Annapolis, and ferret
out the legal owners, the Boards of
both counties contracting to allow me
Il far contingent compensation for my
work. Garrett county further con-
tracted with me to compile the alb
stracts of titles to | 300 "undefined''
military lots, &c., III a permanent re-
cord book Tor the use OF the county,
and assumed responsibility for fees for
researches in the Land Office until the
Legislature might see proper to re-
HeYe the counties from these obviously
| unjust fees, for the reason that the
State itself is equally interested with
the State itself is equally interested
with the counties in having all the
| lands assessed.
In compliance with my contracts
with the commissioners, | began nv
researches IN the land office early in
january, 1883, starting, for the tracts,
with the lnceptious Of title recorded i'm
the records of Frederick, Washington
and Allegany counties, and for the
military lots, with the awards and
seals made i'll 1859 and thereafter, care
fully abstractlng all the warrants of
every description, patents. duplicate
patents Nc, affecting each lot. Early
| in the session | had bill introduced
IN the Senate to remit all charges for
! the privilege of making searches
necessary to furnish the assessors with
| the true names Of the legal owners of
the untaNed lands in these two counties
in which all the military lots are
located. One section in this bill also
provided that the State should incur
one half the necessary costs and ex-
penses in having these unclaimed lands
| legally assessed for state and county
taxes. The defeat of this bill greatly
retarded the progress Of my work and
| deprived the State and counties of at
| least three years taxes on lands worth
probably one million dollars.
Notwithstanding the defeat of this
bill | diligently continued my re-
searches in the land office until July,
1888, when | was requested by the
| Garrett County Board to suspend
my work until a consultation was held.
After examining my abstracts, as far
us then completed, the boald encour-
aged me to resume my researches III
the Alle%any county records and to
make certain preliminary surveys in
order to ascertain whether the untaXed
military lots We're occupied or not.
This, together with my work on:the
permanent record books for Garrett
county, occupied my time ur to the
Legislative session Of 1890.
At this session of the Legislature,
after struggling for three months
against untold and the most unreasOn-
able opposition, finally secured the
passage of law Chapter 5l3. Public
| General Laws of 1900 which gave me
access to the records in the Land
Office free of charge for fees. Col. j.
| Thomas Scharf, commissioner of the
Land Office, however, refused to re-
cognlze the law, whcrcupon petition
| ed for Il writ Of ml0ndamUs, which was
/ granted by the circuit court of Anne.
| Arundel county.
Col. Scharf carried the case up to the
Court of Appeals, where, after inter
mlnable delays, the decision of the
lower court was reversed by divided
court. My counsel are of the
! opinion that upon rehearlng, by
| Introducing certain facts that were
overlooked, | could yet secure favor
able decision of the case, but could
not afford to prosecute the case any
further at my own expense. Under
this act notices We're published in
every county in the State, which
brought out hundreds of letters from
heirs of soldiers, now living in all.
sections Of the country but it will be
| impossible for me TO render an accurate
and reliable list of the legal owners of
all these untaXed lands without
further researches in the Land Office,
to supply omissions, and for this
reason | feel justified in laying the
facts before you in time to urge tine
nomination and election of such men
to the Legislature and Us county com
missioners us will take an interest in
providing the necessary ways and
means to have this work of public
necessity completed.
In conclusion, | will respectfully
state that an erroneous idea has been
circulated that ga new assessment
would catch all these untaXed lands"
when it is understood that these lands
are HnGccapiea, without tenants or local
agents to give them into the assessors,
that the assessors have been riding
over them for IL century without know
ing where they begin or end or who
they belong to, it is obvious that the
only way in which they can be legally
or correctly assessed is by their titles
Respectfully submitted,
HIRAM p. TAsKER,
Special Agent.