The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-10-26
THIRD EDITION.
DEfAClNG the RECORDS.
DEMOCRATS MUTILATE THE AS
sEssMENT BOOKS AT THE
COURT HOUSE.

SESSMENT BOOKS AT THE
COURT HOUSE.
Red lax Delinquent Marks Scratched
Out and Tax Receipts Issued to H.
legal voters-Cierk Biggs Innocent
of the Affair and Indignant Over tho
DETACHMENT of the Records How the
Tning Was Done and For What Pur-
pose-Recruiting Senator Gray's Re-
serves.
In Mondays REPUBLICAN the follow
Ing little three line editorial appeared:
Wanted, patent for eraslng red ink
without leaving marks OF erasure be-
hind" That was all, but it was
enough. The Every Evening caught
on TO 1t at once Local reporters of
that paper, no doubt booked" shifted
danger in the distance, ard hurried In
advance to give the warning to faith
ful Democrats.
Graaping the meaning OF the little
editorial as II familiar with all the Sc
cret methods and details of the great
Democratic effort to debauch the fran
ehise and stuff the ballot boxes with
Illegal votes, a feeble attempt il made
to show that Republicans are alike
guilty with the Democrats IN mutilat-
Ing and defacinR the assessment re
cords In tine office OF the Clerk OF the
Peace of New Castle County.
THE MuTILATIoN SCHEME.
For some time past some Republi-
can members OF the bar, have been
comparing the certified assessment
duplicates for 1892, furnished by the
Clerk OF the Peace, with the assess.
ment duplicates for the same year
flied In the clerks office. Having &C.
caslon TO go back fartheraud COM pare
the certified copies with the assess
ment OF 1891, something that was
hardly expected they would do, they
inadvertently met with the most In
controyertible evidence that the re-
cords had been tempered with and
mutilated.
THE DELINQUENT MARKS.
Whenever delinquents were returned
by the several collectors the lnvarlahl,
custom had been to mark the names
TO the left OF the first initial with two
straight parallel lines half inch or so
long In red carmine ink. These marks
were notice that the persons returned
were delinquen's and could not be
assessed again until a full year had
ella lsed. The passage of the Five Com,
missioner act, however did away with
this prohibitive measure, SO that as
SCISSORS and the Levy Court could put
the names returned on the assessment
OF 1892 but not after the 3Uth OF
March.
II will be remembered that In the
spring of 1892. Collectors Dougherty
and Mckee returned thousands oil
both Democrats and Republicans az
sIelinquents The Republicans were re
turned even after thelr taxes were
paid. but the democrats not having
paid their taxes were properly return
ed. In the assessment OF 1892 the great
or number OF these names were pu
back upon tho duplicates but at the
snme time hundreds were missed b!
the assessors The Republicans hav
Ing made the greater effort got nearly
all their men on the assessment o
1879. All OF both parties not put upon
that assessment remained OF coura
ON the delinquent list with two fatu
red lines against their names. showing
that they weIs disqualified from yot
ing at tine coming election.
scRvrCHING OUT THE DELINQUENT MARKS
This is what Alessrs Walker an
CHI rchman in looking over the assess
IN mt OF 1891, found that somebod
rad done away with Democratic delir
quents All through the whole asses;
mont OF the whole twelve waIds. thes
red delinquent marks where they al
peared before Democratic names hav
been removed with an eraser, but
such q bungllng manner that anybod
with common eyesight can SEQ thu
the erasure has been made. No marR
have been erased from Rtpubllca
names, thus branding with falsehoo
the cowardly In iination that as I'll
books We're in the hands for II time {
Republican lawyers.and OF Repubi
eAn committee ~ the Levy Court the
were as likely to make the erasures
the Democrats.
How could these lawyers erase Il
names when they were only permitte
~ have the book in the presence
the Clerk OF the Peace and his dep
ties? Furthermore. had they been IL
clined TO erase Delinquent mark
would they not rather have se'ecLt
Republican names? This is gun tn
does not shoot two ways