The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-04-25

hschncas nna Auruy-
The truth Is coming out beautifully
In the election cases pending before
the United States District Court. or
course the persons put upon trial are
not convicted. neither is there any
great desire that they sho nld be, but
the real criminals that should be in
their places are being brought into a
prominence that no honest man would
cars about occupying.
Llsten to the evidence as reported In
the Every Evening paper Of such
violent partisan character that 1t could
hardly be expected to report the cases
with the bad side out but 1t is bad
enough. Here ID a sample Of 1t:
John 7. Dicksy testified that he re-
fers to no record but tho duplicate to
go whether man is assessed. He hae
given recslpts to applicants represent
Ing other persons.
Mr.. Watson-"Why do you make
fish OF ono and flesh Of another Do
you ever give receipts away without
the money!"
Mr.. Dlckey-'I may II / wish; / am
responsible for the total Oh the cash to
tho Levy Court. l knew Shields, who
Got this receipt for Gilkey. l would
trust cone people; others / would
not. have even sent receipts by
mail"
To Attorney Biggs-'T am RESPONSE
bio for the money on these duplicate
books. And my bondsmen would
have to pay II did not. "
The witness then admitted the genu-
ineness OF the tax receipt.
The court for long Il me had been
listening to the tangled arguments
and the repeated explanations. At
last he exclaimed:
This 10 q complicated system OF tax
alton which plain man such as / am
cannot understand"
Comptroller Staats was the next
witness on the stand. He stated he
could not find the stub OF the ailkey
tax receipt.
Could not md the stub Of the Gilley
tar receipt? No. of course not. Some
body had forgotten to enter Gilkey's
name on Dickey 3 tax duplicates after
he had received them, and after the
delinquent marks had been erased
from opposite Gilkey's name on the
delinquent returns. Somebody had
evidently said to another: For the
Lords sake go and tell - to
put that name on the tax duplicate.
consequently Gilkey's name appears
a. the last name In the alphabet &c. "
on the tax duplicate. just as the name
OF Flemming did In alphabet IF"
There were deft manipulating fin
gers around tie delinquent lists and
the tax duplicates in those days. But
Of course John 7. Dickey is not re.
sponsible for any crookedness in the
tax duplicates nor In the delinquent list
He tells in his evidence that he refers
to no record but the duplicate to see
whether man is assessed" Now that
Is q straightforward buslness.llke
operation. 1t was not for him to
know how the name Of Flemm ing
came to be the last in alphabet 'T7' on
his duplicate, or how the name OF Gill
key came to complete alphabet "G''
on his lists. 1t was enough for him
to know that the names were there,
and It was his duty to Issue receipts
for them.
The only difference he showed be-
tween Issuing these receipts for two
Democrats and Republican receipts
was this. He gave Elem ming's receipt
to the Hon. J. Harvey Spruance, who
by these manipulations is now a mem
Der Of the Legislature, and the othel
he gave to man named Shields o.
tho Tenth ward, while Republicans
were required to appear In person
There were no go .bstweens for Re
publicans. But after hll there was {
slip made in Gllkey's case. There was
no corresponding stub In the blanl
book OF receipts TO correspond Will
the receipt Itself.
This was unfortunate, but mistake
will happen. A lady last week misseC
her gold spectaules and suspeetinl
her servant for taking them confront
ed her In such positive manner as 10
where they were that the servant con
fessed and said: "Foa de Laud Misses
dey must be in my pocket, but dunno
who put dem dere. So with thes,
NAMES They somehow got on thu
tax duplicates, but Mr.. Dickey o
course is not expected to know wht
put them there. With an array o
clerks around him like John A. Mitch
ell. George j. Fincll, John +. Callahan
Augustus Messick. Harry r. Smlti
often, and Patrick Neary sometIm es
how was Mr.. Dickey to know VIII
would slip In amongst them and pu
names upon the duplicates. OF cours
he couldn't tell. and all he had to d
was to issue receipts for the names h
found upon his books.
We are not surprised that Judg
Wales in his perplexity should remar
In open court: This Is a complcate
system of taxation, which a plal
man, such as am cannot understand.
II 1t had fallen to the lot OF his Homo
TO have been o modern Democratic tn
collector, he would have been enable
&c see through the whole system.
The New Ledger.
The Philadelphia Ledger In q con
plete new form was Issued for tn
first time on Monday. 1t contain
twenty pages. six columns to Il