The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-10-24
THE TAX OFFICE OUTRAGE.

lA@k oFflSE otl
Collectors Office Hidden Away in an In
accessible Place to Prevent Tax-paying.
Slow Work of the Clerks-Scenes at tho
Court House Yesterday.
The tax collecting machinery of New
Castle county moved slowly yesterday.
The tax office at the Court House opened
and the payment of taxes beganat o'clock
and continued until noon. 1t opened
again at o'clock and closed at o'clock.
The tax Office was besieged all day by men
| anxious TO pay their taxes, and all day
they were prevented from doing SO, both
by outside interference and by the slow
| movements OF the men employed in receiv-
| ing taxes.
During the three hours of the morning
work at the Office sixty-five poll taxes were
received. During the afternoon about 100
| taxes were received. In receiving these
taxes the collector fills, stamps and signs
blank receipt for each taxpayer. On
| each of these receipts there are ten or
i twelve words to be written and ten or
twelve numeral figures to be written in
| with a pen.
| Assuming that $50 tax receipts were
filled out and signed the collector wrote
| 1900 words and 1900 figures-or a total Of
only 6750 characters in six hours, the
whole number being 1000 characters less
| than an ordinary scribe would write in
one hour,
| The hlllng-in OF tax receipts is routine
business at which a man should become
| very expert; but, assuming that Deputy
| Collector Finck, who was in charge of the
| tax office yesterday, is but an ordinary
| scribe. he must have consumed more than
four-fifths OF his time in looking for the
| nf he re fnr
| Compared with the record made by the
county court in naturalizing foreign born
| citizens the tax collectors work Is WONDER
| fully slow. The courts are proverblally
| slow but the court in this city recently
| naturalized forty foreigners in one hour.
| At the same rate the tax office could have
received 24O taxes in the six hours of
work yesterday.
TO any one who watched the proceed
ings at the tax office yesterday. and who
noted the difficulties Of the taxpayers in
| forcing their way to the tax office. 1t was
apparent that the collector had located his
office to make it difficult of access. The
ofiice is In the southeast corner of the
| Court House. 1t Is surrounded by rooms
and apartments which are kept locked and
access to the colector-entrencheA behind
brick and stone walls-is by narrow,
tunnel-like entry leading from the Court
| House corridor, This entry is about four
feet wide and through 1t the taxpayers
| crowded yesterday to pay taxes, and after
waiting two hours crowded their way back
| again to the Court House corridor.
While this entrenched position was as
sailed yesterday afternoon by line of at
least $50 men, anxious to pay their taxes,
the Levy Court room with two largo en-
frances opening on wide corridors and
l Ind for II and pr1tnrtiOu of
the collector and his deputies, was avail
able for tho accommodation of the public.
Instead OF being allowed the use of this
room, in public building for a very i'm
portant public use, the taxpayers were
locked out of 1t to prevent easy access TO
4 the collector and rapid payment of taxes.
With this courtroom thrown open, even
IL 1t was only to allow the people to pass
through It, half of the difficulty of paying
taxes would have been obylated. There
would have been no need of state detec-
tives or of police officers to restrain an ir-
ritated and outraged crowd of citizens.
The crowd was probably greatest at
about o'clock.
The machine worked very slowly and
not to the satisfaction Of the men in wait
ing Republicans were compelled to get
In line, while Democrats who were known
were quietly let into the tax office through
, the Levy Court room. Other Democrats,
whose taxes had been paid, helped to
keep the waiting men who were in line in
the corridor from paying their taxes by
, getting in the line and occupying the
place and the time OF those who wanted to
pay taxes.
The result was that many of these men
| went away in disgust.
The schemes TO keep men from paying
|
went up to the window and after
giving their name, were told that 1t was
not on tho assessment lists. In every
, case the names were found to be recorded
on the assessors books. Clerk of the
Peace Biggs was absent and Clerk Niehol-
son gave or refused to give the men a
certificate, but told them that their names
appeared on the list. In a few cases he
gave certificates. Deputy Collector Finek
refused to take the certificate unless the
clerk came to the tax office and made af-
} fidavit to the correctness of the certif-
! cate.
Democratic officers were very much In
evidence in the tax office. Back of the
desk were Detectives Mcyey and Witsll
and Constable Smith. Out in the corridor
Officer Di Mare was strolling about. The
crowd was very orderly one and but one
arrest was made. and 1t was uncalled for.
George T. Durham, colored, who is gen.
orally known the street by the nick
name-"Tom Forkner"-went to the win
} dow and, giving his proper name. offered
his money in payment Of his tax. Deputy
Collector Fnck admitted that the man
was assessed by the name given, but or
dered his arrest on the assumption that
Durham had not given his right name.
Detective Mcyey took the man from the
office and sent him to the police station in
tho patrol wagon. When the patrol wagon
drove up 10 the Court House the clerks IL
the tax office stopped work to see Durhstn
driven off, and thus wasted the time in
which several receipts could have been is
sued
Promptly at o'clock the hooks were
closed and the doors of the office closed in
the faces of about twenty men.
Shortly before 5 O'Clock Sergeant Welsh
appeared In the Court House. He did not
stay there long, but took a position at the
corner of Tenth and King streets. Two
other officers were stationed at Tenth and
ra04o1nI.