Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1896-05-07
LETTER FROM ]. C. RENsHAw
Mr.. Renshaw is Entirely Mistaken in
Reference to the Attitude of the
Ledger Nothing Personal In
tended at All.

Ledger-Nothlng Personal In
tended at All.
Not long since the LEDGER, in pub
fishing the news, gave an account Of
an attempt being made by the County
of Audrain, State of Missouri, to col
lect taxes Off of J. @. Renshaw. The
LEDGER in giving the facts did not in
tend to be at all personal or sensation
al. The LEDGER has nothing against
Mr.. Renshaw and if the editor of this
paper had any feeling IN the matter he
would not debase the columns of his
paper venting his spite on a private
citizen. The matter was of record and
is in the courts, where it will be set
tied. The following letter from MIR.
Renshaw to the editor of this paper
speaks for ITSELF:
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va, April "a,
1s96.--R. M. WHITE, Mexico, Mo-:
Sir-On my return to Charlottesville
from Hammondsville, in this county,
l found your paper of April 9th con-
tanning the sensational article written
by you, with it's uncalled for and con-
temptibie insinuations and filings DISH
ed up in the usual r. M. White style.
Also the crossroads" sheet publish
ed at Farber, likewise sent by you.
| And in the face of this petty and cow
ardly display of ill-will, you want me
and my friends to believe that you
have "no personal feeling in the mat
ter whatever" Your friendly disguise
| is too thin.
Your County Assessor, contrary to
| the revenue law of Missouri, and
against my protest as nonresident
of Audrain County, placed my name
upon the tax book of that county, and
| because I ask a board, created for the
purpose, to correct the erroneous as
sessment you seize upon the occa-
sion to show your ill will through the
columns of your paper by intimating
that l am and have been trying to
evade taxation everywhere, because
/ am not on the books of Galloway
County, where I have not lived
for ten years, (1ss6) and on the books
| of st. Louis, where l have not lived
for several years, therefore I am not
assessed anywhere, and can be le-
gally assessed in Audrain County,
| whether am resident there Or not.
If you intimate or assert that /
have been trying to avoid taxation,
you intimate and assert q lie.
1 know something of the revenue
law of Missouri, and if your insinua-
tions are true, would hardly, in fur
therance of the scheme you credit me
with, put myself in the way of your
| county assessor in June, 1895, or any
other year, for that Is the month l
have been in Mexico and Galloway
County, the past or years The
| only question for your board and
| over-zealous assessor to decide in my
| case, under the revenue law, was,
| whether by declaration or act of cit
izenship I am a proper subject for
| taxation in Audrain County, Mo-,
either in person or personal property.
1t was none of their business whether
l was assessed anywhere else on the
face of the globe.
Your right to publish the proceed
| ings of the court is not denied, but
why did you not publish the fact of
my applying to the "Board" in the
oo ~, a NOV, xyo,, di5 tbooa of otborc au5
under the head of Proceedings of
the Board?" Your very sincere (?)
statement that you had "no personal
feeling'' could then have been be-
ieved. The Intelligencer used ten
lines in mentioning my case in the
same connection with other matters
before the court. You devoted col
umn and half with flaming head
lines, every statement in it innuendo
and insinuation, false and misleading,
based upon imperfect knowledge, cal
culated and intended to create suspic-
ion.
| could attack you and present my
case through the newspapers, but l
prefer to fight this unjust and preju-
diced assessment in the courts. I
never in the past and do not now de-
sire to avoid any just debt, public or
private. You, as the publisher of a
newspaper, prefer, as occasion offers,
to attack me, private citizen, with
printers ink as your weapon. AS
stated to you last fall in letter
when you made fiippant fling at me
in your paper-you do not like me,
you never did like me, and you know
| it; but your method of displaying it
is contemplate and cowardly in the
extreme. l was born in Missouri;
have lived in the State all nay life and
where you have paid one have paid
five dollars for the support of State
and county, support of schools and
all other institutions which you name
in SO patriotic manner. l am not,
i hope, so devoid of sense and justice
as to appeal to the insane prejudice
OF the farmer element against the
banker, the broker, and those who
prefer to loan their money instead OF
lputting it in land, hogs, sheep and
cattle, which latter class, notwith-