El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1896-12-29
PATTERSON GIFTS THAR"
Notwithstanding Judge CoIdwelIs OPP
position the Resolution Went.

! meeting last night, with his honor AM
!. a full deck of aldermen present. Th
i. occasion was the considering of tn,
!. hiring of an attorney to collect tn,
i. city'S back taxes, and the run ended
!. with a signal defeat for Judge Coldwel
!. and a victory for Messrs. Stewart anC
!. | Roberts. The session was full of life
! vocally, and Judge Coldwell smote the
: circumam bient atmosphere with for
, ensic OratOry early and often: but there
was big COB of gloom present, in that
: there was so much water in the gas
main that it seemed at times as though
the Sanhedrin would at any moment be
: left in total darkness. There were
!. quite a number of citizens present to
witness any circus that might show up
during the meeting.
Mr.. Stewart hoisted the red ball by
asking leave to substitute the following o
for his little resolution of the previous
meeting:
Be it ordained by the city council of
the city of HI PasO, that Millard Pat
terSon, attorney at law, residing in the
city of Ell Paso, Texas, be, and he is
! hereby employed to collect for the city
of Ell Paso all taxes which may now be
delinquent for any year since the city's
| first incorporation, and is hereby au-
| thOriZed to proceed as the agent and
attorney of said city to collect said
/
otherwise, q d he is authorized in any
case where in his judgment the city
has acquired title to any property
through or by virtue of any tax sale,
to sue for the recovery of such proper
ty. And in consideration of his ser
vices the city Of Ell Paso does hereby
agree that he shall have one-tenth OF
all taxes now delinquent that may be
hereafter collected either by him di- |
rectly through suit, or by the assessor |
and collector of the city of Ell Paso. |
And said city of FL Paso agrees that be
shall have for his said services all Of
the interest that may be collected
hereafter upon any taxes which may
have become due for any year prior to
1890. And said city agrees that he
shall have, and there shall be conveyed
to him, One-tenth of any real estate
the title to which may have been ]
heretofore acquired by the city at any
lax sale, which he may recover in the i
city's name by suit.
The city, however, reserves the privi- f
ege for sixty days from the time of
'ecovery of any such real estate to pay t
i'm an amount equal to one-tenth OF '
he taxes due upon said real estate, and '
interest at the rate of six per cent V
pOn the amount of taxes due upon i
aid real estate from the time taxes
ecame due thereon until he is paid,
n lieu of his one-tenth interest there
Mr.. Stewart then stated that he
lade the change so that the city might "
{ any time, if it was deemed wise, -
a case. And as to the in E
nations of fraud from Judge Coldwell t;
lr. Stewart said the resolution had G.
cen shown to all of the aldermen save IL
NO. and it met with their appreciation: fC
/ fact the Judge himself said that 20 per re
n hn n l,l 70, o1
This started up Judge Coldwell who p
)se with becoming gravity to say that sc
was hardly necessary for him to once J(
ore deny he had allowed that 20 per ly
ent was the proper percentage TO pay OF
r the collection of delinquent taxes. be
! fact he claimed that the resolution W
fered excessive payment. The Judge pl
as astOnished at the sim plicity of Mr.. it.
tewart in acknowledging that he had re
)t shown the resolution to Mr.. Del W;
uono and himself, because they were til
opposed to il. Judge COldwell b
aimed the resolution was illegal, and an
lat the city charter provided for a ju
ty attorney who should attend to all ev
ie city's legal business, and it was tn
to the charter of the city M
'uncil to delegate TO another the WI
notions of the city attorney. Then nj
e Judge particularly objected to the th
solution in that it deprived the coun
of the power to say when these suits n,
ould be instituted. 1t is the duty of St
e city attorney to enforce the collec- alb
On Of the delinquent taxes. re
Mr.. Clifford then pathetlcally asked mt
ldge COldwell why he did not do it so
nen he was city attorney. This net tn
ID the judge, and ne was proceeding wi
give Mr.. Clifford large chunk of "a
5 mind, when the mayor interposed Bu
tn the olive branch Of peace. and be
Id Mr.. Clifford that he and the Judge Oh
ght have it out with one another at pr;
me other time. Judge Coldwell sid
en- deprecated the passage of the re rol
luton in that it showed lack of con- Je!
ence in the city attorney. In fact it
IS an assault on him. The speaker Th
en- went on to claim that the resolu-
n was open to two constructions, and
:. Roberts accused him of haggling tht
er technicalities. Judge Coldwen ella
MED the validity OF the old defense act
at the resolution was to correct the is
stakes of previous administrations, loo
d claimed that the present aldermen So
re to blame for not having collected she
? taxes. Mr.. Burgess had begun up
,ht, but the council had so handled ant
e suits that they would not stand. ha
lie incapacity of the present council ola
ght not, to be charged up to the ac- Oh
unit of its predecessors. The present an,
lncil has allowed S47, 900 an,
delinquent taxes to accumulate up
lile its predecessors were only Sl3, 900 go
hind. The resolution was of unclean lin
Igin and no good. In reply to ne.
estion from Mr.. Stewart, the Judge wi
ID he represented the people of Ell a r
so and not the delinquent tax pay en-,
). The forensic racket closed sweetly Coz
tn an insinuation from Mr.. Clifford sto
at as long as Captain Brack thought 10,
per cent the proper price to paw for mo-
llecting the taxes, Judge Coldwell say
ought that figure was the correct ali
ing. ste
Mayor Campbell stated that Mr. up
lrges' suits had been dismissed lest the
ey should iujure the sale of the water the
'rkS bonds, and In order that prOce- ma
re might he had under the new law. for
Judge COldwell here rose to move of
at the resolution be submitted to are
avis, Beall & Kemp to determine its BET
gality, and that they be paid 500 for Gel
n, bo ind |