New-York tribune., 1897-08-18
PROTESTS AGAINST TAAES.
MANY COMPLAINTS HEARD BY "hoi'
CHESTER COUNTY ASSESSORS.

SWORN OFF IN MANY PLACES AND RE
pucrIoNs ASKED IN OTHERS
CHARGES or DIscRIM1-
NATION MADE.
The Boards Of Assessors of the twenty-five
towns which compose tho County OF West
chester met In their respective towns yesterday
for the purpose OF hearing the complaints Of tax
PAYERS who considered that they were wrongly
assessed.
The new assessment rolls. which were COM
pIeted on August l. have caused untold COM
plants particularly among those residents OF
the county who had previously escaped taxa
ton and who assessed for personal prop
erty this year In amounts varying from less
than $50 up to more than 100000 The enor-
NOUS increases caused much anxiety to people
thus assessed. and II is alleged In numerous III
stances that the assessors have Disseminated
Altogether. yesterday was the most exciting
'Grievance Day ever witnessed in Westchester
and the indications are that in some towns u
will hereafter be known as Grievance Week.
owing TO the time il will take TO hear the many
complaints.
The work OF the assessors Of Mount fleasah'
Township was in direct contrast TO l's name
Mount Pleasant. with the exception or Green
burg is probably the richest town in the county
mIllionaires. chief among them being the Messrs
Rockefeller
The assessors with their counsel Frank v
Nillard. and Joseph Quinn. the official stenog-
ranher met at the office of Judge Daniel Arm
strong in Beekman-ave. in the village of North
Tarrytown Yesterday morning al 10 o'clock, to
bern hearing complaints against the 1877 as
sessment roll.
one of the first complainants was William
LLOYD Of New-York City who appeared for the
New-York Central and Hudson River Railroad
the New-York and Putnam Railroad and the
Nev-York and Harlem Railroad The total as
sessment on these roads for 1891 is S34No"
and Mr. Lloyd asked TO have it reduced to last
wears figures S2SS,00D. Jacob D. ODell asked
TO have his personal assessment wiped out on
the ground of non-residence The personal as
sessments of John OConnor Patrick hearheS
and Warren Chaplin, sr, were requested 10 oe
removed as the complainants had no personal
property.
The BOARD was asked to reduce the assessment
pf Esther c. Foster on her real estate. MIS-
Foster is assessed for Sj0,OW, and she says she
Is willing to sell her property for one-hfth thd'
amount Counsel for Annie ;. HaWes asked 10
have her assessment on real estate reduced from
so5 ooo 70 $1,000 A lawyer representing +. p
Allison asked to have his personal tax stricken
from the roll as his client was not resident of
Mount Pleasant.
The attorney for the Pocantico Hills Public
Library asked to have its assessment removed
ps under the statute. it was exempt from taxa
ton.
TALK OF DISCRIMINATION.
Fv-Judee Noah Davis. advisory counsel for
the Eockefellers who own beautiful house
Of "A pOcdDtlcO
Hills was among the afternoon complainants
He appearcd personally and seemed TO be eX-
1remelv feeble. being obliged to use crutches.
The venerable Judge bitter in his lam
guage against the assessors of this township
and made a surprising statement concerning
their methods The Judge said that he owned
three houses in Pocantico Hills and that IN le?o
he was only assessed for two He called the
attention OF Michael Martin one Of the asses
sors to the error Martin the Judge stated,
was much surprised at this and said to him:
Judge did we make that mistake? I'll make
it all right next year"
At this juncture. Assessor Martin jumped up
and said that he had favored no one; that he
had made no determinations. and had not asked,
did he propose to ask. odds OF anybody IN
performing his duty assessor. His words
were loudly appauded by the large crowd,
which had become fairly excited over the con-
trOversy.
Judge Davis then said that some scoundrel
had favored some Of the taxpayers, to which
Martin replied, I'm not the scoundrel'
Judge Davis asked To have his real estate re-
duced, as he considered ii Overvalued, and Of
fered to sell it for less than II was assessed
Counsellor Millard informed the Judge that they
had been buying property all the morning.
Then III fight my assessment long as
there is a court in the State replied Judge
Davis. and he left the meeting
II is not likely that the assessors VIII reduce
Judge Davis's assessments, and the indications
that he will follow the action of his clients.
THE ROCKEFELLER'S TAXEs.
After the hearing Of Judge Davis was finished
Howard II. Morse counsel for the Rockefellers
appeared. Mr.. Morse made long argument
before the Board. and asked to have the Rocke-
fellers assessments reduced. He read a paper
prepared by himself. showing where the Board
had Disseminated. Among other things. he said
that in District No. l Assessor Martins dis
tricD property assessed great deal higher
than in Districts Nos and 3. He said that he
called attention to this fact in behalf OF himself
and others.
Continuing he said: There is some misappre-
hension among the assessors in regard to the
cost and value Of William Rockefellers real es-
tate Mr.. Rockefeller bought this property from
the Aspinwall estate a number of years ago for
$4,000 which included 164 acres in the town
of Ossning, which We value at S25.VU leaving
q balance Of S125OD for his Mount Peasant
property. This is assessed for $25OOOU
which is three times more than II was assessed
IN 1886 ! don't think there is man living out
side Of a lunatc asylum that would buy it for
one-fifth that amount. The property has been
appraised by three good appraisers. and all have
agreed that il is not worth what IL is assessed
The aggregate amount Of the entire roll for 1897
is placed al S1OOoOOpO one-foUrth Of which is
assessed TO Mr. Rockefeller The actual value
OF all the property in the town is about SIS
100000 and one-twentieth of this would be ex-
Cessive II assessed 10 Mr. Rockefeller
Mr.. Millard. IN behalf Of the assessors replied
by citing the statement of Mr. Hawkes.. superin-
tendent for William Rockefeller. which he made
a year ago and in which he declined TO swear
that SGS lNM WIS not - cent Of the cost Ot