The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-08-20

ST havea't any tombstone. I'm not dead
and haven't even got any coffin yet. The
tombstone is slae property OF another par
~ and don. own il, and don't want 20
pay taxes on It; II oughtn't 10 have been
assessed TO ne. I want IT stricken"
This was substantially the wording Of
an earnest request Jacob Fur,h. one OF
the woaI,hies. men in Seattle. an old pio-
neer and president OF the Puget Sound Ma
tional bank. made to the BEARD of equal
iza;lon yesterday. and thereby dfspe.led the
ieluzion entertained by the board that Mr.
Farth Is one OF those eccentric characters
who plan their own funerals, purchase
satisfactory collins and build monuments
comm eTorat:Hg their virtues years before
the wisdom OF such foresight has become
apparent. The board was greatly relieved
ard lost no time in correcting the assess
men: roll TO show that Mr.. Furth was not
the owner OF an elegant marble and gran
tie monument valued at Ss1 and the mai
ter ended VITA hearty laugh at the mis-
take of the assessor and its unpleasant
consequences.
Mr.. Furths explanation was that before
the assessor made his rounds last spring
The monument. then in the yards OF a we'll
known marble worker. was pledged to the
Puget Sound National bank as security
for a debt. The assessors deputy visited
the yards and spent a few minutes moral
iZ!ng among the tcmbstones and Incl
denf8Ily making memoranda OF their value.
yet unenhanced, sentlnleutally considered.
by the presence Of sculptured epi,aphs TO
departed mortality. The marble cutter
followed him around and carefully watch
sd ha Ia
uents already bespoken. At length the as
SCISSOR cast his optics on one OF the hand
soonest monuments in the yard and in
quired It's value.
"oh, that don't belong to me. That Is
Jacob Fur<h's.''
So when Mr. Furth's assessment was
made the painstaking deputy. with an eye
10 the county's Interests. included the
monument among Mr.. Furth's personal e.
fectS. 1t was only a short time ago that
SIR. Furth found 1t out, for he had had
no occasion 10 examine the rolls
Yesterday Mr.. Furth explained how tho
bank had become possessed OF the monu-
ment and told the board that the stone
had row raised out Of the hands OF the
bank entirely.
The trouble Is that many people seem
10 think the bank ard | are the same per-
son. which is not the case by any means.
and the assessor was one OF them he
concluded.
The primary cause OF Mr.. F'urth's being
summoned before the board was not TO
satisfy the individual curiosity OF it's mem
hers regarding the tombstone but TO cor
rect an oversight of the assessors deputy
IN failing to assess Mr.. F1lrth's household
goods. This overnight was called TO Mr..
Furih's attention ard he gave the board
carte blanche 10 assess his property as 1t
pleased. just SO the tombstone was omitted
The board agreed TO assess the household
goods al N.1.2 and mada an order accord
ingly. The county was thus the gamer
financially and Mr.. Furth's annoyance re-
lleyed by his visit 10 the courthouse.
The board had hard days work yes
terday and the session was one OF the most
important yet held The most important
matters attended 10 were the complaints
az the Western Union and Pacific Postal
Telegraph companies against the ASSESS
or's work The Western Union as many
lawyers will remember. was assessed on
It's franchise at a valuation OF ss,fss. To
this ths company objected. claiming that
the franchise was not assessahe In the first
place and had no money value in the sec
end and sued for an injunction against
fle county.
This suit was tried and an Injunction
granted the company proving its case to
the satisfaction Of the superior court The
county ineditated an appeal but ore has
same assessment was made as last. the IL
legality Of the former assessment heing
still in question The Western Union ap-
peared yesterday to demand that the as
sassrneut hc quasnet. pointing 10 the in
junction granted as 20 last years taxes
Tire board decided Ia let the assessment
stand pending the result os an appeal in
the injunction SUIT and rejected the COM
pany's petition.
The Pacific Postal had a complaint which
faresl better at the hands OF the board. II
applied for a reduction OF the assessment
On rs lines outside az the city from, sI-s
per mile TO SO. The board discovered that
there was considerable Justice IN the de-
n7and for the lines az the Western Union
we're assessed at bar So per mile. The
Pacific Postal was granted a reduction 10
that figure.
were sor1e ~ fhe taxpayers who felt TIE
the ciothlnk men Prayer 4 Son ware rails
81 sG.@a: Kline a. Rosenberg. S3fssa and u.
pecs@5-9 81 20. Smith 81 Kennedy and O.
q. Guy. druggists. were raised 81. and
s. ~ respectively. Among the jewellers.
W II Fin@G was raised 500, Louis kio3t
80; Fyisch Bros. tafe.
TT o:ner assessments raised were rus
40 greatly altered. Col. T. " Necutch-
aan was ore Of the sufferers He ok
hauSts-l All his eioquence without avail.
a'sa MAS raised $50 On h:x library
TIE session of the board ends today
DON'T YpTr KNOW