New-York tribune., 1901-05-20
THE CITY is HER BANKER.
PECULIAR SYSTEM OF MISS PINKNEY,
OWNER OF ONE THOUSAND HAIR
LEM LOTS, IN RESISTING PAY
MENT OF ASSESSMENTS.

! occupies so much of the time of the Bureau for
the Collection of Assessments and Arrears In
/ the Department of Finance Miss Mary G.
Pinkney. In the book containing the printed
names Of those whose property IS advertised for
sale for failure to pay taxes. Miss Pinkney's
name occupies page after page. and carried out
to the dollars and cents column are figures In
various sums. ranging all the way from 81 to
$4,000. until the casual investigator is led to be-
lieve that Miss Mary G.. Pinkney must be in
cramped circumstances and in danger of losing
scores and hundreds of her Harlem lots. Should
any such suggestion be whispered to Miss Pink
ney, she doubtless would laugh merrily and say:
/ Il guess Mr. Shaw. my lawyer. or Mr.. Pierce
my agent. will look after the matter when the
/ proper time comes"
1t is in just that particular that Miss Pinkney
now eighty-two years old and living at the
buckingham. differs from other people. Most
! property owners stir around when the tax man
informs them of the amount of their indebted
ness to the city and breathe a sigh of relief
only when they hold their receipt for taxes. Miss
! Pinkney does not pay her taxes until she is. III
/ a sense, in the last ditch"
HER PECULIAR SYSTEM.
| Perhaps, about ffty-seven years ago, when
she became a landowner in Harlem. she felt as
/ people usually do about her taxes, but since
then she has developed a system with reference
! to handling her estate that has become source
of quiet wonderment to the clerks in the Arrears
Bureau. They might have long ago held her
methods in quiet scorn IT, after the of time
| they had proved failures. Since Miss Pinkney
has made pronounced success in managing
her business affairs, however. they look at 1t
differently
Within the last ten years the records in the
Arrears Bureau show that not less than one
thousand different parcels of real estate belong
| ing TO Miss Pinkney have been advertised for
sale because their owner wouldn't pay the taxes
assessed against them for sewers. Tagging paw
ing. street widening. grading. and lot of other
things.
| One thousand parcels Of property Manhat-
tan Island represent vast sum. and mean in
this particular case. that Miss Pinkney, accord
ing to the Arrears Bureau officials is the largest
holder OF unimproved real estate in Manhattan
Borough Miss Pinkney never allows any of her
property TO be sold for taxes however and in
! that determination she demonstrates that she
! is not in cramped circumstances. on the last
| day of grace. or, perhaps. little before her
| agent, Curtis r. Pierce. or her lawyer John c.
| Shaw. OF the Downing Building (who also looks
after some Of William Waldorf Astor's New
York holdings). is always on hand with a large
! or small check. as the demands. Then the
| property stays off the record in thu Arrears
Bureau until another assessment is levied on IL
and the act Is repeated.
HER FORTUNE GROWS DAILY
According to Miss Pinkney's system. II is a
70 thing 20 make the city wait OF late years
sne has quite cheerfully paid per cent in
terest on unpaid taxes. knowing that her prop
erty was rising in value from % TO 30 per cent
a year. Generally speaking that is what has
been happening for thirty years. until now the
tax officials say. Miss Pinkney is one of the
half dozen wealthiest women in Manhattan Bor-
I eryh -,
She has owed the city hundreds of thousands of
dollars in taxes There have been suits by the
| dozen. compromises. more suits and more COM
promises. until the clerks in the Arrears Depart
ment have come 10 regard Miss Pnkney
near neighbor. with plentiful supply OF the
/ American quality called grit
| The story OF Miss Plnkney's prominent place
on me tax rolls is as much of a romance as
usually gets into the dry figures of the Tax De-
partment. Sixty years ago she the grown
| up daughter of Colonel John n. Pinkney, of
| Maryland. OF the Revolutionary family Of that
| name Her father died leaving her $4,000 Her
mother married Archibald Watt of Harlem who
| owned a farm of two hundred or three hum
! dred acres right across Manhattan Island. be-
! tween One hundred and-ffth and hundred
| and-fortieth SITS Archibald Watt and James
| Watt his brother, were enterprising SCotchmen.
| and conceived the idea, or at least. engaged in
! the project Of building ship canal across
Manhattan Island. from Manhattanville. the
North River to the Harlem. Hard times sorely
pressed the Watts They disagreed. and in or
der II Is said. TO keep the Watt farm In the
family, Archibald Watt transferred all the deeds
! to his stepdaughter, Mary G.. Pinkney. She
turned over to Mr.. Watt all her ready money.
That is how. on March -. 1S43. she became the
owner OF so much land in Harlem.
GIVES AWAY WHOLE BLOCKS.
I've been in this office about thirty years."
said Edward Gilon. Collector of Assessments
and Arrears. To a Tribune reporter yesterday.
Ever since I've been hare Miss Pinkney has
been in the habit of taking her time in paying
her taxes. She owns more than thousand lots.
md int ha Of tra to
estimate the value of these at $4,000 apiece.
Some of the lots would be worth less and some
more than that figure. Not long ago she gave
her nephews and neces about block each of
unimproved Harlem property The city has
awarded her S1.12S,OOG for land needed for
part of st. Nicholas Park. Whenever Miss
Pinkney sells a big plot the new buildings go
up on II rapidly that what is left OF the par
eel frequently is worth more than the whole
parcel before building began That's the way
it goes. The more she sells the more valuable
the remainder becomes
Years ago Miss Pinkney assessed nearly
81 ,O00000 for sewers along Seventh Eighth and
st. Nicholas aves. Her lawyer. John c. Shaw,
resisted payment. and the sewer contracts finally
were adjudeed invalid She saved S10oOoo In
taxes by the litigation. In the summer MISS
Pinkney lives in the old homestead. between
One hundred -and-thlrty- ninth and One-hundred-
and -fortieth SITS, and Lenox and seventh aves
While & sufferer from rheumatism, she Stni
keeps track of all her more important business
affairs and her friends are proud OF her business
ability.
A lawyer who has handled much OF Miss Pink
neys business in referring to her yesterday said:
Miss Pnkney Is woman OF the highest charae-
which the city had any legal or moral right on
the other hand. she has been plundered unmerci-
fully from time to time on account OF assessnents
for ALLEGED publc never made o0G oT
ReF she Wns he that the % s91e
every dollar which 1t is justly entitled but when
overreacR she resists with all the tenacity of
rnah m 2