Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-02-12
WASNOT RECRUITING
Plain Assessor Mistaken for an
Army Officer.
THE WORK OF CITY'S ASSESSING
The Man With the Book in the Canvas
Bag Does Not Meet With the Most
Friendly of Receptions-Taxable
Articles.
From Saturdays Daily.l

From Saturdays Daily.l
20, now, they don't be goin' to
draft thin, be they said an old Irish
woman, her eyes expanding and her
hands above her head. An send thin
to the Philippians, an let thin be ct
up by rattlesnakes, and drownded in
the Attic ocean, an burnt at the stake
In China, an get smallpox in She-ka-
gy, an'-an' maybe be accidentally shot
by a F1lipeeno? Do yez think OH let
my Jimmy and Jack, and Aloysius,
and Micky lave the protectin' arms of
their ould mother and join the army?
No, sir.
That's the way wild yez imperilists,
gettin' everybody imperiled all the
time. Now look at us. Here we be,
happy family. Nothin' to worry us.
the house paid fur, an all the b'yes
workin', and the little one ownin'
good goat, an everything lovely 'cept
when the ould man comes home wild
a jag. Would yez take the b'yes
away frum home like that and send
thin out wild a lot of tramps and re-
formed drunkards. commanded by
hazer from Wist Pint, an let thin git
kilt by their own men if they didn't
git shot by Aquinalto?
"Oi moo that would be the way as
soon as Mckinley wus elected LUX at
him, settin' there in the White House
wild nothin' to do but give swell din
ners and smoke strong seegars. Didn't
OF see pitcher uf him in the She-ka-
gy Crunakle, a-sittin' wild his feet on
the desk, a big seegar in his mout,
jist dom nothin' but 'ritin' his annyal
message? Didn't Oh?
AN thin think of him wantin' to
take me b'yes away from me, put thin
In the army, whr thy would have to
work fur $13.50 month, an make
their beds. an patch their clothes, an
never have me along to keep thin
from gettin' into trouble. o. don't
draft me b'yes in the army, mister"
All this time the city assessor, the
innocent cause of this democratic til
rade, had stood at the door, patiently
awaiting the time when the Irish fol-
lower of Willie ] should finish her lee
ture. He was used to it. Many a
time he had been the audience to such
an outbreak, just because he was an
assessor. He knew there was no
more use trying to check the flow of
eloquence than in attempting to talk
some people into cleaning snow off
the walks, and SO he held his peace.
When Mrs. Flanagan stopped for
breath, however, he took his pencil,
from his mouth and explained to her
that he was only an assessor and not
a recruiting officer, that he was only
doing mis- duty when he asked her If.
there were any males in her family
who were capable of military service.
that there was little probability of her
b'yes being drafted, at least not i'm
mediately. At last she was made to
comprehend that he was not fiend
sent to mar the happiness of her home
and he was allowed to proceed with
his work.
He got the desired information,
along with a lot more about the watch
es, other jewelry, in fact all the per-
sonal property, and the real estate al
SO, recorded all the facts in his book.
deposited it in its canvas sack and
departed on his way, leaving Mrs.
Flannigan to study at leisure the work
fngs of the takers
The city's Worth.
The property in Ottumwa is asses
sed at 25 per cent of it's valuation, and
levy of 1872 mills is made on this
amount. Two years ago the assess
ment was made on so per cent of the ac-
tual value, and the levy ran lower and
this is one of the reasons people i'm
sagine that they are being taxed more
heavily this year than last, simply be-
cause the rate is higher. AS mat
ter of fact the total valuation was re-
duced over million dollars by this
change. The exact figures are, for
1898. when the property was assessed
on half of its value, or SO per cent, So
692,941, while in 1899, the first year at
ter the change,the amount was $2,331,-
$50. This includes personal property
and real estate.
The Assessors at Work.
The assessor and his deputies have
now been at work for three weeks and
are getting a good start. 1t will be
five months more before they have fin
ished the gathering of information and