Omaha daily bee., 1902-03-21

you suppose u would be necessary to tel
the court what your claim wasT'
Must fake Damage known.
II don't think that is q parallel case
answered Mr.. Mcintosh. II havnt inves-
tigsted that, but I know that In this case
we shall have ~ let the court know in what
way we have suffered. and the only way
we can do that Is to tell what the actual
value Of the corporation property is and
what Its assessed value is. II we 90 to the
court with less than this we fail in our
suit. II would be demurred to and the de-
murrer would be sustained. without show
Ing what the assessment was, how shall the
court know that the assessment was not
all that Il ought to be? We must first show
that the assessment Is unequal, or we shall
have no standing In the court. The coun-
sci over here"
Mr.. Mcintosh turned to the table at
which sat the six attorneys representing
the corporations and the city.
Your honor" he esumed after a pause,
I'm always at a loss to know what to call
them. There's only one Of them-Mr. Con-
nell, the city attorney-who is Of record
here. He is the only responsible one, the
only one upon whom l could serve a paper.
So what shall we call them? According to
one authority they should be termed the
city attorney and his company Of coadju-
tors Considered from the standpoint of
tue city councils action. they might be
called the city attorney and his company
OF interlopers.' They have also been STYLED
the salvation army But the salvation
army wont succeed In saving these cor
porations from paying their share Of the
taxes.
Power and Skill Used.
They have brought to bear. and will
continue to bring to bear, all of their poWer
ana skill to prevent their property being
Drought into the open and assessed as was
my house and lot, and your house and lot.
Ihey VIII hide It away. They said to the
assessor, Our property was assessed at so
mucn last year, and as there has been no
cnanse' II should be assessed at the same
Ihis year And this is all the data the tax
commissioner or his deputies had upon
which to estimate the fair cash value ~
corporation property. They refused to tell
the assessor what their property wss or
how much 1t was worth.
1t won't take so very long to get at the
tacts In this case. II all the officers OF
these concerns will tell the truth. and I be-
IeTe they will, we can get at the valuations
very quickly and concisely. They will be
aDie TO tell us all we want to know. be-
cause about the time this assessment was
made they were all on the verge of selling
OUT and So Of course, had very minute
AnoWiedse as to the value Of their property.
we must have evidence upon the ine-
quality OF the assessment. We can't prove
tne allegations Of the writ without II; we
can't prove we sustained an injury without |
II. 1t underlies every phase and feature Of
nHs case / would as soon the court would
sustain a demurrer to my writ as that vou-
honor exclude this evidence. 1t would he
no more fatal to my case.
we are entitled to this writ, your honor.
and no amount Of legal legerdemain can
Ones. US out OF 1t. Why are they forced to
resort to the array of untenable technicali-
Iles which for nearly three days they poured
INTO the ears Of your honor? It must be
tney have little faith in the merits of their
Ease These counsel cannot escape with
-nese tecnnicalities. They cam beat us out
OF our rights.