New-York tribune., 1902-01-29
"T4T FERRETS@ IN INDIANA.
HOW THEY BRING TO LIGHT MUCH So
CLUSTERED PROPERTY.

Indianapolis Jan. IS (SpeciaD--Under recent de-
cisions OF the Indiana Supreme Court. declaring
that county commissioners may legally contract
with expert accountants. otherwise known as tax
ferre1s'' 20 search for sequestered property, and
that such contracts may be enforced al law the
business Of the ferret has increased wonderfully
in the last year. and there is hardly county IN
the state in which contracts have not been made
for investigations or the records The business has
been reduced 10 a science by the Indiana 'fsr-ets'
and has already brought such results 70 the Stats
and excited such a wholesome fear among thoss
VINO have been ssGuesJs-ng their property that
officials believe the day OF lodging is prac
ticaIIy over Another good result = the correction
many titles and the strengthening out OF Official
records in many counties thus reducing the possi-
ble litigation which might Re instituted in ths
future by the heirs Of the parties 10 the transaction
in which the occur
IN order 70 explain the situation should said
that mans legal residence is the county in which
he votes, and IL is there that he is assessed upon
his personal property matter In what county
he may have taken mortgage. The ferret be-
gins by tahulating list of voters and opposite
each name is placed the property he owns. mort
cages given taken by him. the he
turns for taxation. transfers OF property made By
him IN him. and all other transactions which
necessarily appear of record. As the tax year be-
gins April l. all Of the '-eTret's' INVESTIGATIONS
centre at that date. IT, now q man sells a piees
Of property Just before that date his "a
looked see If he has accounted for IL either n
cash on hand OF by giving vhe amount "f the mort
gage for taxation. II neither appears he is called
upon tn explain the discrepancy. and unless the
explanation is satisfactory the amount goes upon
the tax duplicate. n the transaction occurs soon
after April I the buyer is called upon to show
where the money that day. provided his
tax return does not account for il II he says he
got il from Jones then JOness return Is looked
and If it does not show that he returned II for
taxation he is called upon 20 explain Thss one
after another is run down tin the money is found
r~F---
man who had It on April and failed TO report It's
possession
As a rule. there IS no publicity in such cases
for the persons who confronted with false
return are generaIly WiIlng 10 settle without go
ties. and unless Jhe suspect is OF his ground.
these not ONLY iIInstTsfa ths Vavs of The rsx
5Odger but bring into prominence the means that
employed FOR his detection A sample case Oc-
CURED few days ago a capitalist had lent a
large sum on some farm land in an adjoining
county; and the man who executed the mor1gass
claimed exemption under the law OF a part OF ths
mortgage In order to do this he compelled
OF the mortgage together with the number OF the
book and page where IT vas recorded The FER
return OF the capitalist in the county OF his resi-
~ ~ ss-e1 - sr-,ssr n t.JI ailG
what the notice meant, for when he entered the
auditors Office he told the official that he had
forgotten put down a certain raortgase ara
he had come 70 rectfy the mistake, Ignoring the
fact that notice had been sent. the auditor got
his tax return, and the correction was made for
one year me capitalist theu asked
been summoned 10 the office. and the auditor pro-
duced his returns for hve years. showing that
the mortgage had been forgotten every time the
capitalist had made his return Of properly
The mortgage was tnen put the tax duplicaf.
Tor hve years, instead IF and not word OF
protest uttered
Some time ago the commissioners OF Knox Coun-
" hired ferret 10 90 over the records be-
Heving that property was being sequestered. but
having one man. wealthy citizen. particularly
in mind The ferret through the records
but did md MORTGAGES given 10 the
wealthy citizen that accounted for on
his tax returns Suspicion excited and a.
investigation showed that the sxperr and the
wealthy citizen had INDUCED in a game OF cards
and that the expert had won 81 COO This was be
Heved 10 be only bribe. and another expert was
employed. His report showed that the capiraIfsr
had something over 100000 lent on mortgages
which were not accounted for and that a r1aTortrv
OF these mortgages had been running for NOR.
than ten years. The full amount OF the s@ctleS-
tered property placed the tax ciuplicar.
and. besides the dodger fined g 500 by a inv
when the prosecutor sued 20 collect the Srsrss
penalty The total taxes collected BY the COUNT
aggregated 2o.O0e. and the litigation growing cri-
OF the fraudulent returns cost the Capitalist n
excess OF 5000
Does Ferguson own auIouobIle7-
NO Poor fellovt He fell IN the hr- when -
was a child That's the way he got the czcA"-
H-hiCaZo n ralt