The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-02-21
Discover Small Delinquency and
Then Set to Work on
Owner.
RICHMOND Or UGGlsT.Is5 n
sss SAL Ito HAVE PAID $500
khIany8Peoplc Have Been Caught.
and 1 Mr.. Todd Says the
Poor Suffer From IL.
Fruitful Field
for Spec,,la
O. ton.
S-rs-l 80. |. 80

R 30 EreHIt IN lteTrlCO mas peCoIlle tDeE ESVi
Of land -gra bling, and 70 vicious In its
effects upon manyt4of The poor, that The
tres slirer OF the county deems It neces-
sary&t 10 warn the citizens generally and
TO expose the very rcmar rka bic conditions
prevailing daily al the courthouse, where
speculators are constantly at work over
the land books. searching Tor some over.
sight, that will place an nnsuspe citing and
.often.imes pennlless proper ty- older in
their power.
In the office of Mr.. Todd yesterday
there was EXPRESSED thes desire tnat the
people might he Informed OF ne facts
and advised to look carefully 10 the mat
sters pertaining tn their property. large or
small. Mr., Todd said he wished for the
sake of many poo r. persons. n who are
being made TO suffer- to Issue a warn
Ing. He could not post notices or any
thing OF the sort. and shIs only medium
Of fcommunication was the newspapers
These. he Believed. would be rendering a
service 10 liutna nifty lf they would call
attention the eyi HI ~ OIL ma ySs say IT, as
coming from me. II ynsl 4 wish he Sdes-
clared !. thu every III ayss he land II books
are hsIng secured by people who spend
nearly all of their time at the .busin ess
sis .sat a1,s sci tizeris OF Henrico
,know;th HIS q nd 3tn Impress upon them the
need OF great care In reference Z, their
taxes. .3a ;f '3..5s = q
Searching the Books.
The delinquent laws Of Virginia open
a fruitful field for the speculation now
rife In Henrico Under these laws land
delinquent for two years are subject to
sale by the State. Any citizen LAS a right
70 apply for them. and II after two more
years the owner fails to redeem his prop
erty. tho applicant is given deed there
for, and the ownership changes. The only
consideration is the amount. OF taxes due,
which is ordinarily. very small. The
property-holdcr is now utterly helpless.
The land grnbbert usually offers 10 seil
the. land back to him for sum consid-
erablyi In excess OF the taxes no paln,
and unless the original owner pays this
he parts with his heritage for good and
ali. The law requires notices OF these a p.
LEGATIONS to be mailed to the owners, but
experience shows that this system Is very.
ineffective, some of the notices never
reaching the real owners. IL redemption
of property occurs within tho two yea rs,
then the land -grabber gets back the taxes
he has paid. wihsix percent. ADDED.
II ca n easily be seen what n rich hnrr- r.
vest may be reaped by those who thKe
advantage OF the delinquent laws. the
land.grabbers. so-callcd, do not depellla
particularly l,pon such people as as Z, nave nave
neglected their property for years,
though they take these, too. Where they
catch the owner is when he has over
looked some tax bill of a former r year.
Nearly every man Is liable to this over
sight, and mary frequently find that
willie their tax receipts rim up TO the
present time, they8a are DELINQUENT IN some
small amount fora period some years
back that they had forgotten. II Is
here Whcrc the land-grabbcr gets In his
work, II
ill., lAtaltho Hcnrico courthouse every day
az tho week arc certain individuals who
are scanning the lard books, searching
for these little overlooked delinQuencies,
.ys soon as ono is discovered they set
the machinery in motion and secure the
property paying the taxes Then they
inform the owner and offer to sell the
lard back for atsuni much belo" the ac-
tnal property value, but mostly above
What they paid for 1t In taxes, Ry ms
,rpec,llation they are rrap!ns IL consid-#
orablo profit. and at tho same time
imposing great hardship upon many
of the poor.
Many Are Caught.
"A day or Two ngo there was placed IN
the hands Of the deputy sheriff ~ list
or about twenty people whose property
was In the grasp of the land era bher.i
Notices Will be mailed to these people
i,nd If they fail to show llp the title 70
thell lands Will revert to the applicant
who has paid the delinquent tax, VS..
Many people arG being caught IN this.
way, and nullmber OF them are poor and
unable to met the sudden demand made
upon them. Yet lf they do not pay the
price set by the land-grabber, they lose
their homes. An old corn-field negro walk
ef into Mr.. Todd's office n week or. SO
ngo and began mourning the loss OF n
100 aero farm--nllJ Jlles had The property
was valued at about 500 and was III the
hands OF the land-grabbers who had Of
fered 10 sell 1t back for q certain amount.
l"lIow much taxes do I owe, boss?1'
INQUIRED the dnrky, 5s \
"Ninety-thIee4 cents, I" he was told.
fThis sum of ninetyrthrne cents repre-
sentcd what tho spectators had paid for,
TIT 100 acres. MI Todd told the negro
the only hope he llnd 0f;keeping his farm
was ia buy II back. IIe scnt lin to the
offce OF the land -grabbar
III was further learned that promlf
Dent druggist OF Richmond was ylei
timized,s He owns n ha ndsomes PROPERTY
VA )iea AZ perhaps IS. 900. The land grab
ii.