Iron County register., 1904-11-03

tend to this whole matter by Mr.. Arthur
Huff, who was endeavoring to secure the
land for Mr. Goggin.
JOS. A. ZWART.
Subscribed and sworn to before me ON the
day and year first above written.
7. A. LAWRENCE, County Clerk
St. Francois County, Mo.
By N. S. SHAW, JR., Deputy Clerk.
STATE OF MISSOURI, &C ...
COUNTY OF IRON.
P. w. Whitworth, being duly sworn, de-
poseth and saith: On the 2Sth day of April,
1896, acted as auctioneer for the sheriff
and cried the sale of the lands sold for de-
linquent taxes at the east front door of the
courthouse, in the city of Ironton; at the
time stated sold the Fleming land de-
scrbed as Sc or, sec. 20, and ne, ar, sec. 30
twp 81, range e, for the sheriff, at public
outcry, giving ample opportunity to every
one present to bid upon the same. Joseph
A. Zwart was the highest bidder for the land
and the same was struck off to him. My
recollection of the matter is perfectly clear,
and any statement to the contrary is rdicul-
Gus. 2. w. w WHlIWORIH.
Sworn and subscribed to before me this
I'd day of November, 1904.
w. T. O'NEAL, Clerk
County Court Iron County, Mo.
After Mr.. Goggin purchased the
land he sold it to different parties,
netting him handsome profit.
Since this sheriff's sale it has
developed that at the time it was
made the defendant, David Flem-
ing, was dead, but the collector
had no knowledge of that fact
when he brought the suit, and all
he could do was to sue the record
owner of the land, which was done,
and no one is to blame for lack
of this knowledge, which is the
cause of the whole trouble.
For the reason that their father
was dead at the time of the sale,
the heirs of David Fleming brought
suit to recover the land and about
5000 rents ana profits, $500 dam
ages for unlawfully Withholding
the premises and $500 for timber
cut on the land. Many tracts of
land are lost to the purchasers at
tax sales on account of the parties
sued being dead at the time of the
sale, but that is a risk that such
purchasers have to take.
Since the institution of the suit
against Mr.. Goggin ct. al, which
was filed June II, 1908, | had not
seen Mr.. Goggin until Monday
morning the Oath ult. The land
being of little value, | was asked
by the defendants, Goggin and
Black, to see the attorney for the
Fleming heirs and try and prevent
the rendition of judgment against
them on the several counts above
mentioned, and to this | finally
agreed, knowing at the same time
that certain parties were misrepre-
senting the facts-in the case and
doing all in their power to injure
me. These men were in trouble
and l simply treated them as
would have treated any Other
| friend under similar circumstances.
After the matter was presented to
Mr.. Isenberg, the attorney for the
Fleming heirs, q satisfactory set
tlement resulted and he dismissed
the suit against Goggin and Black
and they,went home well satisfied
For this service received COM
pensation through the slanderous
columns of the hybrid sheet las
week, and certain Independent (?)
candidates are trying. to use it fol
political purposes, but | have too
much confidence in the intelligence
and fairness of the citizens OF Iror
county to believe a word of it.
| By the way, Mr.. Byers, to MAKE
one bite of a cherry, l wish to cor
| rect another Misrepresentation tina
has appeared in your paper, to th'
effect that there is a law prohibit
ing Whitworth and Huff from buy
ing ana selling tax lands. Their,
is no such law, and the autho
wilfully tells an untruth or i
densely ignorant. challenge tn
party making this statement t,
produce the law he claims that
have violated, and if he fails to d
SO, he will stand confessed a falsi
| fer and willful slanderer.
4 ARTHUR HUFF.
"a