The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-04-25
Rass River Taxes.

Bass River Taxes.
The State Board of Taxation held
meeting In Trenton, on Tuesday, an
among other matters considered was til
subject of how to relieve those person
who own lands In Bass River township
Tor which they seem unable to get clea
title or tax bill.
There were present at the meeting owe
a dozen women and a half dozen men
The male portion of the gathering wa
not much in evidence as the women in
sisted on doing the talking and they al
wanted to talk at once, and they did so
The room at one time resembled beehiv
more than anything else
Most of the complainants were resident
OF New York. They stated they had pur
chased the lands through a newspape
advertisement and they had deeds anC
maps in abundance. But few of them haC
tax receipts from the township. Some O.
them had such documents but they wer,
from Mr.. Appleby, the man who promoted
the land scheme and from whom they
purchased. He paid the tax or at least hC
said he did, and then collected from those
registered on his books as owners Ths
fact is that the tract of land In which
these people claim ownership of lots, has
been sold for taxes, at Sheriff's sale anc
In various other ways, so that it is hard
to tell who is the rightful owner.
One man said he did not believe the lots
were worth much now, but there was 9
possibility Of there being valuable In the
future and he wanted his children to have
the advantage that might come later
This man desired the State Board to put
some sort of method in operation wherebS
he might have the lots apportioned to him
out of the entire tract.
Two Of the women said they wanted
their lots located that they might go and
build bungalows They had seen the
entire tract and they thought 1t was Q
beautiful site.
R. A. Mathis, collector of the township
of Bass River, told that it is impossible to
locate the various lots so that tax bills
could be sent. In reply to question why
he did not answer queries about the mat
ter be said 1t would take too much of his
time. He receives stacks of letters daily,
In many OF which there is failure to en-
close stamps for reply. His salary is
but $l35 and that does not pay him for
attending to the duties of collector.
G. s. Cramer, the assessor, said he had
been in Office but a little over a year.
Appleby tract had been assessed as a
whole for long time. He endeavored to
adopt plan whereby the lots could be as
sessed to the individual owners, but was
compelled to give the task up. He felt
that 1t would be impossible to adopt any
such course without resurvey of the en-
tire tract.
After patiently hearing both sides of
the case the State Board decided that this
was about as knotty a proposition as it
had run up against in long time. The
matter would require considerable thought
before conclusion would be reached,
and 1t is probable the Burlington County
Board of Taxation will be called into
consultation on the subject, With view
OF devising some plan whereby all parties
would be satisfied.
The Newark E0enlng Neaos looked into
the Appleby case and made this report:
j. Randolph Appleby. whose dealings
In real estate in South Jersey were con-
sidered by the State Board of Taxation, it
being alleged that he had delivered deeds
for the property, which deeds were never
recorded, has answered his accusers. The
land in question Is in Bass River township,
Burlington county. Mr.. Appleby is now
living in Spotswood.
Il sold the land" said Mr.. Appleby,
and gave the purchasers a deed, but it's
not my fault if they didn't have them re-
corded. 1t looks to me as If the officials
OF Bass River township are entirely at
fault in not sending out tax bills to the
new owners. For time l received and
paid the tax bills, but that grew monitor.
ous
''In 1908 informed Collector Mathis
was through paying other peoples bills
and acting in part as collector for Bass
River township. 1t was at this time l
stopped paying taxes, chiefly because /
was not receiving compensation from the
property owners.
ION December %. 1910, bought at a
sale to pay the taxes of 1908 and 1909
about 5000 acres of the land in question,
the remaining 500 or SO in the original
tract having taxes paid up to date
II paid about thirty cents an acre for
the land at that sale, the original price for
which / sold it being around So an acre.
Among the acres / purchased at that time
were twenty owned by Mrs. Albertine
Hersh, of New York. For the past few
years she has been seeking an opportunity
to make trouble. She is greatly annoyed
that the land was sold at tax sale and
purchased by me, but am not responsible
for the neglect of collector Mathis in not
sending out tax bills to Mrs. Hersh or any
others. l was Informed of the proposed
meeting of the State Tax Board, at Tren-
ton, but had no interest so did not 90.
THE land on which l now stand / sold
at remarkably low price and gave the
new owners deeds Some failed to record
them. and now | again hold possession of
nearly the entire original tract, some of
the lots being purchased at tax sale and
others In private way"
MIR. Appleby denied receiving money
from the new owners in the Bass River
tracts for the payment of taxes and not
turning the same over to collector Mathis
He stated that Mrs. Hersh had endeavored
to buy back her land for the price he paid
at the tax sale, but the price for the
twenty acres has jumped to $500 and this
is what he asked her for the land
The land in Bass River township pro-
NOTED by Appleby consists of about $500
acres, and was purchased some years ago
by Mr. Appleby in two sections and from
different parties. The first consists of
8, 800 acres and the other of 1900. 1t is
about four miles from Tuckerton. Only
scrub pine, 1t is said, grows on the place
1t is one OF numerous tracts developed"
In South Jersey In recent years, the buy
ers purchasing solely from maps
The records of the United States Dis
trict Court shows that ]. Randolph APP
Pleby was indicted by the United States
Grand Jury In January, 1907, for using
the mails In execution Of a scheme to de-
fraud. He pleaded not guilty, and was
held in $3.50 bail for trial. During the
trial this plea was withdrawn and Apple
by pleaded guilty to one of the three In
dictments brought against him. Sentence
was suspended by the court, but Appleby
was warned that any repetition of the Of
Tense with which he had been charged
would be severely dealt with. The other
two indictments were nolle pressed.
The three indictments charged practical
ly the same offense, namely obtaining
money under false pretenses from Mrs
Abbie r Mills, of As Sixteenth Avenue.
Newark. 1t was alleged that through cor
respondence Appleby had induced Mrs.
Mills to undertake the purchase of a tract
of five acres of land on Blue Mountain,
Sussex county. Mrs. Mills was paying
for the property in installments of 81 each,
the different payments forming the basis
for the three indictments.
The specific allegations upon which the
indictments were based were that under
the name of "Appleby estate, Leonia, N.
j." the defendant devised scheme to
procure the sale of lands at Hyde Park,
Beemerville. Sussex county, and to in
duce Mrs. Mills and divers other persons
and corporations to purchase the property
by representing that it was desirable in
vestment. According to the indictment a
prospectus sent through the mails by MIR.
Appleby described the land as consisting
of tract in northern New Jersey, devot-
ed entirely to dairying, the land being
high and dry, with a healthy situation
and suitable for summer homes, stock
raising and agricultural purposes. 1t was
represented that the land was divided in
to building lots and laid out into streets
and avenues as shown on a map accom-
panying the prospectus