The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-20
CHAMPAIGN AGAINST
 TAX DELLNQUENTS
 HAS ILL BEGINNING
NeWtown Woman Clogs Ma chinery of Justice After
 Arrest by Constable.
Especial to The Farmer. )

town had an exciting session of his court Saturday forenoon,
 Newtown officials decided last week to begin an active campaign against dog tax dodgers The report of the town clerk for this year showed that nearly 100 from the figures of last lear. The registration fee is s1.25 if paid by May l, but a penalty of $1 ex- tra is added for failure to comply with the law time. Here the duty of the town clerk ends, but the town is authorized by law to employ dog agent who investigates and rounds up offenders. He must make returns to the town officials a list of deIinquents. For the work performed the selectmen pay the dog agent a salary of s25 a year.
 For several years past the dog agents emolument has exceeded the returns, and this of course has nettled all the town officials. P. H. Cannon has been the dog agent for several years past, and although painstaking in his work, has met with indifferent success.
 Acting upon information from sev- eral persons Saturday, who made com plaintss of an unregistered dog owned by Mrs. Jerome tPlatt of Flat Swamp district, he signed a complaint against her as an old offender, and the papers were given Constable William GOwer for service. as he was a neighbor, and thought to possess powers of persua- sion which would make her presence in the court of Justice P. H. Me Carthy immediately a sure thing Moral suasion in the case of this 1Wo-
 man was a dead failure, however; and Officer Cover produced his writ and began to read it, when, he told the court, she refused to listen a nd re- fused to accompany him to the court.
 He reached for the house telephone to call up Justice Mccarthy, when she tore the receiver from his hands and refused to allow him the use of it.-JIe went to a neighbor's hohse to .te1e- phone, but this was on the same party line and she broke into the call, and prevented him from calling up the justice. He then drove to a neigh bor's house on a different wire. and informed the Justice of the state of affairs. Justice Mccarthy then re- quisitioned Constab1es A. B. Blake
 man and Thomas Carlson of the bor- ough, and told them to proceed to the aid of Constable Cover and bring Mrs. P1att before him. Constable B1akeman, who was a former deputy sheriff obeyed with a1acrity, taking officer Carlson along in his autofno- bile.
 = On the way they met Mrs. PIatt, whose husband on being apprized Of the trouble prevailed on his bellige- rent spouse to go to the borough with him. = They took a different road and got to the court in advance of the off, cer who trai1ed her on an outside route fearing she intended to slip out side his jurisdiction into another town.
 When arraigned before Justice Me Carthy, she was in a state of wrath. and scored the officers for the disgrace they gave the town in arresting a wo- man first when there were so many other offenders. She, declared she would never pay the tax, penalty and costs, amounting to $16, although no charge was made for several. years, back taxes. The court then mildly told her of the consequences of her refusal to settle, but she said she was ready to go to jail for the. principle involved.
 Her husband and friends expostu- lated with her, but she turned a deaf ear to all. She offered to ch1oro- form or shoot the aged dog if this would do. or else would take ap-. peal from the judges decision. The court said he was ready to accept/a
 bond of $50 to <appear before the court of common pleas, but her shus- band was unable or unwilling to do this, and saidNlhe would pay the costs. if time were allowed him. He seem. ed to be much humiliated by the conduct of his wife, and begged the court to overlook her indiscretions in attacking it's dignity. Judge McCar- thy assured him he would overlook her derogatory remarks, ascribing it to her nervous condition. He then closed court turning over the prisoner to the custody of constable Gower, although he said he could be reached Ro 17-f' would be satisfied.
 As the constable was about to exc
 cute his orders, g. paei1cator, in the person of Edgar Andrews, a -Dodging7 town neighbor, appeared on the scene. He argued with Mrs. Platt for over an hour outside the court room, and
 at last a method uTas arranged by him whereby the court continued the case to October Is, MT. Andrews ob1i-
 gating himself to pay the treasury of the town of Newtown $16.21 on or before that date, if the woman per
 sisted in her determination to dare the law. She departed, still wra h. full In the meantime thes town CN-I cials are wondering if the victory is complete, or whether the game was worth the candle or not It looks highly probable. that halt will be called in the methods of the dog agent ! as far at least as the militant feni- nine owners of unregistered dogs are concerned. The first case is consid- cred draw, and the experience with Mrs. P1att will not prove Of much value as a moral lesson to the other
 ninety odd delinquents who it was 1 hoped after conviction in this first
 case, would tumble over each other I in their haste to come up to the cap-
 tain's office, and settle: Mrs. Platt, 1 it is known, was fully able to pay the
 costs of court, but her arrest without
 warning aroused her wrath to the point of unreasoning opposition. | GARNEAU-DARGAN