Daviess County, Missouri - Chapter 14: Courts and Compromises, Rats, Railroads and Revenue, 1882

Chapter 14: Courts and Compromises, Rats, Railroads and Revenue

Redeeming her Character - A New Issue - County Affairs - He did not Retire- - - 1877--New Law--Completed - Ta.xes and Assessments - A Rat Story - A Mastodon - The Living and Dead - 1879-1780 - County Debt.

Redeeming Her Character

For vears the county, and at times the State, was a good deal troubled to get its own. In fact, from 1837, when Thomas W. Jacobs first defaulted some $581, and over, to 1872, the men who handled the money of Daviess county, with a few exceptions, were generally behind in their accounts, and took years to secure a final! settlement, and sometimes did not get it then. This unfortunate state of affairs seems to have been changed from the year 1873. The taxes of that year were promptly paid by the new sheriff and collector, J. T. Dunn, elected in 1872. We find this change referred to in the Missourian, of January 29, 1874, in the following complimentary words. Speaking of receiving the report of the State Treasurer it says: -

"That which gives us most satisfaction in this report, is the fact our county leads off in the payment of State taxes. For a number of years we have been unfortunate, aud the taxes from Daviess county have not been forthcoming, at least, not at the right time. We have this year a better showing than any other county in the State."

"This isa matter which should have been attended to by the County Court years ago. The present court deserves credit for taking the bull by the horns, and in a manly but determined tone, demanding of a rich railroad corporation our just rights. Their action in this matter will put about $5,000 in the county treasury."

Further on it says: 'The County Court ordered the treasurer to cash all outstanding warrants, which were issued previous to January 1,1872. Hunt up your old warrants and get your money for them."

This certainly was a new order of things, and astonished the people as much as it gave them pleasure and satisfaction. They gave voice to the expression by reélecting the same gentleman to the oftice of sheriff and collector in 1874 for another term, and most of the members of the County Court held over, so that the people had cause to congratulate themselves on having officers who were honest, able and prompt in their official duties. If taxes were high, the money went to pay their debts, and was not squandered,.and the local paper seemed to have voiced the feelings of the people in giving praise to the officials who had faithfully performed their duty.

A New Issue

The action of the railroad companies in offering to accept the compromise of the Daviess county bonds, held by them, helped wonderfully to clear the financial sky, and the County Court took prompt steps to secure the advantages of the offer. The people had grumbled at heavy taxation for the two or three previous years, but that cash being in the county treasury gave a wonderful impetus to the compromise question. The railroad companies knew the money was there, and wanted it,and saw years of litigation before they could get their grip on it, saying nothing about the cost of suit, and as a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush, and at Jeast another in the cost of suit and delay, they wisely concluded to compromise.

"Tt is ordered that William Rush, Jr., and John P. Smith be and they are hereby authorized and directed to prepare bonds of the county of Daviess, as follows: -

"Fifty (50) bonds of $100 each, and fifteen (15) bonds of $500 each, payable two years after the first day of January, a. p. 1876; and fifty (50) bonds of $100 each, and seventeen (17) bonds of $500 each, payable three years after date; and fifty-seven (57) bonds of $100 each, seventeen (17) bonds of $500 each, payable four years after date; and twenty-eight (28) bonds of $500 each, payable five years after date; and twenty eight (28) bonds of $500 each, payable six years after date; and twenty-nine (29) bonds of 8500 each, payable seven years after date; and twenty-nine (29) bonds of $500 each, payable eight years after date; and twenty-nine (29) bonds of $500 each, payable nine years after date; and twenty-nine (29) bonds of $500 each, payable ten years after date; all of which bonds shall be dated on the first day of January, 1876, and shall bear interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum, payable semi-annually upon coupons attached. Said bonds and the interest conpons thereto attached shall be payable at the banking-house of Bartholow, Lewis & Co., in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, or at the oftice of the Treasurer of Daviess county, Missouri, at the option of the holder of any such bonds or coupons, and shall recite that they are issued under and by virtue of an act of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, entitled an act to facilitate the settlement of county, city, or other municipal bonded indebtedness by composition with the holders of such bonds, approved March 27, 1875, the coupons to which bonds shall have the name of the clerk of this court lithographed or engraved thereon, and after said bonds shall have been prepared in the manner aforesaid the said Smith and Rush shall deliver the same to this court and the same shall be executed in the name of the county of Daviess, by the presiding justice of this court, whose signature shall be attested by the clerk of this court with his seal of office attached, and after the same have been so executed, they shall be delivered to Moses Brown and Gabriel Feurt heretofore appointed by this court to compromise railroad indebtedness of Daviess county, Missouri, who shall upon composition with the holders or holder of any bond heretofore issued by Daviess county to any railroad company, issue to such holder such amount of the bonds provided for as such holder shall upon composition agree to accept in lieu of the bonds so held by him. The said commissioners shall after a composition with any such holder cause the necessary bonds to be registered before delivery." These bonds numbered 378 in all, and were for the aggregate sum of $126,200.

County Affairs

Quite a controversy sprang up in 1866, upon the action of the County Court, in relation to a debt due by a church organization for moneys borrowed from the county school fund. The money had been loaned without taking the usual mortgage security, and on trying to get a settlement this discovery, of no mortgage, was made, and also that some of the notes of the members of the church had been lost, and their piety did not prevent them from taking advantage of the fact. The court found themselves in for it, and they settled with the church for the principal and simple interest rather than go into a long litigation. This action of the court aroused some of the opposition, and they proposed to so handle it as to make the County Court unpopular, and especially Judge Feurt, the presiding justice, a man who was known for his stern integrity and straight-forward ways. The Judge, in reply to an article in the Missourian, said: -

"JT want to say to the people of the county, that there has not been a dollar of school money lost, that has been loaned since I have been a member of the County Court. We have paid, since I have been a member of the court, about $60,000 of outstanding indebtedness, and have bought 105 railroad bonds of $1,000 each, with all the accrued interest, which cost us about $65,000, and bought a farm to keep the poor on, and have $42,800 on hand, to buy bonds and pay other indebtedness."

The Judge had been a member of the County Court since 1870, a new set of county officers had taken hold in 1872, and there had been up to date of the remarks of the Judge, a tight rein held upon the connty's resources, and the prompt manner in which the revenue funds had been collected and accounted for, made the "outs" anxious to get their hands on that $42,800. There had been no safe or sheriff robbery and no defaleation. The dark days of financial distress were passing away, and the dawn of more prosperous times seemed fairly in view. Butcertain parties wanted all that changed, like the man said to the doctor - * I eat well, and I sleep well, but I seem to have a fullness." 'Oh,' said the doctor, "I can give you something to cure all that." Just here was where the "outs" wanted to play the doctor. The people were beginning to prosper, the county was fast getting out of debt and the treasury was full, and the " outs" felt they could cnre all that if they only had a chance. The decade from 1860 to 1870 showed that they were capable of doing it. This started the onslaught on Judge Feurt, and in closing his remarks upon the county affairs, he said further : -

"T feel gratified that my time is as near out as it is, and that [ have made no more mistakes than I have, hoping that the people will eleet some man to fill my place, that will make less errors than I have."

Hwe Did Not Retire

The Judge, however, was slightly mistaken about his term being out. To be sure the election of judges and other officers was near at hand, and the Judge intended to retire to private life, but what his intentions were, made no difference to the people. They also had their intentions, and they carried them out by a large majority. The people were considerably more numerous than Gabriel Feurt, and the result of this numerousness was, that Judge Feurt found himself reélected and, also, again presiding justice by vote of his associates. The people were not so blind but what they could see the improved financial condition of the county, and with Gabriel Fenrt, Moses Brown, Sr., and John A. Tuggle the chances for peculation were very, very few. The people even went so far as to doubt the honesty of the Gallatians, and did not for a moment hesitate to express their doubts in very plain language, especially during the excitement of an election.

B24 History Of Daviess County

The year 1877 opened with every prospect of a fruitful one. The fine crops of 1876 had helped oat those who were in debt. The dark days brought on by the financial disaster of 1873, were passing away, and as they passed the bright sunlight of renewed prosperity made the people hopeful for the future. Daviess county had passed through the crisis safely, had weathered the storm of adversity, brought on by the misfortunes of a series of years, but when 1877 dawned upon the world Daviess county had begun to feel the new life that gave promise of renewed prosperity.

New Law

The change in the law in regard to the county judges was passed by the General Assembly, April 27, 1877, and being too late for that year's action it was to be carried out in 1878. The County Court, then composed of five members, was to be reduced to three, one to be voted for at large, hold his office for four years, and to act as presiding justice, the other two were to be elected by districts and their terms were but two years. The County Court was to divide the county into two districts by the first of April, 1878, the judges to be elected at the general election in the following November, and to assume their duties January 1, 187, and this is the present law in regard to county judges: -

The districts were No. 1 and No. 2, the north half of the county with seven townships, forming district No. 1, and the south half of the county with eight townships, forming No. 2.

The long delayed Omaha & St. Lonis Railroad was completed to the former city in October, 1879. It had remained at Pattousburg nearly eight years, and some eighteen months of that time had not run north of Ohillicothe. The opening of the road was of great benetit to Daviess county, as it opened up the vast prairies of Iowa and Nebraska to the lumber regions of this county. Probably a million feet of lumber has been sent west over that road annually since it has been completed.

Taxes And Assessments

Since the change of administration in county affairs from January 1, 1873, a strong effort to collect delinquent taxes had been made, and several thousand dollars collected, yet a full return of all delinquent taxes to January 1, 1877, amounted to $28,581.58. This large sum was probably a total loss to the county.

The total tax assessed for 1877 for all purposes was $82,699.19. A large portion of this, something in the neighborhood of $40,000, was railroad tax. A slightly heavier tax than this had been levied in 1876. The delin-

The railroad indebtedness was the elephant on the hands of the County Court, and they could see no way out but by heavy taxation and compromise. They did not hesitate, but still kept up the tax levy to its maximum. While not equal to the two former years on the railroad tax, the other levies were kept up. We find the total tax levy tor 1878 to have been $67,037.67, divided as follows: -

And the total valuation of real and personal property that year was $4,307,- 700. This was a high valuation, exceeding that of the following year by considerably over a quarter of a million dollars.

A Rat Story

Among the great crops of 1877, in Daviess county. the rat crop was the most remarkable. The rodents, in fact, beeame so numerous and destructive that the County Court was prevailed upon to offer a premium of five cents on each rat scalp furnished. It was abont that time that the rat harvest commenced in dead earnest. Boys began to have bright visions of going to shows and circuses and places of amusement generally, and so harvest hands were plenty, and the crop out-look decidedly promising. In fact, it turned out so prolific that the court, on footing up the bills paid, found that the total ainount paid out for rat scalps was $1,414, which, at five cents per head, amounted to 28,280 rats harvested. Just at this time it came to the ears of the court that a Gentry county man had actnally got a drove of T00 rodents together, driven them across the line, killed and sealped them, and got his thirty-five dollars ont of the county by his stroke of enterprise, and that he had gone back for another drove. Also, information arrived that the enterprising citizens of Harrison were busily corraling the animals, and would soon come over the north line of Daviess like an avalanche, and take charge of any spare funds that the treasurer might have on hand. These alarming rumors decided the court, and they repealed the "* Rat Bounty" order, thereby shutting down on the enterprising citizens of Gentry and Harrison as well as on their untamed resources.

A Mastodon

This animal, which has roamed over both hemispheres in prehistori¢ times, was of that immense size which throws all the animals of modern time completely in the shade. The elephant is the only animal which could in any way approach him, and it in comparison was not larger than an ox would now compare with an elephant. It seems that one of these animals roamed through the valley of the Grand River, for a portion of a lower jaw and a tooth, bearing every appearance of the mastodon, was found in Sheridan township in 1877, There was about half of the lower jaw left, and one tooth nine inches long with a deep cavity nearly six inches deep. The molar tooth had five conical projections on each side of it. The jaw was a massive affair fully thirty-two inches long and had a width of twenty-eight inches. Both the tooth and jawbone were very heavy. They were found by a Mr. Cochrane, who stated that he refused one hundred dollars for thein.

Another one of these singular relics and also the skeleton of a moose was found in the same township, and are now in the possession of the finder, H. T. Hubbard. He was digging ont a spring on his farm when he came across them, and dug them out. There have been numerous evidences discovered at different times which go to show that animals of a prehistorie period have roamed these hills and valleys, but still not enough to make the search worthy of a persevering effort. Who and what inhabited these wilds will ever be veiled in mystery and given to conjecture.

The Living And Dead

There are three incidents in 1879 that belong to history as actors in the business life of Daviess county. One was a very pleasing one, the celebration, on August 18, of the golden wedding of Judge John D. Coulson. He was first elected judge in 1854, and heid until 1858, and acted during the term as presiding justice. He was again elected in 1860, and held for four years and was a member of the board of supervisors in 1872. His golden wedding was attended by a large number of the best citizens of the county. Many presents were left with the aged couple as a remembrance of Jove and worth, and the Gallatin cornet band went ont and gave the couple a serenade. It was a very pleasant affair. The judge and wife are yet living.

The other two are sad incidents. Two ot Daviess county's best citizens passed away; two who had been prominent in official life, and had lett a worthy record behind them.

Judge Merriwether T. Green died at his residence in Monroe township, August 11,1879. He held several offices in the county, and was highly esteemed. The other sad death was that of Judge B. H. Coffey, of Salem township, August 23, who had also been one of Daviess county's best and most up-

The value of real estate was placed at........ 0.00 ccce cece cee: $2,455.131 The value of personal: property Bios czas sacks bah one sae Codes 1.486.396 WO conti ieee eseisat cea cuasind aswese cones seakke &3 941,527

The railroad property of the county was valued at $310,698, on which they paid a tax of $5,717.46. The Western Union Telegraph Company paid a tax of $2445.

The school money distributed for 1879) was the handsome sum of St1,- 491.92 and as it is the first time in several years the mmount was made out by townships it is here given, so that it will be known hereafter how ineh each has gained since. The school fund, both State and county, is gradually increasing, but still every effort should be made to increase the permanent fund.

The returns of the assessor for 1880 shows a slight falling off in' real estate to the amount of nearly $800, Lut the personal property increased the There was probably a closer assesssurprising amount of over $300,000. The trouble is that personal

In addition to this must be added the railroad property in the county, which is assessed at........ see eee eee eee eee ees 3 408,763 Merchants' Stocksso cowie: "atas tds d Hexweadicaseresiows Hae hnaks 150,662 Western Union Telegraph Company's property.....-...-.+--- 4,199 This makes a grand total of.............. Spa adernce dept lO2-OLe

The assessor's books for the year 1881 are not returned in season for this work. The taxation of next year being based upon that assessment, being the valuation of August 1, 1881. The above assessment and taxation of 1880, therefore, closes the record, which will prove valuable for future reference, being correct as taken from the books.

The taxes for 1840, for Daviess county, footed up the sum of $309.50. The total taxation for the year 1850 only amounted to the sum of $1,055.55, and for the year 1860 the total tax of Daviess county was the sum of $8,529.583. The rapid increase of valuation from that date to the present year may be seen when this taxation amounted to the sum of $98,174.04, as above shown. This rapid increase in both wealth and population is not likely to fall back, but rather increase, in future years.

County Debt

Daviess county for a great number of years kept gradually running behind and increasing its debt at a fearful rate. The robbery of the county fund and of the treasury, and the loss by others, soon brought the county to the verge of bankruptey. County warrants had been used to keep her eredit afloat. These warrants gave the county a floating debt of nearly sixty thousand dollars, including the bridge debt, and with arailroad bonded debt of $300,000, things began to look squally. Warrants, when taken, were worth from forty to sixty cents. This was in 1872, and the records show the county debt to have been in all $356,000. That year an entire new set of officials were elected, pledged to economy and honesty and a determined effort was put forth to save the reputation of the county, and also to avoid the pool of bankruptey upon the bank, of which it stood so close. The County Court began to act in dead earnest. The Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad neglected and refused to pay its taxes to the county. They were brought to time and made to pay up. The sheriff collecting was required to collect close and on time. The railroad bond debt was put in a shape for compromise, and the sixty thousand dollars voted for what was called the "Ten-mile Strip,'' was taken to the courts and the county gained the suit. This left the county indebtedness, Jess the cost of the suit, as above. Interest was accumulating, and things looked dark enough, but there was a grim determination on the part of the County Court to bring out Daviess county from the "Slough of Despond," and place her financial standing upon a solid and enduring basis. How well they did this may be gathered from what Daviess county owes at the present writing.

AOA ADONUBoscKs es. SUAS MASSON Rae eae ws ees $193,000 Coupon VORA sticies ci isaseexd separ weaarnareresaaneess 60,515 ANGE rein sidicare dh ays teaetSe eet Ss DONG Res eee EINER OTe Os Se $253,515

For this amount of bonds redeemed the County Court paid a total of $146,408.88, which included all costs and fees. This was a saving to the county of $107,106.12. While this work was going on, something over $25,000 had been expended tor bridges; the warrants outstanding had all been redeemed. A large school tax had been levied and paid each year, and the year 1881 finds Daviess county's financial standing A 1, and no more bonds can be compromised at less than one hundred cents on the dollar and accrued interest. All this has been effected in eight years of new rule and honest effort. The debt of Daviess county, July 1, 1881: -

OF this amount $35,000 isexpected to be paid from the levy of this year, leaving $93,000 as the indebtedness of the county, January 1, 1882. This. balance it is proposed to pay within three years. The future of Daviess: county, with the inexhaustible richness of her soil and honest officials is, indeed, bright.