Mohave County Miner

Frank L. Hunt and C. W. Herndon, Assessor and County Attorney, respectively, of Mohave county, returned Wednesday evening from Topock, where Mr. Hunt was holding ninety-nine head of mules owned by the Occidental Construction company, a Los Angeles concern. The company had refused to pay taxes on its outfit and as a result the mules were seized for the tax, amounting to more than $400.

The animals were held at Topock the past ten or twelve days at an expense of about $40 per day, and on Wednesday, a few hours before the scheduled hour of sale, the company paid the tax and all expense and the mules were shipped back to Los Angeles. These mules had been leased to the government for the purpose of constructing a dike along the east bank of the Colorado river and when the high water came the animals had to be taken out of the bottom. The Assessor demanded the tax on the outfits, which was refused, hence the seizure. Every effort was made by the agent at Fort Mohave to defeat the collection of taxes on this property, but the Assessor, backed by the supervisors and law department of the county stood firm and made the company come to time.

Even the U.S. Attorney was importuned to stop the seizure and sale of the stock, possibly on a misrepresentation of the facts, but the bluff did not work. Assessor Hunt is to be congratulated on the manner in which this tax matter was handled.