|
CITY OF DUBOIS Page 143
Finally the Legislature passed a law providing that a
Township or Borough could, at the discretion of the Overseers,
maintain its own Poor House. The poor rate of the Borough under the
then system was not sufficient to maintain the paupers, and the
Overseers of the Poor decided to experiment with a Poor House. They
rented a farm four miles south of the Borough, employed the farmer
and his wife as Steward and Stewardess of the Poor House, and placed
the paupers therein. This poor farm was on what is now known as the
Zack Marsh farm. The result of the establishment of the Poor House
was to reduce the number of dependents by one half, saving to the
tax payers a very large amount of money.
This Poor House was maintained until the County decided
to establish a County Home.
As a rule the various poor districts of the County, as
well as of the State were in constant litigation with one another
over the responsibility for the support of the paupers. The law
provided that the poor district in which a pauper resided for one
year and became a citizen by paying taxes therein, or having taken a
house and paid rent thereon, for a time, was responsible for the
support of the pauper. With a moving population like DuBois had,
this question was always to the front, and the Overseers of the Poor
were almost constantly in litigation moving paupers from the Borough
to other poor districts in the County, or throughout the State. The
order for removal of a pauper was very simple. The Overseers of the
Poor would go to two Justices of the Peace, and the Justices would
give them an order to remove the pauper to such district as the
Overseers decided was responsible for the support of the pauper. Of
course to this order of removal the other district in the same
informal way could appeal to the Court of Quarter Sessions of the
County, and then the fight commenced, the support of the pauper
being up in the air until the case was called by the Court. In the
case of the Borough of DuBois, paupers were removed long distances,
as a large number came from other counties. This litigation was
quite expensive. In the first place the Overseers of the Poor were
paid a per diem wage for their services, and in addition thereto
their traveling expenses. It became necessary for the Overseers to
carefully investigate the place of settlement before they took the
order of removal, and likewise the other Overseers would have to
investigate before they took their appeal. Then came the question of
taking depositions to be read before the court for and against the
removal.
Reference to the reported cases throughout the State of
Pennsylvania will indicate the extent to which this litigation was
carried prior to the establishment of the county unit, and it is
more than likely that three fourths of the cases disposed of by the
lower courts were not reported for the reason that the reporting
system at that time was very inadequate.
One can readily see that an Overseer of the Poor
inclined to have
|
