Wouldn't Be a Martyr

New York, 1895

Farmer Gustave Ritchenbach of West Hills, near Huntington, who was arrested Thursday on an attachment against his body for $5 dog tax and $8.25 costs, didn't go to jail after all. He refused to pay the tax, and when the town obtained judgment against him for the amount he still continued to ignore the proceedings. His lawyer informed him that the tax was unconstitutional, so Ritchenbach decided he would go to jail before paying it. While on his way to jail his nerve forsook him and he decided he didn't want to be a martyr after all, so reaching down in one of his boots he pulled out a greasy wad of bills and paid the tax and costs.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Jan. 25, 1895, p. 4.