§ 141.040 RSMo — Duty of collector to enforce payment of back taxes — suit commenced — summons — publication — default judgment

If, on the first day of January of any year, any of said lands or town lots contained in said back tax book or recorded list of delinquent land or lots in the collector's office remain unredeemed, it shall be the duty of the collector to proceed to enforce the payment of the taxes charged against such tract or lot, by suit in a court of competent jurisdiction in the county where the real estate is situated, which said court shall have jurisdiction, without regard to the amount sued on, to enforce the lien of the state or such counties, and it shall be the duty of the collector, when suit shall have been commenced against any tract of land or town lot on said back tax book, to note opposite said tract or lot such fact, also against whom suit has been commenced; and in cases where suit is brought for the enforcement of liens as above, where summons shall have been issued against any defendant, and the officer to whom it is directed shall make his return that the defendant cannot be found, the court before whom the suit is pending, being first satisfied that the summons cannot be served, shall make an order directing that notice of such action be given to such defendant by publication; and in all cases where it shall be alleged in the petition, or in an affidavit subsequently filed with the clerk, that the defendants, or any one of them is a nonresident of the state of Missouri, so that the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon them, then such order may be made, and such notice by publication given by the clerk of the court in vacation, and which notice shall be published in like manner and with the same effect as when ordered by the court; the proof of publication of the order required by this section may be made by the affidavit of the publisher of the newspaper in which the order was published, or by the affidavit of any person who would be a competent witness in said cause, filed with the court; and if the defendant or defendants fail to appear at the time and place required by said order and defend said cause of action, judgment by default may be rendered as prayed, which judgment shall be as binding and effectual against the property on which the lien is sought to be enforced as if there had been personal service on the defendant.