If any owner, shipper or agent thereof shall by misrepresentation, concealment, or violation of the provisions of sections 137.900 to 137.960 evade the assessment or the levy of taxes not defined in section 137.910 to be personal property in transit through this state, he shall be liable in the sum of the taxes evaded which would otherwise have been levied against his property, to be collected in a civil action on behalf of the tax collector of his county. This action shall be commenced and maintained by the prosecuting attorney, and the judgment, when entered, shall include all costs and an attorney’s fee for the plaintiff in his official capacity not less than the amount of the taxes so evaded.