Section four of said chapter one hundred and sixteen is hereby amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows: "4. The list so prepared shall be delivered to the Clerk Lists to be of the Circuit Court, to be by him safely kept, subject only delivered to and preserv to the inspection of the court, or of the Recorder, or a jus- ed by the tice, as hereinafter prescribed." CHAPTER 51.-AN ACT for the relief of S. W. C. Davis. Passed February 16, 1871. clerk. WHEREAS, it has been represented to the Legislature Preamble. that the citizens of Mannington township, in the county of Marion, are desirous of relieving Squire W. C. Davis from a portion of his liability to said township as former treasurer thereof, therefore, Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia : Voters of 1. At the general election to be held on the fourth Township to Thursday in October next, the qualified voters of Manning- decide upon ton township, in the county of Marion, may by their votes W.C. Davis relief of S. decide whether S. W. C. Davis, former treasurer of said township shall be released and discharged from the payment of five hundred dollars, parcel of his remaining liability to said township. The vote; 2. The ballots used at said election, at the several places The ballots. of voting in said township, shall have written or printed upon them respectively, "For relief of Davis" and "Against relief of Davis," and the vote shall in all respects be counted and certified as in other cases; except that the certifi- how counted cate of the number of votes cast for and against such re- and certified. lief shall be returned to the township clerk of said township, who shall, if a majority of the votes cast appear to have been for relief, issue and deliver to said Davis a written certificate of discharge from liability to said township, to the extent of five hundred dollars. CHAPTER 52.-AN ACT to amend the Charter of the Pan- Passed February 16, 1871. Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia: That the charter of the Pan-Handle railroad company incorporated by an Act of the Legislature passed July 15th, 1868, and amended by the Act passed March 1st, 1869, be further amended as follows: 1. The corporate name of said company is hereby changed Corporate to the name of the Pittsburgh, Wheeling and Kentucky name changRailroad Company, and all contracts and liabilities to or from said Pan-Handle railroad company shall be transferred Liabilities to and vest in the said Pittsburgh, Wheeling and Kentucky transferred. Railroad Company, which shall succeed to all the rights and and be responsible for all the obligations of said Pan-Handle railroad company. All proceedings or suits now pending on behalf of the Pan-Handle railroad company may be prosecuted without delay by the insertion of the name of the new name of the corporation in place of the Pan-Handle railroad company, new corpora- and be tried and decided just as though such change of party had not been made. Suits pending to be prosecuted under the tion. Subscrip made and paid. 2. Any county or municipal corporation or township may tions; how subscribe to the capital stock of said company under the provisions of the charter applicable to the county of Brooke, and to raise the money necessary to pay such subscription, any such township, county or municipal corporation may issue its time bonds bearing not more than eight per cent. interest, and such bonds and their interest, whether heretofore or hereafter issued shall be exempt in the hands of the holder from all taxation other than for State purposes. Maximum 3. The maximum capital stock of the company is hereby capital of fixed at eight millions of dollars or such less amount as may company. be fixed by the board of directors of said company, and the Authority to board are authorized to receive subscriptions of land and receive pro- other property from persons or corporations in payment of perty subscriptions. subscriptions to the capital stock upon such equitable terms as may be agreed to by the board and such subscribers, which land or property shall be disposed of by the company as soon as practicable at fair prices. Protection to dwellings. Authority to appoint a commission er. Oath of office 4. The said company shall not construct their work within less than twenty feet of the dwelling of the land owner without his consent, but this prohibition shall not apply to tenant houses nor to towns where the consent of the corporate authorities to use the streets has been obtained. CHAPTER 53.-AN ACT to provide for a re-assessment of the value of all the real estate in the county of Tyler. Passed February 16, 1871. Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia: 1. The Board of Supervisors of the county of Tyler may appoint a commissioner on or before the twenty-fourth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, whose duty it shall be to re-assess the value of all real estate within said county, and who shall be a resident of said county, a discreet freeholder and otherwise a suitable person. 2. The commissioner so appointed shall, within ten days after he has been notified of his appointment, take and subscribe the oaths of office prescribed by law for other officers, which oaths shall be certified by the person before whom the same are taken, and such certificate shall be filed with Failure to the Recorder of the county. If from any cause the comqualify. missioner so appointed shall fail to qualify within the time prescribed, the president of the Board of Supervisors shall immediately after such failure, call a meeting of said board who may appoint another commissioner in his stead, who shall at once qualify, as prescribed in this Section, and enter upon the discharge of the duties of his office. 3. Two suitable books shall be provided by the Board of Books for Supervisors and delivered to the said commissioner as soon commisafter he has been appointed as practicable; and such books sioner. may be furnished to said board by the Auditor. 4. Said commissioner shall, as soon as practicable after Commissioner; his receiving the books aforesaid, proceed to examine all the duties. tracts of land and town lots, with the buildings and improvements thereon, within said county, and shall, upon such examination, ascertain and assess the fair cash value thereof; and to assist him in ascertaining said lands and town lots, he shall obtain from the clerk of the Board of Supervisors the land-book of the county, made for the year eighteen hundred and seventy, which book he shall return to said clerk as soon as he has discharged his duties under this Act. powers. 5. Said commissioner shall carry with him said land-book Commisand the entries of lands or town lots charged to any person duties and sioner; his resident, or having an agent in said county, shall be shown. to said person or his agent, who shall be required to state whether the same be correctly entered, and if not, then to answer such interrogatories touching the matter as may be propounded to him by the commissioner; and he shall further state whether any other lands or lots within said county ought to be charged to such resident or non-resident, all of which statements and answers shall be made Freeholder upon oath, and for that purpose said commissioner is here- to answer inby authorized to administer all proper oaths; and if such terrogatories person refuse to make such statements and answer such interrogatories, he shall be fined not less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars. on oath. of assessments. subscribed 6. Said commissioner as soon as he shall have completed Two copies said assessment shall make two copies thereof in the books to be furnished him under the provisions of this act, and shall take and subscribe an oath to the following effect: "I Oath to be a commissioner appointed by the Board of Su- taken and pervisors of said county to ascertain and assess the value by him. of the real estate in said county, do solemnly swear that I have diligently endeavored to ascertain all the tracts of land and town lots properly chargeable in my district, and have entered the same on the foregoing book; that I have Before and sub scribed. assessed the value of the same with the improvements thereon at a fair cash value, and have shown no partiality or favor, and that in making out said books, I have followed the provisions of this act, so help me God;" which oath may be whom taken taken and subscribed hefore any person authorized to administer oaths, and a copy thereof shall be subjoined to each of said books, one of which the said commissioner shall Said books; file with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors of said county, which shall be a guide for the assessor in making out his land book first made out after the said commissioner has made out and delivered one of said books to the said clerk as required by this section; and the other book be shall transmit to the Auditor on or before the first day of December next after the passage of this act. how filed. Persons dies. 7. Any person feeling himself aggrieved by the assess aggrieved; ment of his lands or lots made under the provisions of this their reme- act, may within one year after the verification of said commissioner's books apply by himself or his agent, to the Board of Supervisors of the county for relief, but before making such application, he shall give notice to the Prosecuting Attorney of the county, of his intention so to do. It shall be the duty of the Prosecuting Attorney in all such cases Board of Su- to attend to the interests of the State and county. If upon pervisors; their duty on hearing all the evidence, the Board of Supervisors shall be such appli- satisfied that the assessment on the property is too high, they shall reduce the same to its proper value, or if they shall be of opinion that the same is too low, they shall increase the valuation in like manner, and they shall correct mistakes as to quantity of land assessed; a copy of all or ders made on such application shall be certified to the Auditor, and a like copy to the assessor of said county. cation.. Copy of orders; to whom certified. 8. For services rendered under this act in making said Compensation of com- assessment and books the commissioner shall be allowed missioner. such compensation as the said Board of Supervisors may order, to be paid out of the treasury of said county. Value of 9. This act shall not authorize such assessment to reduce lands not to the aggregate value of the lands in said county as now be reduced. fixed by the assessor's land books of said county for the year 1870. CHAPTER 54.—~AN ACT to amend and re-enact the first section of an act passed February 25th, 1869, entitled "An Act to provide Free Schools for the District of Fairmont." Passed February 16, 1871. Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia : The first section of an act to provide free schools for thes district of Fairmont, passed February twenty-fifth, eighteen of Fairmont "1. The town of Fairmont and the parts of districts con- Boundaries tained within the following boundaries, to-wit: Beginning School Disat the line between Fairmont and Paw Paw township on trict. the Monongahela river and running with the same to Polecat run, thence down said run to Buffalo creek; thence southwesterly to the Fairmont and Wheeling turnpike at the low gap near the residence of Allen Hall; thence with the ridge to the boundary line of said school district as now, constituted, near the residence of the late John Conaway; thence in a straight line to the top of the ridge dividing the waters of Bell's run from Goose run; thence with said ridge to the line dividing the lands of Archibald Fleming and William Vandervert; thence with their line to the Westfork river, and down said river to the Monongahela river, and down the same with the meanders thereof to the place of beginning, shall constitute one school district; and the Board of Education shall consist of three commissioners. who shall be elected by the resident voters of the district, and have exclusive control of all schools within the same and none other." ect 1 CHAPTER 55.-AN ACT to incorporate the Raleigh Court Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia: 1. It shall be lawful to open books for receiving sub- Subscription scriptions to an amount not exceeding thirty thousand dol- Books. lars, to be divided into shares of twenty-five dollars each, to constitute a joint capital stock, for constructing a turn- Capital stock pike road upon the shortest and most practicable route from Raleigh Court House, by the way of Richmond Ferry Route of tion of Ephraim Guinn, A. A. Miller, John Richmond, Corporators. 2. When fifteen thousand dollars of the capital stock Incorpora- |