Authority to construct railroad in certain counties, CHAPTER 79.-An ACT to enable the Hampshire and Baltimore Coal Company to build railroads from its mines, and connect the same with other railroads. Passed March 2, 1870. Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia: 1. That the Hampshire and Baltimore Coal Company, a corporation chartered by the laws of the state of Virginia, pursuant to an act entitled "An Act to incorporate the Hampshire Mining Company," passed March fifteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, and amended pursuant to an act of the state of West Virginia, providing for the formation of corporations, and regulating the same, passed October twentysixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and amended November seventeenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be and the said company is hereby empowered to locate, construct, and maintain such railroad or railroads and other improvements as its directors may deem necessary for the convenient transaction of its business, from any lands or mines owned, or hereafter to be acquired by said company, in the counties of Hampshire, Mineral, Hardy, and Grant, and connect with and to connect the same with any railroad or railroads already constructed, or hereafter may be constructed in said counties. And said company is hereby further empowered and authorized to charge and collect tolls on passengers and freight; and for such purposes the said company shall be and is hereby invested with all and singular the rights, powers, immunities, franchises, and privileges for the surveying, locating, and construction of said railroad or railroads, pany to be same and for the working, repairing, preserving, and controlling the same, and the necessary articles and appurtenances thereto belonging, and every part thereof, which the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company enjoys under the act incorporating said company, and the acts amendatory and supplementary thereto; and subject to all the restrictions imposed upon said Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, not inconsistent with this act, and under and subject to the laws of this state, as if the same were hereby expressly enacted. other roads, Tolls on passengers and freight. Powers of com O. R. R. Location of road and acquisition 2. That for the purpose of laying and locating such railof right of way. Way or railways, and for taking, occupying, using, and acquiring title to a roadway upon such lands as may be necessary thereto, the said company is hereby invested with the same rights, powers, and privileges, and subject to the same restrictions and limitations which are granted and prescribed Not to locate to the Potomac and Piedmont Coal and Railroad Company, in the seventh section of the charter of the said company, by an act of the legislature of the state of West Virginia, entitled "An Act to incorporate the Potomac and Piedmont Coal and Railroad Company," and passed the twenty-sixth day of February, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and of any act or acts amending the same; provided, that the said Hampshire and Baltimore Coal Company shall not have power to locate or construct any railroad along and by the road along North bank, within one mile distance of the waters of the North to connect with Branch of the Potomac river, above its confluence with Savage river, in the counties aforesaid, except in order to con- Not to interfere nect with the Potomac and Piedmont railroad, or Baltimore and Piedmont and Ohio railroad; and provided it shall not in any way interfere with the rights and privileges of said Potomac and Piedmont Coal and Railroad Company. Branch, except other roads. with Potomac C. & R. Co. ital stock. 3. That the said company shall have power, from time to Increase of captime, to increase the amount of its capital stock to such sums as its directors may deem essential to its business; provided, that said capital stock shall not exceed the sum of five million dollars.. Said capital stock, whenever so increased, shall be divided into shares of such amounts as the directors of said Shares. company may deem most advisable; and the said directors may receive subscriptions for the same, and payment for the whole, or any part thereof, either in money, bonds, or other Subscriptions. property, then at such prices and valuation as may be agreed upon by and between the owners thereof and said directors. amended, but not 4. That the right is reserved to the legislature to alter or Act may be amend this act. But such alteration or amendment shall not so as to impair affect the rights of creditors, or impair the vested rights of vested rights. the corporation. CHAPTER 80.-An ACT for the relief of Timothy W. Lock. Passed March 2, 1870. Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia: The auditor is hereby directed to issue his warrant for fifty $50 appropriated. dollars in favor of Timothy W. Lock, being the amount of Tax on impro- tax paid by him on an improper assessment in Berkeley per assessment refunded. county, of a license to sell at retail spirituous liquors, issued by the board of supervisors of said county and assessed therein. Town incorporated under regu CHAPTER 81.-An ACT to incorporate the town of Boothsville, in the county of Marion. Passed March 2, 1870. Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia : 1. That the place known as the town of Boothsville, in the lations of code. county of Marion, be and the same is hereby made a town corporate and body politic, by the name of "The Town of Boothsville," under the regulations prescribed by chapter forty-seven of the code of West Virginia, entitled "Of towns and villages." Corporate limits. 2. The corporate limits of said town shall be as follows: Commencing below town on Booth's creek, two rods west of the north-west corner of the school house lot, running thence in a straight line to a sugar-tree above S. B. Hall's mill, on J. R. Martin's farm, in Taylor county; thence a straight line to a white-oak, near the Southern Methodist Church, in Taylor county; thence a straight line to the beginning. $4 03 refunded. i CHAPTER 82.-An ACT to refund certain taxes to R. R. Riley, a citizen of Jackson county. Passed March 2, 1870. Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia: 1. The auditor is hereby directed to issue his warrant upon the treasury in favor of R. R. Riley, a citizen of Jackson county, for one dollar and one cent school tax, and three dollars and two cents state tax, erroneously assessed for the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five, upon one hundred and sixtyeight acres of land, and paid by him to the sheriff of said county. thorized to re 2. The supervisors of said county are authorized to refund Supervisors auto the said Riley twelve dollars and ten cents county levy, fund $13.11. and one dollar and one cent for township purposes, erroneously assessed against and paid by him to the sheriff of said county. CHAPTER 83.-An ACT to provide that sheriffs shall collect all public taxes, except municipal taxes, assessed within their respective counties. Passed March 2, 1870. Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia: all taxes except 1. In every county the sheriff thereof shall hereafter collect Sheriff to collect all state, county, township, school, road, and other public municipal. taxes assessed therein, save only taxes assessed or levied for municipal purposes by, or under authority of, the council of any city or town. For such collections he shall have the 1 same compensation which is allowed to the officers respect- Compensation. ively heretofore authorized to collect the same, except for col lecting and disbursing school taxes he shall receive three per cent; and he shall account for, pay over and disburse the Disbursement. same, in like manner as the said officers respectively are required to do ; and in the discharge of his duties under this act, he and the sureties in his official bond, his and their legal Liability on representatives, shall be subject to the same penalties, liabilities, motions and remedies, which he or they now are or hereafter shall be subject to in relation to state taxes. 2. The office of township treasurer is hereby abolished. sheriff's bond. Township treasurer abolished. repealed. 3. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are Inconsistent acts hereby repealed. 4. This act shall not take effect until September first, Commencement eighteen hundred and seventy. 5. Provided, that this act shall not apply to township Present towntreasurers now in office. CHAPTER 84.-An ACT to regulate the payment of the salary of teachers in the State Normal Schools. Passed March 2, 1870. Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia : That hereafter the salary of teachers in the state normal schools shall be paid as follows: one fourth at the end of the ship treasurers not affected. first term, one fourth at the end of the second term, and the remainder at the close of the third and last term of the school year. Proof of contents of lost papers. or recorder, Notice of proceeding. CHAPTER 85.-An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 17 and 18 of chapter 130 of the Code of West Virginia. Passed March 2, 1870. Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia: Sections seventeen and eighteen of chapter one hundred and thirty of the Code of West Virginia are hereby amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows: "17. Any person desirous of proving the contents of any paper filed in a clerk's or recorder's office, or anything which was of record in any book therein, may, if such paper or book be lost within the meaning of this chapter, present to the circuit court of the county, (or the recorder thereof, as Petition to court the case may be,) where such paper or book was filed or kept, a petition specifying with reasonable certainty the nature of the paper or record the contents of which he desires to prove, and what persons may be affected by such proof. Reasonable notice of the time and place of proceeding on such petition shall be given to the parties interested. Such notice may be Service of notice. served as prescribed in the first and second sections of chapter one hundred and twenty-one. If any person who may be affected by the proof be an infant or insane person, or if it Appointment of affect a married woman in a case not relating to her separate property, a guardian ad litem shall be appointed to attend to the case on his or her behalf. Whereupon such court or recorder shall proceed to hear proof of the contents of such paper or record; and an entry shall thereupon be made on the proper order book, in accordance with the facts so proved. Any entry so made shall be prima facie evidence of rights Effect of such en- against the parties so notified, and those claiming under them. A copy of any entry made under this or the next section, attested by the clerk of such court, or the recorder, shall, at the instance of any person interested, be recorded by such clerk or recorder in the proper book, and be indexed as similar writings so recorded." guardian ad litem. Proof of contents and entry thereof. try as evidence. Copy of entry may be recorded. Proof of contents "18. Such court or recorder may, however, without notice, without notice. or the appointment of a guardian ad litem, proceed on such |