Chap. 247.—An ACT to provide a charter incorporating the town of Eastville,
in Northampton county.

Approved February 6, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
town of Hastville, in the county of Northampton, as the same has
heretofore been or may hereafter be, and as set forth and described
in this act, shall be, and the same hereby is, made a town corporate
by the name of the town of Hastville, and by that name shall have
and exercise the powers conferred upon towns by the forty-fourth
chapter of the code of Virginia, edition of eighteen hundred and
eighty-seven, and be subject to the provisions of said code and all
laws now in force, or which may hereafter be enacted, in reference
to the government of towns of less than five thousand inhabitants,
so far as the same are not inconsistent with the provisions of this
act.

2. The boundaries of said town shall be as follows: Beginning at
the southwest corner of Mistress U. Nottingham’s lot and running
in an eastwardly direction along a ditch between the lot of Mistress
U. Nottingham and the-lands of Mistress S. C. Kerr to the county
road; thence eastwardly across the county road and the lands of
Mistress Helen Saunders until it is at right angles with the back
line of A. D. Addison; thence northwardly until it reaches a point
opposite Mistress Helen Saunders’ garden; thence along said line
in an eastward direction to a ditch separating the lands of Doctor
S. C. Nottingham from the lands of Doctor K. F. Addison; .thence
eastwardly through the lands of Doctor K. F. Addison, E. F. Not-
tingham, and N. L. Holland to the property of the New York, Phila-
delphia and Norfolk railroad company at a puint one hundred and
thirty yards south of the centre of the county road; thence north-
wardly along the line of the said railroad company until it reaches
the northeast corner of W. W. Fitchett’s lot; thence westwardly
along the dividing line between the lands of T. M. Scott and the
said W. W, Fitchett, Mistress Margaret Read, George F. Dunton,
and the Baptist parsonage lot to the lawn fence on the east of
Thomas M. Scott; thence in a northwardly direction to a point one
hundred yards from the county road; thence in a westwardly direc-
tion across the lands of T. M. Scott in a straight line to a point one
hundred yards northward of county road on the line of the Baptist
church lot; thence in a westwardly direction to the dividing line
between the lands of Mistress A. E. Kerr and E. J. Spady; thence
along the dividing line of the lands of the said Mistress A. E. Kerr
and E. J. Spady, O. F. Mears, H. W. Roberts, and R. V. Nottingham
to the land of A. W. Bradford; thence northerly along the dividing
line between the lands of Mistress A. E. Kerr, A. W. Bradford, and
R. S. Trower to the northeast corner of R.S. Trower’s lot; thence
in a westwardly direction along the line of the lands of R.S. Trower
and Mistress A. E. Kerr to the county road; thence northwardly to
the Episcopal church lot; thence westwardly along the dividing line
between the lands of Episcopal church lot, H. R. Nottingham, and
Robinson Nottingham to a point opposite the ditch west of East-
ville; thence southerly across the land of said Robinson Notting-
ham and following the course of said ditch to the southwest corner
of Mistress U. Nottingham’s lot, the point of beginning.

3. The government of said town shall be vested in a mayor and five
councilmen. The first election under this charter for mayor and
councilmen of said town shall be held on the fourth Thursday in
May, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, and thereafter they shall
be elected annually on the fourth Thursday in May, and shall
qualify and enter upun the duties of their respective offices on the
first day of July following. Any person entitled to vote in the
county of Northampton, and who has resided within said town for
three months previous to any election, shall be entitled to vote at all
elections under this act of incorporation. The mayor shall appoint
two electors of said town, who, with the town clerk, shall hold said
election between the hours of one, post meridian, and sunset; and
they shall decide any contest with reference to the right of any per-
son to vote, and shall count the ballots and certify to the council the
names of the persons elected mayor and councilmen. In case of a
tie vote the clerk shall decide, in the presence of the two electors
aforesaid, by lot; said clerk shall immediately thereafter make out
and deliver to the mayor and each councilman a certificate of his
election. All officers of said town shall take the oath of oflice be-
fore the town clerk or some other officer authorized to administer
oaths. Should any of the officers hereby appointed, or who may
hereafter be elected or appointed, refuse or fail to accept and qualify
within thirty days after such appointment or election, then it shall
be the duty of the mayor, or a majority of such town council as may
accept and qualify, in the absence of such mayor, to fill such va-
cancy by appointment. The council shall appoint the times when
it shall meet.

‘4. The mayor and councilmen shall constitute the council of said
town, a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum to do business,
and all the corporate powers of said town shall be exercised by said
council or under its authority, except when otherwise provided by
law. The mayor shall be president of the said council, and shall
have all the rights, powers and privileges such office confers under
the general laws governing towns within this state, and shall be in-
vested with all the powers of a justice of the peace within the limits
of said town, and one mile beyond said limits; and all fines, penal-
ties or imprisonment for violation of the by-laws or ordinances of
said town shall be recovered before or enforced under the judgment
of the mayor, and for that pereon he may issue process as a justice
of the peace, and shall be entitled to the same fees as a justice for
like service; but the mayor shall have no vote in the council except
in case of a tie. Any vacancy which may occur in the office of
mayor or councilman shall be filled by the council. The mayor and
councilren shall hold their respective offices for one year from the
first day of July succeeding their election, and until their successors
are electe|d and qualified.
5. The said council shall have power to elect a treasurer, a clerk,
. sergeant, and any other officers they may deem necessary for the
aid town; to regulate their compensation, prescribe their duties,
‘emove them from office, and require bonds with approved security
for the faithful performance of their respective duties. The council
3hall also have the power to pass all by-laws and ordinances for the
yovernment of said town which they may deem proper not in con-
Hict with the constitution of this state or the United States; to mark
accurately the bounds of existing streets, and alter or change the
3ame, and to lay off new streets, alleys, or sidewalks, and keep same
in order, and to make other improvements, for which purposes the
council of said town shall have the same powers and jurisdiction for
condemning land for streets, alleys, and sidewalks as the county
court has for condemning land for roads in the county; to cause to
be made a survey and plat of said town, showing definitely its boun-
daries, its public streets, alleys, and sidewalks, and their width, with
such remarks and explanations as they may deem proper; to regu-
late or prohibit the running at large of animals; to provide and
protect shade trees; to establish a fire department with suitable and.
necessary conveniences; to prevent the riding or driving of horses or
other animals at an improper or dangerous speed; to prevent the
engaging in any sport or employment on the streets dangerous or an-
noying to the citizens; to restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants,
street beggars, and persons coming into the town without any visi-
ble means of support; to prevent vice and immorality ; to preserve
peace and good order; to quell disturbances and disorderly conduct
and assemblages ; to suppress houses of ill-fame and gambling; ta
prevent and punish lewd conduct on the streets, and to expel from
the town persons guilty of any offence mentioned above; to make
regulations in reference to contagious diseases; to abate nuisances ;
to provide for order and quiet and the observance of the Sabbath
within said town and one mile beyond its limits; to punish viola-
tions of the ordinances and by-laws of the council with fine and im-
prisonment, or either.

6. For the purposes of this incorporation, the said council may
levy such taxes as they may deem proper on all property, real and
personal, within the said town, not to exceed twenty cents on the one
hundred dollars assessed value as per state assessment; to impose s
specific license on all shows, performances and exhibitions that may
be given, and all persons, firms or corporations who may engage in
the sale of wines, ardent spirits, malt liquors, alcoholic bitters anc
mixtures thereof, either by wholesale, retail or to be drunk at the
places where sold. The said councilmen shal! have the power *o im:
pose a license tax on all business on which the state imposes license
or which is provided by law, and its officers shall have such jiowe:
to collect said tax as the state officers have in like cases; anil the
said council shall have the power to impose a specific tax for the
sale of merchandise or any other article that may be offered fox sale
by any person not living in said town, and also to levy a capitatior

tax, not to exceed fifty cents, on each adult male person resident o
said town.
7. The mayor and councilmen may occupy for the transaction of
business the former clerk’s office of this county; and for the purpose
of carrying into effect the police regulations of said town the said
town shall be allowed the use of Northampton county jail for the
safe-keeping and confinement of all persons who may be arrested or
sentenced to imprisonment under the by-laws and ordinances of
said town; and the sergeant of said town may convey any person
arrested or sentenced to jail, and the jailer of said county shall re-
ceive such person or persons in the same manner as if such person
or persons were committed by a justice of the peace and delivered
to said jailer by a constable. And when any judgment shall be
rendered against a prisoner for any penalty under any ordinance or
by-law of said town, and the same be not immediately paid, the per-
son or persons so in default may be required, by the order of the
court passing sentence, to work out such fines or penalties on the
public streets or other public improvements of said town at fifty
cents per day, under the direction of the sergeant and under such
rules and regulations as may be deemed proper by the council.

8. The said town and the property and persons therein shall be ex-
empt and free from the payment of any road tax, and from working
on roads outside of said town, for which exemption the said town
shall keep its own streets in order and shall not be embraced in any
road district of the said county of Northampton.

9. The sergeant of said town shall be a conservator of the peace
and shall be vested with full powers of a constable within the limits
of the said town, and also have powers to arrest offenders within one
mile of said limits for offences committed within the limits of said
town or against its by-laws or ordinances, and shall be entitled to
the same fees as a constable for like service.

10. Rodman W. Nottingham is hereby declared and appointed
mayor, Nathaniel] L. Holland, Harry R. Nottingham, James A. Jarvis,
Joseph S. Widgen, and Doctor Severn P. Nottingham, are hereby de-
clared and appointed councilmen of the said town of Eastville, and
may qualify as such before any justice of the peace or any other
person who is authorized to administer oaths in said county, by
taking the oaths of office, and thereupon shall constitute the council
of said town, with all their powers, until the first day of July, eigh-
teen hundred and ninety-seven, and until their successors are elec-
ted and qualified. The council hereby appointed shall meet and or-
ganize upon the call of the said Rodman W. Nottingham as mayor
or any three of the said councilmen.

11. This act shall be in force from its passage.