Chap. 362.—An ACT to Incorporate the Town of Manassas, in Prince
William County.

In force April 2, 1873.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That the town of
Manassas, in the county of Prince William, shall be and the
same is hereby made a town corporate, under the name and
style of the town of Manassas, and by that name and style
shall have and exercise the powers hereinafter granted.

2. Be it further enacted, That the government of said town
shall be vested in a council of seven, to be chosen annually by
ballot on the fourth Saturday of May of each year. Any per-
son entitled to vote in the township of Manassas residing
within the corporate limits of said town, shall be entitled to
vote at all elections under this act of incorporation. The clerk
of said council shall hold said election between the hours of
two and six P. M., and shall call in two members of said
council to aid him in deciding any contest in reference to the
right to vote of any individual and to witness the counting of
the ballots. In case it is impossible to decide the seven who
have the highest number of votes, by reason of a tie, the said
clerk shall in the presence of the two councilmen aforesaid de-
cide by lot. Said clerk shall immediately thereafter make out
and deliver to each one of the councilmen elect a certificate of
his election, and shall administer to them the oath of office re-
quired by the constitution and laws of Virginia.

3. Said councilmen or so many of them as have qualified
shall meet on the first week-day of July following and organize
by choosing by ballot a mayor, clerk and sergeant, from among
the residents of the corporate limits, either of their own num-
ber or otherwise; which officers shall hold their respective
offices for one year, or until their successors have been elected
and qualified. Said officers shall qualify by taking the oath of
office before the clerk or other person authorized to administer
oaths, and may be removed from office by a unanimous vote of
the council. All the officers of the corporation shall serve
without compensation, except as hereinafter provided. The
said council shall appoint its own time of meeting; a quorum
shall consist of a majority of those who have qualified; and
any vacancy among any of the officers of the corporation caused
by neglect to qualify, or for other reasons, shall be filled by the
said council. '

4. The mayor shall be the presiding officer of the council,
but shall have no vote except in case of a tie or unless he be
one of the councilmen; he shall have the jurisdiction and au-
thority of a justice of the peace of Prince William county,
and shall have the especial jurisdiction of the enforcement of
the town ordinances, for all of which he shall be entitled to
the ordinary fees allowed by law; he may call special meetings
of the council by giving notice to each member thereof. The
sheriff of Prince William county and the jailor thereof shall
respect and obey the warrant or mittimus of the said mayor J
in the same manner as any magistrate of Prince William. i
The clerk shall keep a correct record of the proceedings of the ©
council; shall provide the books and stationery therefor; make
out the certificates of election; shall make out a list of pro-
perty to be assessed within the corporation, and shall issue s
tickets for the taxes voted by the council, which tickets he shall "
deliver to the sergeant for collection ; shall issue warrants upon ¥
the sergeant ordered by the council; shall have power to ad- ;;
minister the oath of office to any of the town officers; and for P
said work he shall be allowed' annually a certain sum to be 6
named by the council, not to exceed twenty-five dollars.

5. The sergeant shall collect the taxes voted by the council, s
for which he shall be allowed two and one-half per cent. for >
collecting and paying out the same; he shall have the power g
and authority of any constable or collector of Prince William *
county and shall be entitled to the same fees; he shall pay out
the money of the town in his hands on the warrant of the
mayor and clerk certifying that it is drawn by the order of the
council; he shall perform all the duties of overseer of roads 1
or streets within the corporation, in accordance with the laws 2%
of Virginia, and for this purpose the town of Manassas is 7
hereby declared to be one of the road districts of the township ™
of Manassas; no road tax shall be assessed upon property v
within the corporation, except by the council aforesaid, which f
road tax shall be laid out on the roads and streets of said town
by the sergeant aforesaid, under the direction of the council;
for his services as overseer of the roads and streets of said P
town, he shall be entitled to the same compensation allowed
by law to overseers of roads. Said sergeant shall have all a
the powers and perform all the duties belonging to overseers ?
of roads under the general road law, and the council shall have
all the powers and perform all the duties belonging to the
commissioner of roads or to the township board under the gene-
ral road law. The town sergeant shall, before he performs B
any duties of his office, execute a bond for the faithful perform-
ance of his duties in the penalty of one thousand dollars,
which bond shall be approved by the mayor and filed with the
clerk.

6. The council shall have power to mark accurately the P
bounds of existing streets; to lay off new streets, alleys or
sidewalks; to regulate the width and grade of the same; to
direct the sergeant in regard to the same; to regulate or pro-
hibit the running at large of animals; to provide for shade
trees on the streets of the town, and their proper protection;
to establish fire limits within which no new wooden buildings
shall be erected, upon the petition of three-fourths of the own-
ers of real estate within said limits; to prohibit the obstruc-
tion of the streets and sidewalks; to provide for order and
quiet and the observance of the Sabbath within the corpora-
tion; to regulate the sale of intoxicating drinks; to acquire by
purchase or otherwise a cemetery for the burial of the dead,
e:ther within or without the bounds of the corporation, and to
provide suitable regulations therefor; to establish a fire depart-
ment with suitable hooks, ladders, buckets, wells, cisterns, re-
servoirs or engines for the same; to make suitable regulations
in reference to contagious diseases; to pass ordinances carrying
into effect the objects of this incorporation; and to punish the
violation of said ordinances by fine and imprisonment: pro-
vided, that any fine imposed upon a minor shall be paid by
his parent or guardian: provided further, that if it be found
necessary to take private property for the public use, and the
owner or owners are not willing thereto, the said property can
be taken in the manner now provided for by law, for the con-
demnation of private property for public use, and for that pur-
pose the mayor’s court of said town shall have the same juris-
diction-for the condemning of land for streets of said town
as the county court has for condemning land for roads within
the county.

7. The clerk shall assess all the real and personal property
within the corporation according to the best information ob-
tainable by him, and for this purpose he shall have access to the
book of the township assessor. He shall assess the cash value
of said property, and from his decision an appeal shall only be
allowed to the council. All the proverty within the corpora-
tion shall be lable to a road tax not greater than that allowed
by the general road law. In addition to this a corporation tax
may be laid for other purposes: provided, that no real estate
shall be liable to the corporation tax to the amount of more
than two acres with each dwelling house and improvements;
but if the same person owns two or more lots separate from
each other, they may be taxed to the amount of one acre as
aforesaid. The council may annually lay a tax for road and
corporation purposes, which on no property shall exceed three
mills on a dollar, except that on a petition of two-thirds of the
freeholders within the corporation, the council may lay a cor-
poration tax not to exceed the amount named in said peti-
tion.

8. The following are hereby declared to be the bounds of
said town: Beginning at the southeast corner of the Ruffner
school-house lot, thence running northerly on the westerly line
of R. C. Weir to his northwest corner; thence through the
lands of J. D. McPherson and P. B. Stilson in a straight lne
to the west corner of C. Mathis; thence along the southwesterly
line of C. Mathis to the Centerville road ; thence through the
land of C. Mathis in a straight line to the northwest corner of
J. M. Hakes; thence along the westerly line of said Hakes to
the O. A. and M. R. R.; thence along the east side of Spriggs’
road to the southeast corner of P. Wolverton ; thence along
the south line of P. Wolverton to his southwest corner; thence
in a straight line trough the land of L. H. Newman to the
southeast corner of J. P. Baldwin; thence along the northerly
line of S. D. Bonner to a stone, corner of said Bonner and B.
Johnson; thence northerly through the land of W. S. Fewell
to a cattle stop on the O. A. and M. R. R.; thence continuing
in the same course on the line between W. S. Fewell and A.
LL. Phillips to Centar street, and thence westerly along the south
side of Center street to the place of beginning.

9. H. B. Varnes, G. W. Hixson, C. L. Hynson, G. C. Round,
L. H. Newman, W. S. Fewell and R. C. Weir, or a majority of
them, are hereby empowered to qualify before any magistrate,
and thereupon they shall constitute until the first week-day in
July, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, the council of said
town of Manassas, and as such may organize and perform all
the duties of said council.

10. The officers of said town and the council thereof shall
have all the powers granted to officers and to the councils of
towns corporate under existing general laws not inconsistent
with this act. Said town of Manassas shall continue to bear
the same relation to the township of Manassas as the territory
to be included in said town now does except as modified by
this act. |
- 11. This act shall be in force from its passage.