Chap. 200.—An ACT to secure the payment of wages or salaries to
certain employees of railway, canal, steamboat, and other corpora-
‘tions.

Approved March 21, 1877.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That hereafter
all conductors, brakesmen, engine-drivers, firemen, captains,
stewards, pilots, clerks, depot or office agents, storekeepers,
mechanics, or laborers, and all persons furnishing railroad
iron, fuel, and all other supplies necessary for the operation
of trains and engines, employed in the service of any rail-
road, canal, or other transportation company, chartered under
or by the laws of this state, or doing business within its
limits, shall have a prior lien on the franchise, the gross
earnings, and on all the real and personal property of said
company, which is used in operating the same, for and to
the extent of the wages or salaries contracted to be paid them
by said company; and no mortgage, deed of trust, sale, con-
veyance, or hypothecation hereafter exccuted of said pro-
perty, shall defeat or take precedence over said lien.

2. Any person entitled to the benefit of the lien aforesaid,
shall forfeit the same uniess he shall, witbin gix months after
his wages or salary sball have fallen due, file a memorandum,
stating the amount and justice of his claim, under affidavit,
according to bis best knowledge and belief; with the clerk of
the county or corporation court;. and tbe said clerk shall
forthwith record the said memorandum in the deed book,
and index the same by the name of the person filing the
same, and also in the name of the corporation against which
the claim is. And it is provided also, that it shall in all cases
be sufficient for the claimant to file the memorandum afore-
said with the clerk of the court wherein deeds may be re-
corded in the county or corporation wherein the chief office
of the corporation against which the claim may be, is located.

3. The assignee of the claim of any person entitled to the
benefit of the lion provided for in this act, shall have the
same rights as his assignor, and may sue and enforce said
lien in his own name, or in that of his assignor, and said
assignee may file the memorandum and make the oath above
provided. ,

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