CHAP. 632.—An ACT authorizing an election upon the question
of the removal of the county site of Wise county from Glade-
ville to Taeoma.

Approved March 6. 1890.

Whereas, there are now in course of construction and
nearly completed, four different railroad lines into and
through the county of Wise, Virginia, along which new and
flourishing towns are rapidly springing up; and whereas
Gladeville, the present county site of said county, is situ-
ate on Sandy Ridge, a distance of four or five miles from
the nearest one of said railroads, and the altitude of said
town being such that no railroad can ever pass by it; and
whereas said town of Gladeville, is a small village contain-
ing only about two hundred inhabitants, and the county
buildings therein erected being entirely inadequate ip size.
safety and comfort for the purposes for which they were
erected, and being of but little value at most, and it being
desirable that the county site of said county should be lo-
cated on one of said railroad lines; and it being repre-
sented that the new townof Tacoma, in said county, in the
valley of the Guests river, on the Clinch Valley extension
of the Norfolk and Western railroad, in view of all the
surroundings, is the most suitable place to locate the
county site for said county, being four or five miles south-
east of the present county site; therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That it shall be the duty of the county judge of said county
of Wise, upon the petition of one hundred voters of said
county, who are freeholders, some time during the vear
eighteen hundred aud ninety, to order a special election
in said county for the purpose of taking the sense of the
qualified voters of said county whether the county site of
said county shall be removed to the said town of Tacoma.

2. Upon the presentation to said judge of such petition,
accompanied therewith a bond with good security, in the
penalty of ten thousand dollars, payable to Wise county,
binding the obligors in such bond to donate to said county
five thousand dollars, to be used in defraying the expense
of erecting a new courthouse and clerk’s offices for said
county at said town of Tacoma, should said county site be
removed to that place, payable at such time or times as
the county judge of said county may thereafter require,
not to exceed six months after said new cuvurthouse and
clerk’s offices are let to contract, and bonds and good secu-
rity given by the contractors thereof for the completion of
the same. Said bond first above mentioned shall also
bind the obligors thereof to furnish to said county, free of
charge, one block of land, which shall] contain at least one
acre in the said town of Tacoma for a public square upon
which to erect the public buildings for said county, should
said county site be removed to said town of Tacoma; said
block or acre of land to be selected by the commissioners
hereinafter provided for. It shall be the duty of such
judge, without unnecessary delay, to enter an order, either
in court or vacation, ordering such special election to
be held in said county of Wise, at such time as said judge
may designate in such order, not sooner than twenty
days nor later than sixty days after the date of such
order.

3. Said election shall be superintended and held, notice
thereof given, returns made and certified, votes canvassed,
results ascertained and made known, under the same pen-
alties and subject to the same regulations as prescribed
for general and special elections in chapter ten of the
code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven,
except that the result of said election shall be certified to
the county judge of said county. The electors voting at
said election who shall favor the removal of said county
site to the said town of Tacoma shall deposit with the
judges of election of their respective voting precincts a
ballot upon which is written or printed the words “ For
removal,” and such electors as are opposed to such removal
shall, in like manner, deposit a ballot upon which is written
or printed the words “ Against removal.”

4. Itshall be the duty of the county judge of said county,
upon the receipt of the said certificate of the result of
said election, to have the same, either in term time or
vacation, entered in the order book of the county court of
said county. And should a majority of the votes cast at
said election be for removal, the county site of said county
shall thenceforward be at the said town of Tacoma.
5. It shall then be the duty of the county judge of said
county, without unnecessary delay, to appoint five discreet
citizens of said county, commissioners, whose duty it shall
be forthwith to select and lay off in Tacoma a block con-
taining not less than one acre of land, upon which to erect
a courthouse, clerk's offices, and other necessary county
buildings for said county. As soon as said commissioners
(a majority of whom may act) shall have selected and
laid out such public square, they shall make a written
report to the judge of said county court, in which thev
shall describe said public square hy metes, bounds and
area: also showing by what streets or avenues the same 1s
bounded; which report, after the same shall have been
filed in the clerk's office of the county court of said county
for al least ter days, if approved and confirmed by said
court, shall he entered in the order book of said court,
together with the order of confirmation. And upon
the confirmation of said report, the obligors in the said ten
thousand dollar bond first above mentioned, shall] forth-
with convey, or cause to be conveyed, free of charge, by
deed, with covenants of general warranty, in fee simple,
free from all incumbrances, said lot of land so selected for
such public square to said county of Wise. And should
gaid obligors in said bond fail or refuse to make such con-
veyance, or in any respect fail to comply with the condi-
tions of said bond, then they shall forfeit to said county
a sum of money equal to the amount of damages which
said county may sustain by reason of such failure to
comply.

6. It shall then be lawful for the judge of said county
to procure suitable rooms at said town of Tacoma in which
to hold the courts for said county, and have removed
thereto all of the records of said county, to be kept therein
until a courthouse and clerk’s offices can be erected pur-
suant to the provisions of sections nine hundred and
twenty-five and nine hundred and twenty-six of chapter
forty-two of said code; and upon the removal of said clerk's
offices, as above provided for, it shall be the duty of the
board of supervisors of said county tosell all of the county
real estate property then situate in the town of Gladeville-.

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