CHAP. 734.—An ACT for the relief of the sureties of Peter B.
Crowder, late treasurer of Amelia cotinty.

Approved March 4, 1892.

Whereas Peter B. Crowder, late treasurer of Amelia
county, has failed to account for certain portions of the
revenue of this commonwealth—that is to say, one bun-
dred and fifty-one dollars and ninety-eight cents for the
year eighteen hundred and eighty-four; ninety-three dol-
lars and ninety-one cents for the year eighteen hundred
and eighty-five; sixty-eight dollars and twenty-eight cents
for the year eighteen hundred and eighty-six; seventy-two
dollars and seventy-nine cents for the year eighteen hun-
dred and eighty-seven, and fifteen dollars and sixty-eight
cents on account of notarial seal tax, and two thousand
five hundred and seventy-seven dollars and fifty-nine
cents for the year eighteen hundred and ninety, and one
thousand four hundred and four dollars and twenty-three
cents for the year eighteen hundred and ninety-one, as
appears from the records of the office of the auditor of
public accounts; and

Whereas such indebtedness has been occasioned in great
part by the defalcation of the deputies of said Peter B.
Crowder, treasurer, and will have to be discharged and
paid by the sureties upon his official bond; and

Whereas the said sureties have had no notice of such
defalcation from the commonwealth of Virginia or other-
wise that would have enabled them to protect themselves
against loss and injury by reason of their suretyship for
said treasurer, and from which they might have been pro-
tected, and would have been protected, had due diligence
been used to collect the said indebtedness by the common-
wealth and her duly authorized agents and officers; there-

ore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That Robert E. Bridgeforth, 8. D. Vaughan, Jacob Schlie-
gel, M. A. R. F. Blanton, Winfield Scott and John A. Wal-
lace, sureties on the official bond of Peter B. Crowder, late
treasurer of Amelia county, be, and they are hereby, author-
ized and empowered to pay off and discharge their liability
and indebtedness aforesaid with the bonds of the common-
wealth of Virginia, with all undue coupons attached, issued
under the act approved on the fourteenth day of February,
eighteen hundred eighty-two, at their face value, and the
auditor of public accounts is hereby authorized to receive,
and itis hereby made his duty to receive, the said bonds,
with all undue coupons attached, at their face value, in
full satisfaction and discharge of the indebtedness afore-
said, so far as their denomination or amount will allow,
and the amount of said indebtedness to be ascertained by
the auditor of public accounts, who, in stating the same,
shall give credit for the usual commission to said treasur-
er, and shall charge in the statement no damages, but only
principal and interest at the rate of six per centum per
annum from the passage of this act: provided this act
shall not be so construed as to relieve the said Peter B.
Crowder from the payment of any difference in the face
value of said bonds and the amount go stated by the said
auditor to be due: and provided that before any settle-
ment shall be made with said sureties under this act
the said Peter B. Crowder shall confess judgment in the
circuit court of the city of Richmond, or the office of the
clerk thereof, for the amount of principal and interest so
to be stated and the costs of suit.

2. Upon such confession of judgment by said Peter B.
Crowder and settlement with the said auditor by said sure-
ties, as herein provided, the said auditor shall endorse the
said judgment satisfied as to any amount of cash that he
or the said sureties may pay in such settlement, and as to
an amount equal to the market value of the bonds so paid
to the said auditor of public accounts, such value to be
ascertained and fixed at the time of settlement by the said
auditor of public accounts: and provided that the confes-
sion of judgment by the said Peter B. Crowder shall not
affect the existing right of the commonwealth to sue the
said sureties and to assert her rights against them as such,
as the said auditor may deem proper and right.