CHAP. 94.—An ACT to charter the town of Richlands.

Approved January 26, 1892,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That all the territory in Tazewell county, included in the
following boundaries: Beginning at station forty-six by
sixty-seven and four tenths of the Big Creek branch of
the Clinch Valley extension of the Norfolk and Western
railroad; thence west fourteen hundred, and ninety-five
feet to a point; thence south seventy-four degrees, twenty
minutes west, crossing little Town Hill branch, at forty-
two hundred feet and big Town Hill branch at sixty-
two hundred and seventy-five feet, ninety-two hundred
and fifty feet to a point; thence south four degrees, five
minutes east, crossing the Kentucky turnpike, at eight
hundred and seventy-five feet, the Clinch Valley extension
of the Norfolk and Western railroad, at sixteen hundred
and forty feet, fifty-seven hundred and seventy-five feet,
passing down the Clinch river, and crossing the same to a
point; thence south eighty-eight degrees, five minutes
east, crossing Sinkhole creek, at forty-nine hundred and
fifty feet, twelve thousand three hundred and seventy feet
to a point; thence north three degrees, thirty minutes
west, eight hundred and thirty-seven and five tenths feet
to a point; thence north four degrees, forty-three minutes
east, two hundred and eighty-nine feet to a point; thence
north three degrees, fifty minutes west, fourteen hundred
and sixty and seven-tenths feet to a point; thence north
fifty-six degrees, thirty minutes east, two hundred and
ninety-four and five-tenths feet to a point; thence north
eighty-three degrees east, seven hundred and ninety-six
and five-tenths feet toa point on the south bank of the
Clinch river; thence along the south bank of the Clinch
river, north five degrees, fifty minutes east, two hundred
and fifty feet; north four degrees, ten minutes west, eight
hundred feet; north twenty-nine degrees, fifty minutes
west, three hundred and seventy feet to a point; thence
north, crossing the centre of the Clinch river at ninety
feet, and the Clinch Valley extension of the Norfolk and
Western railroad, at two hundred and forty-five feet,
thirty-four hundred and seventy-five feet to a point;
thence west crossing Big Creek, at twenty-nine hundred
and twenty-five feet, three thousand and sixty feet to the
point of beginning; with the streets, alleys, avenues,
roads and lots as now laid off and established, as shown
by the surveys, maps, certificates, and plans of the Clinch
Valley coal and iron company, and the Richlands land
company, now of record in the clerk’s office of the county
court of Tazewell county, shall constitute the town of
Richlands; and the inhabitants within said boundaries,
and their successors shall be a corporation under the
name and style of the town of Richlands, and the forty-
fourth chapter of the code of Virginia, edition of eighteen
hundred and eighty-seven, as far as same is consistent
with this act, shall be applicable to said town; and the
council of said town may, from time to time, enlarge the
boundaries of said town, by adding thereto the lands of
such persons or corporations as may desire to be included
in said corporation, and who shall make application there-
for to said council.

2. The government of the said town shall be vested in
a mayor and a council of five, who shall be residents of the
said town. The first election under this charter shall be
held according to the provisions thereof, on the first Mon-
day in March, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and the
officers then elected shall enter on the discharge of their
duties on the second Monday in March, eighteen hundred
and ninety-two, and continue in office until the first day
of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-two; and the sec-
ond election for mayor and council shall be held on the
fourth Thursday in May, eighteen hundred and ninety-
two, and thereafter, the mayor and council of said town
shall be elected annually, on the fourth Thursday of May,
by those qualified to vote for members of the general
assembly, and who shall have been residents within the
boundaries of the corporation for three months next pre-
ceding the election, and no other persons. The council of
said town shall annually appoint three citizens of said
town to act as judges, and two persons to act as clerks;
said judges and clerks to be qualified voters of said town,
and are authorized to hold all elections to be held under
this charter. There shall be five days’ notice of all elec-
tions by posting notices at three or more public places
within the corporation. The mayor and council shall en-
ter on the discharge of their duties on the first day of
July next following their election, and shall remain in
office until their successors are elected and qualify in
their stead, but no longer.

3. The council shall fix and determine the place where
said elections shall be held; shall prescribe the manner of
declaring and certifying elections, and determine the va-
lidity of any election, of deciding between two or more
when the number of votes shall be equal, and of filling
vacancies in said board; a majority of said board shall
constitute a quorum to do business. Any person feeling
aggrieved by the decision of the council, involving the
validity of any election, may, of right appeal therefrom to
the county court of Tazewell county, at any time within
ten days after such election.

4. The council shall appoint annually a sergeant, re-
corder, and treasurer, and shall] fix their compensation,
and prescribe their duties, and require such bonds as may
be deemed proper.

5. The sergeant of said town shall have authority and
power to collect all taxes, levies, fines, and costs legally
imposed by the mayor, the council or any member therof,
and may levy on and take into his possession and sell for
cash, after ten days’ written notice posted at such public
place as the council may by ordinance prescribe, stating
the time, terms, and place of sale, any property subject
to the payment of such taxes, levies, fines, and costs. He
shall have power to execute within the county of Taze-
well, in a-civil or criminal proceeding, any warrant or
process legally directed to him by the mayor or the coun-
cil of the said town, or any member thereof. The coun-
cil shall, by ordinance, prescribe his compensation for
such services, which shall not be increased or diminished
during his continuance in office.

6. The sergeant of said town, upon entering into bond
in the county court of Tazewell county, in the manner
prescribed by law for constables, and with such condi-
tions as constables are required by law to enter into, shall
have all the power and authority of a constable in the
collection of money by warrant or otherwise, and to exe-

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cute any and all process to him directed, or which might
have been so directed ; and shall and may do and perform
all acts, execute and return such warrants, and be liable
in the same manner and to the same extent that consta-
bles are by the laws now in force.

7. The sergeant of said town shall be a conservator of
the peace, and shall have power to arrest in said town,
or anywhere within Tazewell county, upon a warrant is-
sued by the mayor, recorder, or councilmen, any person
charged with a violation of the laws or ordinances of said
town; and when a violation of the laws or ordinances of
said town are committed in his presence, be shall have
authority and power, without warrant, forthwith to arrest
the offender and carry him before some conservator of
the peace of said town, to be dealt with according to law.

8. The mayor, recorder and councilmen, and each of
them, shall, and may exercise all jurisdiction, civil and
criminal, now by law conferred upon justices of the peace ;
shall preserve peace and good order in said town; and to
this end, they, and each of them, shall be a conservator
of the peace, with all the power conferred upon conserva-
tors of the peace by chapter one hundred and ninety-one
of the code of Virginia.

9. The mayor, recorder and councilmen of said town,
and each of them, upon taking oaths required by law, to
be taken by justices of the peace, shall each have author-
ity and jurisdiction, to hear and determine all matters of
which a justice of the peace would have jurisdiction, and
to hear and determine all controversies arising under the
laws and ordinances of said town, and to issue any and
all proper process, whether mesne or final, which may be
necessary to enforce their judgment and authority.

10. The council of said town shall be, and is hereby,
invested with the power and charged with the duty of
taking care of the poor within the limits of said town;
and said council and the superintendent of the poor for
Tazewell county, are authorized and empowered to con-
tract, on such terms as they may agree upon, for the
removal of such poor persons as may become a charge
upon said town, and for their care and support at said
poor-house.

11. The said council shall have power and authority to
lay and collect, and apply to the maintenance of public
free schools in said town, annually, a sum equal to what
the inhabitants and property of said town would have to
pay annually to the county of Tazewell, for public free
school purposes if this act had not been passed.

12. The council shall have power to make accurate
bounds of existing streets, and to compel the removal of
obstructions therefrom, and to lay off and have new streets,
alleys and sidewalks, and to provide and protect shade
trees thereon. The council of the said town shall have
the same jurisdiction for condemning lands for streets,
alleys and sidewalks of said town, as the county court has
for condemning lands for roads in the county. The coun-
cil shall further have power to provide against and prevent
accidents by fire; to establish and regulate markets; to
prevent the running at large of hogs, dogs, horses, and
other animals; to prevent the cumbering of streets, side-
walks and alleys, in any manner whatever; to make sani-
tay regulations in reference to contagious or other diseases ;
to regulate the building of all houses, stables, privies, hog
pens and slaughter houses; to abate nuisances at the ex-
pense of those who cause them; to restrain and punish
drunkards, vagrants, mendicants and street beggars; to
appoint police and prescribe their duties and compensation,
and to make, pass and ordain such rules, regulations and
by-laws, as they may deem necessary and proper for the
internal and general good, safety, health and convenience
of the said town and inhabitants thereof, and for enforcing
the provisions of this charter. They shall punish all vio-
lators of law by fine or imprisonment, or both, as may be
prescribed by the by-laws or ordinances of said town:
provided, that the accused shall have the right of appeal
to the county court in all cases of violation of the by-laws
or ordinances of said town, except in cases where imprison-
ment is imposed for failure to pay fines or costs imposed.
The authorities of the said town, with the consent of the
county court, entered of record, shall have the right to use
the county jail whenever it may be needed by them.
Whenever judgment shall be rendered against any person
for fines, and there be no visible effects which the sergeant
may distrain and sell therefor, the person so in default may
be compelled to work out such fines on the public streets
or other improvements, and to suffer in addition such
term of imprisonment as may have been imposed, as pre-
scribed by ordinances of said town. All fines for the
violation of the ordinances of said town shall be paid into
the treasury of said town, and shall be appropriated as
the council may determine.

13. The council may, annually, levy a tax for roads,
streets, sidewalks, and all other purposes, by a two-thirds
vote, to be approved by the mayor, which on no property
shall exceed one dollar and twenty cents on the hundred
dollars valuation.

14. No license shall be granted to any person, club, or
corporation to sell wine, ardent spirits, malt liquors, or
any mixture thereof, alcoholic bitters, bitters containing
alcohol, or fruits preserved in ardent spirits, either by
wholesale or retail, or to be drunk at the place where sold,
or in any other way, within the corporate limits of the said
town (or within one mile thereof), without, unless, and

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until the applicant shall produce to the court, or officers
authorized to grant such license, the written consent of
the council of the town. And upon the production of a
copy of the record of said council to said court, showing
such consent and specifying the place where to be sold,
and in what manner; that the applicant is a corporation
chartered under the laws of this state, or if the applicant
is not such a corporation, that the person so applying is
sober, discreet, and of good moral character, and that the
place is suitable and convenient; that the said applicant
has paid into the treasury of said town the sum of one
hundred and fifty dollars, and to the treasurer of Tazewell
county the tax required by existing laws to be paid to the
state for the exercise of said privilege, said court shall
grant such applicant a license to sell all or any of the
things mentioned in this section, by wholesale, retail, or
to be drunk at the place where sold: provided that if the
applicant desires to sell by wholesale, he shall pay into
the said treasury the sum of five hundred dollars, unless
he desires to sell malt liquors only by wholesale, in which
case he shall pay the sum of three hundred dollars. But
license shall not be granted to any corporation or person
to sell in more than two of the modes herein designated ;
nor shal! said license be granted until the applicant shall
execute bond in said court, with good security, in the pen-
alty of five thousand dollars, conditioned according to
law. Any person who shall, without first procuring a li-
cense, as required by this section, sell wine, ardent spirits,
malt liquors, or any mixture thereof, alcobolic bitters, or
fruits preserved in ardent spirits, either by wholesale, re-
tail, or to be drunk at the place where sold, or in any other
way, within the corporate limits of the said town, or with-
in one mile thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less
than thirty dollars, and not more than one thousand dollars
for each offence; and if the fine and the costs of the pros-
ecution be not at once paid, the accused shall be forthwith
committed to the calaboose of said town until the fine and
costs be paid, or he be discharged by due process of law.
The mayor of said town, the council, or any member there-
of, shall have jurisdiction to try any person charged with
a violation of any of the provisions of this section, and
impose the punishment hereby prescribed. Al1] fines im-
posed under this section shal! be for the benefit of the said
town, and shall be paid into the treasury thereof. Any
person found guilty of violating any provisions of this
section shall be required by the officer trying the case to
give bond, with good security, in a reasonable sum, to be
fixed by such officer, to be of good behavior for twelve
months; and if such person fail to give such bond, he
shall be at once committed to the calaboose of said town
until he does give it, or is discharged by due process of law.
15. The council of said town may borrow money for
and in the name of said town, not exceeding ten per
centum of the assessed valuation of the taxable property
in said town, and execute the bonds of said town therefor,
bearing interest at the rate of six per centum per annum,
and payable as may be agreed on.

16. The wages of a laboring man shall be exempt from
distress, levy, or garnishment for any debt created within
the corporate limits of the said town for wine, ardent spir-
its, malt liquors, or any mixture thereof, alcoholic bitters,
or fruits preserved in ardent spirits.

17. The mayor and council, and each member of the
council, shall have power and authority to deputize any
number of citizens of the town, and such as may be in
town from said county, to assist the sergeant in the full
discharge of his duties in all cases of riot and misde-
meanors.

18. W. B. Spratt, H. W. Shannon, H. Wade Steel, S. P.
Griffitts, and George McCall, or any three of these persons,
are hereby authorized and empowered to hold the election,
agreeably to the provisions of this act, for the election of
a mayor and council of said town, on the first Monday in
March, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, at the office of
the Clinch Valley coal and iron company, in said town.

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