Chap. 226.—An ACT to incorporate the town of Washington, in the county o
Rappahannock.

Approved February 12, 1894.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
territory contained within the limits set forth and described in sec-
tion two of this act be deemed and taken as the town of Washington,
and the inhabitants of the town of Washington, for all purposes for
which towns are incorporated in this commonwealth, sha!] be a body
politic, in fact and in name, under the style and denomination of
the town of Washington, and as such shall have, exercise and enjoy
all the rights, immunities, powers and privileges, and be subject to
all the duties and obligations incumbent upon and pertaining to
said town as a municipal corporation.

2. The boundaries of the said town shall extend three hundred
yards on every side beyond the boundaries of the said town, as de-
scribed in the original charter of the said town.

3. The government of the said town shall be vested in a council of
seven, to be elected by ballot on the first Saturday in June, eighteen
hundred and ninety-five, and every two years thereafter.
4. Any person entitled to vote in the county of Rappahannock, and
residing within the corporate limits of the said town thirty days
previous to any election, shall be entitled to vote at all elections
under this act of incorporation.

5. The mayor shall appoint two members of the council, who, with
the clerk of the council, shall hold said election between the hours
of one in the afternoon and sunset, and they shal] decide any contest
with reference to the right of any individual to vote, and shall
count the ballots. In case it is impossible to decide the seven who
nave the highest number of votes by reason of a tie, the said clerk
shall decide in the presence of the two councilmen aforesaid by lot.
‘aid clerk shall immediately thereafter make out and deliver to
each one of the councilmen elected a certificate of his election.

6. The following named persons are hereby appointed to fill the
following offices until the first day of July, eighteen hundred and
ninety-five, and until their successors are elected and qualified—
namely: Theodore L. Booton, mayor; E. W. Brown, Clarence J. Mil-
er, John F, Lilliard, James F. Strother, junior, H. M. Dudley and C.
E. Johnson, councilmen. The said council, which includes the
mayor as president thereof, shall have the power to appoint a ser-
ceant, treasurer, commissioner of the revenue, and such other officers
as may be necessary, who shall] remain in office until their successors
are elected and qualified. In case the council shall determine to
nave any of the above-named officers, or any other officers, they, as
well as the mayor and councilmen, shall be elected by the qualified
voters of said town on the first Saturday in June, eighteen hundred
and ninety-five, their term of office to begin on the first day of
vals following, and the said officers shall be elected biennially there-
aller,

‘. The mayor and councilmen shall qualify by taking an oath of
otice before any person qualified to administer oaths, and if the
mayor or any of the above appointed councilmen should fail to
qualify for ten days after four of those above named shall have
qualified, they shall be deemed to have declined said office, and
‘hose who have qualified shall proceed to fill the vacancies thus
existing. All the officers of the corporation shall serve without com-
pensation, except as hereinafter provided, and except that they re-
ceive the fees allowed by law for acting as justice in any case. Any
of said officers may be removed from office by the unanimous vote
of the council for good cause. The council at its first regular meet-
ing shall elect a mayor pro tempore, who shall have all the powers
ofthe mayor in his absence, or when from any cause the mayor is
unable to discharge his duties as such. The mayor shall be the pre-
‘ding officer of the council, but shall have no vote except in case of
atie, The mayor shall and may exercise all jurisdiction, civil and
Criminal, now by law conferred upon justices of the peace; shall
Ptegerve peace and good order in said town, and to this end shall be
‘conservator of the peace, with all the powers of the same, and shall
be entitled to the same fees as a justice of the peace.

8. That for the purpose of maintaining the police regulations of
said town under the authority of this act, the jurisdiction of the cor-
porate authorities thereof shall be, and the same is hereby, made to
extend one mile bevond the limits of the said town.

9. The sergeant of said town shall have the same power and dis-
charge the same duties as constable within the corporate limite of
said town, and to the distance of one mile beyond the same. He
shall have power to arrest in said town, or anywhere within Rap-
pahannock county, upon a warrant issued by the mavor or a justice
of the peace, any person charged with a violation of the laws of this
commonwealth or ordinances of said town, and where the same are
committed in his presence within the limits of said town, he shall
have authority and power to arrest forthwith, without warrant, the
offender and carry him before the mayor or some conservator of the
peace of said town, to be dealt with according to law. The council
may appoint him as collector of taxes and levies, allowing him a cer-
tain per centum for collecting the same.

10. The person whose duty it is to collect town levies, taxes
and fines shall have the same power to distrain therefor as tax
collectors have in similar cases.

11. The council may impose a tax on the real and personal estate
In said town, which shall not exceed thirty cents on the one hun-
dred dollars of the assessed value thereof. The council may also im-
pose a license tax for the privilege of doing any business within the
corporate -limits, to be half as much as now imposed by law in this
state, and it may impose a poll tax not to exceed fifty cents per
capita on every male inhabitant of said town over the age of tw enty-
one years, In case a liquor license should be granted. the license
tax for keeping a bar-room shall not be less that fifteen dollars nor
more than thirty dollars per annum, to be determined by a majority
of the council, and for selling liquor not to be drunk on the premises,
not less than ten dollars nor more than twenty-five dollars per annum,
to be determined likewise by a majority vote of the council.

12. The council shall have power to make accurate bounds of. ex-
isting streets, to compel the removal of obstructions therefrom, and
to lay off and have new strects, alleys, sidewalks, and to provide and
protect shade trees thereon. The council of said town shall have
the same jurisdiction forcondemning lands forstreets, alleys and side-
walks of said town as the county court has for condemning land for
road purposes. The council shall have power to provide against and
prevent the running at large of hogs, dogs, horses and other ani-
mais; to prevent the cumbering of streets, eidewalkea and alleys: te
make sanitary regulationa in reference to contagious or other dis-
eases; to reculate the building of houses, stables, privies, hog-pen:
and slaughter-houses; to abate nuisances at the expense of those
who cause them; to restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants anc
street-beggars; and to make, pass and ordain such ordinanceg, rules
regulations aud by-laws as they may deem necessary for the genera
good.

13. The council shall keep in order the streets, alleys and walk
of said town; and it may require the male inhabitants over sixtee!
years of age to work on the same. The inhabitants of the said tow:
shall not be required to work on the county roads, nor shal) the rea
and personal property in said town be subject to taxation for county
road purposes.

14. The said town shall be allowed the use of the jail of Rap-
pahannock county for the safe-keeping and confinement of all per-
sous who shall be sentenced to imprisonment under the general laws
or ordinances of said town; and when any judgment shall be
rendered against a person for any fine or penalty under any ordi-
vance of said town, and the same be not immediately paid, the per-
son or persons so in default may be required, by order of the court
passing sentence, to work out such fine or penalty on the public
streets or other public improvements, at fifty cents a day, under the
direction of the sergeant, and under such rules and regulations as
may be deemed proper by the council.

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