Chap. 792.—An ACT to incorporate the town of Saltville, in Smyth and Wash-
ton counties.

Approved March 8, 1894.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
territory in the counties of Smyth and Washington contained within
the following described boundaries, namely: Beginning at a point at
the mouth of McHenry’s creek, thence running due east one-fourth
of amile with the line of Sam Talbert and the Matheison alkali works
to said Talbert’s corner on the south side of the north fork of the
Holston river; thence crossing the said river to John S. Smith’s and
said Talbert’s corner; thence east with the meandering of said river
one mile to the southeast corner of Frank’s, Smith’s and Robinson’s
line; thence with the said Smith’s and Robinson’s line due north to
the top of Little or Piney mountain; thence west along the top of
said mountain to the northwest corner of the said Talbert’s land;
thence back south to the beginning, shall constitute the town of
Saltville, and the inhabitants within said boundaries and their suc-
cessors shall be a body politic in fact and in name, under the style
and denomination of the town of Saltville, and by that name shall
have and exercise all the powers conferred upon towns by chapter
forty-four of the code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and eighty-
seven, and all laws now in force or that hereafter may be enacted
for the government of towns of less than five thousand inhabitants,
not inconsistent with the provisions of this act.

2. The territory within the corporate limits of said town is hereby
created and declared to be a separate and distinct road and school
district, and all persons and property therein shall be exempt froff
all road taxes and services, from taxes for the support of the poor,
and from county and district taxes for free school purposes: pro-
vided the said town shall keep its streets and alleys, and the public
roads within its limits, in good order, support its own poor and
maintain its own public or free schools.

And it is further provided that all lands contained within the
corporate limits of said town which are used exclusively for agricul-
tural purposes, shall be exempt from all corporation tax, except for
road and school purposes.

3. The offices of the said town shall consist of one mayor and six
other residents, who shall compose the council of said town; a ser-
geant, who shall be elected by said council, and such other officers
as the council may deem necessary to elect or appoint.

The mayor and four members of the council, or, in the absence of
the mayor, five members of the council, one of whom shall act as
chairman, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

4. The election for mayor and councilmen shall be held on the
fourth Thursday in May, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and
every two years thereafter. The officers so elected, and all officers
elected or appointed by the council, shall begin their terms on the
first day of July succeeding their election, and shall hold their term
of office for two years, or until their successors are elected and quali-
fied, except that the council may prescribe the terms of all officers
elected or appointed by it. If any vacancy occur in the office of
mayor, or in the council, the same shall be filled by the council.

5. The following named persons are hereby appointed to fill the
offices of mayor and councilmen of the town of Saltville until the
first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and until their
successors are duly elected and qualified, namely: George W.
Palmer as mayor, and E. E. Arnold, C. M. Perry, Charles F. Palmer,
T. Mathieson, W. H. Wiley and P. C. Landrum as councilmen. Said
persons shall take the oaths of office and enter upon the discharge
of their duties as soon as practicable after the passage of this act.

6. Any person entitled to vote for members of the general assem-
bly, and residing within the corporate limits of the town of Salt-
ville, shall be entitled to vote at all elections under this act of incor-
poration.

The mayor shall cause ten days’ notice to be given of all corpora-
tion elections by posting notices at three or more places in said cor-
poration; shall appoint a registrar, three judges of election, and two
clerks of election, all of whom shall be qualified voters. The regis-
trar shall register the qualified voters of said town, and the said
judges shall conduct the elections thereof in the manner provided
by law.

7. The mayor shall be the presiding officer of the council, but shall
not have a vote except in case of a tie. His salary shall be fixed hy
the council at its first meeting, or as soon thereafter as practicable,
and the same shall not be diminished during his term of office.

He shall also have the power, when any person is suspected of
selling or handling spirituous or malt liquors, whiskey, brandy, wine,
fe, beer, or any mixture thereof, contrary to law, within the corpo-
rate limits of said town, upon complaint in due form of law, to issue
a warrant for the arrest of the accused; and upon conviction may
fine him not exceeding twenty dollars, exclusive of costs, and may
require the person so convicted to enter into bond with good security
to keep the peace and be of good behavior for a term not exceeding
twelve months.

8. The council shall have authority to appoint a board of health for
the town, and invest it with authority for the prompt and efficient
performance of its duties.

The council of the said town shall have all the general powers
vested in it by the laws of the state; and it shall also have authority
to provide for the interment of the dead and to regulate the same; to
establish a market and make ordinances for the management thereof.
They shall also have power to prevent the obstruction of streets,
alleys, sidewalks, roads, gutters, and so forth; the firing of guns or
pistols, the setting fire to powder and other combustible or explosive
materials; the running or fast driving or riding of horses and other
animals within the corporation, by imposing a reasonable fine for
such offences. They shall have power to prescribe rules for the
orderly building of houses and their proper location—such as sta-
bles, water closets, hog-pens, cattle sheds, as well as dwellings,
stores and shops. They shall have power to regulate the erection of
chimneys, stoves and stove-pipes, and to abate and remove all nui-
sances at the expense of those who occasion them. They shall have
power to prohibit all animals from running at large and beyond
their owners’ premises, and to pass all by-laws and ordinances, not
contrary to the constitution and laws of the commonwealth and of
the United States, which said council may deem necessary for the
peace, good order and government of the said town and the carrying
into effect of such powers and privileges as have or may hereafter
be vested in them. They shall also have power to enforce all laws,
by-laws and ordinances of the said town by a penalty not exceeding
the penalties fixed by the commonwealth for like offences—said
penalty or fine to be paid into the corporation fund.

They shall have power to amend or repeal any by-law or ordi-
nance or remit any fine that may to them seem proper and just.
Any ordinance or by-law may be enforced by fine or imprisonment,
or both, or, in lieu of fine, by labor in chain-gang or otherwise, at
the discretion of the mayor.

The said council shall have power, whenever they deem it expe-
dient, to have the sidewalks, footways and gutters along any street

- 42

T a J
or alley in said town of such width as they may prescribe, properly
paved and otherwise suitably improved, altered or repaired, as they
may think fit; one-half of the cost of which shall be paid by the
owners or occupants of the said lands or lots along the front side of
which such footways, sidewalks, and so forth, may extend, and to
levy and collect for that purpose a special tax on each of such lands
or lots proportioned to the number of feet of the same, which special
tax shall be collected as taxes on real and personal property are by
this act directed to be collected: provided that before any owner or
occupant of any land or lot in said town shall be required to make
such payment, upon the terms above stated, or a tax levied on the
same for such purpose, there shall be on such land or lot a dwelling
or business house that will average fifteen feet square. And in all
cases where the lessee or tenant shall pay the expense of any such
pavement or improvement, the amount of said expense shall be an
offset or credit against a like amount of rent due or that may accrue.

All taxes, whether general or special, assessed upon any property
in said town under the provisions of this act are hereby declared to
constitute a lien on such property; and if the sergeant or other
legally authorized collector has not been able, with due diligence, to
collect the same by the first day of December of the year in which
the same were assessed, he shall, at the first meeting of the council
thereafter, make return upon oath of the taxes he has failed to
collect, and the property upon which such uncollected taxes were
assessed, and thereupon the council shall have the same remedy
against the property of said delinquents as the commonwealth has
in similar cases.

9. The council shall have power and authority to erect a prison-
house, with such apartments as may be necessary for the safe-keeping
and employment of all persons confined therein, and to establish a
chain-gang in conformity with law; to erect in or near the town
suitable work-houses, houses of correction and reformation and
houses for the reception of the poor, and to erect and keep in order
all public buildings necessary for the use of the town.

10. The council shall have power to impose a tax and require a
license for the privilege of keeping for hire any wheeled wagon or
carriage; to levy annually a poll-tax of fifty cents on each male
person of the age of twenty-one years and over for free school pur-
poses, and a tax not exceeding in any one year one dollar on the one
hundred dollars’ assessed valuation of property, real and personal,
to meet the current expenses of the town.

The council shall have power to purchase and hold lands and lots
on which to erect school-houses and other necessary buildings, and
may sell and convey any part thereof, provided two-thirds of the
council concur therein. They shall have power and authority to
appoint school trustees for the town. Such trustees to be clothed
with all the powers and perform all the duties now vested in and
required of district boards of school trustees; and in providing
funds for the support of the schools the trustees shall be governed
by the provisions of section fifteen hundred and forty of the code of

irginia.
11. That whenever anything for which a state license is required,
is to be done in said town, the council may require a town license
therefor, and may impose a tax thereon for the use of said town.

But no license to sell ardent spirits, malt liquors, wine, beer, ale,
porter or any intoxicating drinks or intoxicating bitters, or mixtures
thereof, shall be granted by any court or judge or other person to any
person within the corporate limits of said town.

It shall not be lawful to sell or barter intoxicating liquors of any
kind within the corporate limits of said town, nor shall it be lawful
within said territory to solicit orders, or to receive orders, or to take
orders unsolicited for the sale of ardent spirits, malt liquors, wine,
ale, beer, porter, or any mixture thereof, under any other name. Nor
shall it be lawful for any person to keep spirituous or malt liquors
deposited or stored in any place in said corporation for sale, barter
or exchange, either directly or indirectly. Any violation of this sec-
tion shall be deemed a misdemeanor, for which a fine may be im-
posed not exceeding twenty dollars, exclusive of costs, for each
offence, and the person so convicted may be required to give a bond
with good sureties, payable to the town of Saltville, in a penalty
not exceeding three hundred dollars, to keep the peace and be of
good behavior for a term not exceeding twelve months.

12. That the town treasurer or sergeant, as the council may direct,
shall collect the taxes in the same manner as is now provided by law
in relation to the collection of state taxes by the county treasurers,
and the time for payment shall expire on the thirtieth day of Novem-
ber of each year. All taxes not paid by the first day of December,
following, shall have five per centum added to the amount thereof,
and the collecting officer shall collect all fines, levies and licenses,
and after thirty days from the time of receiving the assessors’ books,
or the said taxes or tax-tickets, may distrain and levy for said taxes,
levies and license, in like manner as the treasurer may for state
taxes, levies and licenses, and shall in all respects have the same
power to enforce the payment and collection thereof.

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