Chap. 303.—An ACT to incorporate the town of Clarksville, and to authorize the
issue of bonds by said town.

Approved February 11, 1898.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the terri-
tory contained within the following boundaries in the county of Meck-
lenburg, Virginia, to-wit:

Beginning ata point on the southern bank of the Dan river fifty feet
north of the centre of the railroad track at its entrance into the South-
ern railway company’s bridge; thence running parallel with and fifty
feet north of the track now used by the Atlantic and Danville railroad
toa point one hundred yards beyond the centre of the country road
erossing near the Atlantic and Danville depot, and at which point a
culvert passes beneath the track and emptics into a eertain branch or
drain; thence in a southerly direction following said branch leading into
Blue creek near the Oxford, North Carolina, country road, and follow-
ing said Blue creck to the point at which it enters the Roanoke riv eT;
thence along the bank in a northerly direction to the beginning of said
boundaries, shall be deemed and taken as the te rritory of the town of
Clarksville, hereby incorporated. and the inhabitants thereof are hereby
constituted, and shall be and continue, a body politic and corporate,
under the name of the town of Clarksville, for all the purposes for
which towns of less than five thousand inhabitants are incorporated in
this commonwealth, and as such shall have, exercise and enjov all the
rights, immunities, powers and privileges, and be subject to all the du-
ties and obligations appertaining to or incumbent upon the same as a
municipal corporation, and shall be subject to and governed by the gen-
eral laws of this state relative to towns of less than five thousand
Inhabitants, so far as they are applicable and not inconsistent with the
provisions of this act.

2. The administration and government of said town shall he vested
In one principal ofheer styled the mavor, a board to be called the coun-
cil, and such other boards and officers as are hereinafter provided for as
may be established or provided for by the said council. The rights,
powers, duties and privileges of the mayor, and the rights, powers, du-
ties and privileges of the council, shall be such as are now vested in
thei respectively by law or as may be vested in them respectively by
this act or any other act hereafter passed.

3. R. Tunter Moss, an inhabitant of the territory aforesaid, and duly
eligible, is hereby constituted the mayor of the town of Clarksville. and
Henry W ood, junior, William D. Blanks, William H. Russell, Henry
D. Sizemore, “Thomas IT. Owen, J. D. Pettingill and James R. Murphy,
also inhabitants thereof and duly eligible, are hereby constituted mem-
bers of the council of said town, to hold their respective offices from
their qualifications as hereinafter provided for, until their successors
are duly elected and qualified as hereinafter provided. The persons
above-named for the respective oflices aforesaid, and any other person or
persons appointed or elected to office under this act, may qualify before
any justice of the peace of the county of Mecklenburg, or of the Judge
of said county, or any notary public of this state, by being sworn
and taking the oath of office in accordance with the laws of this
state.

In case for any reason, any of the persons above-named shall fail to qual-
ify within thirty davs after the passage of this act, then if it be the person
above-named for mayor, the council shall appoint some one to take his
place, and if it be one or more persons above-named for the council,
the remaining person so named for council shall designate a person or per-
sons to serve in the place of the person or persons so failing to qualify; and if
for any cause there shall be any vacancy in any of the offices aforesaid,
the council shall proceed at once to fill the vacancy.

4. The council, as soon as practicable after the passage of this act and

for the purpose of taking up, retiring and satisfying the outstanding
bonded indebtedness of the former corporation known as the town of
Clarksville, aggregating in the principal the sum of twenty thousand
dollars shall, in the name and on behalf of the town of Clarksville
hereby incorporated, cause to be issued to the holder of said indebted-
ness in satisfaction thereof, twenty bonds of the denomination of five
hundred dollars each, avorceating the principal amount of ten thou-
sand dollars, and an additional bond of two hundred and eighty-one
and fifty one-hundredths dollars to cover the interest upon seven thou-
sand five hundred dollars from the fifteenth day of August, eighteen
hundred and ninety-seven, to the first day of April, eighteen hundred
and ninety-cight, either coupon or registered, bearing interest at the
rate of six per centum per annum, payable annually on the first day of
April, and pavable as to the principal thereof twenty years after the
first dav of April, eighteen hundred and nincty-eight.

The sid town of Clarksville shall reserve to itself the right and priv-
ilege of paying in full the entire amount, or any part thereof, as repre-
sented by a bond at the expiration of ten years from the first day of
April, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight. The said bonds to be issued
by the town of Clarksville hereby incorporated, shall bear date April
the first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and be signed in the name
of the mayor, who shall likewise affix thereto its corporate seal.

do. The government of said town shall be vested in a mayor and seven
councilmen. The first election under this charter for mayor and coun-
cilmen of said town shall be held on the second Tuesday in April, eigh-
teen hundred and ninety-nine; and thereafter they shall be elected bi-
ennially on the second Tuesday in April, and shall qualify prior to and
enter upon the duties of their respective oflices on the first dav of July
following. Any person entitled to vote in the county of Mecklenburg,
and who has resided within the said town for three months previous to
any election, shall be entitled to vote at all elections under this act of in-
corporation. The county court of Mecklenburg county shall appoint
three electors of said town who shall hold said election between the hours
of sunrise and sunset; and they shall count the ballots and certify to the
council the names of the persons elected mayor and councilmen. The
clerk on the order of the council, shall immediately thereafter make out
and deliver to the mayor and each councilman a certificate of his clec-
tion. All officers of said town shall take the oath of office before the
town clerk or some other officer authorized to administer oaths. Should
any of the officers hereby appointed, or who may hereafter be elected or
appointed, refuse or fail toaccept and qualify within thirty days after
such appointment or election, then it shall be the duty of the mavor or
a majority of such town council as may accept and qualify in the ab-
sence of such mayor to fill such vacancy by appointment. The county
court of Mecklenburg county shall, not less than thirty days before any
election held under this charter, appoint a qualified voter of said town
as registrar to register in a special registration book provided for the pur-
pose, all the citizens of said county as hereinafter sct forth who shall
apply to him to be registered, and who are duly qualified.

On the twelfth and eleventh days preceding any regular election under
this charter it shall be the duty of the registrar to sit two days, and
from sunset of the eleventh day preceding each clection to sunrise of the
day following such election no name shall be entered upon the registra-
tion book.

It shall be the duty of such registrar to give notice of the days upon
which he shall sit to register voters by posting notices at three or more
public places of said town for ten days preceding such sitting, and five
days previous to any election he shall post at a conspicuous place in
said town a list of all voters who have been registered since the next
preceding election.

The registrar so appointed shall register all male citizens of the town
who shall apply to be registered, and who shall be of the age of twenty-
one years at the election to be held next after the registration, and who
are citizens of the United States, and shall have resided in this state for
twelve months and in the town of Clarksville three months next preced-
ing any election at which they may offer to vote. No one shall be enti-
tled to vote in any election held under this charter who has not been
duly registered as herein provided. The council shall appoint the times
when it shall meet.

6. The mayor and councilmen shall constitute the council of said
town, a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum to do business,
and all the corporate powers of said town shall be exercised by said
council under its authority, except when otherwise provided by law.
The mayor shall be president of the said council, and shall have all the
rights, powers and privileges such office confers under the general laws
governing towns within this state, and shall be invested with all the
powers of a justice of the peace within the limits of said town, and one
mile beyond said limits; and all fines, penalties or improvements for
Violations of the by-laws or ordinances of said town shall be recovered
before or enforced under the judgement of the mayor, and for that pur-
pose he may issue process as a justice of the peace, and shall be entitled
to the same fees as a justice for like service; but the mayor shall have
no vote in the council except in case of a tie. Any vacancy which may
occur in the office of mayor or councilmen shall be filled by the council.
The mayor and councilmen shall hold their respective offices for two
years from the first day of July succeeding their election, and until their
successors are elected and qualified.

7. The said council shall have power to assess property, levy taxes and
collect same, and fix and collect license taxes for the year eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-eight, as soon as practicable after the passage of this
act; to elect a treasurer, a clerk, a sergeant, and any other officers they
may deem necessary for the said town, and to lay off and subdivide
said town into as many election wards as they may think proper, and fix
the number of councilmen to be elected from each ward, and to regulate
their compensation, prescribe their duties, remove them from office, and
require bonds with approved security for the faithful performance of
their respective duties. The council shall also have the power to pass
all by-laws and ordinances for the government of the said town, amend
or repeal the same, which they may deem proper, not in conflict with
the constitution of this state or the United States ; to mark accurately the
bounds of existing streets, and alter or change the same, and to lay off
new streets, alleys, or sidewalks, and keep same in order, and to make
other improvements, for which purpose the council of said town shall
have the same powers and jurisdiction for condemning land for streets,
alleys and sidewalks as the county court has for condemning land for
the roads in the county ; to cause to be made a survey and plat of said
town, showing definitely its boundaries, its public streets, alleys and
sidewalks, and their width, with such remarks and explanations as they
may deem proper; to provide and protect shade trees; to regulate or
prohibit the running at large of animals; to establish a fire department
with suitable and necessary conveniences ; to prevent the riding or driv-
ing of horses, or other animals, at an improper or dangerous speed ; to
prevent the engaging in any sport or employment on the streets, dan-
goerous or annoying to the citizens; to restrain and punish drunkards,
vagrants, street beggars, and persons coming into the town without any
visible means of support; to prevent vice and immorality ; to preserve
peace and good order; to quell disturbances and disorderly conduct and
assemblages, and to suppress houses of ill-fame and gambling; to pre-
vent and punish lewd conduct on the streets, and to expel from the
town persons guilty of any offence mentioned above; to make regula-
tions in reference to contagious diseases ; to abate nuisances ; to provide
for order and quiet, and the observance of the Sabbath within said town,
and one mile beyond its limits ; to punish violations of the ordinances
and by-laws of the council with imprisonment in the lock-up of said
town and fine, or either.

8. For the purpose of this incorporation the said council may levy
such taxes as they may deem proper, on all property, real and personal,
within the said town not to exceed fifty cents on the one hundred dol-
lars, assessed value as per state assessment, which assessment shall be
deemed the assessment of said property in said town for the purposes of
taxation in said town, and may cause a copy of said assessment to be
made for the use of said town; to impose a specific license tax on all
shows, performances and exhibitions that may be given and all persons,
firms or corporations who may engage in the sale of wines, ardent spirits,
malt liquors, alcoholic bitters and mixtures thereof, either by wholesale,
retail, or to be drunk at the places where sold. The said councilmen
shall have the power to impose a license tax on all business on which the
state imposes licenses, or which is provided by law, and its officers shall
have such power to collect such tax as the state officers have in like
cases; and the said council shall have the power to impose a specific tax
for the sale of merchandise or any other article that may be offered for
sale by any person not living in said town, and also to levy a capitation
tax not to exceed one dollar, on each adult male person resident of said
town. 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 strong or spirituous liquors, wine, beer, ale or porter, or intoxicating
drinks, or intoxicating bitters, or mixtures thereof, within said town or
within one mile of its boundary, shall be granted by the court having
authority to grant licenses, when a majority of the council of said town
sign a certificate presented to said court requesting that such license be
not granted. The council may require from such persons so licensed a
bond with security, payable to the said town, in such penalties and with
such condition as it may think proper, and may revoke such license at
any time if the conditions of said bond be broken.

9. For the purpose of carrying into effect the police regulations of
said town, the said town shall be allowed the use of Mecklenburg county
jail for the safe-keeping and confinement of all persons who may be ar-
rested or sentenced to imprisonment under the by-laws and ordinances
of said town; and the sergeant of the said town may convey any person
arrested or sentenced to jail, and the jailer of said county shall receive
such person or persons in the same manner as if such person or persons
were committed by a justice of the peace and delivered to said jailer by
a constable. And when any judgment shall be rendered against a pri-
soner for any penalty under any ordinance or by-law of said town and
the same be not immediately paid, the person or persons so in default
may be required, by the order of court passing sentence, to work out
such fines or penalties on the public streets or other public improve-
ments of said town at ffty,tents per day, under the direction of the ser-
geant and under such rules and regulations as may be deemed proper by
the council.

10. The said town and the property and persons therein shall be ex-
empt and free from the payment of any road tax and from working on
roads outside of said towns, for which exemption the said town shall
keep its own streets in order and provide for its own poor, and shall not
be embraced in any road district of the said county of Mecklenburg.

11. The sergeant of said town shall be a conservator of the peace and
shall be vested with full powers of a constable within the limits of the
said town, and also have powers to arrest offenders within one mile of
said limits for offences committed within the limits of said town or
against its by-laws or ordinances, and shall have all the powers given to
special policemen under section thirty-nine hundred and twenty-seven of
the code of Virginia, and shall be entitled to the same fees as a constable
for like service.

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