Chap. 475.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to provide a
charter for the town of Onancock, Accomac county, Virginia.

Approved April 2, 1902.

Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act to
onvide a charter for the town of Onancock, in the county of Accomac,
approved February the fifteenth, cighteen hundred and cighty-two, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows: That the town of Onan-
cock, in the county of Accomac, as the same has heretofore been or may
hereafter be laid off into lots, streets, and alleys, shall be, and the same
hereby is, made a town corporate by the name of the town of Onancock,
and by that name shall have perpetual succession, with the power to sue
and be sued, plead and be impleaded in any of the courts of law or equity
of this Commonwealth, and with authority to purchase, receive, and hold
lands, tenements, goods, and chattels, either in fee simple or any less es-
tate therein, and the same to lease, give, grant, and assign, or sell again;
and shall have and exercise, in addition to the rights and powers that now
belong to it, as well as those granted by this act, all the rights, powers,
and privileges conferred upon towns by chapter forty-four of the Code of
Virginia of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and be subject to and
governed by the provisions of the said chapter applicable to towns, and
all laws which may be hereafter enacted by the general assembly for
towns, 60 far as the same are not inconsistent with this act.

§ 2. The boundaries of the said town shall be as follows: Beginning
at the northwest corner of the wharf belonging to Hopkins and Brothers,
known as the steamboat wharf; thence up the south fork of Onancock
creek, by and with the middle of the channel, and then by and with the
middle of the channel to the head of said fork; then by and with the run
of the branch emptying into said fork between the land known as the col-
lege property and the land of Isaiah W. Bagwell; then up the said
branch with the run thereof to a point between the land of the said
Isaiah W. Bagwell and Thomas Johnson; then in a right line through
the lands of the said Thomas Johnson and of George W. Powell until it
strikes the southeast side of the road or strect north of the main county
road between the lands of ‘Thomas Johnson and Henry Hall, the last
named line being a prolongation southwestwardly of the line of the
southeast side of said road or street; then by and with the southeast side
of said road or street to the run of the branch between the lands of the
said Thomas Johnson and William S. Mills; then by and with the run of
the said last named branch to the head of the north fork of Onancock
creek ; then by and with the middle of the channel in said north fork to
the point of beginning.

§ 3. The government of said town shall be vested in a mayor, to be
elected annually on the fourth Thursday in May, and in six councilmen,
who shall be elected on the fourth Thursday in May, in the year nineteen
hundred, three of whom shall hold office for the term of one year, and re-
maining three for the term of two vears; and thereafter three council-
men shall be elected cach vear on the fourth Thursday in May to fill
vacancies so accruing, who shall hold office for the term of two years.
The mayor and councilmen so elected hereunder shall be chosen by the
qualified voters of said town. Any person entitled to vote in the county
of Accomac, and who has resided in the said town for three months pre-
vious to any election, shall be entitled to vote at all elections under this
act of incorporation. The mayor shall appoint two members of the coun-
cil, who, with the town clerk, shall hold said elections between the hours
of one post meridian and sunset, and they shall decide any contest with
reference to the right of any person to vote, and shall count the ballots,
and certify to the council the names of the persons elected mayor and
councilmen. In case of a tie vote, the clerk shall decide, in the presence
of the two councilmen aforesaid, by lot. Said clerk shall immediately
thereafter make out and’ deliver to the mayor and to each councilman
elected a certificate of his election. All officers of said town shall take
the oath of office before the town clerk or some other officer authorized
to administer oaths. The council shall appoint the times when it shall
meet.

And be it further enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section five of the above named, as amended and re-enacted by an act en-
titled an act to provide for a charter for the town of Onancock, in Acco-
mac county, approved February the fourteenth, eighteen hundred and
ninety-eight, be further amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 4. The said council shall have the power to elect a treasurer, a clerk,
a sergeant, and any other officer they may deem necessary for the said
town, to regulate their compensation, prescribe their duties, remove them
from office, and require bond, with approved security, for the faithful
performance of their respective duties. The council shall also have
power to pass all by-laws and ordinances for the government of the said
town which they may deem proper, not in conflict with the constitution
of this State or the United States; to mark accurately the bounds of ex-
isting streets, and alter or change the same, and lay off new streets, alleys,
or sidewalks, and keep them 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 lands for roads in the county; to
prescribe the limits within which no building shall be constructed ex-
cept of brick, stone, or other incombustible material, with fire-proof roof,
and to impose a penalty for the violation of any such ordinance; to cause
to be made a survey and plat of the said town, showing distinctly its
boundaries, its public streets, alleys, and sidewalks, and their width,
with such remarks and explanations as they may deem proper; to regu-
late or prohibit the running at large of animals; to provide and protect
shade trees; to establish a fire department, with suitable and necessary
conveniences; to make regulations in reference to contagious diseases; to
abate nuisances; to provide for order and quiet observance of the Sab-
bath within said town and one mile beyond its limits; to punish violations
of the ordinances and by-laws of the council with stripes, fine, and im-
prisonment, or by work on streets of the town, or either; to appoint an-
nually three electors of said town, two of whom shall be freeholders, to
assess the value of all real and personal property within said town for
556 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY.

the purpose of taxation, who shall certify their assessment to the council,
and, in addition to the powers conferred by this act, shall have the same
powers and authority as the councils of towns of less than five thousand
inhabitants, under the general laws of this State, and for the purposes
of this incorporation the said council may levy such taxes as they may
deem proper on all property—real and personal—within said town, not
to exceed forty cents on the one hundred dollars assessed value; a cor-
poration tax not to exceed fifty cents per year; a tax on dogs not to ex-
ceed one dollar per year, and a license tax on every vocation, profession,
or business not prohibited by the laws of this State or of the United
States. Any person applying to the county or circuit courts for Accomac
county for license to sell spirituous liquors, wine, beer, ale, or porter, or
any mixture thereof, within the corporate limits of the town of Onan-
cock, or within one mile of the corporate limits of the said town, shall
produce before the court a certificate of the council of said town to the
effect that the applicant is a suitable person, and that no good reason is
known to the council why the license should not be granted. And the
court shall not grant any license to sell liquors within the said limits
until and unless such certificate be given. The corporate limits of the
said town of Onancock shall constitute a school district, and the council
shall appoint three trustees therefor, to serve one, two, and three years,
respectively, and annually thereafter it shall appoint one such trustee, to
serve three years. The treasurer of the county of Accomac is hereby au-
thorized and required to pay to the Onancock school district the fund
derived from the taxation of the real and personal property in the town
of Onancock, and known as the county school tax, the said fund to be ap-
plied exclusively to the free schools of the said town. The council shall
annually set aside and apply to the payment of the bonded indebtedness
of the said town twenty per centum of the annual revenues of the town
derived from taxes upon the personal and real property assessed for taxes
in said town.