Hancock County, Illinois - Chapter 27: Hancock Railways, 1880 (part 2 of 2)

The term of office of the trustees, and the general government of the society can be determined by the rules and by-laws adopted. Failure to elect trustees at the time provided does not work a dissolution, but the old trustees hold over. A trustee or trustees may be removed, in the same manner, by the society, as elections are held by a meeting called for that purpose. The property of the society rests in the corporation. The corporation may hold, or acquire by purchase or otherwise, land not exceeding ten acres, for the purpose of the society. The trustees have the care, custody and control of the property of the corporation, and can, lohen directed by the society, erect houses or improvements, and repair and alter the same, and ma}' also when so directed by the society, mortgage, encumber, sell and convey any real or personal estate belonging to the corporation, and make all proper contracts in the name of such corporation. But they are prohibited by law from encumbering or interfering with any property so as to destroy the effect of any gift, grant, devise or bequest to the corporation ; but such gifts, grants, devises or bequests must in all cases be used so as to carry out the object intended b}' the persons making the same. Existing churches may organize in the manner herein set forth, and have all the advantages thereof.

Game

the people in having wise and just laws passed for tlie protection of fish and game. It is apparent to all that, unless these laws are vigorously enforced, the time will soon come when fish and game will he so scarce as to be within the reach of only the wealthy. Under proper regulations our streams of pure running water would all be filled with fish, as in other years, and our prairies, fields and forests alive with their great variety of game. It is a question that interests all, and the game laws should be enforced.

Sec. 1. That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to hunt or pursue, kill or trap, net or ensnare, destroy, or attempt to kill, trap, net, ensnare, or otherwise destroy any prairie hen or chicken, or any woodcock, between the 15th day of January and the 1st day of September in each and every year; or any deer, lawn, wild turkey, rufled grouse (commonly called partridge), or pheasant, between the 1st day of February and the 1st day of October in each and every year; or any quail between the 1st day of February and the 1st day of November in each and every year; or any wild goose, duck, snipe, brant, or other waterfowl between the 1st day of May and the 15th day of August in each and every year: Provided, That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to net any quail at any time after this act shall take effect and be in force; and provided further. That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons who is or are non-residents of this State to kill, ensnare, net or trap any deer, fawn, wild turkey, prairie hen or chicken, ruffed grouse, quail, woodcock, wild goose, wild duck or brant, or any snipe, in any county of this State, at an^' time, for the purpose of selling or marketing or removing the same outside of this State. Every person who violates any of the provisions of this section shall, for each and everj' offense, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be fined not less than five dollars ($5) nor more than twenty-five dollars (§25) and costs of suit for each and every separate bird or animal of the above enumerated list, so unlawfully hunted or pursued, killed, trapped, netted, ensnared, or destroyed or attempted to be killed, trapped, netted, ensnared, or otherwise destroyed, and shall stand committed to the county jail until such fine and costs are paid, but such imprisonment shall not exceed ten days.

Sec. 6. !No person or persons shall sell or expose for sale, or have in his or their possession for the purj)ose of selling or exposing for sale, any of the animals, wild fowls or birds mentioned in section 1 of this act, after the expiration of five days next sncceeding the first day of the period in which it shall be unlawful to kill, trap, net, or ensnare such animals, wild fowls or birds. And any person so offending shall, on conviction, be fined and dealt with as specified in Section 1 of this act: Provided, Tliat the provisions of this act shall not apply to the killing of birds by or for the use of taxidermists for preservation either in public or private collections, if so preserved.

The fifteenth of January, it will be observed, is the date when the prohibition begins to work as to prairie chickens and woodcock; the first of February is the date for most other sorts of game, except waterfowl. And five days after the prohibition against killing goes into force, it becomes unlawful to sell or expose for sale the prohibited game.

It may be appropriate to mention here that Sections 3 and 4 of the act of 1873, which are not changed or affected by tlie act of 1877, are as follows:

Sec. 3. No person shall at any time, within this State, kill or attempt to trap, net, ensnare, destroy or kill any robin, bluebird, swallow, martin, mosquito hawk, whippoorwill, cuckoo, woodpecker, catbird, brown-thrasher, red-bird, hanging-bird, buzzard, sparrow, wren, humming-bird, dove, gold-finch, mocking bird, blue-jay, finch, thrush, lark, cherry-bird, yellow-bird, oriole, or bobolink, nor rob or destroy the nests of such birds, or either or any of them. And any person so oftending shall on conviction be fined the sum of five dollars foi- each and every bird so killed, and for each and every nest robbed or destroyed: Provided, that nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the owner or occupant of lands from destroying any of the birds herein named on the same, when deemed necessary for the protection of fruits or property.

Sec. 4. It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to destroy or remove from the nests of any prairie chicken, grouse or quail, wild turkey, goose or brant, any egg or eggs of such fowl or bird, or for any person to buy, sell, have in possession or traffic in such eggs, or willfully destroy the nest of such birds or fowls, or any or either of them. And any person so offending shall on conviction be lined and dealt with as specified in Section 3 of this act.

The owner or occupant of every public grist-mill in this State shall grind all grain brought to his mill, in its turn. The'toll for both steam and water mills, is, for grinding and bolting wheat, rye, or other grain, one-eighth part; for grinding Indian corn, oats7 barley, and buckwheat not required to be bolted, one-seventh part; for grinding malt, and chopping all kinds of grain, one-eighth part. It is the duty of every miller, when his mill is in repair, to aid and assist in loading and unloading all grain brought to his mill to be ground; and he is also required to keep an accurate half-bushel measure, and an accurate set of toll dishes or scales for weighing the grain. The penalty for neglect or refusal to comply with the law is $5, to the use of any person suing for the same, to be recovered before any Justice of the Peace of the county where the penalty is incurred. Millers are accountable (except it results from unavoidable accidents) for the safe-keeping of all grain left in their mill for the purpose of being ground, with bags or casks containing same, provided that such bags or casks are distinctly marked with the initial letters of the owner's name.

Every poor person who shall be unable to earn a livelihood in consequence of any bodily infirmity, idiocy, lunacy or unavoidable cause, shall be supported by the father, grandfathers, mother, grandmothers, children, grandchildren, brothers or sisters, of such poor person, if they or either of them be of sufficient ability; but if any of such dependent class shall have become so from intemperance, or other bad conduct, they shall not be entitled to support from any relation except parent or child. The children shall first be called on to support their parents, if they are able; but if not, the parents of such poor person shall then be called on, if of sufficient ability; and it there be no parents or children able, then the brothers and sisters of such dependent person shall be called upon; and if there be no brothers or sisters of sufficient ability, the grandchildren of such person shall next be called on; and if they are not able, then the grandparents. Married females, while their husbands live, shall not be liable to contribute for tlie support of their poor relations excepfr out of their separate property. It is the duty of the State's attorney to make complaint to the County Court of his county against all the relatives of such paupers in this State liable to support, and jirosecute the same. In case the State's attorney neglects or refuses to complain in such cases, then it is the duty of the overseer of the poor to do so. The person called upon to contribute shall have at least ten days' notice of such application, by summons. The court'has the power to determine the kind of support, depending upon the circumstances of the parties, and may also order two or more of the different degrees to maintain such poor person, and prescribe the proportion of each, according to his or her ability. The court may specify the time for which the relatives shall contribute; in fact it has control over the entire subject matter, with power to enforce its order.

Every county is required to relieve and support all poor and indigent persons lawfully resident therein. " Residence " means the actual residence of the party, or the place where he was employed; or ill case he was in no employment, then it shall be the place where he made his home. When any person becomes chargeable as a pauper who did not reside in the county at the commencement of six months immediately preceding his becoming so, but did at the time reside elsewhere in this State, then the county becomes liable for the expense of taking care of such person until removed; and it is the duty of the overseer to notify the proper authorities of the fact. If any person shall bring and leave any pauper in any county in this State where such pauper had no legal residence, knowing him to be such, he is liable to a fine of $100. In counties under township organization, the supervisors in each town are ex-officio overseers of the poor. The overseers of the poor act under the directions of the County Board in taking care of the poor and granting ternporary relief; also, in providing for non-resident persons not paupers who. may be taken sick and not able to pay their way, and, in case of death, causing such persons to be decently buried.

Public And Private Conveyances

When practicable from the nature of the ground, persons travel ing in any kind of vehicle must turn to the right of the center of the road, so as to permit each carriage to pass without interfering with the other. The penalty for a violation of this provision is $5 for every offense, to be recovered by the party injured; but to recover, there must have occurred some injury to person or property resulting from the violation.

The owners of any carriage traveling upon any road in this State for the conveyance of passengers, who shall employ or continue in their employment as driver any person who is addicted to drunkenness, or the excessive use of spirituous liquors, after he has had notice of .the same, shall pay a forfeit at the rate of $5 per day; and if any driver, while actually engaged in driving any such carriage, shall be guilty of intoxication to such a degree as to endanger the safety of passengers, it shall be the duty of the owner, on receiving written notice of the fact, signed by one of the passengers, and certified by him on oath, forthwith to discharge such driver. If such owner shall have such driver in liis employ within three months after such notice, he is liable for $5 per day for the time he shall keep such driver in his employment after receiving such notice.

Persons driving any carriage on any public highway are prohibited from running their horses upon any occasion, under a penalty of a fine not exceeding $10, or imprisonment not exceeding sixty days, at the discretion of the court. Horses attached lo any carriage used to convey passengers for hire must be properly hitched, or the lines placed in the hands of some other person, before the driver leaves them for any purpose. For violation of tliis provision each driver shall forfeit twenty dollars, to be recovered by action commenced within six months.

It is understood by the term "carriage" herein to mean any carriage or vehicle used for the transportation of passengers, or goods, or either of them.

Wagers And Stakeholders

"Wagers upon the result of an election have always been considered as void, as being contrary to sound policy, and tending to impair the purity of elections. Wagers as to the mode of playing, or as to the result of any illegal game, as boxing, wrestling, cockfighting, etc., are void at common law.

Stakeholders must deliver the thing holden by them to the person entitled to it, on demand. It is frequently questionable who is entitled to it. In case of an unlawful wager, although he may be jus- tified for delivering the thing to the winner, by tlie express or im - plied consent of tlie loser, yet if before the event has happened he has been required by either party to give up the thing deposited with him by such party,- he is bound to deliver it'; or if, after the event has happened, the losing party gives notice to the stakeholder not to pa}' the winner, a payment made to him afterwards will be. viiiadc to him in his own Wrong, and the party who deposited the money or thing may recover it from the stakeholder.

Sunday

Labor of whatever kind, other tliau the household offices of daily necessity, or other work of charity and necessity, on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday, is in general under penalty piohibited; but all persons do not come under prohibition. If a contract is commenced on Sunday, but not completed until a subsequent day, or if it merely grew out of a transaction whicli took place on Sunday, it is not for this reason void. Tlius, if a note is signed on Sunday, its validity is not impaired if it be Jiot delivered on that day.

Definition Of Commercial Terms

$ means dollars, being a contraction of U. S., which was formerly placed before any denomination of money, and meant, as it means now. United States currency. £, means pounds, Englijh money. @ stands for «< or to/ lb ior pound; bbl. for barrel; and f) for -jycr or hy the. Thus, butter sells at 20@30c. "^ lb, and flour at $6@10 "^ tbl. stands for per cent., and |f for number.

In the example "May 1 - wheat sells at $1.05@1.10, seller June," seller June means that the person who sells the wheat His the privilege of delivering it at any time during the month of June. '"Selling short" is contracting to deliver a certain amount of grain or stock at a fixed price within a certain length of time, when the seller has not the stock on hand. It is for the interes! of the person selling " short" to depress the market as much as pojsible. in order that he may buy and fill his contract at a prufit. Hence the " shorts" are termed "bears."

Bees

Bees, while unreclaimed, are by nature wild animals. Those which take up their abode in a tree belong to the owner of the soil in wliich the tree grows, if unreclaimed ; but if reclaimed and identified tliey belong to their former owner. If a swarm has flown from the hive of A, they are his so long as tliey are in sight, and may easily be taken; otherwise, they become the property of the first occupant. Merely finding on the land of another person a tree containing a swarm of bees, and marking it, does not vest the property of the bees in the finder. They do not become property until actually hived.

Dogs

Dogs are animals of a domestic nature. The owner of a dog has sucli property in him that he may maintain an action for an injury to him, or to recover him when unlawfully taken away and kept by another.

When, in consequence of bis vicious propensities, a dog becomes a common nuisance the owner may be indicted, and where one commitaan injury, if the owner had knowledge of his miscliievous propensities, he is liable for the injury'. A man lias a right to keep a dog to guard his premises, but not to put him at the entrance of his house, because a person coining there on lawful business may be injured by him, thotigli there may be another entrance to the house. But if a dog is chained, and a visitor incautiously goes so near him that he is bitten, he has no right of action against the owner.

Cruelty To Animals

Whoever shall willfully overdrive, overload, overwork, torture, turnient, beat, deprive of necessary and proper food, drink, or shelter, or cruelly kill any such animal, or work an old, niaimed, sick, or disabled animal, or keep any animal in an unnecessarily cruel manner, for each and every offense shall be liable to a line of not less than $3 or more than $200, to be recovered on complaint before any Justice of the Peace, or by indictment. The word "animal" used shall be taken to mean any living creature.

Any person desirous of changing his name, and to assume another name, may file a petition in the Circuit Court of the county where he resides, praying for such change. Such petition shall set forth the name then held, and also the name sought to be assumed} together with his residence, and the length of time he shall have resided in this State, and his nativity. In-case of minors, parents or guardians must sign this petition; and said petition shall be verified by the affidavit of some credible person. A previous notice shall be given of such intended application by publishing a notice thereof in a county newspaper for three consecutive weeks, the first insertion to be at least six weeks prior to tlie first day of the term of the eonrt in whicli the said petition is to be filed.