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shall continue to hold the same on the terms of this act beyond the said term, and until the same shall be redeemed and paid for in manner herein directed.

be estimated

SEC. IX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in fixing the toll of all Two oxen to carriages drawn wholly or in part by oxen, two equal to oue oxen shall be estimated equal to one horse.

horse.

exacting

than the law

SEC. XII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if the said President, Penalty on Directors and Company, or their successors, or greater tolls any person by their authority, shall collect or allows. demand any greater rates or prices for passing over the said bridge, than what are herein before prescribed and specified, or shall neglect to keep the said bridge in good repair, on ten days notice given by or from any Magistrate of the city or county of Philadelphia, they so offending shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay the sum of fifty dollars, one moiety thereof for the use of the poor of the city and county of Philadelphia, and the other moiety for the use of the person who may sue for the same: Provided always, That no suit or action shall be brought, unless within thirty days after such offence shall be committed.

accounts and

vidends.

SEC. XIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said President, of keeping Directors and Company, shall also keep a just declaring diand true account of all money received by their several respective collectors of tolls for crossing the said bridge, and shall make and declare a dividend of the profits and income thereof among all the stockholders, deducting first

An abstract

of the ac

counts to be the Legisla

laid before

ture.

time for com

completing

therefrom all contingent costs and charges, and such proportions of the said income as may be deemed necessary for the growing fund, to provide against the decay and for the rebuilding and repairing of the said bridge; and shall, on every first Monday in January and July of every year, publish the dividend to be made of the said clear profits thereof among the stockholders, and of the time and place, where and when the same shall be paid, and shall cause the same to be paid accordingly.

SEC. XIV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said President and Directors shall, at the end of or within every third year from the date of the incorporation, lay before the General Assembly of this commonwealth, an abstract of their accounts, showing the whole of the capital expended in the prosecution of the said work, and of the income and profits arising from the said bridge, for and during the said respective periods, together with an exact account of the costs and charges of keeping the said bridge in repair, and all other contingent costs and charges, to the end, that the clear annual income and profits thereof may be ascertained.

SEC. XV. And be it further enacted by the Limitation of authority aforesaid, That if the said company mencing and shall not proceed to carry on the said work the bridge. within the space of two years after they have been incorporated, or shall not within the space of five years from the passing of this act, complete the said bridge, it shall and may be lawful for the Legislature of this commonwealth to re

sume all and singular the rights, liberties and privileges, hereby granted to the said company.

injuring the

bridge.

SEC. XVI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or per- Penalty on sons shall wilfully, or without the orders of the works and said President and Directors, pull down, break or destroy, with intent to injure, any part or parts of the said bridge, or of any abutment, ▾ pier or piers, or of any of the toll houses, gates, bars, or other property of the said corporation, appurtenant to or erected or made for the use and convenience of the said bridge, or the persons employed in conducting the business thereof, or shall wilfully, without the orders and consent of the said corporation, or any person or persons authorized by them, obliterate, deface or destroy the letters, figures or other characters, in any written or printed list of the rates or tolls affixed or to be affixed in any place or places, for the information of passengers and others, or who shall wilfully and maliciously ob- Penalty on struct or impede the passage on or over the said bridge, or any part or parts thereof, he, she or they, so offending, shall, and each of them shall forfeit and pay to the said President, Directors and Company, the sum of thirty dollars, to be sued for and recovered before any Justice of the peace in like manner, and subject to the same rules and regulations, as debts under twenty pounds may be sued for and recovered; and he she or they, so offending, may and shall remain liable to actions at the suit of the said President, Directors and Company, for further

*2

impeding the

passage over the bridge.

damages for such torts, if the said sum or sums herein mentioned be not sufficient to repair and satisfy such damages.

GEORGE LATIMER,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

ROBERT HARE,

Speaker of the Senate.

Approved, March 16th, 1798.

THOMAS MIFFLIN,

Governor of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania ss.

Seal.

In the name, and by the authority of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, THOMAS MIFFLIN, Governor of the said commonwealth. To all to whom these presents shall come, sends Greeting:

Thomas Mifflin.

WHEREAS in and by an act of the General Assembly of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, entitled, "An Act to authorize the Governor of this commonwealth to incorporate a company for erecting a permanent bridge over the river Schuylkill, at or near the city of Philadelphia," passed on the sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, it is provided, that when one hundred persons or more shall have subscribed five thousand shares in the stock of the said company, the Commissioners in the said recited act named shall certify under their hands and seals the names of the subscribers and the number of shares subscribed by or apportioned to each subscriber to the Governor of this commonwealth and thereupon it shall and may be lawful to and for the Governor, by letters patent, under the great seal of the state, to create and erect such subscribers into one body Politic and Corporate, in deed and in law with perpetual succession and with all the

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