A. D. 1708. Corporal. Acts relating to the City of Charleston." hours of six and seven of the evening of the same night, waite on the Commander-in chief then in town, to receive the word. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the several commanders, in their turnes of watching, shall have power, and every of them are impowered and directed, to make choice of one of the watchmen to be a corporal for that night, to assist him in posting sentrys and taking charge of the guard when the commander goes the round, and such person so made choice of is hereby also required and commanded to obey his officer in the quality of a corporal for that night. IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said Regulations, commanders, in their several turnes of watching, do take great care, and they are hereby enjoyned and comanded to be carefull, and see that the watchmen under their command be stout able men, not under sixteen nor exceeding sixty years of age, and that they have their armes well fixed and in good order; and that the commanders, by themselves, at least once in a week, do exercise all the watchmen in the ready use of their armes ; and do take care that all disturbances and disorders in the night be prevented and suppressed; and to examine all persons at unseasonable hours of the night, of their business abroad, and whither they are goeing, and in case they give not reasonable satisfaction therein, or are persons of ill-behavionr, or justly suspected to have any unlawfull intention or designe, that in such case the said commander secure upon the guard all such disorderly or suspected persons untill the morning, and then to carry them before some justice of the peace, to be examined and proceeded against, according to the nature of their offence, and as is by law directed. V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said commanders shall each night, in their severall turns, go the rounds twice every night, and shall have power, and they are hereby impowered, at any time in the night, to enter into any public house in Charlestown, and to examine all such persons as they shall finde in said houses, and having just reason to suspect any to be disorderly persons, to secure them on the guard till morning, and then to carry them before a justice of the peace, to be examined and proceeded against according to law; and in case they finde any sailors in any of the said publick houses after the watch is sett, that he doe immediately secure them on the guard untill the next morning, and then carry them before a justice of the peace, to be examined; and in case they doe not make it appear to the satisfaction of said justice that they have leave from their respective comanders to be absent from their vessels and business, that then each sailor so offending shall forfeit the sume of five shillings, to be paid and distributed equally between the commander of the watch and their watchmen; and in case any sailor so convicted as aforesaid shall refuse to pay the said five shillings as ordered, it shall be lawfull for the said justice of the peace, and he is hereby required and impowered, to commit the said sailor to prison, that payment may be made as aforesaid; and the master or mistress of such public house in which such sailor or sailors is or are found, shall forfeit also ten shillings, to be distributed as aforesaid; which said forfeiture, if refused to be paid, shall be levied by a warrant under the hand and seal of any justice of the peace, by distress and sale of the offender's goods, returning the overplus, after necessary charges deducted; and for want of such distress, to commit such person or persons to prison untill payment be made. Acts relating to the City of Charleston. A. D. 1708. VI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all and every of the aforesaid thirty-six watchmen, which by the said commanders Regulations. shall be inlisted or hired to keep watch in Charlestown and Windmill Point as aforesaid, shall be well and compleatly armed and fixed with armes and ammunition, that is to say, one good sufficient gun well fixed, and good cover for his lock, one good carteridge box with at least twenty carteridges of good powder and ball, one good belt or girdle, one ball of wax sticking at the end of the carteridge box to defend the armes in raine, one worm, one wier, four good spare flints, and a sword or bayonet, together with at least forty swan shott. VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any of the said commanders whose duty it is to take charge of the watches, shall refuse or neglect in his turne, not being disabled by sickness, in which case he shall procure one other fitt and proper person in his room to command and officiate for him; and if the said commanders do not appear on their respective watch, be found drunk or asleep, or shall excuse any watchman from his ordinary duty, or shall neglect or refuse to receive the word, or go the rounds, or omit to exercise his men, such commanders, or such persons officiating for them as aforesaid, so offending, or being thereof convicted, by the oath of two credible persons, before a justice of the peace, for each offence shall forfeit the sume of five pounds, to be abated out of their wages, and to be given to the church-wardens of Charlestown, for the use of the poore of the parish of St. Philips, Charlestown; and if any of the said commanders hereby appointed to command the watch, shall depart this life, town or Province, or be rendered unserviceable by long and tedious sickness, that then the Right Honorable the Governor, or the Governor for the time being, shall appoint another fitt person in his or their roomes, who shall be, and he or they are hereby declared to be, the commander or commanders of the said watches by force of such appointment, untill the next sessions of the General Assembly, and so shall continue, unless removed by an ordinance of the same; and the person or persons so appointed shall have the same powers, and be under the same restrictions, fines and forfeitures, as the person or persons were, whom he or they shall succeed. VIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any of the said thirty-six watchmen who are hereby obliged to watch, shall refuse or neglect to watch, or shall appear on the watch without his armes compleatly fixed and furnished as aforesaid, or shall be drunk on the watch, or go from thence to any house and there get drunk, or shall leave his guard before he be duly discharged by his respective commander, or shall disobey any of his lawful commands, such watchman shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of tenn shillings, to be paid to the church-wardens for the use of the poore as aforesaid. IX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said commanders who are hereby impowered to command the watches in their turnes, shall, from time to time, and at all times, follow such orders as shall be given them in charge by the Right Honorable the Governor for the time being, or the Commander-in-chief, concerning the ordering and disposeing the watches, placeing of centerys, or any other thing relating to their duty and the well performing their watches. X. And for the better encouragement of the said commanders to be diligent and carefull in their respective turnes of watching, and as a re- Compensation. ward for the same, Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That A. D. 1708. Acts relating to the City of Charleston. each of the said commanders shall be allowed at the rate of forty pounds per annum, current money of this Province, and that each inlisted watchman be paid at the rate of twenty pounds per annum, like current money, to be paid quarterly, by the commissioners hereafter mentioned, the first quarterly payment to be made the twenty-fifth day of July next after the ratification of this Act, and so to continue quarterly. XI. Whereas, in order to the paying the above mentioned salaries, and Assessment. defraying the other necessary charges, as fire and candles, and other contingencies of the watch in Charlestown and Windmill Point, it is necessary that an annual revenue be raised, amounting to the sume of eight hundred and forty pounds, current money as aforesaid; Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in order to the raising the said sume of eight hundred and forty pounds annually, duely paid, that is to say, one third part thereof by an equall assessment upon the estates, real and personal, of the inhabitants that lieth within the plott of Charlestown, the other two-thirds by the public receiver for the time being, out of the publick treasury, to the commissioners hereafter nominated and appointed. Roll to be inade. Assessors. Appeal. XII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That Mr. William Gibbon, Major Alexander Parris, Mr. Lewis Pasquereau, Mr. Samuel Eveleigh and Mr. Richard Parke, shall be the assessors for this Act; and they, or any three of them, upon their oaths, administered by any justice of the peace of this Province, shall be, and are hereby, impowered to meet att Charlestown, on or before twenty days of each respective quarterly day of payment, and shall make a roll or schedule of the names of all such persons as by this Act are required to pay quarterly their proportion of the sume aforesaid; and the names of the said persons being entered in a 10ll or schedule, signed and sealed by them, the said assessors, or any three of them, shall, from time to time, deliver to the commissioners hereafter named, who shall give notice to all and every person concerned in the said roll or schedule, which is to make up the said sum of eight hundred and forty pounds, or to their attorneys or agents, how much money he or she is to pay; and if the said person or persons, or some other persons for them, do not, within ten days after such notice given, pay unto the commissioners hereafter named, or whom they shall appoint, the sume of money he or she is to pay, that then it shall be lawful for the said commissioners, or any two of them, and they are hereby authorized and required, by warrant of distress under their hands and seals, directed to any constable of this Province, to levey the same by distress on the goods and chattels of the persons so neglecting or refuseing to pay, and to sell and dispose of the said goods so distrained, returning the overplus, after charges deducted; and for want of such distress, to commit the person to prison till payment be made. XIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That Mr. Jacob Satur, Mr. Anthony Mathews and Mr. Elisha Prioleau, or any two of them, are hereby appointed assessors to rate and assess the aforesaid assessors and commissioners, according to the true intent and meaning of this Act. XIV. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons, certified, assessed or rated, for or in respect of any matter or thing, by which by this Act he or they is rated or charged, doe finde him or them grieved or overcharged by such rating, in five days after notice given them of such assessment, may complaine or appeale to any Acts relating to the City of Charleston. one justice of the peace, inhabitant of Charlestown, who shall or may examine any person or persons so complaining, upon his or their corporal oaths, touching the value of his or their personall estates as aforesaid, and upon due examination, abate or defaulk proportionably the said assessment, and the same so abated shall be certified by the justice aforesaid to the commissioners aforesaid, and such assessment so certified as aforesaid shall be deemed firm and valid in law. A.D. 1708. XV. Be it further enacted, That in case any of the above mentioned assessors shall happen to dye or remove from Charlestown, that so there Vacancies be not the full number of five, that then the Governour for the time being filled. is hereby requested and authorized to appoint so many person or persons in Charlestown, to be assessors to make up the number of five, which shall so continue, unless removed by an ordinance of the General Assembly. XVI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That Mr. James Ingerson, Mr. Benjamin Godin, and Mr. Andrew Allen, or any Commissiontwo of them, be, and are hereby nominated, the commissioners mentioned ers. in this Act, and to exercise all the authoritys and powers given them as commissioners in this Act, and for the disposeing of all moneys to be raised and laid out by virtue of this Act; and the commissioners aforesaid are nominated and appointed receivers of all the moneys to be raised by virtue of this Act, to be paid out by them, or any person or persons whom they shall appoint; which moneys shall be laid out by the commissioners aforesaid, for the paying the commanders and watchmen their wages or salary, which amounteth to the sume of eight hundred and forty pounds per annum, and for the contingent charges relating to the watches as aforesaid. XVII. And be it further enacted, That in case any of the said commissioners shall happen to dye or remove from Charlestown, or refuse or Vacancies. neglect to do his or their duty, by this Act required, then the Governour for the time being is hereby requested and authorized to appoint some other inhabitant of Charlestown, to be commissioner or commissioners in the place of him or them so deceased or shall live out of Charlestown, or neglect or refuse his or their duty as aforesaid; which said commissioner or commissioners so appointed by the Governour as aforesaid, shall continue as such, unless removed by an ordinane of the General Assembly. XVIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all and every assessors and commissioners appointed by virtue of this Act, Penalty. which shall and doe refuse or neglect to doe and performe all which things by this Act they are obliged and required, shall forfeit, for every offence, the sume of five pounds, one halfe to be paid to the publick receiver, for the use of the publick, the other half to him or them that will sue for the same in any court of record in this Province, by action of debt, bill, plaint or information, wherein no essoigne, protection, priviledge, injunction, wager of law, or stay of prosecution by non vult ulterius prosequi, or otherwise, shall be admitted or allowed. XIX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all sum and sums of money due to the late watchmen by virtue of an Act Arrears to be entituled "An Act for the better regulating a watch in Charlestown," rati- paid. fied in open Assembly the twelfth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and seven, be collected according to the tenour of said Act, upon the penaltys therein inserted, and that the said sum or sums, with all expedition, be paid to the aforesaid watchmen, as appointed by said Act, A. D. 1709. Acts relating to the City of Charleston. any thing in this Act to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding; and that all other things in the Act aforesaid, be repealed, and are hereby declared repealed, annulled and made void, to all intents and purposes what soever. XX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That this Act, and every thing therein contained, shall continue and be in force six months, and no longer. Read three times and ratified in open Assembly, this twenty-fourth day of April, A. D. 1708. N. JOHNSON, No. 282. Preamble. Watch to be summoned. AN ACT FOR SETTING A WATCH IN CHARLES TOWN. WHEREAS, there has been for a long time past, no regular watch kept in Charles Town, which, if not duly taken care of and in time prevented, now in this time of warr and eminent danger, may be of fatal consequence, and the ruin of this flourishing and thriving town. I. Be it enacted by his Excellency, William Lord Craven, Palatine, and the rest of the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors of the Province of Carolina, by and with the advice and consent of the rest of the members of the General Assembly, now met at Charlestown, for the south-west part of this Province, And it is enacted by the authority of the same, That the constables of Charles Town shall, within five days after the ratification hereof, make a list of all the inhabitants of Charles Town, and the same to the Governor, or any justice of quorum dwelling in Charles Town, returne, and a list as aforesaid, every three months constantly to the Governour or justice aforesaid, returne, which list so returned, the constables aforesaid, beginning with the first names thereof, shall summon tenn men, well equiped with arms and ammunition as the Act of militia directs, to keep watch with him or them, or their deputies, (approved by the commissioners hereafter named,) in said town, from the hour of nine at night, to the hour of four in the morning, from the fifth day after the ratification of this Act, to the twentieth day of September following; and from the hour of eight at night, to the hour of six in the morning, from the twentieth day of September, to the twentieth day of March following; yearly, each person in his turne, as they are sett down in the said list; and in times of eminent danger, the Right Honorable the Governour, or the Governour for the time being, or any by him appointed, shall have power to double the said watch when they shall see occasion; and if it shall so happen one or more persons should be sick, that usually and generally watches in person, when it comes to his or their turne to watch, which sickness to be made appear before any of the commissioners, the said person or persons shall find or procure another person to watch in his or their roome or stead, which said person so sent shall have a certificate |