require satisfactory security for the payment thereof, and if the same is not furnished, the auditor shall refuse or revoke the corporation's certificate of authority, the same as if it had been found in an unsound condition.

6. It shall be the duty of the auditor to issue to every such cor poration complying with the preceding sections, unless an examination thereof shows it to be in an unsound condition, a certificate thereof, with authority to the corporation so complying to transact business in this state for the period of one year from the date of such certificate of authority: Provided, That authority shall not be issued to any corporation which grants certificates or policies whereby a benefit or payment is to become due upon the death of any person who, at the time of the execution of the contract, is over sixty-five years of age, and provided further, that no such certificate of the auditor shall be issued, renewed or allowed to remain in force unless such corporation furnishes satisfastory evidence to the auditor that it is duly incorporated, and is authorized to do business in the state of its incorporation; that it is engaged in no other business than that authorized by this act and the laws appertaining thereto; that it is paying and is able to pay its certificates or policies in full and that it contracts to pay benefits for no other cause than the death of the member, or policy-holder, or at the end of a stipulated period of years during the life of the member or policy-holder, or his injury by external violent causes, or disability by sickness or disease.

7. Any person doing, or attempting to do business of the character covered by this act, for or on behalf of any such corporation which has not the certificate of authority provided for in the preceding section, shall be liable to a fine of one hundred dollars for each and every offence.

Auditor's Fees.

8. Every such corporation shall pay to the auditor ten dollars for each statement filed by, and twenty-five dollars for the certificate of authority issued to it, under the provisions of this act, twenty dollars of which shall be paid into the state treasury.

Certified Copies of Papers to be Received as Evidence.

9. The written and printed copies of all papers required by this act to be deposited with the auditor, certified under the hand of such auditor to be true and correct copies of such papers, shall be received as evidence in all courts and places in the same manner, and have the.same force and effect as the originals would have if produced.

To What Societies Act Does Not Apply.

10. This act shall not apply to fraternal societies securing mem

bers through the lodge system, who do not employ agents, except for instituting lodges; nor shall it be so construed as to affect any contract heretofore made by any company or association with a resident of this state, nor to prevent any such company or association from continuing and carrying out such contract.

LATERAL RAILROADS.

(Code 1887, ch. 51, sec. 69a.)

1. If any owner or owners, lessee or lessees of timber or timber lands, quarries, mills, oil or salt wells, coal mines, lime kilns or other real estate, in the vicinity of any railroad, canal or slack water navigation, made or to be made, and not more than twelve miles distant therefrom, shall desire to make a railroad thereto over any intervening lands, he or they, their engineers and agents, may enter upon any such lands, and survey and mark such route as he or they shall think proper to adopt, doing no damage to the property explored, and thereupon may present a petition to the circuit court of the county in which said intervening land is situated, setting forth his or their desire to be allowed to construct or finish a railroad, in and upon the said route, and the beginning, course and distances thereof, and place of intersection with the main railroad, canal or slack water navigation, which shall be filed in said court; whereupon the said court shall appoint five disinterested and judicious men, who shall be freeholders, resident in the said county, who shall be appointed as provided in chapter forty-two of the code, as amended and re-enacted by the acts of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one, and as amended by the acts of one thousand eight hundreed and eighty-two, and one thousand eight hundred and eighty-three, as it may hereafter be amended, and who shall view the said proposed route for a railroad and examine the same, and if they or any three of them shall deem the same needful and useful for the transportation of timber, or coal, or minerals, or natural oil, either in a crude or manufactured state to market, and that the condemnation of the property is necessary and of public utility, and that no other practicable route would subserve the purpose of the one asked to be condemned, they shall forthwith report in writing to the said court what damages will be sustained by the owner or owners of the said intervening lands, asked to be condemned by the opening, constructing, completing and using of the said railroad, perpetually; or if the person or persons petitioning ask in their petition for the use of said real estate for a limited time

only, then for such period of time, and the report of the said viewers and appraisers shall be filed of record in the said court, and the proceedings thereafter in the said court shall be as provided for by law, or as may hereafter be provided for by law, except as may herein be otherwise provided. Whenever any county road is necessary to be crossed or to be used by a railroad of the kind herein authorized, such county road shall be crossed and used in the same manner and upon the same conditions as any such county road can now be legally crossed and used by any other railroad.

2. Such notice to land owners must be given as is provided in chapter forty-two of the code of West Virginia, as amendend and re-enacted by the acts of one thousand eight hundred and eightyone, and as amended by the acts of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two and one thousand eight hundred and eighty-three, and as may hereafter be amended, and like proceedings had in every particular, not inconsistent with this act, and both the petitioner and the land owner shall have all of the rights, privileges and protection in every respect as they would have in a like proceeding under the said chapter amended and re-enacted as aforesaid, and such further rights, privileges and protection as may be provided for in any amendment hereafter made to the said chapter. 3. When the sum which is required by the court to be paid, is paid as prescribed by chapter forty-two of the code as amended and re-enacted and amended aforesaid, and as it may hereafter be amended, in cases where damages have only been ascertained for the use of a right of way for a certain number of years, then only the use of the right of way, in accordance with the provisions of this statute for the number of years designated in the report of the commissioners, as the period for which damages were ascertained, and the right to apply the gravel, timber and other material on the right of way to and for the construction of the road, shall vest in the applicant.

4. The said right of way shall not exceed fifteen feet in width, and for the purposes of excavations and embankments the petitioner may take as much more land in accordance with the foregoing provisions as may be necessary for the proper construction, repair and security of the said road, and within this limit, may be of such width as may be asked for in the petition of the applicants, and it shall not be lawful to condemn land for this kind of a railroad that could not lawfully be condemned for any other railroad; the railroad may be single or double track and formed of wood, stone and iron, each or all of them, as the proprietor of the said road shall adopt.

6*. Any person desiring the proprietor or proprietors of such a railroad, as is authorized by this chapter, to haul for him over said road any sand, timber, lumber, coal, minerals, natural oil or articles made from any of these materials and for which the said railroad and the engines, trucks, cars, wagons or vehicles used thereon by the proprietor are adapted, may require such proprietor or pro

*Section five was omitted from the act, or the sections were improperly numbered.

prietors, when called upon, to transport such freight and to this extent they shall be deemed common carriers.

7. In case the person desiring freight hauled and the proprietor or operator of the said road and the said person cannot agree upon the rate for transporting the said freight, the said person desiring the freight hauled may move the county court of the county where the said road intersects the railroad, canal or slack water, to which it is built, after having first given five days' notice to the person operating said road, or if such person cannot be found, then to any person in charge of the road, or if no such person can be found, by posting and leaving posted in five public places on the line of said road copies of the said notice, to fix the rate of compensation to be paid for transporting the said freight, and the said court, after hearing any testimony that may be offered, shall fix the compensation to be received by the operator of said road, which rates may in like manner be altered from time to time upon the motion of any party interested, and he shall be compelled to haul the goods at that rate, as well as any other goods that may be offered by any other person of like kind with the goods for which the rate had been fixed by the court; and for refusing to carry the freight as aforesaid, the person or persons controlling the said road shall be subject to all of the liabilities and recoveries that any other railroad would be subject to.

8. Proprietors of such railroads not using locomotive or motors, and who have the right of way only for a term of years, shall not be required to fence in the said road at any place, but when the said road has been condemned through enclosures of land afterwards enclosed, the said proprietors shall be required to keep up gates at the places where the road enters and leaves the enclosures and keep them locked, and he shall be liable to the party injured for treble damages for injuries caused by his failure to observe and to have his workmen and agents observe the above requirements. 9. Any lateral railroad suffered to remain unused for the period of two years, shall be considered as abandoned, and the right of way where the land was condemned shall revert to the original owner, or where obtained by contract, to the grantor, unless otherwise provided in the contract, his heirs or assign, together with the material out of which the road was constructed, unless said material is removed by the proprietor or proprietors, three months notice to them being given to remove the same, which notice, in case the proprietor or proprietors are non-resident, shall be given by publication in a newspaper in the county where the road intersects the railroad, canal or slackwater to which it connects, or where there is no such paper, then in a newspaper printed in an adjoining county.

10. Any railroad of the kind contemplated in this act shall be deemed a lateral railroad and come within its operations whenever any part of its roadbed has been condemned under and by virtue of the provisions of this statute.

11. No franchise or right of way acquired by virtue of this act,

shall be sold, leased or otherwise transferred, without the consent of the legislature first had and obtained.

TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE COMPANIES.

Penalty for Injury to Property.

Any person who shall wilfully or maliciously destroy or injure any of the wires, poles, insulators or other property or material, belonging to any telegraph or railroad company, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding twelve months, and by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, at the discretion of the court. Such person shall also be liable in a civil action for all damages to such property caused by such destruction or injury. [Coe 1887, ch. 145, § 26a.]

Right of Telephone Companies to Erect Poles and Wires.

Telephone companies desiring to extend lines of telephone in this state may place poles for wires along any county road, by and with the consent of the county court of the county through which such line may pass: Provided, That all such poles and wires shall be placed and erected so as not in any way to interfere with the public use of such road, or with any fruit or shade trees or private property; and provided, further, That when any company desires to erect telephone poles along any street of an incorporated city, town or village, the consent of the council of such city, town or village shall be first obtained. [Ch. 96, acts 1891.]

TAX ON STATE SEAL.

Except when the seal is used on the papers of a requisition issued by the governor for the return of a fugitive from justice, and in the cases mentioned in the two succeeding sections, there shall be