CHAPTER 168-LAWS OF 1875.

AN ACT to authorize municipal corporations to aid in the construction of railroads. The people of the State of Wisconsin, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Any county, town, incorporated city or village in this State, is hereby authorized and empowered, and may aid in the construction of any railroad to be constructed to, through, or near to such county, town, or incorporated city or village, as follows: The said corporation and the railroad company may agree upon the terms upon which such aid shall be granted in the same manner as is provided in chapter one hundred and eighty-two, of the laws of 1872, and the acts amendatory thereof, except that it shall be provided in said agreement that said aid shall consist in a tax, not exceeding in amount five per centum of the valuation of the taxable property therein, as the same shall appear upon the last previous assessment roll, or as fixed by the last previous board of state equalization. In case of a county proposing to grant such aid, and in case such agreement shall be made, an election shall be held as provided in said chapter one [hundred] and eighty-two, of the laws of 1872, and if a majority of the legal voters who shall vote at such election, shall vote for the railroad proposition, a tax to the amount of aid so voted shall be entered upon the next assessment roll for such County, town, city or village, in a separate column, and the same shall be collected in all respects as the other taxes, but shall be kept separate, and the money collected shall be paid over to such railroad company; and in case such railroad tax levied and assessed upon any piece or parcel of land shall not be paid, but such land shall be sold for the non-payment of taxes thereon, including the tax for railroad aid, the said company shall have the right to purchase at the tax sale, any such lands which shall be sold for the nonpayment of taxes, including the tax for railroad aid, and have the price bid therefor applied on payment of the aid so voted; and in case any land shall be bid in by the county which was sold for nonpayment of said railroad aid-tax, including other taxes, said company shall have the right to select and have endorsed and transferred to them a sufficient amount of such certificates of sale to make up the amount of aid so voted. It being the intent and meaning of this act that such company shall be entitled to the proceeds of such tax voted and assessed as aforesaid, whether in money collected or certificates of sale to the amount of the aid so voted; but the same shall in no event be an indebtedness on the part of such county, town, city or village so voting aid, and nothing herein contained shall be taken or deemed to create any liability on the part of such county, town, city or village to such company. Nothing herein shall repeal or in any way affect said chapter one hundred and eightytwo, of the laws of 1872, or any act amendatory thereof.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and ofter its passage and publication.

Approved March 3, 1875.

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CHAPTER 173-LAWS OF 1875.

AN ACT to define the liabilities of railroad companies in relation to damages sustained by their employees.

The people of the State of Wisconsin, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Every railroad company operating any railroad or railway, the line of which shall be situated in whole or in part in this State shall be liable for all damages sustained within this State by any employee, servant or agent of such company while in the line of his duty as such, and which shall have been caused by the carelessness or negligence of any other agent, employee, or servant of such company, in the discharge of, or for failing to discharge their proper duty as such; but this act shall not be construed so as to permit a recovery where the negligence of the person so claim- ! ing to recover materially contributed to the result complained of. SECTION 2. That no contract, receipt, rule, or regulation between any employee and a railroad company shall exempt such corporation from the full liability imposed by this act.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect from and after its passage and publication.

Approved March 4, 1875.

CHAPTER 191-LAWS OF 1875.

AN ACT to amend chapter four hundred and forty-six (446,) of the private and local laws of 1868, entitled, " An act to incorporate the Wisconsin Railroad Farm Mortgage Land Company."

The people of the State of Wisconsin, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Section two, of chapter four hundred and forty-six. (446,)of the private and local laws of 1868, entitled, "An act to incorporate the Wisconsin Railroad Farm Mortgage Land Company, is hereby amended so as to read as follows: Section 2. The commissioners shall, as soon as may be, prepare or cause to be prepared an accurate duplicate list of all the names of the mortgagers of the said La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Company and the Milwaukee and Horicon Railroad Company, whose mortgages have been accepted and used by either of said railroad companies to aid in the construction of said railroads, one of which list they shall deposit in the office of the Secretary of State, and the other to be kept with one of said commissioners; and in making such lists where it is known that the maker of any such mortgage is dead or has sold the mortgaged premises, subject to the mortgage, or has assigned

his right to or interest in the stock to which he was entitled in such company, to any other person, or in case any other person has paid upon or settled such mortgage with the holder thereof, the said commissioners shall make an entry in all such cases in said list, showing the names of the persons equitably entitled to such interests, with the amount actually paid for such interest, and in such lists shall express the amount actually expended in the payment or settlement of such mortgages respectively; or the amount actually due or unpaid thereon, and the name of the person or persons entitled to receive any sum or sums to be paid or distributed by said commissioners under this act. The said commissioners may make and adopt such rules and regulations in regard to making such lists, and the manner and kind of proof to be made by any person claiming an interest in any such mortgage to entitle the same to be placed on said list, and shall give public notice of where and when such commissioners will meet to prepare said lists, in such newspapers printed and published on the line of said railroad as in their judgment will cause the most general notice thereof to be obtained by said mortgagers. And the names of the persons contained in such lists, when fully made and corrected, shall constitute the persons who shall be entitled to receive the benefits under this act, and the sums to be applied and distributed by said commissioners; provided, however, that each and every such person shall pay to the said commissioners the sum of ten cents in cash for each one hundred dollars which he shall have paid upon the settlement or liquidation of and such mortgages, or the amount actually due and unpaid thereon, before his name shall be entered upon said list, and no person shall be entitled to any benefit or dividend under this act, until such payment shall be made, nor unless he shall apply to said commissioners to have his name put upon said list within three years from the passage of this act. Provided, further, that any person entitled to the benefits of the provisions of said chapter four hundred and forty-six (446,) having failed to have his name put upon the list by making the application as required by the second section of said chapter four hundred and forty-six (446,) may now have his name put upon said list by making the application as in said section two, required. before the first day of October next; and such persons shall be paid by said commissioners on or before the first day of January next, or as soon thereafter as a sufficient fund is accumulated, the same dividend as has been previously paid to persons before entitled thereto; and thereafter be entitled to the same benefits under said act, as though their names had been put upon said list within the time first limited by said section two. Provided, further, That said commissioners shall each be allowed one dollar per day in addition to the compensation now allowed by law for services rendered hereafter in behalf of said company.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and publication.

Approved March 4, 1875.

CHAPTER 207-LAWS OF 1875.

AN ACT relating to side-tracks to Railroads in certain cases.

The people of the State of Wisconsin, represented in the Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Whenever any town, by a majority of its electors voting thereon, shall, in its corporate capacity, refuse to aid any railroad company in building a depot in such town, it shall be lawful for any person who shall build a warehouse in such town for the purpose of doing a storage, forwarding and commission business, to construct from his warehouse, a railroad track and connect the same by switch at his own expense, and it shall be the duty of such railroad company to permit and allow such construction. Such side-track and switch shall at all times be under the control and management of, and kept in repair by such railroad company. Provided, That the party for whose benefit such side-track and switch shall be constructed shall pay to such railroad company the actual cost of maintaining and operating such side-track and switch, which payment shall be made monthly; and in case such payment shall not be made as above provided, then and in that case the obligations of this section upon such railroad company shall from and thereafter cease and be inoperative as against it, until such costs and expenses are fully paid. Provided further, That no such side-track shall be built within four miles of a station on such railroad.

SECTION 1. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and publication.

Approved March 4, 1875.

CHAPTER 208-LAWS OF 1875.

AN ACT in relation to the Wisconsin Railroad Farm Mortgage Land Company. The people of the State of Wisconsin, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Commissioners of the Wisconsin Railroad Farm Mortgage Land Company shall be and are hereby required to furnish a list of all lands held by them in each county in this State, describing each piece by forty-acre lots, or fractional parts thereof, and designating, by description, what lands have been disposed of during the year 1874, to the county clerk of each county in which such lands are located, on or before the first day of April, 1875.

SECTION 2. Said commissioners shall annually, hereafter, report to the county clerk of the county in which such lands are lolated, what part, if any, of said lands have been sold, describing the same, up to the first day of April in each year.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and publication.

Approved March 4, 1875.

CHAPTER 241-LAWS OF 1875.

AN ACT authorizing the Governor to procure maps, plats, and lists of the lands granted to the State of Wisconsin, to aid in the construction of railroads, by the acts of Congress approved June 3, 1856, and May 5, 1864.

The people of the State of Wisconsin, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. The Governor is hereby authorized and directed to procure from the United States such full and complete maps, plats and lists of of the lands granted to the State of Wisconsin to aid in the construction of railroads, by acts of Congress approved June 3, 1856, any May 5, 1864, as will show what sections and parts of sections have been reserved from sale by the general government under said acts, to be approved to the State for the purposes aforesaid.

SECTION 2. There is hereby appropriated out of the fund derived from trespass on said lands, a sufficient sum, not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500,00), to pay all expenses incurred under this act; and the secretary of State is hereby directed to draw his warrant on said fund for the amount of said expenses upon the presentation to him of an itemized account thereof, approved by the Governor.

SECTION 3. This act shall be in force from and after its passage and publication.

Approved March 4, 1875.

CHAPTER 248-LAWS OF 1875.

AN ACT relating to the fencing of railroads.

The people of the State of Wisconsin, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. All railroad companies in this state, whose roads have been in operation two years or more, in carrying goods and passengers over the same, or over any portion of such roads, are hereby required to fence the same, and to construct the necessary farm crossings and cattle guards, whenever said roads or portions thereof have been so running through enclosed lands, or through lands that may hereafter be enclosed.

SECTION 2. Any owner or occupant of such enclosed land, or lands that may hereafter be enclosed, if the railroad company, whose track runs through such lands, refuses or neglects to comply with the requirements of the foregoing section, may give notice in writing to such company to fence its road so running through his premises, and to construct the necessary farm crossings and cattle