Any overseer who shall fail or neglect to comply with the provisions of this section, as herein set forth, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined not less than ten nor more than two hundred dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail not less than thirty nor more than sixty days, or by both fine and imprisonment. The treasurer shall receive and receipt for all monies so paid him, and place the same to the credit of the road and bridge fund. The treasurer shall, on the third day of February of each year, or as soon thereafter as practicable, furnish the commissioners' court with a list of all persons who have paid said sums, as provided in this section, and said court shall immediately have overseers in districts wherein said sums have been paid notified of the payment of the amount of the same, and by whom paid.

SEC. 8. Every person liable to work on the public roads in Nacogdoches county who shall pay the road overseer at any time before the day appointed to work on his road the sum of one dollar for each day that he is summoned to work, shall be exempt from work for each day paid for.

SEC. 9. Each person summoned to work on the road shall take with him an axe, hoe, pick, spade, shovel, plow, scraper or such other tools as I may be desired and directed by the overseer, or if he has no such tools as are desired and directed by the overseer to take with him, he shall take such other suitable tools as he may have; provided, the county shall be liable for, and the commissioners' court, under such regulations as they may prescribe, shall pay for all such breakage or damage to tools as may have resulted from public road work, and not caused by the negligence of the person furnishing the same. Such overseer shall also summon and require such road hand to bring with him for road work such. team or teams as he may have on hand suitable for road work; provided, such hand shall be allowed two day's time for each day put in by hand and his team, and one day's time for his team without such hand; provided, it shall be unlawful for any road overseer, superintendent of public roads and highways or county commissioner, when acting in the capacity of ex-officio road commissioner, to work or use any team or teams of which he is the owner upon the public county roads at an expense to the county, and the commissioners' court shall not allow any compensation for such services so rendered.

SEC. 10. If any person liable to work on the public roads, after being legally summoned, shall intentionally fail or refuse to attend, either in person or by an able and competent substitute, or fail or refuse to furnish his team or tools at the time and place designated by the person summoning him, or to pay to the overseer such sum as one dollar per day for each day summoned to work, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof he shall be fined in any sum not to exceed ten dollars.

SEC. 11. At the first regular term of the commissioners' court of each year all road overseers shall make their report, under oath, upon the forms to be furnished them by said court, and all accounts for services or labor performed for overwork by such overseers during the past year, and of moneys had and expended by him, shall be audited and settled. As soon thereafter as practicable said commissioners' court shall appoint and commission road overseers for the succeeding year. Any overseer intentionally failing to perform his duties as such overseer, or failing or refusing to serve and perform the duties of overseer when appointed by said court

or to perform any other duty required of him by law or by the commissioners' court, or by the commissioner of his district or county superintendent of public roads and highways, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum not exceeding twenty-five dollars.

SEC. 12. Whenever it shall be necessary to occupy any land for the opening, widening, straightening, changing or draining of any road or any part thereof, if the owner of said land cannot agree with the court as to the damages to be paid the court may proceed to condemn the same in accordance with the provisions of the general statutes or laws of Texas, and the county shall in no case be required to give bond.

SEC. 13. When to the overseer it may appear expedient to make causeways and build bridges or to gravel any public road, the timber, gravel, earth, stone or any other necesssary material most convenient therefor may be used, but in such case the owner of such timber or gravel, earth, stone or other necesssary material shall be paid out of the county treasury a fair compensation for same, to be determined by the commissioners' court upon the application of such owner.

SEC. 14. Each county commissioner, when acting as road commissioner, shall be entitled to two dollars per day for services actually performed; provided, that he shall not receive more than twenty dollars per quarter; said per diem shall be paid out of the road and bridge fund, when the account shall have been approved by the commissioners' court, and the court shall not approve said account unless the commissioner presenting it shall make oath that the account is just, due and unpaid; and said account shall specify the number of days work actually performed by him, and that it was necesssary to be done under the circumstances, and no commissioner shall be entitled to pay as road commissioner, either for himself or his deputy, while he is performing the duties of county commissioner, nor shall he receive any additional pay than that provided by this section for inspecting over his road, or for other road services.

SEC. 15. In all cases where the cost of material and labor exceeds two hundred dollars, it shall be the duty of said court to construct, grade or gravel or otherwise improve any road or bridge by contract, the same to be advertised for as provided by said commissioners' court.

SEC. 16. The office of county superintendent of public roads and bridges is hereby created, and the commissioners' court of Nacogdoches county shall, at its first regular term after this law shall have taken effect, appoint a county superintendent of public roads and bridges, who shall hold his office until removed by said court, in which case there shall be another appointed to fill such vacancy. Such county superintendent of roads and bridges shall be a person of good moral character and executive ability, and shall be a freeholder in the county of Nacogdoches. Such superintendent shall have charge of, shall direct the labor of county convicts when doing road duty, and all other road hands placed under him; and may, through the direction of the commissioners' court, employ other hands to labor on the public roads; provided, that such hand or hands shall not cost at the rate of more than fifteen dollars per month. The commissioners' court shall supply said superintendent with such teams, tools and machinery as in its judgment is necessary to prosecute the work

-G. L.

with best interest to the county, either by purchase, lease, hire or rent. Such superintendent shall perform the duties of his office from time to time under such regulations as in the judgment of the commissioners' court may seem best; and said superintendent shall at all times be subject to the direction or immediate control of the commissioners' court. Such county superintendent of public roads and bridges, before entering upon the discharge of his duties, shall take the oath of office required by law, and shall enter into bond in the sum of one thousand dollars, with good and sufficient sureties, to be approved by the commissioners' court, and to be filed with the county clerk of Nacogdoches county, and said bond shall be made payable to the county judge of Nacogdoches county and his successors in office in trust for the road and bridge fund of Nacogdoches county, and be conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office. In case said bond is forfeited and collected the sum so collected shall become a part of the road and bridge fund of Nacogdoches county. Such superintendent while actually engaged in the discharge of the duties of his office shall receive from the road and bridge fund of Nacogdoches county, as compensation for his services, a salary not exceeding two dollars per day.

SEC. 17. The county superintendent or the overseers of the various precincts or districts, as the case may be, shall obtain from the tax collector of Nacogdoches county as soon after the first day of January of each year as practicable, and before the first day of May thereafter, a full list of the delinquent poll tax-payers of such county for the previous year, and the persons so appearing on said list and who are such delinquent poll tax-payers, shall be subject to road duty for the period of three days during such year, and they shall be summoned as in other cases to work the roads in the road district or precinct in which such person may reside; and the performance of the road service provided for in this section shall not exonerate the persons from any other road duty to which the persons performing same may be subject, but this shall be taken as cumulative. The persons required to do road duty under the provisions. of this section shall be subject to prosecution, as provided in Section 10 of this act or other law of this State, and subject to the same liabilities. and punishments provided for in other cases for failing to appear and do good work when summoned to do so, as provided for in this act or other laws of this State, and all such laws shall apply to parties required to work roads under the provisions of this section. And when they are convicted for failing to work the road they shall satisfy the fine and cost as in other misdemeanor convictions. But any person summoned to work on the road under the provisions of this section may satisfy such summons and be relieved from such duty by paying the amount of poll tax required by law to be apportioned as the law directs.

SEC. 18. This act shall be taken notice of by all courts in the same manner as the General Laws of this State, and it shall be construed to be cumulative of all General Laws of the State on the subject of roads and bridges when not in conflict therewith, but in case of conflict this act shall control as to the county of Nacogdoches, and all local and special laws in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

SEC. 19. The fact that there is now no sufficient general road law in force in this State, creates an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

days be suspended, and that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the House of Representatives by a two-thirds vote, yeas 86, nays 0; and passed the Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 27, nays 0.]

[NOTE. The foregoing act was presented to the Governor of Texas for his approval on the nineteenth day of April, A. D. 1899, but was not signed by him nor returned to the house in which it originated with his objections thereto within the time prescribed by the Constitution, and thereupon became a law without his signature.-D. H. HARDY, Secretary of State.]

Takes effect May 2, 1899.

H. B. No. 568.]

WOOD COUNTY-ROAD SYSTEM.

CHAPTER LXXXIII.

An Act to create a more efficient road system for Wood county, Texas, and making the county commissioners of said county ex-officio road commissioners, and prescribing their duties as such, and providing for their compensation as road commissioners, and providing for the appointment of road overseers, and defining their duties, and for the working of county convicts upon the roads of said county and upon the county farm, and to provide for the summoning of teams for road work, and for an allowance of time for road service for same, and fixing a penalty for a violation of this act, and to repeal all laws in conflict with this act as to Wood county.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That the members of the commissioners' court of Wood county shall be ex-officio road commissioners of their respective districts, and, under direction of the commissioners' court, shall have charge of all teams, tools and machinery belonging to the county and placed in their hands by said county, and it shall be their duty, under such rules and regulations as the commissioners' court may prescribe, to superintend the laying out of new roads, the making or changing of roads and the building of bridges. Each of said commissioners shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, in addition to his regular bond as such county commissioner, execute a bond for one thousand dollars, with two or more good and sufficient sureties, payable to the county judge of said county for the use and benefit of the road and bridge fund, conditioned that he will perform all of the duties required of him by law or by the commissioners' court, and that he will account for all moneys or property belonging to the county that may come into his possession.

SEC. 2. The commissioners' court of said county shall have full power and authority, and it shall be its duty, to adopt such system for working, laying out, draining and repairing the public roads of said county as it may deem best, and from time to time said court may change its plan or system of working.

Said commissioners' court shall have full power to purchase or hire such teams, tools and machinery as may be necessary for the working of its roads.

Said court shall have the power to construct, grade or otherwise improve any road or bridge by contract.

În such case said court or county judge of said county may advertise, in such manner as said court may determine, for bids to do such work, and the contract shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, who shall enter into bond payable to the county judge of said county, for the use of the road and bridge fund, with good and sufficient sureties to be approved by said court, and in such sum as said court may determine, for the faithful compliance with the terms of said contract, but said court shall have the right to reject any and all bids.

At the time of making such contract the court shall direct the county treasurer to pass the amount to a particular fund for that purpose, and the treasurer shall keep a separate account of such funds and the same shall not be used for any other purpose, and can only be paid out on the order of said court, and the said court shall have authority to employ any hands or teams to work on the roads, under such regulations and for such price as they may deem best.

SEC. 3. The commissioners' court of said county may require all county convicts to labor on the public roads, under such regulations as they may prescribe, and each convict so worked shall receive a credit of fifty cents, on his fine first, and then on the cost, for each day he may labor.

The commissioners' court may provide such reasonable regulations and punishment as may be necessary to require such convicts to perform good work; and may provide a reward, not to exceed ten dollars, to be paid [out] out of the road and bridge fund, for the recapture and delivery of any escaped convict, to be paid to any person other than the guard or person in charge of such convict at the time of his escape.

The commissioners' court may grant a reasonable commutation of time for which a convict is committed as a reward for faithful service and good behavior, in no case to exceed one-fourth of the time.

Said court may provide the necessary houses, prisons, clothing, bedding, food, medicine and medical attention and guards for the safe and humane keeping of convicts; provided, this shall not interfere with the working of convicts on the county farm.

SEC. 4. Each county commissioner shall have control of all road overseers in his district, and shall deliver to each of them, so far as he has been supplied by the commissioners' court, all teams, tools and machinery necessary in working the roads in the district of said overseer, taking receipt of said overseer therefor, specifying each item and giving its value, which receipt shall be a full answer of the liability of the commissioner, and shall fix the liability of the overseer, and any commissioner or overseer who shall have been entrusted with any teams, tools or machinery belonging to said county shall be liable for any damage that may occur to the same while in his possession, caused by negligence or want of due care of same, and shall not use or permit the same to be used for private purposes.

It shall be the duty of the road overseer, when he has finished work on his road, to return to said commissioner all teams, tools and machinery received from him and take up the receipt given therefor.

SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of the commissioners, when acting as road commissioners, to inform themselves of the public condition of the public