Railway Company shall extend its railroad, described in Section 1 hereof, from the said city of Jefferson eastwardly to the east boundary line of the State of Texas, in the direction of Shreveport, Louisiana, such extension, with all the property and franchises incident or pertaining thereto, shall be included in the purchase and sale provided for in said section, and to that end all the necessary powers are hereby conferred on each and both of said railway companies.

SEC. 3. When the railroad herein authorized to be purchased and sold shall be extended to the eastern line of the State of Texas, in the direction of Shreveport, by the said The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway Company, the company then operating said railway is hereby authorized and empowered to connect with any railroad extending from its terminus at the east line of Texas to the city of Shreveport, Louisiana, and to acquire from the owner of any such line in Louisiana, by lease for a term not exceeding twenty-five years, the use of such line, or by trackage or running rights agreement for a term not exceeding twenty-five years, the right to run its trains to and into the said city of Shreveport, and also to acquire the use of the necessary terminal facilities in said city for a term not exceeding twenty-five years. In the event that such rights in Louisiana should be acquired by the said The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway Company, before the sale and purchase authorized in Section 1 hereof, then power is hereby conferred on each and both of said Texas companies to contract for the transfer of such rights to the said The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas.

SEC. 4. The sale and purchase herein authorized to be made shall be subject to all just and legal encumbrances, suits or actions for damages, or rights of way, liens, judgments and debts contracted or incurred by said The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway Company upon or against its said property or any part thereof, as well as to the payment and discharge of all and singular the legal obligations and liabilities of every sort whatever against the said The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway Company and its property to the same extent that said property would be liable therefor if the property remained in the possession of the said The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway Company; and the said The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas shall take the same charged therewith, and subject to the payment thereof and the assumption by said The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas of such encumbrances, debts and liabilities may enter into and constitute a part of the consideration of such sale and conveyance, and the said The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas may exchange its stocks and bonds for the outstanding bonds and stocks of the said The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway Company upon such terms as may be agreed upon between said railway companies with the holders of such outstanding bonds and stocks; provided, all the outstanding bonds and stock of said The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway Company so exchanged shall be cancelled and extinguished; provided further, that the stock and bonds of The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas issued in exchange for the stocks and bonds of The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway Company shall not exceed the valuation of the said The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railroad as fixed by the Railroad Commission of Texas; provided further,

that nothing herein contained shall be construed as affecting, in any manner, any suit pending between the State of Texas and the said The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas, nor as affecting, in any manner, the discretion of the Attorney-General of Texas to prosecute or not to prosecute any such suit, or as in any manner waiving any cause of action now existing in favor of the State of Texas against said railway company.

SEC. 5. The said railroad companies herein mentioned are hereby authorized and empowered, after the extension of said The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway Company to the east line of the State, to enter into a contract of lease whereby the said The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway and its appurtenant property shall be leased to said The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas, upon terms to be agreed upon between said companies, and if at the time of making such lease, The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway Company shall have acquired the right to the use of the connecting railroad leading to Shreveport, Louisiana, and of the terminal facilities there, as herein pro vided, then its right therein may be included in such contract of lease, and if such rights in the connecting railroad in Louisiana and in the terminals at Shreveport have not been acquired, the said The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas is hereby authorized and empowered to acquire them in its own right; provided, however, that the exercise of the right to make the lease herein authorized shall not prevent the said railway companies from at any time thereafter making the purchase and sale herein authorized; provided further, that the said The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas and the said The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway Company shall not make the lease or purchase of The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railroad authorized by this act until the railroad of the said The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway Company shall be extended from Jefferson to the east line of the State, and the railroad of the said The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas shall be extended to the city of San Antonio; nor unless such extensions shall be made within two years from the passage of this act.

SEC. 6. Be it further enacted, that the sale and purchase or lease herein authorized shall be valid and binding only when approved by the assent of the holders of at least four-fifths of the outstanding capital stock of the said The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas, and of the said The Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway Company, given in writing, or at a meeting of the said stockholders of the said railway companies, respectively, and certified copies of the conveyance or lease, and of such assents in writing, or certified copies of the records of the proceedings of such corporate meetings authorizing the same under the hands of the secretaries of said railway companies, and the corporate seals of said companies shall be filed with the Secretary of State.

SEC. 7. All courts within this State are required to take judicial notice of this act, and of the powers and privileges herein granted in like manner as if the same were a general law, the acceptance of the provisions of this act is an agreement on the part of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company in Texas to abide by and submit to the rates,

14-G. L.

rules, regulations and requirements of the Railroad Commission of the State of Texas until the same are set aside by a court of competent jurisdiction on final hearing, and this act shall not be conclusive of the rights of the State as to any question of law or fact necessary or presumed to have been determined by the Legislature in order to comply with Article 10, Sections 5 and 6, of the Constitution of the State of Texas.

SEC. 8. The fact that important public interests are to be subserved by the passage of this act, providing for the enlargement and unifying of an important railway system of the State and for additional transportation facilities to the citizens thereof, and the great number of bills now pending before the Legislature, creates an imperative public necessity and emergency which justifies a suspension of the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read in each house on three several days, and such rule is therefore so suspended, and that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is therefore so enacted.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the Senate by vote, yeas 18, nays 4, and was reported to the House of Representatives where it was amended and passed, vote not given; Senate concurred in House amendments by vote, yeas 23, nays 0.]

Approved May 16, 1899.

SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT-TIME OF HOLDING COURT. S. B. No. 314.]

CHAPTER CXXI.

An Act to amend Subdivision (2) two, of Article 22, Title 4, of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, 1895, so as to extend the time of the terms of the District Court in Nacogdoches county, and change the time of holding district court in Angelina and Cherokee counties.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That Subdivision 2, of Article 22, Title 4, of the Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas, of 1895, be so amended as to hereafter read as follows:

"2." The Second Judicial District shall be composed of the counties of Angelina, Cherokee, Nacogdoches, Sabine, San Augustine and Shelby, and the terms of the district court therein shall be held as follows:

In the county of Shelby, on the first Monday in January and second Monday in July, and may continue in session five weeks.

In the county of Sabine, on the fifth Mondays after the first Monday in (in) January and the second Monday in July, and may continue in session two weeks.

In the county of San Augustine, on the (7th) seventh Mondays after the first Monday in January and the second Monday in July, and may continue in session three weeks.

In the county of Nacogdoches, on the tenth (10th) Mondays after the first Monday in January and the second Monday in July, and may continue in session six weeks.

In the county of Angelina, on the sixteenth Mondays after the first Monday in January and the second Monday in July, and may continue in session four weeks.

In the county of Cherokee, on the twentieth Mondays after the first Monday in January and the second Monday in July, and may continue in session until the business is disposed of.

SEC. 2. The fact that the calendar is greatly crowded and the session is drawing near its close and that this bill is greatly needed to give relief to the crowded docket in Nacogdoches county, create an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended, and it is hereby suspended.

Approved May 17, 1899.

Takes effect 90 days after adjournment.

THIRTY-FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT-TIME OF HOLDING

S. B. No. 294.]

COURT.

CHAPTER CXXII.

An Act to reorganize the Thirty-fourth Judicial District of Texas; to prescribe the time of holding the terms of the district court therein, and to repeal all laws in conflict with this act.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

SECTION 1. The Thirty-fourth Judicial District of the State of Texas shall be composed of the counties of El Paso, Ward, Reeves and Presidio, and the unorganized counties of Winkler and Loving and the terms of the district court for said district shall be held as follows, towit:

Five terms of said district court for said Thirty-fourth Judicial District shall be held in the county of El Paso as hereafter set out.

Beginning in the county of El Paso, on the first Monday in January of each year, and may continue in session until the third Monday in February following; and in the county of Ward, on the third Monday in February and August of each year, and may continue in session two weeks; in the county of Reeves, on the first Monday in March and September in each year, and may continue in session two weeks; and in the county of Presidio, on the second Monday after the first Monday in March and September of each year, and may continue in session two weeks; and in the county of El Paso, on the first Monday in April of each year, and may continue in session until the first Monday in June following, on the first Monday in June of each year, and may continue in session until the first Monday in July following, on the first Monday in October of each year, and may continue in session until the first Monday in December following, on the first Monday in December of each year, and may continue in session until the beginning of the following January term.

SEC. 2. The near approach of the close of the present session of the Legislature, and because of the insufficient time as now provided by law for holding the terms of the district court in some of the counties of said Thirty-fourth Judicial District, creates an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days in both houses be suspended, and that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

SEC. 3. That all laws and parts of laws in conflict with this act be and the same are hereby repealed.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 22, nays 0; and passed the House of Representatives, no vote given.]

Approved May 17, 1899.

TITUS COUNTY-COUNTY COURT JURISDICTION.

S. B. No. 307.]

CHAPTER CXXIII.

An Act to be entitled "An Act to diminish the criminal jurisdiction of the County Court of Titus county, and to conform the jurisdiction of the district court to said change."

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

SECTION 1. That the county court of Titus county shall only have and exercise the general jurisdiction of a probate court, shall probate wills, appoint guardians of minors, idiots and lunatics, persons non compos mentis and common drunkards, grant letters testamentary, of administration, settle accounts of executors, administrators and guardians, transact all business pertaining to estates of deceased persons, minors, idiots, lunatics, persons non compos mentis and common drunkards, including the partition, settlement and distribution of estates of deceased persons, and apprentice minors as prescribed by law, and to issue all writs necessary to the enforcement of their jurisdiction, and to punish contempt. under such provisions as or may be provided by general law governing county courts throughout this State, but said county court shall have no other jurisdiction, either civil or criminal.

SEC. 2. That the district court of said county shall have and exercise jurisdiction over all criminal matters and causes over which by General Laws of this State the said county court of said county now has jurisdiction. And that all cases other than probate matters and such as are provided in Section 1 of this act, be and the same are hereby transferred to the district court of said Titus county, and all writs and process, civil and criminal, heretofore prior to the taking effect of this act, issued by or out of said county court, other than those pertaining to matters over which by Section 1 of this act jurisdiction is given to the county court of said county, be and the same are hereby made returnable to the next term of the district court in said county after this act shall take effect.

SEC. 3. That the clerk of said county court be and he is hereby required, within twenty days after the taking effect of this act, to make a complete transcript of all the entries on his docket of criminal cases theretofore made in causes, which by Section 2 of this act are transferred to the district court of said county, and file the same, together with the original papers and proceedings, with the clerk of the district court of said county, and all such causes shall be immediately docketed by the clerk of the district court of such county and shall stand on the docket of said district court of such county as appearance cases, for the next term of said district court, and for each of said transcripts the county clerk aforesaid shall receive twenty cents per one hundred words, and fifty