ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

cil of said town, to cause such obstruction to be removed at the cost and charge of him, her or them, who shall have so erected or placed the same, or caused the same to be so erected or placed as aforesaid.

made by

&c.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That if any person or For violapersons shall violate any of the laws, rules or regulations, ting laws that may be at any time made by said town of Providence, the town, for the preservation of the channel, and for the prevention of any encroachments or obstructions in the harbor of said town, or the cove above the bridge, or in the other public waters thereof, other than of the kind mentioned and described in the next preceding section of this act, he, she or they shall forfeit and pay a sum not less than two, nor more than twenty dollars, for each offence, to be recovered by action of debt, before any justice or justices of the peace of the said town, one half thereof to and for the use of said town, and the other half thereof to and for the use of the person or persons who shall sue for the

same.

An act to incorporate the village of Pawtuxet, for the purposes 1816, 92. therein mentioned.

WHEREAS the inhabitants of the village of Pawtuxet have presented their petition to this General Assembly, praying that so much of the towns of Warwick and Cranston as are comprehended in the highway districts in said. towns called the Pawtuxet districts, may be incorporated for the purpose of erecting fire-engines, with buildings to contain the same, providing ropes, fire-hooks and leather buckets, and establishing all the necessary regulations to preserve the said village and the property therein in cases of fire:

ted.

SECTION 1. Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, Pawtuxet and by the authority thereof it is enacted, That all that part of incorporathe town of Warwick which is comprehended in the Pawtuxet highway district, as it stood in February, A.D. 1816, in said town, and all that part of the town of Cranston which is comprehended in the Pawtuxet highway district, as it stood in said town in February, A. D. 1816, be and the same are hereby incorporated and erected into a district, to be called and known by the name of Pawtuxet; and the freemen thereof shall, from time to time, have and enjoy all the benefits and privileges necessary for carry

Town

ing into effect all the designs for which the petitioners aforesaid have prayed as aforesaid to be incorporated.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the freemen of meetings. said district, or any seven of them, shall have a meeting on the first Monday of April, annually, at two o'clock, P. M. at the meetinghouse in said district; and it shall be in the power of the said freemen, or any seven of them, to adjourn said meeting to any other time and place and to call and hold other meetings at such other times and places as they shall deem necessary; at each of said meetings, the freemen aforesaid shall have power to choose a moderator, whose duty shall be the same, and who shall have the same power and authority as the moderators of town meetings within this State; also, on the annual meeting aforesaid, to choose a treasurer, a clerk, three assessors and a collector, for and during the term of one year, then next ensuing, whose duty likewise shall be the same, and who shall have the same power and authority within said district, as the like officers in the towns in this State.

Freemen

to raise funds to procure

&c.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the freemen of said district shall, at any of their legal meetings, have power and authority to make such acts and laws therein, engines, for for raising such sums of money, as shall be by them thought needful, for defraying the expences of purchasing so many fire-engines, and buildings to cover the same, with a competent number of leather buckets thereunto belonging, and so many fire-hooks, ropes, ladders and other implements as shall by them be adjudged necessary for the ready extinguishing any fire which may happen in said district; and all such sums of money, so voted to be raised as aforesaid, shall by the assessors of said district be assessed on the inhabitants thereof, and the property therein, in such proportion as to the said assessors shall appear equitable; and shall be collected by a warrant from the clerk of said district.

May make

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the freemen of laws, &c. said district shall have full power and authority to make and ordain all such acts, laws and orders, not repugnant to the laws of the State, as they shall adjudge needful for carrying into effect the purposes aforesaid of their incorporation, and to inflict such fines and penalties for the non-observance of the same as in the like cases it is in the power of the towns within this State to inflict.

Buckets to

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That each freeholder be provid- within said district shall provide and keep two good

ed.

leather buckets, excepting all such as live more than three quarters of a mile from Pawtuxet bridge; and that all owners of dwellinghouses, bankhouses, factories, stores and mills, wherein fires are usually kept, shall provide and keep buckets in manner following, to wit: for every house, bankhouse, factory, store or mill, of one story high, one bucket each; and if of two stories high, two buckets each: and that each and every person who shall not provide and keep buckets, as by this act is provided, shall forfeit and pay the sum of two dollars, to be recovered by the treasurer of said district, to and for the use of the corporation thereof, by an action of debt brought before any justice of the peace within the towns of Warwick or Cranston.

wards to

power.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the freemen of Presidents said district, at their annual meeting, shall choose and of fireappoint three or more persons, on whose fidelity, judg- be chosen: ment and impartiality they can rely, to be called presidents of the firewards; and that they, the said presi- Their dents, or any one of them, who shall be present when any fire shall happen to break out in said district, shall and may, and they are hereby empowered to, give directions for pulling down or blowing up any such house or houses as shall be by them judged necessary to be pulled down or blown up, for stopping the further progress of the fire; and if it shall happen that the pulling down or blowing up of any such house or houses, by direction as aforesaid, shall be the occasion of stopping the progress of such fire, or that the fire stop before it comes to the same, that then all and every the Houses owner or owners of such house or houses shall be rea- blown up, sonably paid therefor, by the rest of the inhabitants &c. to be of said district, whose houses shall not be burnt, if said inhabitants live within half a mile of Pawtuxet bridge; and they are hereby authorized and empowered to make a tax or taxes for levying and raising such a sum of money as shall be, by the court of general sessions of the peace for the county of Providence, adjudged sufficient for that end, which court are hereby fully empowered and authorized, on application to them in this behalf made, to determine and make order thereon; provided always, that if Proviso. the house or houses where the fire shall first begin and break out, shall be judged fit to be pulled down or blown up, to hinder the further spreading of the flames, then the owner or owners of such house or houses shall receive no

paid for.

Firewards

sen.

Their

power.

manner of satisfaction for the same, any thing in this act contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawto be cho- ful for the freemen of said district, at their annual meeting aforesaid, to appoint such a number of prudent persons, of known fidelity, in the several parts of said district, as they may think proper, who shall be denominated and called firewards, and have a proper badge assigned to distinguish them in their offices, to wit: a speaking trumpet painted white, and at the time of breaking forth of the fire, and during the continuance thereof, they shall be and are hereby authorized and fully empowered to require and command assistance for suppressing and extinguishing the fire; for removing household stuff and furniture, goods and merchandise, out of any dwellinghouse, storehouse, or other buildings actually on fire, or in danger thereof, and to appoint proper guards for taking care of and securing the same, as also to require and command assistance for the pulling down or blowing up of any house or houses, or any other buildings, and performing all and every service or services relative thereunto, by the directions of the presidents aforesaid, or one of them; to prevent and stop the further spreading of the fire, and to suppress all tumults and disorders: and the said firewards, from time to time appointed as aforesaid, are required, upon notice of the breaking forth of fire, to take each one his badge, and repair immediately to the place, and vigorously exert their authority for obtaining assistance, and use their utmost endeavors to extinguish or prevent the further spreading of the fire, and to preserve and secure the estates of the inhabitants and all property within said Due obe- district: due obedience is hereby required to be yielded dience to to them and each of them in said service, and all disobedi

be paid

them.

ence, neglect or refusal in any person or persons, shall be informed of to some justice of the peace in Warwick or Cranston, within twenty days next after; and if any person shall offend, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, he or they, upon conviction thereof before any two justices of the peace, shall forfeit and pay as a fine the sum of four dollars each, to be levied and distributed at the discretion of the presidents of the firewards, among such poor persons as shall have been most distressed by the fire; and in case any such offender shall be unable to pay such fine, he shall suffer ten day's imprison

ment.

amination

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the freemen Semi-anof said district shall, upon their annual meetings, choose nual exthree persons to examine every house in said district of buckets. twice in every year, and make report unto the presidents of the firewards of said district, of all freeholders who are not provided with buckets according to this act, and it shall be the duty of the presidents aforesaid to cause all delinquents to be prosecuted according to law.

chosen.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the freemen of Engine said district shall, at their annual meetings aforesaid, have men to be full power and authority to choose and appoint so many men as they may think needful, to be formed into a fire-engine company or companies, not exceeding ten to each engine, and to make all such laws and regulations for organizing and establishing the same, as they may judge

necessary.

ed.

SEC 10. And be it further enacted, That whenever seven Meetings. freemen in said district shall wish for a meeting of the how callfreemen thereof, and shall make application to the clerk of said district, in the same manner as requests are made to the town-clerk of the towns within this State for townmeetings; it shall be the duty of the clerk of said district, and he is hereby authorized and empowered, to notify the freemen of said district of the time, place and purposes of said meeting, in the same manner as town-meetings in such cases are notified in the several towns in this State.

to Paw

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the act entitled Engine act "an act for enforcing the several town acts relating to fire- extended engines," be and the same is hereby extended to all the tuxet. acts of the said district, which may hereafter be enacted, relating to fire-engines, and shall be as fully in force therein as is the said act in any town in this State.

&c.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That all taxation Taxes, within said district shall be in the following manner, to now laid, wit: no poll-tax shall be assessed therein; all household furniture, goods and merchandize shall pay double the sum that is assessed on lands, and all buildings shall pay three times the amount of lands, if said lands are within half a mile of Pawtuxet bridge; over that distance from said bridge, household furniture, goods and buildings to pay one quarter said rates, and the lands to be exempt, agreeably to the valuation of the assessors which may hereafter be appointed in said district.

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »