in all cases where damages have been awarded and are not yet paid, if any alterations are made in the location, a new assessment of damages shall be had, under the direction of the court of quarter sessions of the said county, and the party claiming damages shall not be entitled t the amount of both assessments, but the valuation and appraisement made under this act shall be the measure of the damages sustained: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to compel the re-payment to the company of any damages paid by them, or to authorize them to recover back the same from any person or persons whomsoever.

SECTION 2. That so much of the State road leading from Brady's Bend, in Armstrong county, to Joseph Rankin's in Clarion county, as runs through the land of J. C. Gould, in Clarion county, be and the same is hereby reduced in width to thirty-four feet.

APPROVED-The cleventh day of April, one thousand eight hundred

and fifty-three.

WM. BIGLER.

Removal of prisoners.

Upper Paxton tp., separate election district.

No. 237.

AN ACT

Authorizing the prisoners in the jail of Perry county to be removed to the jat of Dauphin county; and relative to the place of holding elections in Millersburg, Dauphin county.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen tatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That it shall be the duty of the sheriff of the county of Perry, upon an order from any one of the judges of the court of quarter sessions of said county, to remove a portion or all of the prisoners that now are, or may hereafter be confined in the jail of Perry county, to the prison of Dauphin county, there to be confined until put upon their trials, in the courts of the said county of Perry: Provided, That the expenses of keeping said prisoners in the Dauphin county prison, under the provisions of this act, shall be defrayed by the county of Perry.

SECTION 2. That all that part of Upper Paxton township, Dauphin county, lying and being without the limits of the borough of Millersburg, be and is hereby erected into a separate election district, and the general and special elections for said district shall be held at the Upper School House in said borough of Millersburg, and Andrew Woland

shall be the judge, and George Melers and John Seal inspectors, to open and hold the first election under this act.

W. P. SCHELL,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

THO. CARSON.

Speaker of the Senate.

APPROVED-The eleventh day of April, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.

WM. BIGLER.

No. 238.

AN ACT

Supplementary to an act entitled "An Act to establish the act of incorporation of the Wyoming Seminary of the Oneida annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal church," passed the twelfth day of February, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and fifty: relative to road districts in Wilkesbarre township, Luzerne county; to the Mayor's court of the city of Carbondale, in said county; and to incorporate the Providence and Abington Turnpike and Plank Road company; and relating to certain real estate in Moyainensing township, Philadelphia county.

WHEREAS, The Oneida annual conference of the Methodist Epis- Preamble. copal church has lately been, by the regular authority of the general conference of said church, divided, and the Wyoming annual conference of such church duly formed out of the same:

And Whereas, By arrangements made at the time of said division, Preamble. the control, regulation and direction of the Wyoming seminary of said Oneida conference, as far as vested in them and confirmed in its charter, by the said recited act to which this is a supplement, has been legally and amicably given, transferred and made over to the said Wyoming annual conference, within the bounds of which such seminary is located, such Wyoming annual conference now having under such division and arrangements, the full power, rights and authorities over said seminary formerly vested in the Oneida annual conference :

And Whereas, The corporate authorities of said seminary have fully assented to and confirmed the said arrangements, and now desire the change of name and authority hereinafter granted; therefore,

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the name, style and title of said Wyoming seminary, so confirmed in Wyoming semits charter as aforesaid, be and hereby is changed and altered to the inary, name name, style and title of "The Wyoming Seminary of the Wyoming changed. Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church," said corporation, by such new name, from this time hereafter to hold, have and enjoy, all and singular, the rights powers and privileges, property and estates, real, personal and mixed, and the control, management, ordering, regulation and direction of the same, subject however to all

debts and responsibilities now charged or chargeable thereon, in as full and ample a manner, and in every respect according to the object, articles and conditions of the charter of said seminary, as the same are now held or exercised, or could be held or exercised, by the said corporation in its original name, had this alteration of name not now been made.

SECTION 2. That all authority and power given by said charter to the Powers given to Oneida confer- said Oneida annual conference in the election or appointment of trus ence transferred tees, visitors, agents, or otherwise, of whatever kind or nature, in and to Wyoming Conference.

Repeal.

Further powers given to the Mayor's court of the city of Carbondale.

Connection of

Scott tp., with

termined.

about the management, control or direction of said seminary, be and. the same hereafter shall be vested in the said Wyoming annual con ference of the Methodist Episcopal church, as fully as if the same had been originally vested in the said Wyoming conference instead of such Oneida conference.

SECTION 3. That the seventh section of the act of eighteenth March, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, entitled "An Act authoriz ing the election of four supervisors in Indiana township, Allegheny county; to change the place of holding elections in certain districts; and erecting the township of Wilkesbarre, in Luzerne county, into two road districts;" and the ninth section of the act of third May, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, entitled "An Act repealing ⚫ certain road laws in McKean county, &c.; and erecting the township of Wilkesbarre into separate school districts," &c., be and the same are hereby repealed.

SECTION 4. That the Mayor's court for the city of Carbondale shall have original civil jurisdiction in all cases where the defendant shall be. a resident of said city, and the plaintiff's demand shall not exceed one thousand dollars, and also of all amicable actions where the parties shall by writing institute the same in said court, and the remedies, pro cess, pleadings and costs in such cases shall be similar to like proceedings in the several courts of common pleas.

SECTION 5. That all connexion of the township of Scott, in Luzerne county, with the city of Carbondale, or the Mayor's court thereof, Carbondale de-from and after the passage of this act, shall cease and determine, except so far as may be necessary to determine any judicial proceedings heretofore began or instituted, and the second proviso of the thirty-seventh section of the act of fifteenth of March, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, incorporating said city, is hereby repealed.

Commissioners.

Style.

SECTION 6. That Andrew Bedford, Daniel Rankin, H. V. Hall, Joseph H. Scranton, James P. Kennedy, William W. Winton, H. W. Nicholson, James A. Kennedy, Sanford Grant, Nathaniel Cattrell, J. K. Bloom, Isaac T. Akirley, and Joseph Chase, of Luzerne county, or any five of them, are hereby appointed commissioners, to open books and receive subscriptions and organize a company by the name, style and title of "The Providence and Abington turnpike and plank road company," with power to construct a turnpike and plank road, commencing at some point on the Carbondale and Providence turnpike and plank road, in the borough of Providence, in Luzerne county, to the Subject to the village of Waverly, in the said county, subject to all the provisions and provisions and restrictions of an act regulating turnpike and plank road companies, restrictions of approved the twenty-sixth day of January, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, and the several supplements thereto, except wherein the same are herein altered or supplied by the provisions of

certain act.

Capital stock.

this act.

SECTION 7. That the capital stock of said company shall consist of two hundred and forty shares, (240) of fifty dollars each: Provided, That the said company may from time to time, by a vote of the stock

olders, at a meeting called for that purpose, increase their capital tock, if it shall be deemed necessary to carry out the intent and eaning of this act.

SECTION 8. That if said company shall not commence the construc- Commencement on of their road within two years, and complete three miles of the and completion ime within four years after the passage of this act, the section of this of road.

t incorporating the said company shall be null and void, except so

r as the same may be necessary to settle and wind up the affairs and

y the debts of said company.

SECTION 9 That whenever three miles or more of said road shall complete, the president of the company shall give notice to the Gornor, who shall appoint three persons to view, examine and report to m, as provided in the twelfth section of the act of twenty-sixth Jantry, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine; whereupon, e Governor shall issue to the said company license or permission to ect and fix gates and take tolls, as provided by the said section.

SECTION 10. That the company shall have the right to use such por- Use of certain
on or portions of the abandoned Philadelphia and Great Bend turn- abandoned turn-
ke road, on or over which the same may run, and such laid out or con- pike.
med public roads (unopened) as may be deemed necessary for the
irpose of making or constructing said road, and that the right to re-
ke or resume any part or parts of said turnpike on the part of said
biladelphia or Great Bend turnpike company is hereby forfeited.
WHEREAS, Cæsar Hodge, a colored man, died in the year one thou- Preamble.
nd seven hundred and sixty-five, seized in fee of three certain lots of
ound situate on the south side of Wicacoa lane, in the then township
Passyunk, in the county of Philadelphia, containing together in
ont or breadth one hundred and forty feet, and in length or depth about
hundred and thirty-five feet, having by his last will and testament,
ited the twenty-fifth day of July, Anno Domini one thousand seven
andred and sixty-four, devised a portion of the same to his wife du-
ng her life, and after her death he devised the whole of the same in
e residue of his real and personal estate to his esteemed friends,
lexander Parker, John Reily and Thompson Parker, all then of the
ty of Philadelphia, and the survivor of them, and the heirs, execu-
rs and administrators of the survivor, in trust, to apply the rents and
ofits thereof, and the monies arising from the sale of his personal
tate, after the payment of his debts, for the use and benefit of certain
groslaves belonging to him, the testator, and in giving security upon
eir emancipation:

And whereas, The said Thompson Parker survived the said Alex- Preamble.
der Parker and John Reily, and on the fourteenth day of May, Anno
mini one thousand eight hundred and ten, conveyed the same lots
ground to George Parker, in fee, who died seized of the same, having
3 his last will devised the same to his wife for her life, and after her
eath to his children, in certain proportions:

And Whereas, It is represented to the Legislature that the rents and Preamble.
rofits of the said lots, and the proceeds of the personal estate of the
id testator, were duly applied according to the provisions of the said
ill, and that the negro slaves therein mentioned have long since died,
ithout leaving any heirs or personal representatives, and the said
hompson Parker, and those claiming under him, have been in unques-
oned possession of the premises for more than eighty-eight years,
whereby an absolute title, if it did not pass by the said will, has been
quired against all individuals; but doubts are entertained whether
e equitable interest of the said negro slaves was not of a nature that
Light escheat to the Commonwealth, and it is proper that the title of

Right of Commonwealth re

leased.

the present representatives of the said George Parker should be confirmed, and thereby the said lots rendered unalienable; Therefore,

SECTION 11. That any right, title, or interest which the Commonwealth might possibly have to the lots or pieces of ground herein before described, or either of them, by reason of the death of any or all of the persons provided for in the will of Cæsar Hodge, aforesaid, without heirs or personal representatives, be and the same is hereby released to and vested in the devisees under the will of George Parker, aforesaid, and the title of the said devisces is hereby fully confirmed and made as valid and effectual as if the devise aforesaid in the will of the said Cæsar Hodge had been absolute, and without any trust or charge upon the same.

W. P. SCHELL,

APPROVED-The eleventh day of April, one thousand eight hundred

and fifty-three.

WM. BIGLER.

No. 239.

AN ACT

Repealing the acts regulating the gauge of the track of railroads.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen. atives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That every railroad company heretofore chartered, or which may hereafter be chartered, is hereby authorized to construct or change their gauge or gauges of road to such a width as the directors of such railroad company may deem expedient, and all laws inconsistent with this provision, be and they are hereby repealed.

SMITH SKINNER,

Speaker pro tem. of the House of Representatives.

THO. CARSON,

Speaker of the Senate.

APPROVED-The eleventh day of April, A. D., one thousand

eight hundred and fifty-three.

WM. BIGLER.