[*1052]

SECTION

Chapter 134.

TELEGRAPH COMPANIES.

SECTION

I. Act applies to all telegraph com- 6. Refusal to receive or transmit dis

panies.

patches.

7.

Messages sent in order of reception

8.

-suppression-revealing contents. Transmitting falsehoods.

9. Aiding rebellion, riot, etc.

10. Penalty.

*11-13. Who may construct-where.

AN ACT to revise the law in relation to telegraph companies. [Approved March

24, 1874. In force July 1, 1874.]

1. Act applies to all telegraph companies. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That every company heretofore incorporated under any general or special law, or which may be incorporated under any general law of this State for the construction or operation of any telegraph line through or in this State, shall possess the powers and privileges and be subject to the duties, restrictions and liabilities prescribed in this act.

[Reed v. Bradley, 17 Ill. 325.

2. Eminent domain. § 2. Every such company may enter upon any lands for the purpose of making surveys and examinations with a view to the erection of any telegraph line, and take and damage private property for the erection and maintenance of such lines, and may, subject to the provisions contained in this act, construct lines of telegraph along and upon any railroad, road, highway, street or alley, along or across any of the waters or lands within this State, and may erect poles, posts, piers or abutments for supporting the insulators, wires and other necessary fixtures of their lines, in such manner and at such points as not to incommode the public use of the railroad, highway, street or alley, or interrupt the navigation of such waters. [L. 1849, p. 188, § 5. chap. 47.

See

3. How compensation made. §3. When it shall be necessary, for the construction, alteration or repair of any line of telegraph, to take or damage any property, the same may be done and the compensation therefor ascertained and made in the manner which may be at that time provided by law for the exercise of the right of eminent domain. [See Eminent Domain," ch. 47. L. 1849, p. 188, § 6.

4. Consent necessary to erect poles, etc., on roads, streets, etc.-record-alteration. 4. No such company shall have the right to erect any poles, posts, piers, abutments, wires or other fixtures of their lines along or upon any road, highway, or public ground, outside the corporate limits of a city, town or village, without the consent of the county board of the county in which such road, highway, or

public ground is situated, nor upon any street, alley or other highway or public ground, within any incorporated city, town or village, without the consent of the corporate authorities of such city, town or village. The consent herein required must be in writing, and shall be recorded in the recorder's office of the county. And such county board, or the city council, or board of trustees of such city, town or village, as the case may be, shall have power to direct any alteration in the location or erection of any such poles, posts, piers or abutments, and also in the height of the wires, having first given the company or its agent opportunity to be heard in regard to such alteration

5. Penalty for injuring telegraphs. § 5. Any person who shall unlawfully and intentionally injure, molest or destroy any of said

lines, posts, piers or abutments, or the materials or property belonging [*1053]

thereto, shall, on conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punished by a fine not exceeding $500, or imprisonment in the penitentiary not exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion of the court having cognizance thereof. Prosecutions under this act shall be by indictment in any court having criminal jurisdiction. [See "Criminal Code," ch. 38, § 197. L. 1849, p. 189, § 7.

6. Refusal to receive or transmit dispatches. § 6. If any company or person owning or operating any telegraph line in this State shall refuse to receive any dispatch from any other company or person owning or operating any telegraph line in this State, or shall refuse or willfully neglect to transmit the same in good faith, and without partiality, the company or person so offending shall forfeit all rights and franchises acquired under the laws of this State, and shail forfeit all right to transact telegraph business in this State, and may be enjoined therefrom by bill of complaint filed in any court of competent jurisdiction, and be liable to pay all damages which shall accrue, by reason of such refusal, to the company or person offering such dispatch for transmission. [L. 1849, p. 189, § 9

7. Messages sent in order of reception-suppression – revealing contents. § 7. It shall be the duty of all persons employed in transmitting messages by telegraph, to transmit them in the order in which they are received; and any person who shall fail so to transmit a message, or who shall suppress a message, or who shall make known the contents of a message to any person other than the one to whom it is addressed, or his agent, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000. [L. 1849, p. 189, § 11. Tyler, etc., v. W. U. T. Co, 60 ill. 421; W. U. T. Co. v. Tyler, etc., 74 Ill. 168; Morgan v. People, 59 Ill. 58; Mattison v. Noyes, 25 111. 591.

8. Transmitting falsehoods. 8. Whoever shall transmit or cause to be transmitted by telegraph, from any place in this State to any other place in this State or elsewhere, any falsehood, knowing the same to be such, shall be fined in any sum not exceeding $500. [L. 1861, p. 211, § 1.

9. Aiding rebellion, riots, etc. 9. Any person who, for the purpose of inciting or aiding rebellion, riot or insurrection in this State against the government or laws of this State or of the United States, or a hostile invasion of this State, shall transmit or cause to be transmitted by telegraph any communication whatever, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not exceeding ten years. 12d L. 1861, p 21, 82

10. Penalty. 10 Any telegraph operator or person employed in any telegraph office in this State, or any other person, who shall, knowing the design thereof, deliver or cause to be delivered any communication prohibited by the preceding section of this act, to any person other than the proper officer, agent or employees of this State or the United State, shall be subject to indictment and, on conviction, to the punishment provided in said section. [2d L. 1861, p. 21, § 3. AN ACT to permit the use of public highways, streets and alleys and private roads leading to such highways, streets and alleys outside of incorporated cities, villages and towns, for the purpose of constructing, operating and maintaining private lines of telegraph or telephone, and to prescribe penalties for the injury or obstruction of such lines. Approved June 18, 1883. In force July 1, 1883. L. 1883, p. 173.

*11. Who may construct telegraph and telephone lines. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That it shall be lawful for any person or persons living on the line of any public highway, street or alley outside of any incorporated city, village or town in this State, or on any private road leading to such highway, street or alley, to construct, operate and maintain a line or lines of telegraph or telephone, ex

tending from house to house, as the parties interested in the construction of such lines may desire.

12. Poles in streets. 12. For the purpose of constructing and maintaining such lines of telegraph or telephone, the parties in interest may set the necessary poles or posts on which to place the wires and insulators of such lines, in any of the public streets, highways or alleys, or in any private road leading to such highways, streets or alleys outside of the incorporated cl les, villages or towns in this State along which such lines may pass : Provided, such poles er posts shall be placed along the boundaries of such highways, streets or alleys, at such dist nces therefrom as the authorities, having control thereof, may direct: And, provided, further, that the wires necessary for such lines shall not be less than fifteen feet above the ground along such boundaries, and not less than twenty feet at any public or private crossing, and shall be so placed as not, in any manner, to interfere with such crossing. *13. Penalty for injuring. 3. Any person who shall unlawfully and intentionally injure, molest or destroy any of said lines or the material or property belonging thereto, or shall in any manner interfere with the proper working of such lines, shall, on conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars; said fine to be recoverable in any court having jurisdiction of the same: Provided, that prosecution under the foregoing provision of this section shall not, in any manner, prevent a recovery by the person or persons entitled thereto, of the amount of damages do e to suchlines.

AN ACT relating to telegraph, telephone, electric light and other wires, poles and cables. [Approved June 16, 1887. In force July 1, 1887. L. 1887, p. 298.]

*14. Attachments to building - no prescriptive right. SEC, 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, Whenever any wire, pole or cable used for any telegraph, telephone, electric light or other electric purpose, or for the purpose of communication, Is or shall be attached to, or does or shall extend upon or over any building or land, no lapse of time whatever sha!! raise a presumption of any grant of, or justify a prescriptive right to, such attachment or extension,

1. Of personal property. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That when any note, bond, bill or other instrument in writing, is for the payment or delivery of personal property other than money, and no particular place is specified therein for such payment or delivery, the maker may tender such personal property on the day of payment or delivery, at the place where the obligee or pavee resided or had his place of business at the time of the execution of the instrument. If such personal property is too ponderous to be easily moved, or the obligee or payee had not, at the time of the execution of such instrument, a known place of residence or business in the county where the maker resided, or had his place of business, then tender may be made at the place where the maker resided or had his place of business at the time of the execution of the instrument. A tender made in pursuance of this section shall be equally valid, in case the instrument is assigned, as if no assignment had been made.

R. S. 1845, p. 386, 12; Woods v. Diai, 12 Ill. 72: McPherson v. Hall, 44 Ill. 264: Borah v. Curry, 12 III, 66; Vanhooser v. Logan, 3 Scami, 389: Phelps v. McGee, 18 II. 155; Deere v. Lewis, 51 III. 254; Kerny v. Gardner, 27 I. 163; Anderson v. White, 27 Ill. 63; Barnard v. Cushman, 35 Ill. 452; Conway v. Case, 22 III. 130: Fitzhugh v. Smith, 62 Ill. 486: Sanborn v. Benedict, 78 III, 309; McPherson v. Gale, 40 Ill. 368; Marshall v. Gridley, 46 I. 247: Bilderback v. Burlingame. 27 Ill. 338: Smith v. Dunlap, 12 Ill, 184; Sleuter v. Wallbaum, 45 Ill. 45; Webster v. French, 11 Il, 254 ; Johnson v. Dodge, 17 Ill, 412; Dwen v. Blake, 44 Ill. 141; Snyder v. Spaulding, 57 III. 488; Blunt v. Tomlin, 27 111. 93; Allin v. Millison, 72 İll. 201.

2. Effect of such tender-perishable property, etc. 2. A legal tender of any such personal property shall discharge the maker of any such instrument from all liability thereon; and the property thus tendered shall be vested in the legal holder of the instrument, and he may maintain an action for the recovery thereof, or for damages if the possession be subsequently illegally withheld from him: Provided, however, if any such property so tendered shall be of a perishable nature, or shall require feeding or other sustentation, and the holder of such instrument be absent at the time of the tender, it shall be lawful for the person making the tender to preserve, feed and otherwise take care of the same, and he shall have a lien on such tendered property, for his reasonable trouble, and the expense of feeding or sustaining such property, until payment be made, for such trouble and expense. [R. S. 1845, p. 386 13.

3. When tender made, plaintiff not to recover costs. 3. In all cases when a tender shall be made and full payment be offered, by discount or otherwise, as the party by contract or agreement ought to do, and the party to whom such tender shall be made doth refuse the same, and yet afterwards will sue for the debt or goods so tendered, the plaintiff shall not recover any costs in such suit.

[R. S. 1845, P. 418, § 38; Monroe v. Chaldeck, 78 III. 429; Reinbeck v. Crabtree, 77 Ill. 182; Frantz v. Rose, 89 Ill. 592; Liebbrandt v. Myron Lodge, 61 III. 81; Marine Bank v. Rushmore, 28 Ill. 463; Webster v. Pierce, 35 Ill. 158; Sweetland v. Tuthill, 54 I. 215: Jenks v. Burr, 56 Ill. 451; Conway v. Case, 22 I 133; Wynkoop v. Cowing, 21 Ill. 587; Sloan v. Petrie, 16 III. 262: Stow v. Russell, 36 In. 19; Cilley v. Hawkins, 48 l. 309; Gregory v. Wells, 62 Ill. 232; Lincoln v. Cook, 2 Scam. 62; Steele v. Biggs, 22 Ill. 656.

4. Tender after suit brought. § 4. A tender may also be made after an action is brought upon any contract, of the whole sum due thereon, with the legal costs of suit incurred up to the time of tender. [Sweetland v. Tuthill, 54 III. 215.

5. To whom may be made. 5. The tender last mentioned may be made either to the plaintiff or his attorney in the suit, and the defendant may avail himself of it in defense, in like manner as [*1055] if it had been made before the commencement of the action, bringing into court, if the tender is not accepted, the amount so tendered for costs as well as for the debt or damages.

6. Tender for trespass or injury-costs. 6. Whoever is guilty of a trespass or injury may, at any time before or after suit brought, tender what he shall conceive sufficient amends for the injury done, and if suit has been commenced, also the costs of suit up to the time of making such tender; and if it shall appear that the sum tendered was sufficient amends for the injury done, and if suit had been commenced, was also sufficient to pay such costs, the plaintiff shall not be allowed to recover any costs incurred after such tender, but shall be liable to the defendant for his costs incurred after that time.

[Cilley v. Hawkins, 48 Ill. 309; Gregory v. Wells, 62 Ill. 232; Frantz v. Rose, 89 Ill. 593

7. Tender to constable. 7. When the defendant, upon whom any summons or warrant issuing from a justice of the peace shall be

འ

served, shall pay or tender to the constable the amount actually due, with all costs then accrued, and shall prove the same upon trial, and bring the money forward and deposit it with the justice of the peace, no costs which shall thereafter accrue shall be adjudged against him, but the plaintiff shall pay the same.

[See "Justices and Constables," ch. 79, § 51. R. S. 1845, p. 326, § 81; Frantz v. Rose, 89 Ill. 592.

AN ACT to encourage the planting and growing of timber. [Approved February 9,

1874. In force July 1, 1874.]

1. County board may offer premium for raising. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That it shall be lawful for the board of supervisors or county commissioners' court [board of county commissioners] in any county in this State to offer a bounty to any person in said county who shall hereafter plant one or more acres of land with forest trees, and properly cultivate the same for three years, any sum not to exceed $10 per annum for three years for each acre so planted and cultivated : Provided, that trees so planted shall not be at a greater distance than ten feet apart each way.

2. Proof of raising. § 2. Any person claiming the bounty under this act shall make proof before the county clerk that he has complied with section I of this act, and that the trees planted by him are in a healthy and growing condition.

3. Certificate of raising. 3. Upon proof of a compliance with this act the county clerk shall issue his certificate to the person entitled to the same, setting forth that the provisions of this act have been complied with and the number of acres so planted.

4. How premium offered. § 4. The board of supervisors or county commissioners' court [board of county commissioners], desiring to offer the bounty herein provided for, shall do so by resolution, to be made of record, and giving notice in some newspaper published in the county three weeks prior to the first day of April of each year: said resolution and notice to state the amount of bounty offered for each acre planted and cultivated.