point; and his Honor Chief Justice Fenner Ferguson is hereby assigned to and shall reside therein. SEC. 2. The counties of Cass, Otoe, Lancaster and Clay, and the Territory West thereof, shall be and constitute the Second Judicial District, and courts shall be held in the county of Cass on the third Mondays of March and September, annually. In the county of Otoe on the fourth Mondays of March and September, annually, and in the other counties at such times and places as the judge may appoint; and the Honorable E. R. Hardin, Associate Justice, is hereby assigned to and shall reside in said district. SEC. 3. The counties of Richardson, Nemaha, Pawnee, and Johnson, and the Territory West of said counties, shall be and constitute the Third Judicial District, and courts shall be held as follows, viz: In the county of Richardson on the first Tuesdays in May and November, annually. In the county of Nemaha on the second Mondays in May and October, annually, and in the other counties in said district at such times and places as the judge may appoint; and his Honor, Associate Justice James Bradly, is hereby assigned to and shall reside in said district. SEC. 4. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. SEC. 5. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved January 26th, 1856. AN ACT To authorize Religious Societies to elect Officers and hold Property. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Nebraska, That it shall be lawful for all persons of full age and sound mind belonging to any church, congregation or religious society, to assemble at the church, or meeting house, or other place of worship, and by a plurality of votes, to elect any number of discreet persons of their church, congregation or society, not less than three in number as trustees, to take charge of the estate and property belonging thereto and to transact all affairs relative to the temporalities thereof. SEC. 2. It shall be lawful for any such church, congregation or religious society, to choose their president of their meetings, by a vote as aforesaid, and at the election provided for in this chapter, every person of full age who worships with such church, congregation or society, and has formerly been considered as belonging thereto, shall be entitled to a vote. SEC. 3. All lands, tenements, hereditaments, that have been or may hereafter be lawfully conveyed by devise, gift, grant, purchase or otherwise, to any persons as trustees, in trust for the use of any religious society organized, or which may hereafter be organized within this Territory, either for a meeting house, burying-ground, or for the residence of a preacher, shall descend, with the improvements in perpetual succession to, and shall be held by such trustees, in trust, for such society. SEC. 4. Whenever by the constitution, rules or usages of any particular church, or religious denomination, trustees are required to be appointed by any minister, or presiding elder, or other officer, or officers of such church or denomination, it shall be the duty of such minister, presiding elder, or other officer or officers, to give such trustees a certificate of their appointment, under the hand and seal of the person making the same, specifying the name by which such trustees and their successors shall forever thereafter be called and known, which certificate shall be acknowledged or proved and recorded in the register's office of the county in which the estate is situate. Whereupon, such trustees and their successors appointed in the same manner, shall be a body corporate, by the name expressed in such certificate, with all rights, powers and privileges of other religious corporations constituted according to the provisions of this act. SEC. 5. All property held by such societies or corporations as prescribed in this act, shall be exempt from taxation. SEC. 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved January 26th, 1856. AN ACT To Charter the Bank of Florence. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Nebraska, That H. D. Downey, Allan Tomlin, Nathaniel Kilbourn, James C. Mitchell, G. W. Dodge, Levi Harsh and Ebenezer Cook, their heirs and assigns are hereby appointed commissioners, and they, or any five of them are authorized to carry into effect from and after the passage of this act, the establishment of a Bank, to be styled and called the Bank of Florence, and to be located at the City of Florence in Douglas county, Nebraska Territory, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, which may be increased at the will of the stockholders to any amount not exceeding five hundred thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each; and the said company under the above name and style, are hereby declared capable in law of issuing bills, notes and other certificates of indebtedness, dealing in exchange and doing all things necessary to the carrying on of a regular and legitimate Banking business, and also to buy and possess property of all kinds, and to sell and dispose of the same, to contract and be contracted with, to sue and be sued, to defend and be defended against in all the courts of this Territory. SEC. 2. That the commissioners herein appointed, shall have power to cause books to be opened for the subscription of said stock, in such manner, and at such times and places, as they or any five of them may appoint; that whenever fifty thousand dollars is fully subscribed, then, those making such subscription shall have power to choose a board of directors, whose duty it shall be to organize said bank, by electing a president, vice-president, and cashier, and that in the election of said directors and officers, each share subscribed or then held, shall entitle the holder thereof to one vote, which may be given in person or by proxy. SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the president or vice-president (either of whom shall be competent,) and cashier to attach their respective names to all bills or notes issued by said bank to circulate as currency; and that the stockholders shall be, each and individually liable for the full and final redemption of such issue, payable at their Banking House in gold and silver, and that this charter shall have an existence and be in full force if faithfully complied with, for the term of twenty-five years from the date of its passage and becoming a law of the Territory. SEC. 4. The stock of said bank shall be assignable and transferable according to such rules and under such restrictions as the board of directors may pre scribe, who shall have power at all times to make such rules and regulations as may appear for the well being of said bank, not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States and Laws of this Territory. SEC. 5. The directors of the bank shall make or cause to be made, through their cashier under oath or affirmation, an annual report to the Auditor of the Territory or State (as the case may be) a full exhibit of the condition of said bank, which report shall be published in three newspapers of this Territory by said Auditor. SEC. 6. This act shall be in force from and after its passage. AN ACT To incorporate the Weeping Water Ferry and Bridge Company. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Nebraska, That William Heligh, Jacob Dawson, M. H. Hathaway, Joseph McCloy, their associates, heirs, and assigns be, and they are hereby, declared a body corporate and politic under the name and style of the Weeping Water Ferry and Bridge Company and by that name and style shall have all the rights and privileges of a corporate association. SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of said corporation to keep a suitable boat or bridge on the Weeping Water with exclusive privileges for a distance of three miles on the mouth of said Weeping Water, for the safe and speedy transportation of persons and property at all seasonable hours. SEC. 3. Said company shall be governed by by-laws, rules and regulations not inconsistent with the laws of the United States or this Territory. SEC 4. Nothing contained in this act shall prohibit the erection of a free bridge or bridges or the keeping of free ferries. SEC. 5. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage. AN ACT To locate a Territorial Road. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council aud House of Representatives of the Territory of Nebraska, That Wm. Rector, Wm. Neligh and Jacob Dawson be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners to locate and establish a Territorial road, commencing at Wyoming in Otoe county, and running from thence westward on the most practicable route to intersect the Territorial road, running from Nebraska city to Grand Island, at some point between Wyoming and Salt creek. SEC. 2. That the said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at Wyoming on the second Monday in March, A. D., 1856, or within thirty days thereafter, and proceed to locate and establish said road, and their compensation shall be two dollars per day each, for the time actually employed therein. SEC. 3. That the cost of laying out and establishing said road shall be paid by the respective counties through which it shall pass. SEC. 4. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved January 26, 1856. AN ACT To Incorporate the Wyoming Steam Mill Company. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Nebraska, That Jacob Dawson, Wm. Neligh, M. H. Hathaway, their associates, heirs and assigns are hereby created a body corporate and politic by the name and style of the Wyoming Mill Company. SEC. 2. That by the said name and style they may have perpetual succession, and shall be capable in law of suing and being sued in all courts of law and equity, may have and use a common seal and alter the same at will, and that they may be capable in law of acquiring, holding, and conveying property, both real, personal and mixed, for the purpose of erecting a steam mill or mills and carrying on the same at or near Wyoming. SEC. 3. The capital stock of said company shall be not less than three thousand dollars, and may be increased to fifty thousand. SEC. 4. The said corporation shall have power to divide the capital stock into as many shares as they may deem proper, and shall have power to do all things incident to the nature of their corporation. SEC. 5. The object of this incorporation is to build a steam saw, grist and flouring mill or mills, at or near Wyoming, in the Territory of Nebraska, and such other machinery as the said company may consider useful to attach thereto, and transact such other business as may be necessary to keep said mill and other machinery in operation. SEC. 6. The said company shall have power to make such rules and regulations for their own government as are proper, not inconsistent with the laws of the United States and this Territory. SEC. 7. The stock of this company shall be deemed and considered in law personal property, and shall be assignable and transferable only upon the books of the corporation. SEC. 8. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved January 25, 1856. AN ACT Amendatory to an act entitled “An act to Incorporate Wyoming.” SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Nebraska, That as much of section 44 of said act of incorporation as relates to submitting the said act to a vote of the people of said city, on the first Monday of April, A. D., 1855, together with as much of section 8 of said act, which requires the first election of officers of said city, to be holden on the first Monday in April, 1855, and such other parts of said act inconsistent with this act, be and the same are hereby repealed. SEC. 2 That section 45 of said act is hereby repealed. SEC. 3. Whenever ten of the resident householders of said city shall petition any Justice of the Peace of Otoe county, asking for an organization of a city government, it shall be the duty of such justice to fix a day for a municipal election in said city, which shall not be more than twenty days from the time the petition is presented to him, and shall also appoint judges of elections and cause three notices of said election to be posted up in said city, and the said election shall be conducted according to the general election law, and the returns shall be made to said justice, who shall give to the several officers elected certificates of election. SEC. 4. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved January 25, 1856. AN ACT To authorize James M, Hinton to build a Mill on the north fork of the great Nemaha River. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Nebraska, That James M. Hinton, his heirs and assigns, be and are hereby authorized to build and keep a Grist and Saw Mill on the north fork of the great Nemaha River, in Pawnee county, on the south-west quarter of section thirty-four, township three, range twelve east, for the term of twentyfive years from the date of the passage of this act. SEC. 2. He may build his dam twelve feet high and have all the necessary races, canals, and acqueducts, in order to establish and work mills or machinery suitable for manufacturing the various kinds of grain or timber in this Territory. SEC. 3. Said James M. Hinton shall, within twelve months from the passage of this act, be prepared to grind all such grain or saw all such lumber as is usual at such mills, and shall, in all respects, be governed by the laws of this Territory. SEC. 4. This Act to take effect from and after its passage. AN ACT To locate the Penitentiary of Nebraska. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Nebraska, That T. G. Goodwill, L. L. Bowen, and W. B. Beck be, and are hereby appointed Commissioners to locate a Penitentiary for the Territory of Nebraska. SEC. 2. Said Commissioners shall locate the said Penitentiary within one mile of the public square in Tekama, in Burt county, and for that purpose shall meet in the town of Tekama, on the first Monday in March next, or within forty days thereafter, and after being sworn well and truly to locate the same, shall proceed, by actual examination, to ascertain the most suitable point for the location of the same. SEC. 3. When said Commissioners shall have decided on the place for the |