Log and Lumber Owners on Susquehanna river

LOG AND LUMBER OWNERS ON SUSQUEHANNA RIVER - PROTECTION OF

Act of Apr. 10, 1862, P.L. 383, No. 393 Cl. 32

AN ACT

For the more effectual protection of the owners of Logs and

Lumber on the Susquehanna river.

Section 1. Marks and devices for identifying lumber

From and after the passage of this act it shall and may be

lawful for any person or persons, party or company, who are or

shall be engaged in lumbering, in any manner, upon the West

Branch of the river Susquehanna, or any of its tributaries, to

adopt one mark of designation, which mark may be either in

letters, figures, words, names, or other devices, at the

discretion of such person, party or company, wherewith to stamp

or mark all logs, masts, spars, shingles, shingle-bolts, square

timber, boomsticks, boards, or other lumber put or intended to

be put in said stream or its tributaries to be run, driven or

floated to any mills, booms or markets anywhere, at or above the

Susquehanna boom at Williamsport, and to furnish to the

prothonotary of the court of common pleas, at Williamsport, in

the County of Lycoming, or other county, where the said kinds of

lumber shall be put into said stream or tributary, a statement

in writing of the mark so adopted, as aforesaid, with a

certificate appended, that the same has been so adopted, as a

mark of designation, as aforesaid, signed by the person, party,

or some officer of the company adopting the same, as aforesaid;

and no person, party or company shall be entitled to adopt more

than one of any of the kinds of marks aforesaid, as a mark of

designation, but any such person, party or company shall not be

prohibited from using any other mark or marks, in addition to

the mark of designation, for distinguishing different kinds or

lots of lumber, or lumber obtained from different localities, so

always as that it interfere not with the mark of designation of

any other person, party or company; and it shall be the duty of

the prothonotary aforesaid, to receive and file of record, in

his office, any mark stated and certified as aforesaid, and to

give a certificate thereof to the person filing the same, and

certificates thereof from time to time to any person demanding

the same, under his hand and seal of the court; and the said

prothonotary shall be entitled to demand and receive for the

first certificate as aforesaid, the sum of one dollar, and for

every subsequent certificate, the sum of twenty-five cents; and

the certificates shall be prima facie evidence of the right of

the person, party or company filing the same, to the use of the

mark mentioned therein, and that all logs, shingles, shingle-

bolts, masts, spars, square timber, boom-sticks, boards or other

lumber in and along said streams, or in and along the main river

Susquehanna, are the property of the person, party or company,

whose mark of designation duly registered, as aforesaid, shall

be thereon; the right to the use of any mark of designation as

aforesaid, shall depend upon the priority of the registry on

record, as aforesaid, and no mark of designation, as aforesaid,

shall be received or filed or certificate given therefor, by the

prothonotaries aforesaid, if the same shall have been previously

registered it, it being the true intent and meaning of this act

to prevent the use of the same mark of designation by more than

one person, party or company. 1862, April 10, P.L. 383, Sec. 1.

Section 2. Taking up marked lumber

From and after the passage of this act it shall not be lawful

for any person or persons, without authority from the owner or

owners, to catch, stop, take up or detain any lumber of any of

the kinds mentioned in the first section of this act excepting

masts, spars, square timber and boards, which shall be floating

in any of the streams or main river above said Susquehanna Boom,

mentioned in said section, having thereon any duly registered

mark, under any pretense whatsoever, and the owner or owners of

any of the kinds of lumber aforesaid, marked with duly

registered marks, or his, her or their agent or agents, shall be

entitled to take possession of and remove, at his or their

pleasure, any lumber of any of the kinds before mentioned, so

taken up, stopped or detained, as aforesaid, contrary to the

provisions of this act without being in any manner liable for

damages or expenses incurred by any person or persons so taking

up, stopping or detaining the same, as aforesaid, without let or

hindrance, upon the production of the certificate of the

prothonotary made in conformity with the provisions of this act

either by the owner of the mark mentioned therein, or by any

other person or persons, agent or agents, with the authority

from the owner or owners, in writing, indorsed thereon or

annexed thereto for the purpose, and duly acknowledged before

any officer authorized to take acknowledgments of deeds or other

writings: Provided, That this section shall not apply to any

incorporated boom company, or to lumber of any of the kinds

aforesaid, taken up below said Susquehanna Boom; and that for

the purpose of encouraging persons to catch, take up and secure

logs and lumber floating down the Susquehanna river, below the

Susquehanna Booms, it shall and may be lawful for any person or

persons so taking up and securing any of this said kinds of

lumber, so found floating down the said river, below said booms,

to charge and receive from the owner or owners of said lumber

the sum of fifty cents per thousand feet, board measure, and to

have a lien upon the same until payment is made or tendered by

the owner or his agent; and for all such lumber, as aforesaid,

taken up below the Columbia bridge, seventy-five cents per

thousand feet, board measure. 1862, April 10, P.L. 383, Sec. 2.

Section 3. Owners of marked lumber may search for and remove

same., suits for damages

The owner or owners of any of the kinds of lumber aforesaid,

their agent or agents, shall have the right and by this act are

authorized to enter peaceably upon the lands, mills or other

premises of any person or persons, above said Susquehanna Booms,

doing no damage, to search for any such lumber, duly marked with

registered marks, as aforesaid, and shall have the right, and by

this act are authorized to remove any such lumber, marked as

aforesaid, without let or hindrance, first paying to the owner

or owners of such mill, premises or land the actual damage done

thereto, by occasion of such lumber having floated or remained

thereon, or damage done in the removal of such lumber therefrom;

and if the parties cannot agree as to the amount of damages

done, as aforesaid, the said lumber shall be delivered up to the

owner or owners thereof, his, her or their agents, upon the

production of a certificate, as provided in the second section

of this act; and the owner or owners thereof, his, her or their

agents, as aforesaid, shall be liable to arrest, at the suit of

the owner or owners of any such mill, premises or land, as

aforesaid, upon a capias ad respondendum, from which he or they

shall not be discharged until he or they shall give bail

absolute, before the justice or prothonotary who shall issue the

same, to pay to the owner or owners of any such mill, premises

or land, as aforesaid, the amount of the judgment that may be

finally recovered for the damages as aforesaid, with costs of

suit: Provided, That if the person or persons commencing any

such suit, as aforesaid, shall fail to recover, on final

hearing, a greater amount than was tendered by the owner or

owners, his, her or their agents, as aforesaid, at the time of

claiming such lumber, as aforesaid, then the party plaintiff

shall pay the party defendant, his, her or their necessary costs

of suit, and for his, her or their witnesses; which costs, as

aforesaid, shall be paid before the amount of the judgment

obtained shall be collected, or be made a set off against the

same; and it shall not be required, upon the trial of any such

case, to bring the money offered into court. 1862, April 10,

P.L. 383, Sec. 3.

Section 4. Forfeiture of lumber

If any of the kinds of lumber aforesaid, duly marked with

registered marks, as aforesaid, which may float or come upon any

land, as aforesaid, shall not be claimed, as aforesaid, within

three months thereafter, the same shall be forfeited to the use

of the owner or owners of any such land, as aforesaid: Provided,

That the said lumber shall have been first advertised for three

successive weeks, in the newspaper published nearest to said

land, the cost of which to be added to the other charges and

paid by the owner, before he shall be entitled to remove the

said lumber. 1862, April 10, P.L. 383, Sec. 4.

Section 5. Penalty for wrongful acts

If any person or persons shall fraudulently or wilfully use

the registered mark of another, or shall fraudulently make claim

to be the owner of any lumber of any kind, whether marked or

not, in and along said streams and main river, or shall

fraudulently refuse to deliver up any lumber of the kinds

aforesaid, duly stamped or marked as aforesaid, in accordance

with the second and third sections of this act; or shall,

without authority from the owner or owners thereof, wilfully

deface or obliterate any marks, names, figures, letters or other

devices of designation thereon, whether registered or not; or

shall fraudulently saw, split, consume, destroy, or injure or

knowingly permit to be sawed or consumed upon his, her or their

mill, or other factory, or shall fraudulently sell or purchase,

or convert to his, her or their use any lumber of the kinds

mentioned in the first section of this act, whether marked with

registered marks as aforesaid, or not, unless the same shall

have become duly forfeited, according to the provisions of this

act, or the provisions of existing laws, every such person so

offending shall, for every such offense, upon conviction

thereof, forfeit and pay a sum, not exceeding one thousand

dollars, and if the court deem proper, also undergo an

imprisonment by separate and solitary confinement at labor, or

simple imprisonment, not exceeding three years. 1862, April 10,

P.L. 383, Sec. 5.

Section 6. Boom companies not liable except for marked

lumber

No incorporated boom company upon said streams shall be held

legally responsible for any logs or lumber, such as they are

authorized by their respective charters to catch or stop, that

may escape from any booms, unless the same shall have been duly

marked as aforesaid, with registered marks, and the production

to the officers of said companies of a certificate, as provided

in the second section of this act, shall be sufficient evidence

to warrant the delivery of any lumber caught in said booms, to

the person, party or company certified to be the owner or owners

of the marks thereon, or his, her or their agent or agents, in

the absence of any express notice of any other claim to the

same: Provided, That this section shall not be so construed as

to prevent the said companies from collecting boomage upon such

nonmarked lumber, according to the provisions of their

respective charters: Provided, Further, That such boom companies

shall not be released from legal responsibility for any such

logs or lumber as may escape from the control of the owner or

owners, by reason of high water, or from other causes, which may

be stopped by, or come into any boom, as aforesaid. 1862, April

10, P.L. 383, Sec. 6.

Section 8. Bills of sale of marked lumber

Any bill of sale of any of the kinds of duly marked lumber

aforesaid, executed and acknowledged as provided in the second

section of this act, either by the owner of the mark stamped

thereon, or his, her or their administrators or executors, or by

any sheriff or other public officer, that he has made sale of

any such marked lumber as aforesaid, by virtue of lawful

authority, shall be prima facie evidence that the title of the

person, party or company owning the mark thereon in such lumber

has become vested in the grantee or grantees mentioned in such

bill of sale, as aforesaid, and the like effect shall be given

to every subsequent bill of sale of any such lumber, made and

acknowledged as hereinbefore provided. 1862, April 10, P.L.

383, Sec. 8.