1847,

LAWS OF MARYLAND.

CHAP. 28.

or commit trespass upon fixtures of said corporation
erected in pursuance of authority hereby given, actually
interrupting, or with intent to interrupt the operations
of the telegraph, shall be liable for all damages which
the said corporation may suffer in repairing the injury
ana in the interruption of their business, to be recovered
in an action of trespass.

To construct
telegraph lines
along roads &c.

SEC. 10. Be it further enacted, That it shall be law-
ful for the company hereby incorporated, to construct
lines of telegraph along the common roads and streets
of this State, and with the permission of the owners
thereof, alone; all turnpikes, rail roads ami canals, for
the purpose of communicating between any of the towns
and villages in this State, or beyond its limits, and the
main line of said company, and with each other, sub-
ject to all the terms and conditions in this act contained.

Obligation in
case of war,
insurrection,
&c.

SEC. 11. Be it further enacted, That the said cor-
poration shall be bound, on application of any of the
officers of this State or of the United States, acting in
the event of any war, insurrection, riot or other civil
commotion, or resistance of public authority, or in the
prevention or punishment of crime, or the arrest of per-
sons charged or suspected thereof, to give to the com-
munication of such officers immediate despatch, and if
any officer, operator or clerk of said company shall re-
fuse or knowingly omit to transmit such communications,
or shall designedly alter or falsify the same for any pur-
pose whatever, he shall be subject to fine and imprison-
ment, in proportion to the aggravation of the offence,
upon indictment and conviction thereof before any court
of competent jurisdiction: for transmitting such com-
munications the company shall charge no higher price
than for private communications of the same length.

Dividends—
when to be de-
clared.

Proviso.

SEC. 12. Be it further enacted, That dividends of so
much of the profits of the company as shall be deemed
expedient be declared semi-annually, in the months of
January and July in each year; provided, that no divi-
dend shall be declared which shall impair the capital
stock of said company.

Additional
corporation.

SEC. 13. Be it further enacted, That Henry J. Rod-
gers, with such persons as are now or may hereafter be-
come interested as owners of Morse's patent-right on
the route from Baltimore to the Chesapeake bay, or as
subscribers of funds to build an electric telegraph on
said route, be and they are hereby constituted a corpo-
ration and body politic, under the name and style of the
Baltimore and Offing Telegraph Company, with all the
rights, powers and privileges, and subject to all the du-