over the different railroads entering any city or town where any warehouse is situated.

cil.

16. The common council of the city of Chicago may Common coungrant to any warehouseman in said city the right to use any street or alley, for the purpose of laying a track to connect his warehouse with any railroad in said city; and said common council may authorize the railroad company to run its cars over such track, subject to such regulations as said common council may prescribe.

§ 17. All contracts for the sale of grain for future de- Contracts. livery, except in cases where the seller is owner or agent of the owner of such grain at the time of making the contract and in actual possession thereof, are hereby declared void and gambling contracts; and all money paid in settlement of differences on any such contract may be recovered back in the same manner as other money lost in gambling.

tracts.

§ 18. All parties to any such gambling contract shall Gambling be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon a conviction thereof, shall be fined one thousand dollars and imprisonment not exceedidg one year in the county jail, and one-half of said fine shall go to the informer, who is hereby declared to be a competent witness on the trial of parties indicted under this act.

§ 19. Any person who shall loan grain or warehouse Loaning. receipts therefor to any other person, to be used for delivery on short contracts or for purposes of speculation merely, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to the punishment provided for in the preceding section; and. in such cases, the informer shall receive half the fine and be a competent witness as aforesaid.

§ 20. In penal proceedings, under the two last preceding Evidence. sections, no warehouse receipts shall be received in evidence of ownership or possession of grain by the defendant at the time of making such contract; and, in all cases, proof on the part of the prosecution, of a contract made by the dedefendant for the sale of grain for future delivery, shall be prima facie evidence that such contract was a gambling one and void.

con

§ 21. It shall be lawful for any public warehouseman Damaged grain. to sell any or all damaged grain which has remained in store for one year, during which time it has become damaged, for account of parties having claim thereto, after giving thirty days' notice, by publication in some newspaper published in the city or town where such warehouseman does business.

§ 22. It shall be unlawful for any railroad or railway Railroads. company to deliver any grain into any warehouse, other than that into which it is consigned, without consent of the owner or consignor thereof; and it shall be the duty of said party or parties, at the time of shipment of said grain and

before it reaches its destination, to give notice to the rail-
road or railway company, by card on the car or otherwise,
of the warehouse into which said grain is to be delivered;
and for the failure to deliver grain according to the direc
tion of the owner or consignor thereof, such railroad or
railway company shall be liable to the warehouseman to
whom the same should have been delivered for two months'
storage of all such grain so consigned or refused, and also
to such warehouseman and to the owner of such grain for
all other damages either of them may have sustained by
reason of such refusal or neglect of said railroad or railway
company, including all lawful expenses incurred by him or
them in the prosecution of any suit or suits against such
railroad or railway company to recover the penalties or
enforce the provisions of this act; or, if such grain is to
be taken from the cars without delivery into any warehouse,
the railroad or railway company shall be notified in like
manner thereof; and in such case said railroad or railway
company shall notify said owner or consignee of the arrival
of said grain at its destination, and give a seasonable time.
for the removal of the same; and for the failure to give
such notice, when necessary, to the owner or consignee of
the arrival of grain or for delivery of the same into any
warehouse without the consent of such owner or consignee,
or without notice or opportunity to remove the same from
the cars of said railroad or railway company; where said
consent is not given, such railroad or railway company shall
be liable to the owner of such grain for all damages he may
have sustained by reason of the illegal action of such rail-
road or railway company, including all lawful expenses in-
curred by him in the prosecution of any suits against such
railroad or railway company growing out thereof, and all
lawful expenses incurred by him or his assignees against
other parties to recover possession of such grain.
APPROVED February 16, 1867.

In force Feb'y AN ACT to amend an act entitled "An act regulating warehousemen, and 25, 1867.

Consigner.

authorizing connections of railroads with warehouses and for other purposes," approved February 16, A. D, 1867.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Ilinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the said act be so amended, that wherever the word "consignor" occurs in the twenty-second section thereof, the said act shall read in lieu thereof "consignee;" and that where the word "and" occurs for the second time in said

twenty-second section, the said act shall be so amended that in lieu of the said word "and" the said act shall read "or."

This act shall be deemed a public act, and shall take effect from and after its passage.

APPROVED February 25, 1867.

WITNESSES.

AN ACT relating to the competency of witnesses in civil cases.

In force Feb. 14, 1867.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That no Witnesses. person shall be disqualified as a witness in any civil action, suit or proceeding, except as hereinafter stated, by reason of his or her interest in the event thereof as a party or otherwise, or by reason of his or her conviction of any crime, but such interest or conviction may be shown for the purpose of affecting the credibility of such witness; and the fact of such conviction may be proven like any fact not of record, either by the witness himself (who shall be compelled to testify thereto) or by any other witness cognizant of such conviction, as impeaching testimony, or by any other competent evidence.

2. That no party to any civil action, suit or proceed- Exceptions. ing, or person directly interested in the event thereof, shall be allowed to testify therein of his own motion, or in his own behalf, by virtue of the foregoing section, when any adverse party sues or defends as the trustee or conservator of any idiot, lunatic or distracted person, or as the executor, administrator, heir, legatee or devisee of any deceased person, or as guardian or trustee of any such heir, legatee or devisee, unless when called as a witness by such adverse party so suing or defending; and also except in the following cases, namely:

First-In any such action, suit or proceeding, a party or Death. interested person may testify to facts occurring after the death of such deceased person.

Second-When, in such action, suit or proceeding, any Agent of dec`d. agent of any deceased person shall, in behalf of any person or persons suing or being sued in either of the capacities above named, testify to any conversation or transaction between such agent and the opposite party or party in interest, such opposite party or party in interest may testify concerning the same conversation or transaction.

Third-Where, in any such action, suit or proceeding, any such party suing or defending as aforesaid, or any person having a direct interest in the event of such action, suit or proceeding, shall testify in behalf of such party so suing or defending, to any conversation or transaction with the opposite party or party in interest, then such opposite party or party in interest shall also be permitted to testify as to the same conversation or transaction.

Fourth-Where, in any such action, suit or proceeding, any witness not a party to the record, or not a party in interest, or not an agent of such deceased person, shall, in behalf of any party to such action, suit, or proceeding, testify to any conversation or admission by any adverse party or party in interest, occurring before the death and in the absence of such deceased person, such adverse party or party in interest may also testify as to the same admission

or conversation.

Fifth-When, in any such action, suit or proceeding, the deposition of such deceased person shall be read in evidence at the trial, any adverse party or party in interest may testify as to all matters and things testified to in such deposition by such deceased person, and not excluded for irrelevancy or incompetency.

§ 3. Where, in any civil action, suit or proceeding, the claim or defense is founded on a book account, any party or interested person may testify to his account book, and the items therein contained, that the same is a book of original entries, and that the entries therein were made by himself, and are true and just, or that the same were made by a deceased person, or by a disinterested person, a nonresident of the state at the time of the trial, and were made by such deceased or non-resident person in the usual course of trade, and of his duty or employment to the party so testifying; and thereupon the said account book and entries shall be admitted as evidence in the cause.

84. That in any action, suit or proceeding, by or against any surviving partner or partners, joint contractor or contractors, no adverse party, or person adversely interested in the event thereof, shall, by virtue of section one of this act, be rendered a competent witness to testify to any admission or conversation by any deceased partner or joint contractor, unless some one or more of the surviving partners or joint contractors were also present at the time of such admission or conversation.

5. That no husband or wife shall, by virtue of section one of this act, be rendered competent to testify for or against each other as to any transaction or conversation occurring during the marriage, whether called as a witness during the existence of the marriage or after its dissolution, except in cases where the wife would, if unmarried, be

plaintiff or defendant, or where the cause of action grows out of a personal wrong or injury done by one to the other, or grows out of the neglect of the husband to furnish the wife with a suitable support, and except also in cases where the litigation shall be concerning the separate property of the wife, in all of which cases the husband and wife may testify for or against each other in the same manner as other parties may under the provisions of this act.

ties.

6. That any party to any civil action, suit or proceed- Adverse paring may compel any adverse party or person for whose benefit such action, suit or proceeding is brought, instituted, prosecuted or defended, to testify as a witness at the trial, or by deposition, taken as other depositions are by law required, in the same manner and subject to the same rules as other witnesses.

87. That in any civil action, suit, or proceeding, no No release. person who would, if a party thereto be incompetent to testify therein under the provisions of section two, or section three, shall become competent by reason of any assignment or release of his claim made for the purpose of allowing such person to testify.

§ 8. That nothing in this act contained shall in any man- Estates. ner affect the laws now existing relating to the settlement of the estates of deceased persons, infants, idiots, lunatics, or distracted persons, or to the acknowledgment or proof of deeds and other conveyances relating to real estate, in order to entitle the same to be recorded, or to the attestation of the execution of last wills and testaments, or of any other instrument required by law to be attested.

§ 9. That sections thirty-nine, (39) forty, (40,) and forty- Revised statone, (41,) of chapter fifty-nine, (59) and section seven (7) of utes. chapter fifty-four (54) of the Revised Statutes of 1845; and an act to dispense with bills of discovery in certain cases, approved February 20th, A. D. 1861, and an act to amend the same, approved February 16, A. D. 1865, and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith, be and the same are hereby repealed.

§ 10. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and shall apply to all cases then pending. APPROVED February 19, 1867.