Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That Christopher Smith, Eli Richman, Alexander Webb, Harvey Decamp, John Reeves, William Woodruff, George W. Towsley, and Samuel Williams, be and they are hereby created a body politic and corporate, under the name and style of the "Directors of the Wesleyan Cemetery, of Cincinnati", and, by that name, shall be capable of contracting and being contracted with, of sueing and being sued, of pleading and being impleaded, of answering and being answered, in all courts and places, and in all matters whatsoever, with full power to purchase, receive, hold, occupy, and convey, any real and personal estate, which they may deem necessary to promote the object, or advance the interests of the said corporation, and to use a corporate seal. The said directors shall continue in office until their successors shall be chosen, as hereinafter directed.

Sec. 2. The directors of the said cemetery shall be chosen triennially, on the first Monday in March, by the boards of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, severally and jointly interested therein, to wit: two by the trustees of the Wesley Chapel; two by the trustees of Fourth Street chapel; two by the trustees of the Ninth Street Chapel; and two by the trustees of Asbury Chapel. And whenever any new pastoral charge shall be set off from one or more of the four herein before named, the trustees of such new charge shall have power to appoint, in like manner, two directors **** said cemetery; and *** veral boards of trustees, shall, respectively, *** vacancies occurring in said board of directors. The board of directors shall elect, annually, from their own body, a president, secretary, and treasurer, and shall fill, in like manner, all vacancies occurring in the said offices. The title to all the property of the corporation, real and personal, shall be vested in the directors, who shall have the government and regulation thereof, and of the business and interests of the corporation, and may adopt such general rules and regulations for that purpose, not inconsistent with the laws of this state, as they may judge best.

Sec. 3. That the said directors shall have authority to dedicate and appropriate any real estate which they may now own, or which may hereafter be purchased by, or conveyed to, them as and for a rural cemetery, or burying ground, and for the erection of tombs, cenotaphs, and other monuments for, and in memory of, the dead; and for this purpose to lay out the same in suitable lots or other subdivisions, for family or other burying plots and to plant and embellish the same with trees, shrubbery, flowers, *** and other rural ornaments or improvements; and to make and provide **able enclosures; and to make and annex thereto such other suitable appeddagges and conveniences as they shall, from time to time, deem expedia** and whenever the said directors shall lay out and dedicate any of their estate, for a cemetery or burying ground and to make and annex thereto such other suitable *** and conveniences as they shall, from time to time deem expected and whenever the said directors shall lay out and dedicate any of their estate, for a cemetery or burying ground, as aforesaid, the same shall be forever held by the said directors, in trust, for such purposes, and none other. And all real estate so dedicated, for the purposes aforesaid with the grounds occupied by the sexton's and porter's dwelling have a garden attached thereto, any road owned by the directors, connecting said ground with any public road, shall be exempted from taxation. And the said directors shall have authority to grant and convey to any person or persons, the sole and exclusive right of burial, and of erecting tombs, cenotaphs, and other ornaments, in any such designated lots or subdivision upon such terms or conditions, and subject to such regulations, that at the *** the directors shall prescribe; and every right so granted or conveyed, shall be held for the purpose aforesaid, and for none other, as real estate, proprietors thereof, and shall not be subject to attachment or execution.

Sec. 4. That is shall be lawful for the said directors to take and *** grant, donation, or bequest of property, upon trust, to apply the *** thereof the for improvement or embellishment of the said cemetery lot or subdivision thereof, for the repairs, preservation, or renewal of tomb, monument, gravestone, fence or railing, or other erection around any burying lot, or for the planting and cultivation of trees, shrubs, or plants, in or around any burying lot, according to the terms of the grant, donation or bequest; and any court in this state, having jurisdiction, shall have power to compel the due performance of all trusts, or any of them, upon a bill filed for that purpose, by proprietors of any lot in said cemetery.

Sec. 5. That any person who shall wilfully destroy, mutilate, injure, or remove, any tomb, monument, gravestone, or other item placed in the cemetery, aforesaid, or any fence, railing, or other wo**, the enclosing, protection, or ornament of the said cemetery, or of any monument, gravestone, or other structure aforesaid, or of any burial within the limits thereof, or shall wilfully destroy, cut, break, or remove any tree, shrub, or plant, within the limits of said cemetery, or sh **** or discharge any gun or other fire arms within the limits aforesaid, *** will be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof by, any justice of the peace, within the proper township, be punished by a fine of not less than five dollars, nor more than fifty dollars, according to the *** and aggravation of the offence; and such offender shall also be liable of the action of trespass to be brought against him, in any court of comp** ***diction, by the said directors, to pay all such damages as shall have be occasioned by his unlawful act or acts, which money, when recovered, will be applied by the directors of the said cemetery, to the reparation of the property destroyed or injured aforesaid; and, in such action, the directors, or any proprietor of a lot in said cemetery, shall **** witness.

JOHN CHANEY,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
JAMES J. FARAN,
Speaker of the senate.