FOREST FIRES 23 



damage the property of another, is guilty of a misdemeanor and 

 shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred ($100) dollars 

 or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding three (3) months. 

 Any person who maliciously sets on fire, or causes to be set on fire, 

 any woods, prairies or other combustible material whereby the prop- 

 erty of another is destroyed and life is sacrificed, shall be punished 

 with a fine of not over five hundred ($500) dollars, or be imprisoned 

 in the state prison for a term of not over ten (10) years, or both such 

 fine and imprisonment. 



SEC. 10. Any person who shall kindle a fire on or dangerously 

 near to forest or prairie land and leave it unquenched, or shall be a 

 party thereto, and every person who shall use other than incom- 

 bustible wads for firearms, or who shall carry a naked torch, fire 

 brand or other exposed light in or dangerously near to forest land, 

 causing risk of accidental fire, shall be punished by a fine not exceed- 

 ing one hundred ($100) dollars or imprisonment in the county jail 

 not exceeding three (3) months. 



SEC. 11. Every person who shall willfully or heedlessly deface, 

 destroy or remove any warning placard posted under the require- 

 ments of this act shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred 

 ($100) dollars for each such offense, or imprisonment in the county 

 jail not exceeding three (3) months. 



SEC. 12. It shall be the duty of all railroad companies operating Duty of 

 any railroad within this state to use efficient spark arresters on all railroads, 

 their engines and to keep their right of way to the width of fifty (50) 

 feet on each side of the center of the main track cleared of all com- 

 bustible materials and safely dispose of the same within said limits 

 of their right of way between the fifteenth day of April and the first 

 day of December. No railroad company shall permit its employees 

 to leave a deposit of fire or live coals, or hot ashes, in the immediate 

 vicinity of woodland, or lands liable to be overrun by fires, and where 

 engineers, conductors or trainmen discover that fences or other ma- 

 terial along the right of way or woodland adjacent to the railroad 

 are burning or are in danger from fire, they shall report the same 

 promptly at the next telegraph station that they may pass. In 

 seasons of drouth railroad companies shall give particular instruc- 

 tions to their employees for the prevention and prompt extinguish- 

 ment of fires and they shall cause warning placards furnished by the 

 Forest Commissioner to be posted at their stations in the vicinity 

 of forest and prairie grass lands, and where a fire occurs along the 

 line of their road they shall concentrate such help and adopt such 

 measures as shall be available to effectively extinguish it. Any rail- 

 road company violating the requirements of this act shall be deemed 

 guilty of a misdemeanor and be punished by a fine not exceeding one 

 hundred ($100) dollars for each such offense, and railroad employees 

 violating the requirements of this section shall be guilty of a misde- 

 meanor and be punished by a fine of not less than five ($5) dollars 

 nor more than fifty ($50) dollars. But this section shall not be 

 construed to prohibit or prevent any railroad company from piling 

 or keeping upon the right of way cross ties or other material neces- 

 sary in the operation or maintenance of such railroad. 



************* 

 SEC. 14. Nothing in this act shall be construed as affecting any 



right of action for damages. 



SEC. 15. Woodland territory within the terms of this act shall 



be construed to mean bodies of forest and brush land. 



