776 ST. MARY'S COUNTY. [ART. 18.

Assembly, shall be eligible as a trustee; and no person shall be
compellable to serve in less than three years after he has served
or paid the penalty for not serving.

5. In all cases of vacancies happening by non-acceptance,
death, removal out of the county, or disqualification of any of
said trustees, the vacancy shall be filled by the county commis-
sioners at their next meeting thereafter.

6. The trustees so appointed and qualified are a body politic,
with power to sue and be sued, by the name of " The Trustees
of the Poor of St. Mary's county," and by that name may take
and hold any gift, donation or present which may be given,
devised or bequeathed to them for the support and maintenance
of the poor in said county.

7. They may purchase and hold any lands and tenements
not exceeding the yearly value of twenty-five hundred dollars;

and they may have and use a common seal, and alter the same
at pleasure.

8. The meetings of the said trustees shall be held at the alms-
house in said county, except such meetings as may be necessary
for the settlement of their accounts with the county commis-
sioners.

9. They shall meet at the alms-house on some convenient day
during the month of July, in each year, for the purpose of elect-
ing an overseer of said alms-house for the next year, who shall
enter upon the discharge of his duties on the first day of Janu-
ary next ensuing his appointment.

10. If the office of overseer shall at any time become vacant,
the said trustees shall, as soon thereafter as convenient, appoint
gome suitable person for the remainder of his year, and they
may, at their discretion, remove said overseer and appoint
another in his place.

11. They shall require said overseer to enter into bond, with
sufficient securities, in the penalty of five hundred dollars, payable
to the said trustees, conditioned for the faithful performance of
his duty as overseer.