A. W. BRADFORD, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.

four weeks, of their appointment, accompanied
with such an abstract of the powers conferred
upon them by this act, as shall fully inform the
public of the object of such appointment ; such no-
tice shall particularly request and notify all per-
sons, having original deeds or other instruments
of writing or papers, which have been recorded in
the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of said
county, the record of which has been wholly or
partially destroyed by fire, to file the said origi-
nals with the Clerk of the said Circuit Court, and
shall also prescribe the time and place of sitting
of the said commission, which shall be at the
court house in said county.

335

Sec. 5. And be it enacted, That in all cases,
where in the judgment of the Commissioners ap-
pointed by this act, any record in the office of the
Clerk of the Circuit Court for said county, shall
have been so burnt or defaced as to be wholly de-
stroyed by fire, and the index to such record, or
the general index may supply the titling to such
record, they shall take and accept said index as
auxiliary evidence, and shall, if the original papers
or a certified copy thereof, properly evidenced as
of record, be produced, order and direct such origi-
nal paper or copy, as the case may be, to be re-
corded anew by the Clerk of the Circuit Court for
said county, and shall endorse such order on said
paper, which endorsement and new record of such
paper, shall be prima facie evidence of the verity
of the record so made, and available for all purpo-
ses for which the original record, if it had not
been destroyed by fire, would have been available
in evidence.

Records whol-
ly destroyed —
evidence, &c.

Sec. 6. And be it enacted, That in all cases
where any record or paper shall be wholly de-
stroyed by fire, and the original or certified copy
thereof cannot be procured, it shall be the duty of
the Commissioners, if the said record be found in-
dexed, to hear and receive such other evidence, if
any there be within the record office, either to be
derived from the remains of the burnt record or
otherwise, and such extrinsic evidence as the par-
ties interested may supply, and shall determine
and adjudge in the premises, whether the said
record or paper be fully established, and if satis-

Papers, &c.,
destroyed —
duty of Com-
missioners, &c.