if, for any other reason, his attendance cannot be procured, in order to make the acknowledgment, or if, having appeared, he refuses to acknowledge it, proof of the due execution and delivery of the deed may be made by any competent testimony. SEC. 18. Such proof may be made before the same court or Before whom. officers as are authorized to take acknowledgments as aforesaid. SEC. 19. The certificate, indorsed by them upon the deed thus Certificate. proved, must state: First, The title of the court or officer taking the proof: Second, That it was satisfactorily proved that the grantor was dead, or that, for some other cause, his attendance could not be procured, in order to make the acknowledgment, or that, having appeared, he refused to acknowledge the deed: Third, The names of the witnesses by whom the proof was made, and that it was proved by them that the instrument was executed by the person whose name is thereunto subscribed as a party. SEC. 20. The certificate of proof or acknowledgment, as afore- Same. said, may be given under seal or otherwise, according to the mode by which the courts or officers granting the same usually authenticate their most solemn and formal official acts. SEO. 21. Any officer who knowingly states a material untruth, Penalty. in either of the certificates above contemplated, may be indicted and fined, in any sum not exceeding the value of the property conveyed or otherwise affected by the instrument on which such certificate is endorsed. SEC. 22. Any court or officer having power to take the proof Subpoena. above contemplated, may issue the necessary subpoenas and compel the attendance of witnesses residing within the county by at-.. tachment, if necessary. power. SEC. 23. No instrument containing a power to convey or in Revocation of any manner affect real estate, certified and recorded as above prescribed, can be revoked by any act of the parties by whom it was executed, until the instrument containing such revocation is acknowledged and deposited for record, and entered on the entry book, in the same office in which the instrument conferring the power is recorded. when evidence. SEC. 24. Every instrument in writing affecting real estate, Instruments which is acknowledged or proved and certified as hereinbefore directed, may be read in evidence, without further proof. SEC. 25. The record of such instrument, or a duly authenti- Record when. cated copy thereof, is competent evidence whenever, by the party's own oath or otherwise, the original is shown to be lost, or not belonging to the party wishing to use the same, nor within his control; and, in such case, it is no objection to the record Retrospective. Not conclusive. Past acts. Records heretofore taken valid. that no official seal is appended to the recorded acknowledgment SEO. 27. Neither the certificate nor the record, nor the tran- SEC. 29. All acknowledgments of deeds and other instruments of writing, for record in this Territory, which have already been taken by registers of deeds, with or without an impression of an official seal, are hereby recognized, confirmed and made valid. SEC. 30. This act to take effect and be in force from and after the first day of June next. Election fourth CHAPTER XXXI. AN ACT providing for the formation of a Constitution and State Govern- Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of SECTION 1. That an election shall be holden in the several vot- and form of bal proclaim result. stitution, law void. following manner, to wit: All legal voters under the provisions Who may vote, of this act, who may be in favor of the formation of a Consti- lot. tution and State Government, shall be entitled to vote a written or printed ballot, inscribed "For a Constitution ;" and all legal voters as aforesaid, who may be opposed to the formation of a Constitution and State Government, shall be entitled to vote a written or printed ballot, inscribed "Against a Constitution." SEC. 2. That if, upon counting the returns of said election, in The governer to the manner hereinafter prescribed, it shall be found that a major- If against Conity of the legal voters of said Territory shall have voted "against" the formation of a Constitution and State Government, the governor of the Territory shall issue his proclamation in accordance with the facts, and that the remaining provisions of this act shall be inoperative and void; but if, upon counting the returns of If in favor, law said election, in the manner hereinafter prescribed, it shall be found that a majority of the legal voters of said Territory shall have voted "for" the formation of a Constitution and State Government, the Governor of the Territory shall issue his proclamation in accordance with the facts, and that the remaining provisions of this act shall remain in full force and effect. in full force. gates on first SEC. 3. That an election shall be holden on the first Tuesday Election for deleof June, A. D. 1859, in the several voting precincts in the Ter- Tuesday in June. ritory of Kansas, for delegates to a convention to frame a Constitution and State Government for the State of Kansas. bers and their ap SEC. 4. That said convention shall be composed of fifty-two Number of menmembers, to be apportioned among the several districts of the portionment. Territory as follows, to wit: The county of Leavenworth shall constitute the first district, and shall elect ten delegates; the county of Atchison shall constitute the second district, and shall elect three delegates; the county of Doniphan shall constitute the third district, and shall elect five delegates; the county of Brown shall constitute the fourth district, and shall elect one delegate; the county of Nemaha shall constitute the fifth district, and shall elect one delegate; the counties of Marshall, Washington and Arappahoe shall constitute the sixth district, and elect one delegate; the county of Jefferson shall constitute the seventh district, and shall elect one delegate; the county of Calhoun shall constitute the eighth district, and shall elect one delegate; the county of Riley shall constitute the ninth district, and shall elect one delegate; the county of Pottawattamie shall constitute the tenth district, and shall elect one delegate; the county of Johnson shall constitute the eleventh district, and shall elect two delegates; Where to assemble. Submission of Election for State officers. Transmission of ratified Constitu the county of Douglas shall constitute the twelfth district, and shall elect seven delegates; the county of Shawnee shall constitute the thirteenth district, and shall elect three delegates; the counties of Richardson, Davis, Dickinson and Clay shall constitute the fourteenth district, and shall elect one delegate; the county of Lykins shall constitute the fifteenth district, and shall elect two delegates; the county of Franklin shall constitute the sixteenth district, and shall elect one delegate; the counties of Weller, Breckenridge and Wise shall constitute the seventeenth district, and shall elect two delegates; the county of Linn shall constitute the eighteenth district, and shall elect two delegates; the county of Anderson shall constitute the nineteenth district, and shall elect one delegate; the counties of Coffey and Woodson shall constitute the twentieth district, and shall elect two delegates; the counties of Madison, Butler, Hunter, Greenwood, Godfrey and Wilson shall constitute the twenty-first district, and shall elect one delegate; the counties of Bourbon, McGee and Dorn shall constitute the twenty-second district, and shall elect two delegates; the county of Allen shall constitute the twentythird district, and shall elect one delegate. SEC. 5. That the delegates, elected under the provisions of this act, shall assemble at Wyandott, on the first Tuesday of July, A. D. 1859, and shall proceed to frame a Constitution and provide for the organization of a State Government for the State of Kansas. SEC. 6. That on the first Tuesday of October, A. D. 1859, the Constitution thus framed shall be submitted to a direct vote of the qualified electors of the Territory of Kansas, for their ratification or rejection, in such manner and form as the said convention may prescribe. SEC. 7. That, in case the Constitution, thus framed and submitted, shall be ratified by a majority of the electors of saidTerritory, then an election shall be holden on the first Tuesday of December, A. D. 1859, at which State officers, members of the State Legislature, judges, and all other officers provided for under said Constitution, shall be elected. SEC. 8. That it shall be the duty of said convention, in case tion to Congress. said Constitution shall be ratified by a majority of the electors voting at the aforesaid election, to provide for its transmission to the Congress of the United States, asking, by memorial or otherwise, for the admission of Kansas into the Union, under said Constitution, as a sovereign and independent State. SEO. 9. That, upon official information, having been by him. ( Governor elect to proclaim admisUnion, and convene Legislature. received, of the admission of Kansas into the Union as a State, ballot. SEC. 10. That all the elections provided for by this act shall All elections by be by ballot. voters. SEC. 11. That all white male citizens of the United States, Qualifications of and all those who shall have declared, on oath, their intention to become such, and all male Indians who have been made citizens of the United States, by treaty or otherwise, and who shall be over the age of twenty-one years, and who shall have been bona fide inhabitants of the Territory of Kansas, for the period of six months next preceding each of the respective elections provided for by this act, and who shall have been bona fide inhabitants of the county in which they may offer to vote for ten days next preceding each of the respective elections aforesaid, and none others, shall be entitled to vote at the several elections hereinbefore provided for: Provided, That no officer, soldier, seaman or marine, or other person in the army or navy of the United States, or attached to the troops in the service of the United States, shall be allowed to vote or hold office under the provisions of this act, by reason of being on service in this Territory. gates. SEC. 12. That any person, having the qualifications of an elec- who may be deletor as aforesaid, shall be eligible to become a delegate to the convention provided for by this act. SEC. 13. That the persons who may be judges of election in Judges of election the several voting precincts of this Territory, at the time of the respective elections provided for in this act, shall be the judges of the several respective elections hereinbefore provided for. election. SEO. 14. That the said judges of election, before entering upon Duty of judges of the duties of their office, shall take an oath faithfully to discharge their duties as such. Said oath shall be administered to them by any person duly qualified by law to administer oaths; and, in case no person thus qualified shall be present at the time of opening said elections, then said judges are hereby authorized and required to administer such oath to each other. They shall appoint two clerks of election, who shall also be sworn, by said judges, faithfully to discharge their duties as such. In the event of any vacancy or vacancies occurring in the board of judges, the by- |