Public Acts of the State of Tennessee Passed by the General Assembly

of the other members of the Commission shall be three thousand dollars ($3,000) per annum, and the salary of the Secretary shall be two thousand ($2,000) per annum, payable quarterly out of the State treasury on the warrant of the Comptroller" and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "That salary of the Chairman of the Railroad Commission shall be four thousand and six hundred dollars ($4,600) per annum, and the salaries of each of the other members of the Commission shall be four thousand dollars ($4,000) per annum, and the salary of the Secretary shall be two thousand ($2,000) per annum, payable monthly out of the State treasury on a warrant of the Comptroller."

SEC. 20. Be it further enacted, That this Act take effect from and after its passage, the public welfare requiring it.

Passed February 7, 1919.

ANDREW L. TODD, Speaker of the Senate.

SETH M. WALKER,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Approved February 17, 1919.

A. H. ROBERTS,
Governor.

CHAPTER NO. 4.

SENATE BILL No. 106.

(By Mr. Stockard.)

AN ACT to repeal an Act entitled "A Bill to be entitled an Act to abolish the death penalty, except in case of rape and convicts serving life terms in State penitentiary as punishment for crime and to substitute therefor the punishment of imprisonment for life," being Chapter 181 of the Public Acts of the General Assembly of 1915, commonly called the Bowers Law.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That Chapter 181 of the Public Acts of 1915 entitled "A Bill to be entitled

an Act to abolish the death penalty, except in cases

of rape and convicts serving life terms in State peni-

tentiary as punishment for crime and to substitute

therefor the punishment of imprisonment for life,”

be, and the same is, hereby repealed.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That this Act take

effect from and after its passage, the public welfare

requiring it.

Passed January 23, 1919.

ANDREW L. TODD,

Speaker of the Senate.

SETH M. WALKER,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Approved January 27, 1919.

AN ACT to fix the punishment of persons convicted of mur-

der in the first degree; to amend Section 4601 of the Code

of Tennessee so as to provide that the jury shall fix the

punishment of persons convicted of murder in the first de-

gree and to prescribe when they may assess less than cap-

ital punishment, and what punishment they may assess in

such cases; to repeal Chapter 181 of the Acts of the Regular

Session of 1915; to repeal Section 5257 of the Code of Ten-

nessee; and to repeal all laws in conflict with this Act.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly

State of Tennessee, When any person is convicted of
the crime of murder in the first degree, or as an ac-
cessory before the fact of such a crime, it shall be
the duty of the Jury convicting him in their verdict
to fix his punishment, which punishment shall be
death in the mode prescribed by law for the in-
fliction of the death penalty in capital cases, or the
Jury may, if they are of opinion that there are
mitigating circumstances, fix the punishment at im-

prisonment in the penitentiary for life, or for some

period over twenty years.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That Section 4601

of the Code of Tennessee of 1858, which fixes the

punishment of persons convicted of murder in the

first degree at death, be and the same is hereby

amended so as in all respects to read as and conform

to the language of Section 1 of this Act.

en-

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That Chapter 181

of the Acts of the Regular Session of the General

Assembly of 1915, entitled "A Bill to be