such companies, to the place of final destination, and tenders to the first company the amount of the usual charges for the dispatch to the place of final delivery, the company shall receive the same, and, without delaying the dispatch, shall pay to the succeeding line the necessary charges for the remaining distance; and the succeeding line shall accept the same, and forward the dispatch in the same manner as if the sender had applied to it in person, and paid the usual charges, and for the omission so to do it shall be liable to a like penalty, as provided in the last section. 62 v. 72, § 8; S. & S. 155. § 3464. Agent must indorse dispatch, when— When application is made to any such company to send a dispatch, the officer, agent, clerk, or servant appointed by the company to receive dispatches at that station, shall inform the applicant, and, if required by him, write upon the dispatch, that the line is not in working order, or that the dispatches on hand for transmission will occupy the time so that the dispatch offered cannot be transmitted within the time required, if the facts are so; and for an omission so to do, or for intentionally giving false information to the applicant in relation to the time within which the dispatch offered may be sent, such officer, agent, clerk, or servant, and the company by which he is employed, shall incur the penalty provided in section thirty-four hundred and sixty-two. 62 v. 72, § 8; S. & S. 155. § 3465. Penalties for not transmitting or delivering mes sage Every telegraph company, incorporated or unincorporated, operating any telegraph line in this state, shall transmit and deliver all dispatches in the order in which they are received for transmission or delivery, under the like penalty of one hundred dollars, as provided in section thirty-four hundred and sixty-two; but arrangements may be made with the proprietors or publishers of newspapers for the transmission, for the purpose of publication, of intelligence of general and public interest, out of its regular order, and dispatches by officers of the state or the United States, on public business, may have preference over all private business, when the public interest requires such preference; no company shall be required to deliver dispatches at a greater distance from the station at which they are received than its published regulations require; and if an applicant direct a dispatch to be mailed at the place of delivery, and offer to pay the necessary postage thereon, the .company shall affix the necessary postage stamp, and mail the dispatch in time for the first mail that departs after such dispatch is received at the office of delivery, and for the omission so to do the company shall be liable to a like penalty as provided in section thirty-four hundred and sixty-two.. 62 v. 72, § 9. In case of failure to deliver a telegraphic message, the company is only liable for such damages as naturally flow from the breach of contract, or such as may fairly be supposed to have been within the contemplation of the parties, at the time the contract was made. Bank v. Telegraph Co., 30 Ohio St. 555. If the telegraph company is in default, but its default is made mischievous to a plaintiff only by operation of some other intervening cause, such as the dishonesty of a third person, the rule "causa proxima non remota spectatur” applies, and the company cannot be made responsible for the loss occasioned by such third person. Ib. Where a telegram indicates on its face the importance of prompt delivery, company will be liable for loss caused by failure to deliver. W. U. Tel. Co. v. Porter, 33 B. 300. Authorities on liability are collected in 26 B. 138. § 3466. Penalties against persons connected with companies Any person connected with a telegraph or messenger company, incorporated or unincorporated, operating a line of telegraph, or engaged in the business of receiving and delivering messages in this state, in any capacity, who willfully divulges the contents, or the nature of the contents of a private communication intrusted to him for transmission or delivery, or who willfully refuses or neglects to transmit or deliver the same, or willfully delays the transmission or delivery of the same, or who willfully forges the name of the intended receiver to any receipt for any such message or communication, or article of value intrusted to him by said company, with a view to injure, deceive or defraud the sender or intended receiver thereof, or any such telegraph or messenger company, or to benefit himself or any other person, shall be imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding three months, or fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, at the discretion of the court. 94 O. I. 209. § 3467. Penalties for knowingly transmitting dispatches forged, etc. A person who knowingly transmits by telegraph line any false communication or intelligence, with intent to injure any person, or to speculate in any article of merchandise, commerce or trade, or with intent that another may do so, or knowingly sends or delivers a dispatch that is forged, or not authorized by the person whose name purports to be signed thereto, shall be liable to the same penalty as is provided in section thirty-four hundred and sixty-two. 62 v. 72, § 11; S. & S. 156. § 3467a. Unlawfully obtaining, using, intercepting or delaying message-Penalty-Prosecutions- Whoever shall willfully and maliciously cut, break, tap or make any connection with, or read or copy by the use of telegraph or telephone instruments, or otherwise, in any unauthorized manner, any telegraphic message or communication from any telegraph or telephone line, wire or cable, so unlawfully cut or tapped. in this state; or make unauthorized use of the same, or who shall willfully and maliciously prevent, obstruct, or delay, by any means or contrivance whatsoever, the sending, conveyance or delivery in this state of any unauthorized telegraphic message or communication by or through any telegraph or telephone line, cable or wire under the control of any telegraph or telephone company doing business in this state; or who shall willfully or maliciously destroy, disconnect, displace, cut, break, tap, ground or make any connection with or in any way willfully and maliciously interfere with any of the poles, cables or wires legally erected, put up or strung, electrical apparatus, appliances or machinery of any kind used in the construction of or in the operating of any electrical street railway or electric light plant or plant used in the producing or generating electric power in this state; or who shall willfully or maliciously aid, agree with, employ, or conspire with any other person or persons to do any of the aforementioned unlawful acts, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars nor less than two hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a period of not less than one year nor more than three years, or by both fine and imprisonment within the limits. hereinbefore specified, at the discretion of the court. Prosecu tions under this act shall be by indictment in any court having criminal jurisdiction. 90 O. L. 346. § 3468. When and how telegraph structures may be removed If, at any time after the erection of a line of magnetic telegraph upon lands held by a corporation, the corporation have occasion to use land upon which a telegraph pole, pier, abutment, or other fixture has been erected, for any of the purposes authorized by its charter, the company shall remove such pole, pier abutment or fixture, to such convenient place as may be designated by the corporation requiring the use of the ground, upon reasonable notice, given in writing, and erect the same in such new place, so as not to interfere with the practical uses to which the corporation is authorized to put such land; and if it is impracticable to erect a line of magnetic telegraph upon the lands of such corporation, in consequence of the uses to which the corporation put the lands, the telegraph company may appropriate adjoining lands, by a separate proceeding for that purpose. 62 v. 72, § 12; S. & S. 156. § 3469. Repair of structures enforced If, at any time after the erection of such telegraph line on the lands of a corporation, the corporation apprehend danger, or risk of danger, to its works of practical operations, in consequence of decay or defect in the mode of structure of any of the works of the telegraph company, it may require the company, upon five days' notice, in writing, to repair such decayed or defective. works; or, if the danger is imminent, so as not to admit of delay, the corporation may, without notice, repair the defect, and recover the reasonable expense thereof, with costs of suit, before any court of competent jurisdiction. 62 v. 72, § 13; S. & S. 157. $3470. Consolidation Where two or more telegraph companies, whose several lines are not parallel or in competition with each other, and when so united will form a continuous line for receiving and transmitting dispatches, desire to consolidate into a single corporation, they may do so in the manner, and subject to the rules provided in chapter two for the consolidation of railroad companies. 78 0. L. 26. $3471. Chapter applies to telephone companies— The provisions of this chapter shall apply also to any company organized to construct any line or lines of telephone; and every such company shall have the same powers, and be subject to the same restrictions, as are herein prescribed for magnetic telegraph companies. See notes under sections 3456 and 3462. See also Railway Co. v. Telegraph Ass'n, 48 Ohio St. 390, reversing City, etc., Telegraph Ass'n v. Cin. Inclined Plane Railway Co., 23 B. 165; Cin. Inclined Plane Railway Co. v. City, etc., Tel. Ass'n, 24 B. 471; Monahan v. Tel. Co., 7 N. P. 95 (C. P.). §3471a. Laws applicable to electric light and power and automatic package carrier companies - Munici pal consent; penalty for violation; application of act, etc.— The provisions of this chapter, so far as the same may be applicable, except section three thousand four hundred and sixty-one, shall apply also to any company organized for the purpose of supplying the public and private buildings, manufacturing establishments, streets, alleys, lanes, lands, squares and public places with electric light and power, or automatic package carrier; and every such company shall have the same powers, except those given by said section three thousand four hundred and sixty-one, and be subject to the same restrictions, as are herein prescribed for magnetic telegraph companies. Provided, however, that in order to subject the same to municipal control alone, no person or company shall place, string, construct or maintain any line, wire fixture or appliance of any kind for conducting electricity for lighting, heating or power purposes through any street, alley, lane, square, place or land of any city, village or town, without the consent of such municipality; and this inhibition shall extend to all levels above and below the surface of any such public ways, grounds or places, as well as along the surface thereof; but this inhibition shall not be applicable to any rights which have heretofore been received and exercised through proceedings of any probate court. Any person or company violating any portion of the inhibition aforesaid shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall upon conviction thereof be fined in any sum |