2023 Illinois Compiled Statutes › Chapter 220 - UTILITIES › 220 ILCS 55/ - Telegraph Act.

(220 ILCS 55/0.01) (from Ch. 134, par. 0.01)
Sec. 0.01. 
		Short title. 
		This Act may be cited as the
Telegraph Act.
(Source: P.A. 86-1324.)
(220 ILCS 55/1) (from Ch. 134, par. 1)
Sec. 1. 
		
		That every company heretofore incorporated under
any general or special law, or which may be incorporated under any general
law of this state for the construction or operation of any telegraph line
through or in this state, shall possess the powers and privileges and be
subject to the duties, restrictions and liabilities prescribed in this act.
(Source: R.S. 1874, p. 1052.)
(220 ILCS 55/2) (from Ch. 134, par. 2)
Sec. 2. 
		
		Every such company may enter upon any lands for the purpose of
making surveys and examinations with a view to the erection of any
telegraph line, and take and damage private property for the erection and
maintenance of such lines, and may, subject to the provisions contained in
this act, construct lines of telegraph along and upon any railroad, road,
highway, street or alley, along or across any of the waters or lands within
this state, and may erect poles, posts, piers or abutments for supporting
the insulators, wires and other necessary fixtures of their lines, in such
manner and at such points as not to incommode the public use of the
railroad, highway, street or alley, or interrupt the navigation of such
waters.
(Source: R.S. 1874, p. 1052.)
(220 ILCS 55/3) (from Ch. 134, par. 3)
Sec. 3. 
		
		When it shall be necessary, for the construction, alteration or
repair of any line of telegraph, to take or damage any property, the same
may be done and the compensation therefor ascertained and made in the
manner which may be at that time provided by law for the exercise of the
right of eminent domain.
(Source: R.S. 1874, p. 1052.)
(220 ILCS 55/3.5)
Sec. 3.5. Eminent domain. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, any power granted under this Act to acquire property by condemnation or eminent domain is subject to, and shall be exercised in accordance with, the Eminent Domain Act.
(Source: P.A. 94-1055, eff. 1-1-07.)
(220 ILCS 55/4) (from Ch. 134, par. 4)
Sec. 4. 
		
		No such company shall have the right to erect any poles, posts,
piers, abutments, wires or other fixtures of their lines along or upon any
public ground outside the corporate limits of a city, town or village,
without the consent of the county board of the county in which such public
ground is situated, nor upon any public ground within any incorporated
city, town or village, without the consent of the corporate authorities of
such city, town or village. The consent herein required must be in writing,
and shall be recorded in the recorder's office of the county. And such
county board, or the city council, or board of trustees of such city, town
or village, as the case may be, shall have power to direct any alteration
in the location or erection of any such poles, posts, piers or abutments,
and also in the height of the wires, having first given the company or its
agent opportunity to be heard in regard to such alteration.
The right of any such company to erect such structures, wires or
fixtures within the right of way of any public highway is subject to the
provisions of Section 9-113 of the "Illinois Highway Code" as the same may
from time to time be amended.
(Source: Laws 1959, p. 187.)
(220 ILCS 55/6) (from Ch. 134, par. 6)
Sec. 6. 
		
		If any company or person owning or operating any telegraph line in
this state shall refuse to receive any dispatch from any other company or
person owning or operating any telegraph line in this state, or shall
refuse or willfully neglect to transmit the same in good faith, and without
partiality, the company or person so offending shall forfeit all rights and
franchises acquired under the laws of this state, and shall forfeit all
right to transact telegraph business in this state, and may be enjoined
therefrom by complaint filed in
the circuit court, and be
liable to pay all damages which shall accrue, by reason of such refusal, to
the company or person offering such dispatch for transmission.
(Source: P.A. 79-1359.)
(220 ILCS 55/7) (from Ch. 134, par. 7)
Sec. 7. 
		
		It shall be the duty of all persons employed in transmitting
messages by telegraph to transmit them in the order in which they are
received; and any person who shall fail so to transmit a message, or who
shall suppress a message, or who shall make known the contents of a message
to any person other than the one to whom it is addressed, or his agent, or
who shall wrongfully take from any dispatch to any newspaper any
information and send it to any newspaper other than the one to which it is
addressed, shall be deemed guilty of a business offense, and be punished by
a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000).
(Source: P.A. 77-2613.)
(220 ILCS 55/7a) (from Ch. 134, par. 8)
Sec. 7a. 
		
		Any telegraph company or any officer, agent or employee of a
telegraph company which shall disclose or knowingly permit to be disclosed,
or shall impart or knowingly permit to be imparted, the contents of any
message entrusted to such company for transmission, to any person, firm or
corporation other than the person, firm or corporation to which the said
message is addressed, shall be deemed guilty of a business offense and upon
conviction thereof may be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand
dollars ($1,000).
(Source: P.A. 77-2613.)
(220 ILCS 55/8) (from Ch. 134, par. 9)
Sec. 8. 
		
		Whoever shall transmit or cause to be transmitted by telegraph,
from any place in this state to any other place in this state or elsewhere,
any falsehood, knowing the same to be such, shall be guilty of a petty
offense.
(Source: P.A. 77-2613.)
(220 ILCS 55/9) (from Ch. 134, par. 10)
Sec. 9. 
		
		Any person who, for the purpose of inciting or aiding rebellion,
riot or insurrection in this state against the government or laws of this
state or of the United States, or a hostile invasion of this state, shall
transmit or cause to be transmitted by telegraph any communication
whatever, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not exceeding ten years.
(Source: R.S. 1874, p. 1052.)
(220 ILCS 55/10) (from Ch. 134, par. 11)
Sec. 10. 
		
		Any telegraph operator or person employed in any telegraph office
in this state, or any other person, who shall, knowing the design thereof,
deliver or cause to be delivered any communication prohibited by the
preceding section of this act, to any person other than the proper
officers, agents or employees of this state or the United States, shall be
subject to indictment, and, on conviction, to the punishment provided in
said section.
(Source: R.S. 1874, p. 1052.)