Except where the loss, damage, or injury complained of is due to delay or damage while being loaded or unloaded, or damage in transit by carelessness or negligence, as conditions precedent to recovery, claims must be made in writing to the originating or delivering carrier within six months after delivery of the property (or, in case of export traffic, within nine months after delivery at port of export), or, in case of failure to make delivery, then within six months (or nine months in case of export traffic) after a reasonable time for delivery has elapsed. Suits for loss, damage, or delay shall be instituted only within two years and one day after delivery of the property, or in case of failure to make delivery, then within two years and one day after a reasonable time for delivery has elapsed; provided. however, that where claims for loss, damage, or delay have been duly filed with the carrier, and such claims have not been definitely declined in writing by the carrier, before the beginning of the last six months of the two-year-and-one-day period, then suit thereon may be filed within six months from the date the claims are definitely declined in writing by the carriers, but not after. Where claims for loss, damage, or delay are not filed, or suits are not instituted thereon, in accordance with the foregoing provisions, the carrier will not be liable and such claims will not be paid.

Any carrier or party liable on account of loss of or damage to any of said property shall have the full benefit of any insurance that may have been effected upon or on account of said property, so far as this shall not avoid the policies or contracts of insurance.

Section 4. All property shall be subject to necessary cooperage and baling at owner's cost. Each carrier over whose route cotton is to be transported hereunder shall have the privilege, at its own cost and risk, of compressing the same for greater convenience in handling or forwarding, and shall not be held responsible for deviation or unavoidable delays in procuring such compression. Grain in bulk consigned to a point where there is a railroad, public, or licensed elevator, may (unless otherwise expressly noted herein, and then if it is not promptly unloaded) be there delivered and placed with other grain of the same kind and grade without respect to ownership, and if so delivered shall be subject to a lien for elevator charges in addition to all other charges hereunder.

Section 5. Property not removed by the party entitled to receive it within forty-eight hours (exclusive of legal holidays) after notice of its arrival has been duly sent or given may be kept in car, depot, or place of delivery of the carrier. or warehouse, subject to a reasonable charge for storage and to carrier's responsibility as warehouseman only, or may be, at the option of the carrier, removed to and stored in a public or licensed warehouse at the cost of the owner and there held at the owner's risk and without liability on the part of the carrier, and subject to a lien for all freight and other lawful charges, including a reasonable charge for storage.

The carrier may make a reasonable charge for the detention of any vessel or car, or for the use of tracks after the car has been held forty-eight hours (exclusive of legal holidays), for loading or unloading, and may add such charge to all other charges hereunder and hold such property subject to a lien therefor. Nothing in this section shall be construed as lessening the time allowed by law or as setting aside any local rule affecting car service or storage.

Property destined to or taken from a station, wharf, or landing at which there is no regularly appointed agent shall be entirely at risk of owner after unloaded from cars or vessels or until loaded into cars or vessels, and when received from or delivered on private or other sidings, wharves, or landings shall be at owner's risk until the cars are attached to and after they are detached from trains.

Section 6. No carrier will carry or be liable in any way for any documents, specie, or for any articles of extraordinary value not specifically rated in the published classification or tariff, unless a special agreement to do so and a stipulated value of the articles are endorsed hereon.

Section 7. Every party, whether principal or agent, shipping explosive or dangerous goods, without previous full written disclosure to the carrier of their nature, shall be liable for all loss or damage caused thereby, and such goods may be warehoused at owner's risk and expense or destroyed without compensation.

Section 8. The owner or consignee shall pay the freight and all other lawful charges accruing on said property, and, if required, shall pay the same before delivery. If upon inspection it is ascertained that the articles shipped are not those described in this bill of lading, the freight charges must be paid upon the articles actually shipped.

Section 9. Except in case of diversion from rail to water route, which is provided for in Section 3 hereof, if all or any part of said property is carried by water over any part of said route, such water carriage shall be performed subject to the liability, limitation, and exemption provided by statute and to the conditions contained in this bill of lading not inconsistent with such statutes or this section, and subject also to the condition that no carrier or party in possession shall be liable for any loss or damage resulting from the perils of the lakes, sea, or other waters, or from explosion, bursting of boilers, breakage of shafts, or any latent defect in hull, machinery, or appurtenances, or from collision, stranding, or other accidents of navigation, or from prolongation of the voyage. And any vessel carrying any or all of the property herein described shall have the liberty to call at intermediate ports, to tow and be towed, and assist vessels in distress, and to deviate for the purpose of saving life or property.

The term "water carriage" in this section shall not be construed as including lighterage across rivers or in lake or other harbors, and the liability for such lighterage shall be governed by the other sections of this instrument. Section 10. Any alteration, addition, or erasure in this bill of lading, which shall be made without an endorsement thereof hereon, signed by the agent of the carrier issuing this bill of lading, shall be without effect, and this bill of lading shall be enforceable according to its original tenor.

For the validity of provisions requiring notice as a condition precedent, see 95 735 et seq., 2610 et seq.

For the validity of provisions limiting the time for bringing action, see Sec. 732 et seq.

For the validity of provisions forbidding action for a certain time after loss, see S 739.

For the validity of provisions relieving a carrier from liability for negligence, see SSec. 740 et seq., 1037.

For breach of contract by carrier, see Sec. 2934.

For precedent covenants, see Sec. 2956.