Whenever such petition or petitions and affidavit named in Section 1-5004 shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of such county, it shall be the duty of the clerk, within 10 days from the date of the filing of said petition or petitions and affidavit in his office, to cause to be published in one or more newspapers published in such county, and if no newspaper shall be published in said county, then in the newspaper published nearest to the county seat of said county, a notice that such petition or petitions and affidavit have been filed in his said office, stating the time when they were so filed, and setting forth therein the substance of such petition or petitions and affidavit, and giving notice that on the first day of September following said court will hear testimony for and against said petitions, as to the list or lists of names on such petition, as may be filed in his office under and in compliance with Section 1-5007, and for or against such affidavit if the same has been traversed as provided in Section 1-5004. It shall be the duty of said court, on the first day of September and at such times in said month as it may direct to hear all evidence for and against said petition or petitions, as to the list or lists of names, filed in said court under Section 1-5007, and to strike from such petition or petitions all such names proven by competent evidence to be fictitious, or the names of persons having no legal right to sign the same under this Division; and in case there shall be but one petition and no contest as to the same, or if there shall be a contest as to the same, and said petition shall after striking therefrom all fictitious and illegal names, still contain the number of names of legal voters required by Section 1-5004, the court shall order said election, according to the prayer of said petition. But in case there shall be two petitions filed in said court, praying for a vote to remove the county seat of such county to different points in said county, each, after striking therefrom all illegal and fictitious names, still being signed by two-fifths of the legal voters of the county, as required by Section 1-5004, then if a petition praying for a vote to remove the county seat nearer to the geographical center of the county than the point named in the other petition shall be signed by a number of names equal to or greater than one-half of the sum of the names signed to the two petitions, the said court shall order the election for the removal of the county seat to that point nearest to the geographical center of the county, according to the prayer of said petition; but if the other of said two petitions shall be signed by a number of legal voters of said county equal to three-fifths of the sum of the names signed to the two petitions, then the court shall order the election for the removal of the county seat of such county to said last mentioned point, and not otherwise. In case of a contest as to said petition or petitions, as provided for in this Division it shall be the duty of the clerk of said court, on the request of the person contesting any petition under the provisions of this Division, to issue subpoenas for such witnesses as said person shall name; and it shall be the duty of said clerk, on request of any legal voter of the county, for the purpose of sustaining any petition, in like manner to issue subpoenas for such witnesses as he shall name — said subpoenas to be made returnable on the date upon which such contest will be made.