Chap. 158.—An ACT to incorporate the Bristol and Danville railroad
company.

Approved February 18, 1888.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
Joseph R. Anderson and A. D. Reynolds, of Bristol, Tennes-
see; John M. Bailey, J. Wilder, John L. Wellington, and
William F. Rhea, of Goodson, Virginia; S. Lawrence French
and George H. Towler, of Boston, Massachusetts; William
D. Jones, Henry Henderson, and Hamilton Diston, of Phila-
delphia; H. C. McDaniel, Saint John Bayle, and F. D. Carly,
of Louisville, Kentucky; Charles E. Hoge, of Frankfort,
Kentucky; J. A. Buckner, of Baltimore, Maryland; Edward
Eastburn, of Sherman, Texas; J. B. Richmond and H. 8. K.
Morrison, of Estillville, Virginia, or such of them as may
accept the provisions of this act, their successors and asso-
ciates, be and they are hereby created and declared a body

, politic and corporate by the name and style of the Bristol
and Danville railroad company, under which, name it may
sue and be sued in all courts, whether in law or in equity,
and shall have perpetual succession, and may have a cor-
porate seal which it may alter and renew at pleasure, and it
may make by-laws, rules, and regulations for the due and
orderly conduct of its business and affairs.

2. Said Bristol and Danville railroad company or its suc-
cessors, is authorized and empowered to locate, construct,
maintain, a operate a railroad from a point within the town
of Goodson, Virginia, passing through the counties of Wash-
ington, Grayson, Carroll, Patrick, and Henry, to the city of
Danville, state of Virginia, with such number of tracks as it
may deem necessary, and of standard guage, and for that
purpose it shall be entitled to acquire a continuous strip of

oogle
land one hundred feet in width, upon which to construct its |
railroad, with such additional land for depots, station-houses, ‘
water-tanks, freight-yards, and repair or machine shops as it
may desire, not to exceed forty acres in any one parcel. In
order to secure a continuous line of railroad from Danville to
any point in the state of Kentucky, to be operated under one
management, said Bristol and Danville railroad company
may acquire by purchase, the rights, powers, privileges, fran-
chises, and properties of other chartered railroad companies,
or which may hereafter be chartered by this state or the
state of Kentucky, by exchanging its stock and other securi-
ties for the stock and securities of the said other companies,
or it may merge and consolidate any of the said railroad com-
panies, their rights, powers, privileges, franchises, and proper-
ties, with the rights, powers, privileges, franchises, and prop-
erties hereby conferred upon, or which may be hereafter
acquired by the Bristol and Danville railroad company, on
such terms as may be agreed upon between the contracting
parties, acting through their respective boards of directors,
subject, however, to the approval of the majority of the
stockholders of each company; and the said railroad com-
pany or its successor, may adopt another name for the com- 1
pany which may be formed by the consolidation of the rights, |
powers, privileges, franchises, and properties of the said com-

panies or any of them, plenary power and authority being

hereby given to such other companies to make and carry out

such consolidation and merger: provided, that the con-.
solidated company shall be liable for all the debts and liabili- |
ties of each and every the said companies, and that all the:
rights, powers, privileges, and franchises which each and |
every the said railroad companies are possessed of at the date
of consolidation, shall be and are hereby conferred upon and

granted to the said consolidated company to the same extent

as if each and every the said powers, rights, privileges, and

franchises were herein recited: and provided further, that

should the said company or its successor ever consolidate its

rights, powers, privileges, franchises, or properties with those

of a foreign corporation, the consolidated company shall

always remain a Virginia corporation in the operation and

management of properties in this state and as regards the

right of suing and being sued.

3. The capital stock of said company, or any company
formed by the consolidation or merger of said company with
any other railroad company or companies, shall not exceed
ten million dollars. Said stock shall be divided into shares of
one hundred dollars each. The board of directors of the said
company, or any company formed by the consolidation or
merger of the said company with any other railroad company
or companies, shall have the right to issue bonds, secured by
mortgage upon its real and personal property, rights, powers,
lees and franchises, not exceeding forty thousand dol-

er mile for each mile of its trunk line.
4. To furnish a basis for raising capital, it shall be lawful

diius-milin- cok, aman
for said company, or its successors, to receive grants and sub-
scriptions in land at a fair valuation, and coal, iron, timber,
materials and mineral rights upon such terms as may be
agreed upon with the board of directors, or it may exchange
its stock or bonds therefor, and may hold or sell the same at
pleasure: provided the said company shall not hold the said
land for more than fifteen years after the completion of its
road.

5. The nine persons first named in the first section of this
act, shall constitute the first board of directors. They shall
elect one of their number president, appoint a secretary and
treasurer and adopt a code of by-laws, and perform all other
acts proper for a board of directors not inconsistent with the
laws of the commonwealth. They shall hold their office until
the first meeting of the stockholders; may open books of sub-
scription at any time and place. When five hundred thousand
dollars or more is subscribed, they shall convene the stock-
holders at Goodson, Virginia, and at which meeting the stock-
holders shall re-organize the company by the election of a
president and board of directors, and transact any other busi-
ness necessary and proper to be done. Each stockholder shall
be entitled to one vote fur each share of stock registered in
his name. Atthe first meeting of the stockholders the presi-
dent shall preside. The stockholders at the first meeting shall
fix the number of directors and elect the same; they shall
elect a president and secretary, who shall certify said organi-
zation on the books of the company, a copy of which, duly
attested by a notary public, shall be received as evidence of
the legal organization of the company.

6. No stockholder shall ever be held liable tor the indebt-
edness of said company in a sum greater than that due from
him on stock subscribed by him.

7. Said railroad company, or its successor, shall begin the
work of constructing its railroad within two years, and shall
complete the main line of the same within eight years from
the passage of this act.

8. The principal office of said company shall be in the state
of Virginia.

9. The said company, by the acceptance of this charter,
hereby agrees to pay all taxes, dues and demands due the
state, that may hereafter be assessed against it, in lawful
money of the United States, and not in coupons.

10. This act shall be in force from its passage.