Chap. 36.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to incorporate
the Bristol and northern railroad company.

Approved January 9, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
act entitled “ An act to incorporate the Bristol and northern railroad
company,” approved March first, eighteen hundred and ninety-two,
and subsequently amended and re-enacted by an act approved March
third, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, be amended and re-enacted
so as to read as follows:

§ 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That A.
D. Reynolds, F. B. Hubbell, John H. Dingee, H. W. Flournoy, John
M. Wirgman, and J. Walter White, their associates, successors, and
assigns, be, and they are hereby, incorporated and made a body
politic and corporate, under the name and style of the Bristol and
northern railroad company, and as such are authorized and empow-
ered to locate, construct, equip, and operate a railroad, commencing
at a point on the line between the states of Virginia and Tennessee,
in or near the town of Bristol, and running thence by the most prac-
ticable route through the counties of Washington, Scott, Russell,
Dickenson, and Wise, or any of them, to a point on the line between
the states of Virginia and Kentucky, at or near the brakes of the
Cumberland, or to any intermediate point within the state of Vir-
ginia.

§ 2. The said company shall have perpetual succession, and shall
have power to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and
be defended, in all courts, whether at law or in equity, and may make
and have a common seal, and alter or renew the same at pleasure,
and shall have, possess, and enjoy all the rights and privileges of a
corporation or body politic in the law and necessary for the pur-
poses of this act.

§ 3. The capital stock of the said company shall not be less than
ten thousand dollars, and may from time to time be increased to any
amount not exceeding one million dollars by the issue and sale of
shares, preferred or common stock, or both, upon such terms and
conditions, and under such regulations, as the board of directors of
said company shall prescribe, the par value of which shall not be
less than one hundred dollars; and the directors may receive cash,
labor, material, bonds, stock, real or personal property, in payment
of subscriptions to the capital stock, at such valuation and at such
prices a8 May agreed upon between the directors and the subscribers,
and may make such subscriptions, payable in such manner or
amounts and at such times as may be agreed upon with the sub-
scribers; and whenever fifty shares shall have been subscribed to,
and the sum of five thousand dollars paid in cash, the subscribers,
under the direction of any five of the incorporators hereinbefore
named, who themselves shall be subscribers, may organize the said
company by electing a president and board of directors, and by
electing or providing for the appointment of such other officers as
may be necessary for the control and management of the business
and affairs of said company, and thereupon they shall have and
exercise all the powers and functions of a corporation under their
charter and the laws of this state.

§ 4. It shall be lawful for said company to borrow money and issue
and sell its bonds from time to time for such sums and on such
terms as its board of directors may deem expedient and proper for
any of the purposes of the company, and to secure the payment of
said bonds by mortgages or deeds of trust upon all or any portion of
its property, real or personal and mixed, its contracts and privileges
and its chartered rights and franchises, including its franchise to be
a corporation; and it may, as the business of the company shall re-
quire, sell, lease, convey and encumber the same.

3 5. It shall be lawful for said company to subscribe to, guarantee
and hold the stock and bonds of mining, manufacturing and other
corporations, and any mining, manufacturing and other corporations
may subscribe to, guarantee and hold the stock and bonds of the
said company.

<6. The said company is authorized and empowered to locate, con-
struct, equip and operate any lateral or branch roads or tramways,
not to exceed twenty miles in length, which a majority of its stock-
holders may determine to construct, maintain, equip and operate,
and by such route as may be determined by its board of directors;
and the said company may connect or unite its said roads with that
of any other company or companies, or consolidate and merge its
stock, property and franchises with and into those of any other com-
pany or companies operating or authorized to operate a connecting
line of railroad, not a competing line, in this state or in the state of
Tennessee or the state of Kentucky, upon such terms and under such
hame as may be agreed upon between the companies so uniting or
connecting, merging or consolidating; provided there be nothing in
the charter rights of said company or companies into which this
company may be merged in conflict with the laws of this state, and
for that purpose power is hereby given to it and to such other com-
pany or companies to make and carry out such contracts as will
facilitate and consummate such connection, merger or consolidation
or any lease or sale; provided that a copy of every such contract of
any consolidation and merger be filed in the office of the board of
public works.

$7. It shall be lawful for the company to acquire, by donation or
purchase, or by condemnation according to the laws of this state,

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land for right of way, depots, stations and other purposes necessary
for the successful construction and operation of its road through any
of the counties where it is authorized to construct its line of road.

§ 8. The said company shall be required to commence the con-
struction of said railroad within two years from January first, eigh-
teen hundred and ninety-six, and to complete the construction of
its main line within five years from that date, or otherwise the
powers, privileges and franchises hereby granted shall be annulled
and become void.

§ 9. Each stockholder in the company shall, at all meetings or
elections, be entitled to one vote for each share of stock registered in
his name. And the president and board of directors of said com-
pany may enact such by-laws, rules and regulations for the man-
agement of the affairs of said company as they may deem proper and
expedient.

§ 10. The board of directors shall be stockholders of said com-
pany, and shall consist of such number as the stockholders may de-
termine upon, and shall be elected at the stockholders’ annual meet-
ing, to be held on such days as the by-laws of the company may
direct, and shall continue in office for the term of one year from and
after the date of their election and until their successors are elected
and accept the duties of the office, and they shall appoint one of
their number president, and in case of death, resignation or inca-
pacity of any member of the board of directors during his term of
office the said board shall elect his successor for the unexpired term.

§ 11. Any county, town or city along the line of said railroad or
any county adjoining another county through which such line passes
may, pursuant to the general laws of Virginia, subscribe to the capi-
tal stock of the said railroad company, and the said company is
authorized to accept the same.

§ 12. The board of directors may establish offices and agencies at
such places as they may deem proper, but the principal office of the
company shall be located in this state.

§ 13. All taxes due the commonwealth by said company shall be
paid in lawful money of the United States and not in coupons.

2. This act shall be in force from its passage, but the general
assembly of the state of Virginia reserves to itself the right to
modify, alter or repeal this act at any time hereafter.