Chap. 307.—An ACT to incorporate citizens’ railway, light and power com-
pany.

Approved February 9, 1900.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That Henry J.
Bowdoin, Samuel Regester, William J. Payne, E. Burnett, and D. C.
Zollickoffer, or such of them as may accept the provisions of this act,
and such other persons as are now or may hereafter be associated with
them, their successors, and assigns, be, and they are hereby, created,
constituted, and incorporated a body politic and corporate, under the
name and style of citizens’ railway, light, and power company, and by
that name shall be known in law; shall have perpetual succession, and
have the power to contract and be contracted with, 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, have, and use a common seal, and the
same break, alter, renew, or change at pleasure, and may make, ordain,
establish, and alter or amend such by-laws, ordinances, and regulations
concerning all matters of organization, management, and business not
herein specifically provided for as the said company may think proper,
and generally may do every and any act and thing necessary to carry
this act into effect, to promote the objects and designs of the corpora-
tion: provided, such by-laws, ordinances, regulations, or acts be not in-
consistent with the laws of the United States or of the state of Vir-
a.

2. The said company shall be, and it is hereby, empowered and author-
ized to promote, establish, conduct, and maintain the business of a
general street railway, light, and power company; to locate, buy, lease,
construct, erect, establish, equip, maintain, operate, own, or sell, or
otherwise acquire and dispose of a line or lines of street railway or rail-
ways, and a plant or plants, works, or other necessary equipment for
the generation of electricity, gas, or other materials or fluids, and supply
the same for public and private use, for light, power, and heat, within
the limits of the city of Newport News, and the towns of Hampton and
Phoebus, as the same are now or may hereafter be laid off, and in the
counties of Elizabeth City and Warwick, state of Virginia, as may be
determined upon from time to time by said company, and, with the con-
sent of the proper authorities of the United States government, within
the territory of the National home for disabled volunteer soldiers, and
within the military reservation of Fort Monroe and at Old Point Com-
fort, in the said county of Elizabeth City, state of Virginia, and over
the bridges across any river, creek, or stream between said city, towns, or
other place or places in said counties. The said company may locate, lav,
construct, equip, maintain, and operate its line or lines of street rail-
way and its poles, wires, subways, conduits, pipes, mains, and other fix-
tures and appliances necessary for the proper, full, and convenient car-
rying of the business of said company in the roads, streets, avenues,
lanes, alleys, and other public highways in the said city, towns, or other
place or places in the said counties, and with the consent of the proper
authorities, within the territory in said Elizabeth City county under
control of the United States government, subject only to the consent
or authorization thereof by any incorporated city or town, which said
cities and towns are hereby vested with the power to grant such con-
sent and authority, and subject to the consent and authorization thereof
by the boards of supervisors of the several said counties of the state.
who are hereby vested with the power to grant such consent and
authority.

3. The said company incorporated may transport passengers and
freight over the lines of its railway and collect fare and tolls for same,
and may operate its railway system by electricity or other available
motive power; the said company may manufacture, generate, employ.
distribute, furnish, buy, and sell electricity, the electric current, gas,
or other suitable and proper materials or fluids, for public and private
use, for light, heat, and power, or other purposes, for its own use and
for distribution and sale, for any or all said purposes, to all persons,
firms, and corporations upon such terms as may be agreed upon by the
contracting parties, and may purchase and sell appliances and fixtures
in connection with and for the purpose of introducing its light, heat,
and power into general use.

4. The capital stock of the said company shall not be less than two
hundred thousand dollars, nor more than five hundred thousand dollars,
to be divided into shares of the par value of one hundred dollars each.
Subscriptions to the capital stock may be received by the incorporators
herein named, or any three of them, at such time and place as thev
mav appoint, and with or without public notice, as they may deem best,
and as soon as the minimum of the capital stock has been subscribed,
said subscribers may organize as a corporation and proceed to elect a
board of directors, consisting of not less than five nor more than nine
stockholders, and the election of such other officers as may be required
by the by-laws of said company, and shall thereupon have and exercise
all the powers and functions of a corporation under this charter and
the laws of the state. All subscriptions to the capital stock of said
company shall be upon such terms and conditions and under such regu-
lations as the board of directors mav prescribe; and the directors mav
receive money, labor, material, bonds, stock, services, real or personal
property, leases, options, rights of wav, and other rights or easements,
or the capital stock of other corporations, in payment of subscriptions
to the capital stock of the company hereby incorporated, at such valua-
tion as may be agreed upon between the directors and subscribers, and
mav make such subscriptions payable in such manner and amounts,
and at such times as may be agreed upon with subscribers. No stock-
holder of said company shall be held liable or made responsible for the
debts or liabilities of said company in a sum beyond any balance due
from such stockholder to said company on shares subscribed for by
such stockholder.

5. The company hereby incorporated may acquire by lease, purchase,
subscription to, or purchase of the capital stock, or otherwise, the works,
tracks, property, franchises, rights, privileges, and immunities, includ-
ing the right to be a corporation, of the Peninsula railway company and
the Chesapeake and Hampton Roads railway company (both incorpor-
ated by the gencral assembly of eighteen hundred and ninety-seven.
eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and organized under the laws of
Virginia) and other like companies chartered under the laws of this
state, and may own, buy, sell, lease, use, operate, maintain, and extend
the same, and power is hereby conferred upon the Peninsula railway
company and the Chesapeake and Hampton Roads railway company,
and other like companies chartered under the laws of this state, to trans-
fer by sale or lease all their works, tracks, property, franchises, rights,
privileges, and immunities, including the right to be a corporation, to
the company hereby incorporated, or to unite and consolidate with it
upon such terms as may be agreed upon between them; and the said
company hereby incorporated may acquire by lease, purchase, subscrip-
tion to, or purchase of the capital stock, or otherwise, the works, plant,
poles, wires, subways, conduits, pipes, mains, and other property, fran-
chises, rights, privileges, and immunities, including the right to be a
corporation, of any other Jight or power company or companies, or of
any company or companies incorporated for the purpose of manufactur-
ing, generating, using, selling or purchasing electricity or gas, or having
the power so to do, for light, heat, or power, and the company hereby
incorporated may own, buy, sell, lease, use, operate, maintain, and extend
the same; and the company hereby incorporated may unite and consoli-
date with such other company or companies, upon such terms as may be
agreed upon between them; and power is hereby conferred upon such
other light and power company or companies to transfer by sale or
lease all their works, plant and other property, franchises, rights, privi-
Jeges, and immunities, including the right to be a corporation, to the
company hereby incorporated, or to unite and consolidate with it upon
such terms as may be agreed upon between them. The said company
hereby incorporated may purchase or otherwise acquire and hold the
stock and bonds of any other company or corporation chartered under
the laws of this or other states; and it may acquire and hold by pur-
chase, lease or in any other manner, the plant, works, or other property
of any company, firm, or individual now engaged, or which may here-
after engage in a similar business in any place or places, cities, towns
or villages in the said counties of Elizabeth City and Warwick, and may
Jikewise acquire and hold, or afterwards sell, any other property neces-
sary to the conduct of the business of the said company hereby incor-
porated, and may make payment for such railways, plants, works, fran-
chises, rights, or other property, in money, or by issuing its bonds, notes,
or stock therefor.

6. It shall be lawful for any corporation or company, and they are
hereby empowered, to subscribe for, purchase, or otherwise acquire and
hold, or guarantee, the stock or bonds of the said company hereby in-
corporated, and the said company herebv incorporated may sell, lease
or convey its property, privileges, and franchises to any other such
company.

%. The said company hereby incorporated may take and acquire by
purchase, lease, condemnation or otherwise, and hold, or thereafter sell
or otherwise dispose of, the lands required for the right of way for its
railways, stations, yards, side-tracks, shops, power-houses, and terminal,
and operating facilities, plants, and works, but the mode of condemnin+
any lands or rights shall be the same provided by the general laws of the
state for the condemnation of lands by and for the use of companies
incorporated for works of internal improvement; the land in which the
easement is to be given or to which the right is appurtenant being used
for the purposes of description in the oath and all the proceedings of
condemnation, and said company shall also have the right to acquire
by purchase and hold other lands not exceeding ten acres in each incor-
porated city or town, nor more than five hundred acres each in the said
counties of Elizabeth City and Warwick, in the state of Virginia, in
or through which it may be operating or intending to operate, and it
is hereby empowered and authorized to sell, lease, convey, and encumber
the same as may be necessary or proper for the conduct of its business
and the prosecution of its work, by deeds of bargain and sale, deeds
of trust and mortgaves.

8. The principal office of the said company shall be in the city of
Newport News, or in the town of Hampton, or such other place in the
state of Virginia as may be deemed convenient or necessary by the board
of directors of said company for the conduct of its business.

9. And the said company, in addition to its other rights and privi-
leges, shall have the right, and it is hereby authorized and empowered,
to promote, establish, construct, operate, and maintain, buy, lease,
operate, own or sell, or otherwise acquire and dispose of a plant, works,
machinery, and other necessary fixtures and appliances for the manu-
facture of artificial ice, on any plan and bv any process it may approve.
the same to be located in any city, town or place in the said counties of
Elizabeth City and Warwick, which the said company may determine
upon, and to that end it may buy, sell, and deal in all materials neces-
sary for the manufacture of artificial ice; may use and employ steam,
water, or electric power, and may buy, sell, distribute ice to persons
and corporations who mav care to take it, and upon such terms as may
be agreed upon between the contracting parties.

10. It shall be lawful for said company, and it is hereby authorized
and empowered, to borrow money, make, execute, issue, and sell or
negotiate its bonds from time to time for such sums and on such terms
and for such price as its board of directors may deem expedient and
proper for any of the purposes of said company, and may secure the
pavment of said bonds by mortgages or deeds of trust upon all or anv
portion of its property, real, personal, or mixed, its contracts, rights,
franchises, and privileges, including its franchise to be a corporation,
and it may, as the business of the company shall require, sell, lease,
convey, and encumber the same. The said company shall have the right
to lend, or otherwise invest, its accumulated funds or surplus; to pur-
chase and own the shares or bonds of any other company or corporation.
and to sell or otherwise dispose of the same at its pleasure.

11. The said company herebv incorporated is authorized and empow-
ered to use, on any portion of its line or lines of railway, the track of
anv other railway company, with the consent of said other railway
company; and mav cross with its tracks either at, above, or below grade
the tracks of any other railway company; and may connect its tracks
with the tracks of such other railway company: provided, that such
connection can only be made with the consent of such other railway
company, and upon such terms as may be agreed upon. The tracks
of the said company hereby incorporated mav cross at grade, under or
over the tracks of any other railroad now built or which may hereafter
be built in said city, town, or counties, or any or either of them, in the
mode prescribed by the general statutes of this state, but in crossing
the yards or tracks of the Chesapeake and Ohio railway. company, at or
near Newport News, said company must cross above or under grade and
at its sole cost and expense, and shall not use the rails of any other
company crossing said yards or tracks at grade, if any such there be.
In the event of an overgrade crossing, the same shall be not less than
twenty-one feet from the level of said tracks to the lowest part of said
structure, and the columns supporting the same shall be located as
designated by the said Chesapeake and Ohio railway company.

12. The said company is authorized: and empowered to locate, con-
struct, equip, operate, and maintain any lateral or branch roads or
tramways, not exceeding twenty miles in extent, and by such route or
routes as may be selected by its board of directors, and said company
may purchase or lease any such lateral or branch road which may be
constructed, together with all the rights, powers, properties, privileges,
and franchises appertaining thereto, and may pay for the same with
money or by issue of its stock, notes, or bonds. And said company
may connect or unite its road with that of any other company or com-
panies, or consolidate or merge its stock, property, and franchises with
and into any other company or companies operating or authorized to
operate a connecting railway or railways upon such terms and under
such name as may be agreed upon between the companies so uniting
or connecting, merging, or consolidating, and for that purpose power
is hereby given to it and to such other company or companies to make
and carry out such contracts as will facilitate and consummate such
connection, merger, or combination, or any lease or sale: provided, that
a copy of every such contract of consolidation and merger be filed in
the office of the state board of public works.

13. Whenever the said company shall exercise any of the powers or
privileges conferred by this act, it shall be liable to the same taxes as
may be imposed by the law upon other corporations or persons exer-
cising like powers and privileges, and all taxes, debts, or other demands
against it which may become due to the commonwealth of Virginia
shall be paid in lawful money of the United States.

14. Work shall commence upon the construction of said company’s
street railway within six months from the granting of this charter and
shall be completed within two years, but the acquisition of the street
railways, property, franchises, rights, and privileges of the Peninsula
railway company and the Chesapeake and Hampton Roads railway
company shall be deemed commencement of construction as required
by this section.

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