CHAP. 53.—An ACT to ineorporate Portsmouth and Smithfield
. railway company.

Approved January 1 , 1890.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That John Callahan, J. T. Lawless, Levi D. Ames, W. G.
W. Parker, John C. Ashton, W. V. H. Williams, and
Joseph A. Parker, or such of them as may accept the pro-
visions of this act, and such other persons and corporation
as may become associated with them in the manner here-
inafter provided, shall be, and they are hereby, consti-
tuted a body corporate by the name of the Portsmouth
and Smithfield railroad company, and by that name shall
have all the powers, rights and franchises necessary and
proper to construct, equip and maintain a railroad, with
such number of tracks as they may desire, to be run from
some point in Norfolk county at or near the city of Ports-
mouth to some point in Isle of Wight at or near Smith-
field, with privilege of extending to any point on. James
river, by such route as the said company may determine.

2. It shall be lawful for said company to construct,
equip and maintain lateral or branch tracks or tramways
of any gauge whatever not exceeding twenty miles each
in length, which shall have all the rights and powers and
be subject to the same restrictions as the main line.

3. The said company shall have the power to cross at
grade, over or under, intersect, join or unite its railroad
with any other railroad now built or constructed, or here-
after to be built or constructed, and for its purposes may
use the road of any turnpike company, with the consent
of said company or cross any navigable stream with suit-
able draw-bridge. The said company is hereby authorized
and empowered .o erect and construct at its termini and
along its road saw-mills, dry-houses, timber-yards, ware-
houses, wharves, etc., suitable for the manufacture of
lumber and the convenient loading and unloading,
receiving and storing of all kinds of lumber, merchan-
dise and personal property for safe keeping, and may
conduct the business usually transacted by saw-mills and
warehousemen, and may collect compensation for the
storage, dockage, wharfage, and labor incident thereto,
including the expense of measuring, insuring and deliver-
ing such property at such rates as may be agreed upon
between it and its patrons; and for any advances made
by it on property stored or deposited with it for shipment
and for all other charges incident thereto, the said com-
pany shall have a preferred lien on said property, which
must be paid before the company shall be required to
deliver the same. The said company, for its purposes,
may charter or own vessels and operate them, and may
pro-rate with any steamship, navigation, or railroad com-
pany, and may receive subscriptions from, or subscribe
to, the capital stock of the same, and said stock shall have
the same standing as that held by other stockholders.

4. The said company may acquire title in the mode
prescribed by law to a continuous line of one hundred
feet in width of land and such additional lands as may
be necessary for the use of said roads and tracks, and for
the yards, buildings and works of said company. The
said company may hold title to all lands acquired by pur-
chase or otherwise, and possess, occupy, manage, improve
and develop the same as fully as any natural person could
lawfully do, or to sell, lease, and convey at pleasure, or
mortgage or incumbher its Jands upon such terms and for
such objects as the interest and business of said company
may require; provided that said company shall not hold
lands not needed for the purposes of its railroad for a
longer period than thirty years.

5. The corporators hereinbefore named, or a majority of
them, may organize the company by electing a president
and board of directors, and may elect and appoint such
other officers as may he necessary for the proper manage-
ment of said company’s affairs, and thereupon they shall
have and exercise all the general powers and functions of
a corporation, and he subject to all the restrictions imposed
by the laws of the state applicable to internal improve-
ment companies, except so far as the same may be changed
or modified by this act.

6. Said company shall have perpetual succession and a
common seal, which it may renew or alter at will, and
may sue and he sued, plead and be impleaded, contract and
be contracted with, and make ordinances, by-laws and
regulations not inconsistent. with this act, the laws of this
state or of the United States, for the government of its
officers and agents and the proper conduct of its affairs.
The capital stock of this company shall not be less than
fifty thousand dollars nor more than one million five hun-
dred thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of the
par value of one hundred dollars each, and may be
increased from time to time, as the stockholders may
determine. Each share of stock shall be entitled to one
vote.

7. The directors of said company may open books of
subscription from time to time and at such places as they
may deem expedient till the minimum stock and as much
more as they think necessary, is subscribed, and instal-
ments on original subscriptions of stock, as well as those
afterwards received, shall be paid at such times and
places and in such amounts as said directors may pre-
scribe.
8. The directors may receive in payment of any sub-
scription of stock in said company any property adapted
to tle construction, operation or maintenance of said
road, or which by sale or exchange they deem may be
converted to the use of said road, or may receive all or
any part of such subscription in services, labor, supplies
or materials for the construction of said road: or its
appendages, or the equipping, maintenance and operation
of the same, and property which, or its proceeds, may be
beneficial and useful to said company in carrying out the
objects of said company, and pay therefor wholly or
partly in the capital stock of said company. |

9. The board of directors shall have power to fix the
compensation of the president, to issue bonds in the sums
of not less than one hundred dollars each, bearing interest
at not exceeding six per centum per annum, the principal
and interest payable at such times and places as they may
determine, and may secure the same by one or more mort-
gages on the road, franchises, incomes, and real and per-
sonal property of the company, or such parts thereof as
may be designated in the mortgages, and may hypothe-
cate or sell them in such manner and at such places as
the interests of the company may demand, and may lease
its rolling stock, road equipment or any part of them to
any other company. It shall be lawful for said company
to acquire, in subscriptions to its capital stock, or by
donations, money, lands, loans or other damages, work,
Jabor, material, property, bonds or other means available
for its purposes, and to receive subscriptions from indi-
viduals, other companies, associations or corporations ; and
the said company may sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any
lands or properties acquired under this section. The city
of Portsmouth, or any city, town, county, or other corpo-
ration, may subscribe to the capital stock of said com-
pany in the manner and under restrictions prescribed by
the statutes of Virginia.

10. The said company is required to commence the
construction of its road within two years from the first
day of March, eighteen hundred and ninety, and shall
complete the same within five years from this date.

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

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