Chap. 232.,—An ACT to Extend the time for the Completion of its Road
by the Fredericksburg, Orange and Charlottesville Railroad Company,
to Provide for Constructing a Branch and Extension of said Road,
and to Prescribe what may be Done to Complete same in case of For-
feiture Incurred by said Company.

In force March 26, 1873.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the time allowed by the provisions of the act of the general
assembly entitled an act to extend the charter of the Frede-
ricksburg, Orange and Charlottesville Railroad Company, and
to authorize said company to borrow maney, and to create a
mortgage upon its property and franchises, approved February
twenty-first, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, to said com-
pany, for the completion of said railroad from Fredericksburg
to Orange Courthouse, is hereby enlarged and extended from
the first day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, until
the first day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-three; and
in case said company shall fail to complete said railroad to
Orange Courthouse by said first day of July, all the forfeit-
ures prescribed by said act above recited shall be incurred
and suffered by said company. But before the said company
shall have or avail itself of the benefit of such extension of
time, or the same shall obtain or be operative, the said com-
pany shall deposit with the board of public works of Virginia
the bonds of the commonwealth of Virginia, known as con.
solidated bonds, issued under the provisions of the law known
as the funding bill, for the sum of twenty thousand dollars ;
and in case said company shall fail to complete said road to
Orange Courthouse by said first day of July, then the said
bonds, so deposited, shall be applied, first, to pay and satisfy, —
pro tanto and pro rata, any debts due to citizens of Virginia
for work and labor dohe and supplies and materials furnished
in and about the construction of said railroad since the twenty-
first day of February, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and
up to said first day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-
three; and the said bonds shall next go and be applied to and
for the use and benefit of the state of Virginia, the corpora-
tion of Fredericksburg, and the other stockholders of the
Fredericksburg and Gordonsville Railroad Company, in the
same manner as the forfeitures prescribed by the fifth section
of the said act above recited are directed to enure and operate.

2. In the event that the said Fredericksburg, Orange and
Charlottesville Railroad Company shall fail to complete said
railroad to Orange Courthouse by the first day of May, eigh-
teen hundred and seventy-three, and shall further fail within
ten days thereafter to deposit said twenty thousand dollars of
Virginia bonds, as herein above prescribed, or in the further
event that after making such deposit and obtaining thereby
the benefit of said extension of time for completion, the said
company shall fail to complete said railroad to Orange Court-
house by said first day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-
three, then, and in either of said events, it shall be the duty of
the board of public works to take, in behalf of the said stock-
holders of the Fredericksburg and Gordonsville Railroad Com-
pany, immediate possession of the railroad track, road-bed,
work and materials thereon, depots and other structures upon
the line of said road, and of all other property of said Frede-
ricksburg, Orange and Charlottesville Railroad Company, and
do all acts necessary to hold and maintain such possession.
And said board of public works shall call a general meeting of
said stockholders of the Fredericksburg and Gordonsville
Railroad Company (as existing at the date of the dissolution of
said company) to be held at the courthouse in the town of
Fredericksburg, on a day not more than forty days from the
time when such forfeiture or forfeitures are incurred and suf-
fered by said Fredericksburg, Orange and Charlottesville Rail-
road Company; and shall appoint three proxies, who shall re-
present the state of Virginia in such meeting, and advertise
public notice of such meeting for four weeks prior thereto.
Upon the day so appointed for such meeting, the said Frede-
ricksburg and Gordonsville Railroad Company shall be re-in-
vested with all the franchises, rights, powers and privileges
which it possessed, and be subject to all the laws, obligations
and duties which bound it at the time of the dissolution of
said company; and said company shall then or thereafter take
possession and control of said railroad, and all said property
so forfeited, and proceed to take all needful action within its
power for the completion, equipment and operating of said
railroad to Orange Courthouse and thence to Charlottesville:
provided, however, that if it appear to the satisfaction of the
board of public works and of the common council of the town
of Fredericksburg, that by reason of the progress which has
been made by the said Fredericksburg, Orange and Charlottes-
ville Railroad Company up to said first day of July, eighteen
hundred and seventy-three, in the construction of said rail-
road, the said company can complete the same to Orange
Courthouse by the first day of August, eighteen hundred and
seventy-three, and that said company will so complete the same
if authorized to do so, then upon the entry of such judgment
of said board and said common council upon their respective
records, the said company shall be allowed such further exten-
sion of time up to said first day of August, eighteen hundred
and seventy-three, so as to complete said road.

3. In case of the happening and enforcement of the forfeiture
as aforesaid, the said Fredericksburg and Gordonsville Rail-
road Company shall be bound to provide for and pay the fol.
lowing debts, viz: the debts due to citizens of Virginia on
actual construction done and materials furnished for said rail.
road, which have been audited and ascertained as prescribed
by the provisions of the act above recited, and which amount tc
about the sum of thirty thousand dollars; and also all other
debts which may then be due to citizens of Virginia for like con.
struction by contractors or sub-contractors for work done and
supplies and materials furnished them for said railroad since
said twenty-first day of February, eighteen hundred and
seventy-two. The payment of these debts shall be secured by
said company by the execution of its bonds for the same, se-
cured in a first lien upon said railroad and other property of
said company, payable at a reasonable time, to be determined
by the board of directors, not exceeding thirty years, the in-
terest payable semi-annually ; and in order to enable said com-
pany to provide for the payment of said debts, and also to
procure the means for the completion of the road to Orange
Courthouse, and the extension of same to Charlottesville, the
said company are hereby authorized and empowered, when it
shall so have re-organized and resumed said corporate func-
tions and franchises, to borrow a sum of money not exceeding
twelve hundred thousand dollars, and upon a rate of interest.
not exceeding eight per centum per annum; and to secure the
money so borrowed, the said company is hereby authorized to
issue coupon or registered bonds in such sums as the president:
and directors of said company may deem best; and to secure
the payment of the same, and of the interest accruing thereon,
the president and directors are hereby authorized and empow-
ered to execute a lien on all the property, rights and franchises
of said company, existing at the time of the execution of such
lien, and which may thereafter be acquired by said company;
and said company may sell said bonds at less than par; but.
not more than five hundred thousand dollars of said bonds.
shall be issued by said company until the said railroad shall
have been completed to Orange Courthouse, and be equipped.
for travel and freight transportation thereon.

4. The said Fredericksburg, Orange and Charlottesville
Railroad Company shall, in the event that it shall complete
said railroad to Orange Courthouse, in the manner and within
the time as hereinbefore prescribed, have the right and autho-
rity to construct a branch railroad, from any point on its line
of road east of Orange Courthouse, to Culpeper, the county-
seat of Culpeper county; and further, to extend its railroad
from the town of Fredericksburg to the Potomac river at or
near Matthias point, and, in order thereto, to erect a railroad
bridge over the Rappahannock, at a point above the existing
bridge of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad
company; and also to acquire and hold, by purchase or lease,
or by condemnation, in the mode provided by law in like cases,
such lands on the Potomac river as said company may deem
necessary for wharves and for yards for the delivery and storage
of coal and other articles of freight and commerce; and in
order to provide the means for constructing said branch rail-
road, and such extension to the Potomac, said company may
borrow a further sum of money, not exceeding twenty-five
thousand dollars per mile of the lines of such branch and ex-
tension roads, and may issue its bonds therefor, and secure the
same and dispose thereof in like mode and manner as is pre-
scribed in the second section of the above-recited act, approved
February twenty-first, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, in
reference to the loan thereby authorized. And in the event of
the happening of the forfeiture or forfeitures by said company,
and the enforcement of the same as hereinabove set forth, then
the said Fredericksburg and Gordonsville Railroad Company
shall have like right and power to construct such branch rail-
road to Culpeper, and sueh extension to the Potomac river,
and to acquire such wharves and lot property, and provide the
means therefor by making like loans and securing the same in
like manner. .

5. In the event of the happening and enforcement of said
forfeiture or forfeitures, the president and directors of said
Fredericksburg and Gordonsville Railroad Company, when
said company shall be so re-organized, shall have the power
and authority to sell the interest of the state of Virginia in said
railroad to such person or persons, on such terms and condi-
tions as a majority in interest of the private stockholders of
said company may agree to dispose of their interest in said
road; but this sale is authorized upon the condition that said
railroad shall be completed to Orange Courthouse within the
period of five years from the time of such re-organization of
said company, and also upon condition that the state is released
from the deferred part of her subscription to said railroad, now
unpaid.

6. Upon such re-organization of said Fredericksburg and
Gordonsville Railroad Company, the stockholders thereof shall
have power, in general meeting, to change the corporate name of
said company to such name as they may choose to adopt; and,
in case of making such new name, a certified copy of the order
of said stockholders, adopting such new name, shall be filed
within one month thereafter, by the president of said company,
with the board of public works.

7. The indebtedness due at this time to citizens of Virginia,
not exceeding eight thousand dollars, by Finch & Co., con-
tractors for building the road, shall be paid out of proceeds of
sale of said bonds for twenty thousand dollars so to be de-
posited, and shall be a first lien on same, in the event that said
indebtedness be not paid on or before the 1st day of July, 1873.

8. In case the said Fredericksburg, Orange and Charlottes-
ville Railroad Company shall elect to make such deposit of
Virginia, bonds aforestated, in order to obtain the benefit of
said extension of time, the said company shall, at the time of
making such deposit, file with the board of public works a
writing declaring its acceptance of the provisions of this act, as
& jarther condition to its obtaining the benefit of said extension
fy) e.

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