Chap. 175.—An ACT to Incorporate the Virginia and Maryland Steam
Ferry Company.

Approved April 9, 1874.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
Samuel Strong, T. Edwin Betts, W. W. Walker, Richard H.
Lyell, Samuel Downing, David K. Carlter, James J. McDon-
ald, and James Smith, their associates, successors, and assigns,
be, and they are hereby created a body politic and corporate,
in fact and in law, by the name and style of The Virginia
and Maryland Steam Ferry Company, and by that name
have perpetual succession, and shall be able to sue and be
sued in any court of law or equity, to make and use a com-
mon seal, and may exercise and enjoy all the rights and
powers granted by this act.

2. Be it further enacted, That the objects of the said cor-
poration are declared to be: the navigation of the Potomac
river and the Chesapeake bay, or any of their tributaries,
with one or more steamboats, for the purpose of couveying
passengers, towing vessels, canal boats, or rafts, and trans-
portation of freight; and for which purpose they are hereby
authorized to lease, purchase, hold, and convey such real and
personal estate necessary for the business of said corporation.

3. The capital stock of said company shall be twenty
thousand dollars, with power to increase the same to seventy-
five thousand dollars. The said capital stock shall be divided
into shares of fifty dollars each, which shall be deemed per-
sonal property, and shall be transferable in such manner as
the company may direct; and whenever ten thousand dollars
of said capital stock shall have been subscribed and twenty
per centum of the same actually paid up in cash, the above-
named corporators and their associates, if any, shall be au-
thorized and empowered to organize said company, by the
appointment of a president, secretary, and treasurer, and the

option of such ordinances, by-laws, and regulations, not
inconsistent with the general law of the state, as may be
deemed necessary for the proper managemeut of the affairs
of said company, and they may proceed to business, as pro-
vided for in this act.

4. It shall be lawful for this corporation upon such real
estate leased or purchased as aforesaid, to erect wharves,

- docks, warehouses and other edifices, and may transport and

f

;

directors, one of whom shall

carry persons and property from any point of the said Poto-
mac river and Chesapeake bay and their tributaries, to any
point on said river and bay and their tributaries, and may
receive on storage or deposit any goods, wares, merchandise
or other kinds of persona property for safekeeping or ship-
ment, and may collect and receive compensation for storage,
dockage, wharfage, lighterage or carriage, at such rates and
on such terms as may be agreed upon in any contract, verbal
or written, between any owner, depositor or shipper and this
corporation; and all such charges and expenses as agreed
upon by such contract, shall be a lien on said goods, wares,
merchandise or other kinds of personal property, so stored
or deposited, and said lien may be enforced by sale thereof
for payment of such services rendered by this company.

5. Booke for subscription shall be opened at such times

and places as the corporators herein named shall designate,

and said subscriptions shall be payable by each such subscri-
ber at such time as it may be called for by the president and
directors of the company, and in such proportions as they
may deem necessary, and if any subscriber shall fail to pay
the same so-called for, upon each and every share so held
within thirty days after the same has been so called for and
demanded, then the amount so called for may be recovered
by motion upon twenty days’ notice in writing in any court
of record in the county or place of residence of the holder
of the stock.

6. The scale of voting at all meetings of the company shall
be one vote for each share of stock to be cast in person or
by proxy.

7. The affairs of the company shall be managed by five

be president; the said directors
to be chosen and elected by a majority of the stockholders
in interest, and said directors shall, at least once in each year,
render a full and correct account of the receipts and dis-
bursements made on behalf of the company in each preceding
year.

8. The said company shall organize in five years, or else
forfeit the rights, privileges and franchises herein conferred.

9. This charter shall be subject to modification or repeal
at the pleasure of the general assembly.

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

Coogle