Chap. 199.—An ACT to amend and re-enact the 3d, oth, 7th, 9th, 10th,
and 11th sections of an act entitled an act to incorporate the Bristol
coal and iron narrow-gauge railroad company, and to transfer to it
certain franchises, rights, privileges, and properties of the Virginia
and Kentucky railroad company, apncoved Murch 27, 1876.

Approved March 21, 1677.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That the third,
fifth, seventh, ninth, tenth, and eleventh sections of an act
entitled an act to incorporate the Bristol coal and iron nar-
row-gauge railroad company, and to transfer to it certain
franchises, rights, privileges, and properties of the Virginia
and Kentucky railroad company, approved March twenty-
seventh, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, be amended and
re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 3. The capital stock of said company shall not, except
as hereinafter provided, exceed one million of dollars, to be
divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, and each
stockholder shall be entitled to cast one vote tor every share
of stock held in said company; but said company shall, if
found necessary to complete, fully equip, and put their road
in operation, have power to issue its bonds, bearing interest
at not more than eight per centum per annum, and secure
the same by mortgage or deed of trust on its property and
franchises to the further amount of one million of dollars:
provided that said company be, and it is hereby authorized
to record one or more mortgages or deeds of trust in any
county or city in the state of Virginia, and the tax shall be
assessed and paid upon the amount of bonds or other obliga-
gations secured thereby, actually sold or hypothecated during
the year, on the first day of February of each year, and no
other tax sball be demanded upon such deeds of trust or
mortgage.

§ 5. Whenever the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars
Shall have been subscribed to the capital stock of the said
Bristol coal and iron narrow-gauge railroad company, in ac-
cordance with the provisions hereinbefore and hereinafter
contained, then it shall be lawful for the said company to
organize and commence operations. And whenever the said
company shall have organized in accordance with the pro-
visions of this act, then it may permit the Atlantic, Missis-
sippi and Ohio railroad company to subscribe to its capital
stock to the amount of seven hundred and fifty thousand
dollars; and when the said company shall have so subscribed,
it shall be entitled to cast one vote for every sbare of stock
so subscribed. |

§ 7. Upon the organization of said company, the Atlantic,
Mississippi and Ohio railroad company shall turn over to it
all the property, real and personal, assets and records, re-
ceived by it of the Virginia and Kentucky railroad company,
including the records of all suryeys and estimates made by
the Virginia and Kentucky railroad company. And the Bris-
tol coal and iron nariow gauge railroad company shall pay
the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio railroad company such
sum or sums of money as the said company has paid on ac-
count of work done on the Virginia and Kentucky railroad
company previous to the seventeenth day of June, eighteen
hundred and seventy, but shall not be required to pay any
expenses incurred by the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio rail-
road company in surveying and making estimates since that
time. And the said Bristol coal and iron narrow gauge rail-
road company may pay any sum found due the Atlantic,
Mississippi and Obio railroad company in its bonds secured
by mortgage, as hereinbefore authorized: provided that if
the two companies cannot agree upon a settlement according
to the provisions of this section, then it shall be the duty of
the board of public works to settle and adjust the same, and
their decision shall be binding on the said companies.

§ 9. The gauge of the said road shall not be less than three
feet, and it shall be lawful for the said company to increase
the width of the said road so that the same will correspond
with the gauge of the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio railroad
company, whenever two-thirds of the stockholders assembled
for that purpose shall so order.

§ 10. The governor of the state is hereby authorized gnd
directed to furnish to the said company, free of hire, as many
able-bodied convicts, male and female, trom the penitentiary,
as are on hand when applied for, and can be spared without
interfering with the mechanical or skilled Jabor employed for
manufacturing purposes, under such conditions as to safe-
keeping as the governor may prescribe, to be used in con-
structing said railroad. And the said convicts shall be fed,
clothed and guarded by the state whilst at work for said com-
pany ; for the cost and expense of which the said company
shall issue to the state its bonds, secured by mortgage, as
hereinbefore provided, at such times as may be agreed upon
and required by the governor: provided that in no event shall
the cost incurred by the state in feeding, guarding and cloth-
ing said convicts exceed the average cost of guarding, feeding
and clothing them at the penitentiary.

$11. It shall be lawful for tbe counties of Lee, Scott, Wise
and Washington, and the town of Goodson, to subscribe to
the capital stock of said company, whenever they shall decide
s0 to do, in the manner provided by law for counties, cities
and towns to subscribe to the capital stock of internal im-
provement companies. And it shall be lawful for the boards
of supervisors of the said counties, acting for and on behalf
of their said counties respectively, to guarantee the payment
of interest on an amount of the said company’s bonds not
exceeding one hundred thousand dollars by cach county for
such period of time as the said supervisors may determine,
and it shall also be lawful for any railroad company operating
a line of railroad in this state, or any manufacturing firm or
company to subscribe to the capital stock of the same. The
boards of supervisors of the counties of Scott and Lee sball
have power, and are hereby authorized, to transfer the sub-
scriptions of their said counties, respectively, from the Vir-
ginia and Kentucky railroad company, or the Atlantic, Mis-
sissippi and Ohio railroad company, to the Bristol coal and
iron narrow guage railroad company, and shall also have
anthority to issue the bonds of their respective counties for
Whatever sum may remain unpaid on account of their said
respective subscriptions, and deliver the same to the proper
and legally constituted officers of the Bristol coal and iron
harrow gauge railroad company.

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