CHAP. 296.—An ACT to incorporate the Danville and Northwestern
railroad company.

Approved March 1, 1886.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
E. B. Withers, E. G. Mosely, W. T. Townes, W. T. Sutherlin,
B. S. Crews, W. T. Clark, J. E. Schoolfield, H. W. Cole,
Henry E. Barksdale, G. W. Yarbrough, R. T. Bass, W. P.
Hodnett, T. B. Fitzgerald, John H. Schoolfield, R. I. Ander-
son, J. R. Lewellen, James Fricker, W. W. Worsham, J. R.
Perkinson, R. B. Graham, Orlando Wemple, C. A. Raine, J.
M. Neal, John G. Lea, Jno. W. Carter, P. L. Grasty, or such
of them as may accept the provisions of this act, and such per-
sons and corporations as may be hereafter associated with them,
be and they are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate,
by and under the name of the Danville and Northwestern rail-
road company; and by that name may and shall have all the
powers, rights and privileges to locate, construct, maintain and
operate a railroad, to be known as the Danville and North-
western railroad, from the town of Danville, in Pittsylvania
county, Virginia, to a connection with the N orfolk and Western
railroad, at Salem, Virginia, or some point east of Salem, Vir-
ginia, and west of Lynchburg, Virginia; thence crossing said
Norfolk and Western railroad, to connection with the Shenan-
doah Valley railroad, and the Richmond and Alleghany rail-
road, at points east or south of Lexington, in said state, and
with the Valley railroad at a point east or south of or at-Lex-
ington, as aforesaid. )

2. The capital stock of said company may: be one million
dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each,.
and may be increased, from time to time, by the board of di-
rectors, to such an amount as may be necessary to the comple-
tion of said road, not to exceed ten million dollars; and the
board of directors of said company shall have power to issue
bonds of said company in such sums, not less than one hun-
dred dollars each, with principal and interest, payable at such
times and places, and in such a manner as may be most advan-
tageous to the company; and may secure the same by one or
more deeds of trust or mortgages on the road-bed, franchises,
income, tolls, receipts and real and personal property of said
company, or such part thereof as may be designated in said
deed or deeds of trust and mortgages.

3. To facilitate the organization of the company, so as to
commence the construction of said railroad with as little delay
as possible, the corporators enumerated in the first section of
this act, or any ten of them, may at any time, after ten days’
notice in the newspapers of Danville, after the passage hereof,
meet together and organize said company by electing a presi-
dent and board of directors, of not less than five nor more than
nine members, exclusive of said president; and thereafter the
general laws of this state, in reference to incorporated and inter-
nal improvement companies, shall, in all respects not inconsis-
tent with this act, apply to said company, and the organization
so effected shall continue for one or more years, not exceeding
three, as said corporators may then determine.

4. The board of directors, of which the president shall be ex
officio a member, so elected, in addition to the powers hereto-
ore granted in this act, shall have full power and authority to
perfect the organization by appointment of vice-president, sec-
retary and treasurer, and such other officers and agents as they
may deem necessary for the successful proscution of the busi-
ness of said company; to receive subscriptions to the capital
stock of said company, and to make all arrangements and con-
tracts necessary to the location, construction, equipment and
operation of said railroad.

5. Said company may receive and acquire in subscriptions to
its capital stock, or by donations or otherwise, lands, mines,
property, materials and labor, and may also construct and
operate branch and lateral roads, not exceeding twenty miles
in length, ‘and sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of all lands or
other property acquired under the provisions of this section,
or the general laws of this commonwealth; and any county,
city or town at the terminus or along the line of said railroad,
or any lateral branch or connecting line, is hereby authorized
to subscribe to the capital stock, and to that end, the county
court of any such county or the corporation court of such city
or town shall, at the request of the board of directors of said
company, cause a vote of the qualified voters of such county,
city or town, to be taken in the manner prescribed by the Code
of Virginia, of eighteen hundred and seventy-three, for taking
such votes, at such times and for such amounts as said board of
directors may ask: provided, the amount asked for does not
exceed the limit prescribed by the charter of such city or town;
and in case such vote shall be in favor of such subscription,
said court shall make such orders for issuance of bonds, run-
ning such length of time, bearing such rates of interest, not ex-
ceeding six per centum per annum, and payable, principal and
interest, at such times and places as may best carry into effect
such vote, and advance the construction of said railroad. And
said bonds shall be taken at par value in exchange for stock of
said company at par value; and the council of any town or city,
and the supervisors of any county making a subscription under
the provisions of this act, are authorized and required to levy
and collect a tax sufficient to pay the interest and provide a
sinking fund to liquidate the principal of said bonds when due.

7. The said Danville and Northwestern railroad company
shall have power to cross at grade, with the consent of said
railroad company, but may cross said roads under or above
grade without said consent: provided, that there shall be an
agreement between the two roads as to the manner in which
the under-grade or over-grade crossings shall be constructed,
and in the event the two companies cannot agree, then it shall
be settled by arbitration: and provided further, that nothing in
this act shall be construed to limit or impair the rights of the
company hereby created, to condemn the right of way and
property of the road proposed to be crossed, under existing
laws; and they may unite or connect with any line of railroad
now constructed in this state, and for this purpose power is
hereby granted it to do so.

8. The work of construction shall be commenced within two
years, and shall be completed within ten years from the passage
of this act.

g. This act shall be subject to repeal amendment, or modi-
fication, at the pleasure of the general assembly; and it is agreed
that the company will always pay its taxes in lawful money of
the United States. |

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