Chap. 63.—An ACT to incorporate the Danbury and Parkersburg
Railroad Company.

_ »* Approved February 1, 1886.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
John M. Thomas, Giles J. Henderson, Hugh C. Preston, Har-
vey Black, George G. Junkin, William G, Guerrant, James L.
Stone, and Archer A. Phlegar, of Montgomery county, Vir-
ginia; Samuel Lybrook, William Eggleston, Joseph H. Hoge,
and Jacob Ferrier, of Giles county, Virginia; Joseph L.- How-
ard, Burdine Bishop, William H. Harman, and William D.
Vaughan, of Floyd county, Virginia; Abram Staples, Isaac N.
Adams, and Abram Mays, of Patrick county, Virginia; John
E. Penn, of Roanoke county, Virginia; Johnson N. Camden,
Arthur C. Boreman, George Loomis, John J. Jackson, Benja-
min L. Boggs, and Jacob B. Jackson, of Wood county, West
Virginia; John E. Hayes, John S. Withers, and Samuel Hoys,
of Gilmer county, West Virginia; W. D. Rollyson, Ellis Sin-
gleton, Craven Berry, Allen Berry, John G. Morrison, D. B.
Burns, W. W. Henderson, and William S. Hefner, of Braxton
county, West Virginia; Lewis McElwaine, Samuel S. Given,
Hays Rader, and George M. Sawyers, of Webster county,
West Virginia; James Craig, John D. Anderson, Fielding
McClung, and Howard Templeton, of Nicholson county, West
Virginia; Elbert Fowler, Charles Clark, N. M. Lowry, W. W.
Adams, and C. L. Thompson, of Summers county, West Vir-
ginia; N. M. Pepper, S. B. Taylor, W. W. McCauless, Peter
Hairston, Joseph Bradfield, and J. W. Duggins, of Stokes
county, North Carolina; J. Turner Morehead, J. M. Vaughan,
W. T. Carter, and L. W. Anderson, of Rockingham county,
North Carolina; J. M. Heck, of Wake county, North Carolina;
Richmond Pearson, of Buncombe county, North Carolina;
Benjamin W. Nicols and H. G. Pickering, of the city of Bos-
ton, Massachusetts; and W. T. Sutherlin, of Danville, Virgi-
nia; or such of them as may accept the provisions of this act,
and such persons and corporations as may become lawfully as-
sociated with them, shall be and are hereby constituted a body
politic and corporate, under the name and style of the Danbury
and Parkersburg Railroad Company; and in that name shall
have all the powers, rights, privileges and franchises necessary
to locate, construct and maintain a railroad from Danbury, or
some other point in Stokes county, North Carolina, through
the counties of Patrick, Floyd, Montgomery, passing within
one mile of the town of Blacksburg, in Montgomery county,
and Giles, in the state of Virginia, to Parkersburg, in the
county of Wood, West Virginia, or such other point on the
Ohio river, or on the Little Kanawha river, in said county of
Wood, as may be by said company selected for the western
terminus:of its railroad: provided, that the provisions of this
charter shall not be deemed to apply to that portion of the road
beyond the limits of this state: and provided further, that said
railroad shall be commenced within two years and completed
within ten years from the passage of this act.

2. That the capital stock of said company shall be five hun-
dred thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred
dollars each, and may be increased, from time to time, by the
board of directors, to such an amount as they may deem proper—
not in excess of eight million dollars — and in every meeting of
the stockholders each share shall be entitled to one vote. The
board of directors shall, for any legitimate purposes of said
company, have power to issue bonds of said company, in such
sums, not less than one hundred dollars each, bearing interest
not exceeding the rates allowed by law, payable at such times
and places, and in such manner, as the said board of directors
may determine, and may secure such bonds by one or more
mortgages, deeds of trust, or other liens on the road, franchises,
income and real and personal property of the company, or any
parts thereof.

3. That at such time as the corporators, or such of them as
may accept the provisions of this act, may select, which time
shall have been advertiséd for four successive weeks in some
newspaper published in such of the counties named herein as
papers may be published in, there shall be held a meetiug of
such corporators in the town of Christiansburg, Virginia, for
the purpose of organizing said company. Such meeting may
elect a president of the company, and so many directors, and
such other officers as it shall deem advisable. The president
and directors shall continue in office one year, and until their
successors are elected and duly qualified, and the other officers
for such time as the directors or stockholders may, from time
to time, determine. The number of directors may be altered
at any time by the stockholders. The successors of the officers
elected at such meeting, shall be chosen, in case of president
and directors, by the stockholders, and in case of other officers,
in such manner as the stockholders may determine; and the
principal office of said company shall be within the limits of
this state. :

4. It shall be lawful for said company to receive, accept and
acquire, in subscriptions to its capital stock, or by donations,
contributions or otherwise, land, minerals, mines, property,
materials and labor. It may also receive subscriptions to its
capital stock from associations, companies and corporations of
this or any other state, which are by law, or by the terms of their
charters, permitted to subscribe to works of internal improve-
ment; and it may contract with any company, corporation or
association, authorized to do so, to endorse, guarantee, sell or
exchange its stock or bonds: provided, however, that no com-
pany, syndicate or association, formed for the purpose of con
structing, operating or owning any railroad, shall become,
either directly or indirectly, the owners of or interested in more
than two-fifths of the stock of said company, except by pur-
chase thereof at a sale under some mortgage, deed of trust or
other lien created by said Danbury and Parkersburg railroad
company: provided, that no lands so acquired shall be held
by said company for a longer period than twenty years from
the completion of said road. Said company may lease, sell,
mortgage, convey and dispose of, in any way that a natural
person might do, any lands, minerals, mines, property and
materials whatsoever, which it may acquire; but said company
shall not hold exceeding ten thousand.acres of land at any one
time, unless more than that amount shall be absolutely neces-
sary for the ordinary operations of the road. |

5. That any county, city or town in this state’may subscribe
to the capital stock of said company; and to this end it shall
be the duty of the county court of any county, and of the coun-
cil, or board of trustees, or aldermen of any city or town, upon
the written application of the board of directors of the Dan-
bury and Parkersburg railroad company, and of twenty quali-
fied voters of such county, city or town, to appoint a day on
which an election shall be held in such county, city or town, for
the purpose of ascertaining the sense of the qualified voters
of such county, city or town, upon the question of subscribing
to the capital stock of said company; and such elections shall
be held, and the returns thereof made, in accordance with the
provisions of sections sixty-two and sixty-three of chapter six-
ty-one of the Code of eighteen hundred and seventy-three.

6. If it shall appear from the returns of said election that
three-fifths of the qualified voters voting, and a majority. of the
freeholders voting, of the county, city or town, a majority of
the registered voters voted for such subscription, the county
court of such county, or the council, board of trustees, or al-
dermen of such city or town, shall appoint three or more tax-
payers, residing in the county, city or town so voting, as a
board of trustees, whose duty it shall be to make such subscrip-
tion, and to issue the bonds of such county, city or town, for
the amount of the subscription, the interest on which bonds
shall be evidenced by coupons, payable semi-annually, and in
conformity to the order requiring the election. Such bonds
shall be for such sums each as the board of trustees shall deter-
mine, and shall be payable to the Danbury and Parkersburg
railroad company, or its assigns, and shall be delivered to said
company upon its delivering to said trustees a proper certificate
of stock, in name of such county, city or town, in said railroad
company, to the amount of the subscription so voted upon:

rovided, however, that such bonds shall not be delivered, or
if delivered, shall not be valid, except as follows: one-third
thereof when the said railroad shall be completed to such point
as may be named in the order for the election; one-third when
the grading of said road shall be completed to the line of the
county making the subscription, or where a city or town makes
a sub&cription, to such place as may be specified in the order
for the election; and the remaining one-third when the grading
of said railroad shall be completed to-such othet and turthér
point as may be designated in the-order ‘for thé election.» Said
board of trustees shall, from tine+to time,.as they issue and
deliver the bonds herein previded for, "make ‘reports; to “the
county court, and to the board of supervisors; Or’ia Ccftids arid
towns to the council, board of trustees or aldermen, of the
dates, numbers and amounts of bonds issued and delivered,
which report shall be entered upon the records of such court,
and of such boards of supervisors, and of such council, board
of trustees or aldermen; and it shall be the duty of said board
of trustees to detach and destroy all coupons which have ma-
tured before the delivery of the bonds to the said company.

7. That to provide for the interest on said bonds as they be-
come due, and for their redemption at maturity, the authorities
of such county, city or town, who by law may have the power
of imposing taxes on levies for county, city or town purposes,
shall, in addition to the sums imposed for other purposes, levy,
impose, and cause to be collected, a tax or levy which will
raise a sum sufficient to pay the interest as it accrues on such
bonds and provide a sinking fund which will be sufficient to
redeem the bo nds at their maturity; which sums, so levied and
collected, shall be set apart and used for such purposes, and no
other.

8. That the board of directors may determine the gauge of
said railroad, and alter the same at any time.

g. That said company may build, maintain, use, encumber,
and dispose of, as it is authorized to do with its other property,
such lateral branches and branch roads—no one of which shall
exceed twenty miles in length—as its stockholders or board of
directors may determine.

10. That no payments on account of subscriptions to stock
shall be required until not less than one hundred thousand
dollars have been subscribed by solvent persons or corpora-
tions, other than counties, cities or towns. And the construc-
tion of said road shall not be commenced until the minimum
of the capital stock aforesaid shall have been subscribed, and

ten per centum thereof paid in.

11. That in case of the death, removal, or inability or re-
fusal to act, of any of the board of trustees, provided for by
section six of this act, the vacancies so occasioned may be filled
by the power authorized in said section to appoint such boards.

12. For the purpose of forming a continuous line of railroad,
to be operated under one management, to avoid change of
cars or break of bulk, and for this purpose only, the said com-
pany may consolidate with the Blacks urg railroad company,
or any railroad which is not a competing or parallel line.

13. This act shall be subject to repeal, amendment or modi-
fication, by any future legislation, as may seem to it proper.
And all taxes, debts and demands, due from the said company
to the state of Virginia, shall be paid in currency, and not in
coupons.

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