Chap. 346.—An ACT to incorporate the Bristol and South Atlantic
railroad company.

Approved March 2, 1888.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
H. W. Bates, John M. Bailey, R. A. Ayers, J. Wilder, Wil-
liam D. Jones, J. T. Hicks, and S. Lawrence French, their
associates and successors, be and they are hereby made a
body corporate and politic, under the name and style of Bris-
tol and South Atlantic railroad company; under which
name it may sue and be sued in all courts, whether in law or
in equity, and shall have perpetual succession, and may have
a corporate seal which it may alter and renew at pleasure.
And it may make by-laws, rules, and regulations for the due
and orderly conduct of its business and affairs. ,

2. Said Bristol and South Atlantic railroad company, or
its successor, is authorized and empowered to construct and
operate a railroad from a point in the state line, between

irginia and Tennessee, within the town of Goodson, to a
junction point on the line of the South Atlantic and Ohio
railroad, in Washington county, with such number of tracks
as it may deem necessary and of standard gauge; and for
that purpose it shall be entitled to acquire a continuous strip
of land, one hundred feet in width upon which to construct
its railroad, with such additional land for depots, station-
houses, water-tanks, freight-yards, and repair or machine-
shops, as it may desire, not to exceed twenty acres in any
one parcel. In order to secure a continuous line of railroad
from the Magnetic iron ore districts of North Carolina to
any point on the Ohio river, to be Spore under one man-
agement, said Bristol and South Atlantic railroad company
may acquire by purchase, the rights, powers, privileges, fran-
chises, and properties of other chartered railroad companies,
or which may hereafter be chartered by this state or the
states of Kentucky, Tennessee, or North Carolina, by
exchanging its stock and other securities for the stock and
securities of the said other companies, or it may merge or
consolidate any of the said railroad companies, their rights,
powers, privileges, franchises, and properties, with rights,
powers, privileges, franchises, and properties hereby con-
ferred upon, or which may be hereafter acquired by the Bris-
tol and South Atlantic railroad company, on such terms as
may be agreed upon between the contracting parties, acting
through their respective boards of directors, subject, how-
ever, to the approval of the majority of the stockholders of
each company; and the said railroad company, or its suc-
cessor, may adopt another name for the company, which may
be formed by the consolidation of the rights, powers, privi-
leges, franchises, and property of the said companies, or any
of them. Plenary power and authority being hereby given
to such other companies to make and carry out such consoli-
dation and merger: provided that the consolidated company

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shall be liable for all the debts and liabilities of each and.
every of said companies, and that all the rights, powers,
privileges, and franchises which each and every of the said

railroad companies possess at the date of consolidation, shall

be and are hereby conferred upon and granted to the said

consolidated company to the same extent as if each and

every, the said powers, rights, privileges, and franchises were

herein recited: and provided further, that should the said

company or its successor ever consolidate its rights, powers,

privileges, franchises, and properties with those of a foreign

Gor pans 0 the consolidated company shall always remain

a Virginia corporation as regards the operation of the fran-

chises and property in this state of corporation hereby

created: provided that no railroad company acting under

this charter, shall, in the location or construction of its road,

acquire any right to the exclusive occupancy of any moun-

tain pass or creek or river valley, where it is practicable to

construct more than one railroad.

3. The capital stock of said company, or of any company |
formed by the consolidation or merger of said company with
any other railroad company or companies, shall not exceed
forty thousand dollars per mile for each mile of road actu-
ally constructed; said stock shall be divided into shares of
one hundred dollars each. The board of directors of said |
company, or any company formed by the consolidation or
merger of the said company with any other railroad com-
pany or companies, shall have the right to issue bonds secured
by mortgage upon its real and personal property, rights,
powers, privileges, and franchises to an amount not exceed-
ing forty thousand dollars per mile for each mile of its line.

4. To furnish a basis for raising capital, it shall be lawful «
for said company or its successor to receive grants and sub- ‘
scription in land at a fair valuation, and materials upon such
terms as may be agreed upon with the board of directors,
and it may exchange its stock or bonds therefor, and may
hold or sell the same at pleasure: provided the said company
shall not hold the said land for more than fifteen years after
the completion of its road.

5. The persons named in the first section of this act shall
constitute the first board of directors. They shall elect one |
of their number president. They shall hold their office until
the first meeting of the stockholders, any three of whom
may open books of subscription at any time and place. When
ten thousand dollars or more are subscribed, they shall con-
vene the stockholders and organize the company. Hach
stockholder shall be entitled to one vote for each share of
stock owned by him. At the first meeting of the stock-
holders, the president shall preside. The stockholders, at
the first meeting, shall fix the number of directors and elect
the same. They shall elect a president and secretary, who
shall certify said organization on the books of the company ;
a copy of which, duly attested by a notary public, shall be
received as evidence of the legal organization of the com-

pany. Google
6. No stockholder shall ever be held liable for the indebt-
edness of said company in a sum greater than that due from
him on stock subscribed by him.

7. Said railroad company, or its successor, shall begin the
work of constructing its railroad within two years, and shall
complete the main Tae of the same within ten years from
the passage of this act.

8. This charter is granted upon the express condition that
all taxes which may be assessed against said company shall
be paid in lawful money, and not in coupons.

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