Chap. 378.—An ACT to incorporate the Bristol coal and iron company.
Approved May 23, 1887.

1. Be it enacted by the gencral assembly of Virginia, That
Samuel Dickinson, W. C. Bullitt, Charles G. Eddy, of Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania, Joseph R. Anderson, A. Fulkerson, J.
M. Booker, W. F. Rhea, Z. L. Burson, and C. L. Finch,
or such of them as may accept the provisions of this act,
their associates and successors, be and they are bereby incor-
porated and made a body politic and corporate under the
name and style of the Bristol coal and iron company, and
by that name shall be known in law, and shall bave per-
petual succession, and have power to sue and be sued, plead
and be impleaded, defend and be defended in all courts,
whether in law or in equity; and may make and have a com-
mon seal, and alter or renew the same at pleasure; and shall
have, enjoy, and exercise all the rights, powers, and privileges
pertaining to corporate bodies and necessary for the purposes
of this act; and make by-laws, and rules and regulations con-
sistent with the existing laws of the State for the govern-
ment of all under its authority, the management of its estate
and properties, and the due and orderly conduct ofits affairs.

2. The capital stock of the said company shall not be less
than fifty thousand dollars, and may be increased to an
amount nag exceeding two million dollars, by issue and sale
of shares, the par value of which shall not be less than
fifty dollars, from time to time under such regulations as
the board of directors of said company shall from time to
time prescribe; and the directors may receive real or personal
property suited to the business of the company, in payment
of subscriptions to the capital stock, at such valuations as
may be agreed upon between the directors and subscribers.

3. The said company is authorized and empowered to mine
coal, iron ore, or other minerals; to prepare the products
thereof for markct; to make coke and transport and sell the
same; to manufacture iron and steel and other metals and
articles composed wholly or partly of iron and steel and other
metals; to bore for salt, oil, and gas, and manufacture the
same, and to sell and dispose of the same; and to erect blast
furnaces, rolling mills, forges, mills, machinery, fixtures, build-
ings, and the necessary appliances and appurtenances required
in the conduct of their business; and to make, lease, or con-
tract for these or any of these purposes; and the said com-
pany shall have the right from time to time to purchase, lease,
hold, and control in any manner, grant, bargin, sell, and con-
vey iron ore, mineral, and limestone and other lands, and
rights and interest in lands, situate in the counties of Wash-
ington, Russell, Wise, Dickenson, and Lee in the State of
Virginia, not exceeding, however, forty thousand acres of land
in any one county.

4. The persons first named in this act, or such of them as
shall accept the provisions thereof, shall constitute the first
board of directors of the said company, and shall continue in
office until the first meeting of the stockholders thereof. At
such first meeting, and at every annual meeting,so many direc-
tors shalJ be elected as may be prescribed by the by-laws and
regulations of said company, who may be removed by the stock-
bolders in general meeting; but, unless so removed, shall con-
tinue in office until their successors shall be elected and
qualified. Each stockholder in the company shall at all
meetings or clections thereafter, be entitled to one vote for
each share of stock registered in bis name.

5. The board of directors shall be stockholders in said com-
pany. They shall appoint one of their number president,
and may fill any vacancy that may occur in said board,
unless by removal; in which case, the same shall be filled by
the stockholders in general meeting. Whenever the mini-
mum amount of capital stock herein named shall have been
subscribed, and the board of directors shall have elected a
president, said company shall be considered legally organized,
and may proceed to the transaction of business. The board
shall appoint, to hold during its pleasure, the subordinate
officers and agents of the said company, prescribe their compen-
sations, and take from them such bonds with such security
as they may deem fit.

6. The board of directors may establish offices and agen-
cies at such places as they may deem proper, but the prin-
cipal office of the company shall be located at gome point
within the limits of the State of Virginia.

7. The annual meeting of the stockholders of the said
company shall be held at Goodson, Washington county, in
Virginia, on the first Wednesday of May of each year, or as
soon thereafter as practicable, and on such other day and at
such other place as the stockholders may, by resolution adopted
in annual meeting to take effect at the next annual meeting,
prescribe. A general mecting of the stockholders of the said
company may be held at any time, as provided for by the
tenth section of chapter fifty-seven of the Code of Virginia,
edition of eighteen hundred and seventy-three.

8. The said company shall issue certificates of stock in
said company to tke subscribers therefor, in shares of not less
than fifty dollars cach, signed by the president and coun-
tersigned by the secretary of said company. The said cer-
tificates shall be transferable only upon the books of the
company by the said subscribers, their personal representa-
tives, or duly authorized agent or attorney; and the said
certificates when so transferred as aforesaid, may be returned
to the said company and cancelled, and new certificates of
stock shall be issued in lieu thereof to the person entitled
thereto for a like number of shares.

9. It shall be lawful for said company to issue and sell its
bonds from time to time for such sum and on such terms as
its board of directors may deem expedient and proper in the
prosecution of any of its work; and may secure the pay-
ment of said bonds by mortgages or deeds of trust upon all
or any portion of its property or tranchises, including its
franchises to be a corporation.

10. No stockholder in said company shall be held liable
or made responsible for its debts and liabilities in a larger or
further sum than the amount of any unpaid balance due to
the said company for stock subscribed for by said stockholder.

11. Whenever this corporation shall exercise any of the
privileges conferred by this act, it shall be liable to the same
taxes as may be imposed by law upon other like corporations
or persons exercising like privileges.

12. This act shall be in force from it passage, but the gene-
ral assembly of the State of Virginia reserves to itself the
right to modify, alter, or repeal this act at any time hereafter.