Chap. 56.—An ACT to incorporate the the Bristol iron and steel
company.

Approved January 15, 1890.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That Abraham S. Patterson, Justice Cox, junior, Samuel
Dickson, William Henry Tfotter, Joseph 8. Patterson, E. P.
Borden, H. W. Bates, B. Ix Dulaney and William Henry
Bennett, or such of them as may accept the provisions of
this act, their associates and successors, be, and they are
hereby, incorporated and made a body politic and corporate
under the name and style of the Bristol iron and steel
company, and by that name shall be known in law, and |
shall have perpetual succession, and have power to sue and
be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended
in al] courts, whether in law or in equity, and may make
and have acommon 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.
2. The capital stock of the said company shall not be
less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and may
be increased to’ any amount not exceeding two million
dollars by issue or sale of shares, preferred or common
stock, or both, the par value of which shall not be less than
one hundred dollars, from time to time, under such regu-
lattons and upon such terms and conditions and at such
prices as the board of directors of said company shall from
time to time prescribe, and the directors may receive lands,
labor, material, and other property suited to the business
of the company in payment for subscriptions to or sales of
the capital stock at such valuation as may be agreed upon
between the directors and subscribers or purchasers.

3. The said company is authorized and empowered to
mine ores or coal; to buy, ship, and sell ores or coals and
iron, steel, and other metals; to manufacture iron, steel
and other metals and articles composed wholly or partly
of iron, steel, or other metal, and toship and sell the same;
to buy, cut, manufacture, ship, and sell logs and lumber;
to buy, make, ship, and sell coke; to build and maintain
tipples, tramways, pipe lines, furnaces, foundries, mills,
manufactories, machinery, warehouses, stores, wharves,
bridges, and all other appliances, structures, or buildings
convenient and proper for the transaction of its business ;
to buy, hold, own, lease, sell, and convey, or control in any
manner, lands, ores, coal, timber, and interests in lands
and other property-in this state and elsewhere, which may
be requisite or proper for the transaction of its business;
provided the said company shall not own at any one time
more than twenty thousand acres in any one county, to
lay out and sub-divide lands into streets and lots, and to
sell the lots; to build, rent, and sell dwellings, and to
build and maintain works for supplying water, electricity,
and gas to the public; and in order to bring out the ores,
lumber, and products of its locality, and to furnish pub-
lic transportation facilities, the company shall have the
right, from time to time, of locating, constructing, leasing,
operating, and maintaining a line of railroad or railroads
from any of the lands, operations, or works of the said
company to any point on any railroad that is now or here-
after may be located or constructed into or through the
county of Washington and any adjacent counties: pro-
vided that nothing herein contained in this section shall
be construed as exempting the said company from the
provisions of chapter fifty-one of the code of Virginia of
eighteen hundred and eightyv-seven, if it shall engage in
constructing or operating any such railroad: and the said
company may acquire by condemnation, in the mode pro-
vided by law, the lands necessary for the right of wavy of
its railroads and necessary stations and depots for their
operations.
4. The persons first named in this act, or such of them
as shal] accept the provisions thereof, shall constitute the
first board of directors of said company, and shall con-
tinue in office until the first meeting of the stockholders
thereof. At such first meeting, and at every annual meet-
ing, s0 many directors shall be elected as may be prescribed
by the by-laws and regulations of the said company, who
may be removed by the stockholders in general meeting,
but unless so removed shall continue in office until their
Buccessors shall be elected and qualified. Each stock-
holder in the said company shall, at all meetings or elec-
tions thereafter, be entitled to one vote for each share of
stock registered in his name.

d. The board of directors shall be stockholders of said
company ; 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
minimum 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
its business. The board shall appoint, to hold during its
pleasure, the subordinate officers and agents of the said
company, prescribe their compensations, and take from
them such bonds, with security, as they may see fit.

6. The board of directors may establish offices and
agencies at such places as they may deem proper, but the
principal office of the company shall be located at some
point within the limits of the state of Virginia.

7. The annual meeting of the stockholders of the said
company shall be held at Bristol-Goodson, Virginia, on
the first Thursday of May of each year, or as soon there-
after as practicable, and on such other day and at such
other place as the stockholders may by resolution adopt at
any annual meeting, to take effect at the next annual
meeting. °

8. The said company shall issue certificates of stock in
said company to the subscribers or purchasers thereof in
shares of not less than one hundred dollars each, signed by
the president and countersigned by the secretary of the said
company. Thesaid certificate shall be transferrable only
on the books of the company by the said subscribers, their
personal representatives, or duly authorized agent or attor-
ney; and the said certificates, when so transferred as
aforesaid, may be returned to the said company and can-
celled, and new certificates of stock shall] be issued in lieu
thereof to the persons entitled thereto for a like number
of shares.

9. It shall be lawful for said company to issue or sell its
bonds, from time to time, for such sums and on such

10
terms as its board of directors may deem expedient and
proper in the prosecution of any of its works, and may
secure the payment of said bonds by mortgage or deeds of
trust upon all or any portion of its property and franchises,
including its franchises to be a corporation; and may
reserve the right to the company, or confer on the holder
of any bond of the company the right to convert the prin-
cipal thereof into stock of the company at any ‘time; and
it shall be lawful for said company to guarantee or sub-
scribe to, or hold shares in the capital stock or obligations
of any railroad company or other corporation whenever
the board of directors of the company shall deem it to its
interest to do so, and any such corporation of this state or
elsewhere may subscribe for, acquire, or guarantee the
bonds or the stock of said company. .

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

11. All taxes and debts due or to become due the state of
Virginia by the company shall be paid in lawful money of
the United States and not in coupons.

12. This act shall be in force from its passage, but the
general assembly of the state of Virginia reserves to itself
the right to modify, alter, or repeal this act at any time
hereafter.