CHAP. 306.—An ACT to incorporate the Southanipton, Greenes-
ville and Brunswick railway.

Approved February 19, 1802.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That E. C. Gates, Bradley L. Eaton, R. R. Sizer, R. H
Dobyns, J. F. Stewer, J. P. Thomas, and John A. Arring-
dale, and such other persons and corporations as may be
associated with them, shall be, and they are hereby, con-
stituted and declared to be a body politic and corporate
by the name, style, and title of Southampton, Greenesville
and Brunswick railway; and by that name shall have
perpetual succession, and shall be capable of being sued
and suing in all courts of law and equity. Said company
may have and use a common seal, which it may alter or
renew at pleasure, and may make and adopt ordinances,
by-laws, and regulations not inconsistent with the provis-
ions of this act, the laws of this state or of the United
States, for the government of its officers and agents and
the proper conduct of its affairs.

2. That the company created by this act shall be, and it
is hereby, authorized and empowered to locate, construct,
maintain, equip, and operate a railroad of one or more
tracks, of a gauge of three feet, to commence at an avail-
able point on the Nottoway river, within the said county
of Southampton, and extend thence by such route as shall
be by it deemed most advantageous, through the said coun-
ties of Southampton, Greenesville, and Brunswick, to such
point on the Atlantic and Danville railway company, in
Brunswick county, as may be by it considered most eligi-
ble, with power from time to time, and either before or
after the completion of its principal line of railroad, to
locate, construct, maintain, equip, and operate such lateral
branches from or extensions of its said main line not ex-
ceeding twenty miles in length, as may be determined to
be expedient; and with power also to change the said
gauge and adopt any other gauge whenever it may be ad-
visable so to do. The said company may commence the
construction of its road at any point or points on its con-
templated line, and may equip and operate the part or
parts so constructed with the like effect as if its whole line
was then completed; and said company shall have and
possess all necessary powers for constructing and com-
pleting the works by this section authorized.

3. That the capital stock of said company shall not
exceed five hundred thousand dollars, to be divided into
shares of one hundred dollars each; and whenever two
hundred and fifty shares of said stock shall have been
subscribed for and four dollars per share shall have been
paid thereon, the organization of the said company may
be forthwith completed by the election of directors as
hereinafter provided. The said company is authorized
and empowered from time to time to issue its bonds to
such an amount as it may consider necessary for the pur-
pose of locating, constructing, maintaining, operating and
equipping its said railroad and all branches and exten-
sions thereof, and may secure the same by one or more
mortgages or deeds of trust on its railroads, franchises
and income, and the real and personal estate of said cor-
poration, or such part or parts thereof as may be designa-
ted in such mortgages or deeds of trust respectively.

' 4. That it may be lawful for the said company to con-
nect its line of railroad with that of the Atlantic and
Danville railway company, or with the line of any other
railroad which may be tapped, reached, or intersected by
the line of railroad of the said Southampton, Greenesville
and Brunswick railway, or any of its branches or exten-
sions by this act authorized, upon such terms and condi-
tions as may be agreed upon by the said last-mentioned
company and the company owning and controlling the
line of railroad so tapped, reached, or intersected; and it
shal! be lawful for the said company by this act created
to enter into an agreement with the Old Dominion lumber
company (a corporation now existing under the laws of
this state) for the privilege of using and operating a line
of railroad or railroads now operated for lumber purposes
within the said county of Southampton, in case it shall
be desirable to do so, and the two companies can agree
respecting the same.

5. In the construction of its principal line of road, or
any branch or extension, the said company is authorized
to acquire title to a roadway not exceeding one hundred
feet in width, and such additional land for station or ter-
minal purposes as may be needed to accommodate its busi-
ness. The said company shall also have authority to ac-
quire title to such lands as may be necessary, not exceed-
ing three acres, at its terminus on the Nottoway river for
the purpose of locating and maintaining such docks,
wharves, and storehouses thereon as may be suitable for
the accommodation of all classes of steam or sailing craft,
and convenient for the shipping, transporting, and storing
of merchandise and other property which is subject to
transportation ; and the said company is expressly empow-
ered to acquire title to all such lands by purchase, gift, or
condemnation. The said company is likewise authorized
and empowered to own or charter and run all such vessels,
either steam, sailing, or other craft, as may be necessary
to develop or accommodate its traffic.

6. The corporation mentioned in section one of this
act shall have and possess the power and authority of a
president and board of directors for the purpose of organ-
ization of said company, and for all other purposes, until
a president and board of directors shall have been chosen
as hereinafter provided. The acts of a majority of the
said corporators shall be valid, and on all questions for
their determination a majority thereof shall possess the
like powers as if all were present. When two hundred
and fifty shares of stock shall have been subscribed
for, and four dollars per share paid thereon, as provided
by section three of this act, the said corporators, or a ma-
jority of them, shall call a meeting of said subscribers at
such time and place, and upon such notice, as to them
shall seem proper, for the election of a president and board
of directors. .

7. The affairs of the said company shall be managed and
conducted by a board consisting of a president and four
directors, or such other number of directors as shall be pre-
scribed by the by-laws. The president and directors shall
be chosen by the stockholders, and the president shall be
entitled to a vote at all meetings of the board. There shall
likewise be a vice-president, to be chosen by the board
from their own number, and a secretary and treasurer
(who may be the same person), and such other officers
and agents as the board shall determine. The duties of
the president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer shall
be defined by the by-laws, and the duties and responsibil-
ities of all other officers and agents shall be defined by
the board. Annual meetings for the election of a president
and directors shall be held at such time and place as
shall be designated by the by-laws. A failure in any
year to hold such meetings and to elect a president and
directors, shall not work a dissolution of the said corpor-
ation or affect its legal status or existence, but the presi-
dent and directors then in office shall continue therein with
full power and authority until their successors shall have
been duly elected, and with full power to fill any vacancy
that may exist in their own number or in the oftice of
president by reason of death, refueal to serve, or disabil-
ity to perform the duties. The said company, in the con-
struction of its principal line of railroad, or any branch
or extension thereof, shall have (subject to the provisions
of section one thousand and ninety-four, chapter forty-six,
code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven) the
power to cross at grade or over or under any other railroad
now constructed, or which may be hereafter constructed,
and which may be crossed by its line of railroad or any
branch or extension thereof; and also the power to bridge
with suitable bridges any stream which may be crossed
by its said line of railroad, branches or extensions.

9. That the said company shall be, and is, invested with
and possessed of all the powers conferred upon railroad
corporations by the general laws of this state relating to
railway companies, and is subject to all the restrictions
of the same not inconsistent with this act.

10. The said company shall commence work within one
year, and expend within this state at least forty thousand
dollars in and about the construction of its road, branches,
or extensions within five years from and after the passage
of this act, or otherwise the powers, privileges and fran-
chises by this act granted and conferred shall cease, de-
termine and become null and void.

11. This charter shall at all times be subject to amend-
ment or repeal at the pleasure of the general assembly;
and it is agreed that said company takes and accepts this
charter of incorporation upon the express-understanding
and condition that the said corporation will pay all taxes,
dues and demands due the state at any time hereafter in
lawful money of the United States, and will not tender ot
pay coupons therefor.

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