Chap. 415.—An ACT to incorporate the Richmond, Chesterfield
and Petersburg street railway company.

Approved February 25, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That J. M. Harris, Freeman Epes, E. A. Catlin, R. B. Da-
vis, P. E. Harrie, George 8S. McElroy, R. B. Taylor, A. L.
Adamson, John B. Purcell and C. A. Epes, or such of
them as may accept the provisions of this act, their asso-
ciates, successors and assigns, be, and the same are hereby,
incorporated a body politic and corporate, under the name
and style of the Richmond, Chesterfield and Petersburg
street railway company, and as such are empowered to lo-
cate, construct, equip and operate a railway, employing
steam, electricity, or other motive power, commencing at
or near the city of Richmond or Manchester, and travers-
ing the streets of said cities or either of them (provided
the consent of the councils of the said cities shall be ob-
tained); thence through the counties of Chesterfield and
Dinwiddie, or;portions thereof, to, near or through the city
of Petersburg.

2. The said company shall have the right to acquire
lands along the route of said railway by donation, pur-
chase, or in any other legal manner, not to exceed two
thousand acres, to use, sell, or hold the same.
3. The company may acquire by condemnation, accord-
ing to the laws of Virginia, the lands required for the
necessary stations, depots, and power plants for its opera-
tions, not to exceed two acres at any one point, and the
right of way of eighty feet in width for its railway: -pro-
vided, that between Whitby and Warwick said company
shall not build its roadway nearer than a half-mile of
James river, and parallel therewith without consent of the
land-owners between these points. Said company shall
have the right to build bridges over the James river, Ap-
pomattox river, and intermediate streams which may be
necessary for its railway, and may acquire, by condemna-
tion or purchase, the lands necessary therefor, or to con-
tract with corporations or managers of bridges spanning
said streams for the use of such bridges; and with the
consent of the city council of Richmond or Manchester or
Petersburg may use such streets as may be agreed upon
by said respective councils. Thesaid company may, with
the consent of the board of supervisors of Chesterfield
county, have the right to use as a road-bed for said rail-
way a portion of such public road or roads as may be
deemed advieable and may be agreed on by the directors
of said company.

4. The said company shal] have perpetual succession
and have power to sue and be sued, plead and be im-
pleaded, defend and be defended in all courts, whether in
law or in equity, and may make and have a common seal,
and alter or renew the same at pleasure, and shall have,
possess and enjoy all the rights and privileges of a corpo-
ration or body politic in the law and necessary for the
purposes of this act.

5. The capital stock of said company shall not be less
than five thousand dollars, and may, from time to time,
be increased to an amount not exceeding one million of
dollars by issue and sale of shares, preferred or common
stock, or both, upon such terms and conditions and under
such regulations as the board of directors shall! prescribe,
the par value of which shall be one hundred dollars; and
the directors may receive cash, labor, materials, bonds,
stock, real or personal property in payment of subscrip-
tions to the capital stock, at such valuation as may be
agreed upon between the directors and subscribers, and
may make such subscriptions payable in such manner,
and amounts at such times as may be agreed upon with
the subscribers; and whenever fifty shares shall have
been subscribed and the sum of five thousand dollars
paid in cash, the subscribers, under the direction of any

ve of the incorporators hereinbefore named, who shall
be subscribers, may organize said company by electing a
president and a board of directors, and providing for the
nelection of such other officers as may be necessary for the
control and management of the business and affairs of the
company, and shall have and exercise all the powers and
functions of a corporation under their charter and the laws
of the state.

6. It shall be lawful for said company to borrow money
and issue and sell its bonds from time to time for such
sums and on such terms as its board of directors may deem
expedient and proper for any of the purposes of the com-
pany, and may secure the payment of said bonds by mort-
gages or deeds of trust upon all or any portion of its prop-
erty, real, personal, or mixed, its contracts and privileges,
including its franchise to be a corporation, and it may, as
the business of the company shall require, sell, lease, con-
vey, and encumber the same.

7. It shall be lawful for said company to subscribe and
to hold shares in the capital stock of any other railway
corporation whose lines may connect therewith, and for
any other such corporation to subscribe, guarantee, or hold
the stock or bonds of said company. _e

8. The company is authorized and empowered to locate,
construct, equip, and operate any lateral or branch roads
or tramways, not exceeding twenty miles in extent, which
a majority of its stockholders may determine upon, and
by such route or routes as may be selected by its board of
directors, and said company may connect or unite its road
with that of any other company or companies, or consoli-
date or merge its stock, property, and franchises with and
into any other company or companies operating or author-
ized to operate a connecting railway or railways, upon such
terms and under such name as may be agreed upon between
the companies so uniting, or connecting, merging, or con-
solidating, and for that purpose power is hereby given to
it and to such other company or companies to make and
carry out such contracts as will facilitate and consummate
such connection, merger, or consolidation, or any lease or
sale: provided that a copy of every such contract of con-
solidation and merger be filed in the office of the board of
public works.

9. The said company shall be required to commence the
construction of its railway within two years from July
first, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and complete said
road to the city of Pesersburg within five years from the
passage of this act.

10 The principal office of said company shall be loca-
ted in Richmond, Manchester, or Petersburg, as may here-
after be determined upon by the stockholders in general
meeting assembled.

11. Each stockholder in the company shall, at all meet-
ings or elections, be entitled to one vote for each share of
stock registered in his name, and the president and board
of directors of said company may enact such by-laws,
rules and regulations for the management of the affairs
of said company as they may deem proper and expedient.

12. The board of directors shall be stockholders of said
company, and shall consist of such number, not less than
five, as the stockholders may determine upon, and shall
be elected at the stockholders’ annual meeting, to be held
on such days as may be named in the by-laws of the com-
pany, and shall continue in force for the term of one
year from and after the date of their election, and until
their successors shall have been elected and accepted the
duties of their office, and they shall elect one of their
number president; and in case of the death, resignation,
or incapacity of any member of the board of directors
during his term of office, the said board shall elect his
successor for the unexpired term.

13. No stockholder of said company shall be held lia-
ble or made responsible for the debts or liabilities of said
company in a sum beyond any balance due from said
stockholder to said company on a stock subscribed for by
said stockholder.

14. Whenever the corporation shall exercise any of the
privileges conferred by this act, it shall be liable to the
same taxes as may be imposed by the law upon other cor-
porations or persons exercising like privileges, and all
taxes due the commonwealth by said company, shall be
paid in lawful money of the United States, and not in
coupons

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