Chap. 64.—An ACT to incorporate the Salem and Southern rail-
way company.

Approved January 16, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That A. M. Bowman, Jas. C. Langhorne, Geo. W. Palmer,

Incorporators. yyy yr Dt OT OUT OR oAllamang T T Crahtran M R
which it may alter and renew at pleasure, and make by-
laws, rules and regulations for the government of said
company, its officers and employees, not inconsistent with
the laws of the United States or of the state of Virginia.

2. It shall be lawful for the said company to construct, op-
erate, and maintain a line of railway of standard gauge
from some point on the Roanoke and Southern railway,
in Roanoke county, to the town of Salem, in said county,
and by such route as the said company may select.

3. The company shall have, possess and enjoy all the
rights, privileges and franchises of a corporation or body
politic that are granted by the laws of Virginia to rail-
roads, with power to acquire by condemnation, according
to the laws of Virginia, all lands necessary for its pur-
poses, and shall have power to cross any other railroad at
surface grade, or over or under the same, and to intersect,
join or unite its railroad with any other railroad now built
or constructed, or hereafter to be built or constructed
within the county of Roanoke.

4, The said company is authorized and empowered to
construct, equip, and operate branch or lateral roads,
either of narrow or standard gauge, from any point on its
lines to any ore-banks, mines, manufacturing establish-
ments, or other operations within the county of Roanoke,
and for this purpose shall have power to make all neces-
sary condemnations for its right of way and for all lands
necessary for the purposes of the lateral or branch roads,
as provided by the laws of the state of Virginia.

5. The capital stock of said company shall not be less
than fifty thousand ($50,000) dollars, and may from time
to time be increased to an amount not exceeding five hun-
dred thousand ($500,000) dollars, to be divided into shares
of one hundred dollars each, and said stock to be divided
into preferred or common stock, or both, and to be issued
upon such terms and conditions, and under such regulations
as the board of directors of said company shall prescribe.

6. It shall be lawful for said company to acquire and
receive in donations, or in payment of subscription to the
capital stock, money, lands, personal property, loans, work,
labor, bonds, or other means available for its purposes, at
such valuation and prices as may be agreed upon between
the board of directors of said company and its subscri-
bers; and to receive subscriptions from individuals, other
companies, associations or corporations to its capital
stock ; and the said company may sell, lease, or otherwise
dispose of and convey by proper instrument of convey-
ance, any lands or properties acquired in any manner by
it. The town of Salem and the county of Roanoke may
subscribe to the capital stock of said company in the man-
ner and under the restrictions prescribed by the laws of
the state of Virginia.
7. The said company may lease its line of railway, or
any part thereof, and other property; and it may merge
and consolidate with any connecting railroad or railway
company, or other corporation, upon such terms as may be
agreed upon by the contracting parties, with the approval
of a majority in value of their stockholders, and may
adopt another name for the consolidated company ; or it
may sell its franchises, railway, or other property to such
connecting railway company, unless it be a competing line
or other corporation, upon such terms as may be agreed
upon by the contracting parties, with like approval of the
stockholders, full power and authority being hereby given
to it and such other company or companies to make and
carry out such contract as will facilitate and make bind-
ing such union, merger or consolidation, or any lease or
sale: provided, a copy of such contract of sale, consolida-
tion or merger, shall be filed in the office of the board of
public works of this state; and any railway company or
other corporations may guarantee or hold the stocks or
bonds of this said company.

8. It shall be lawful for said company to borrow money,
and issue and sell its bonds from time to time, for such
sums and in such denominations, and upon such terms as
the board of directors may deem best for the purposes of
the company, and may secure the payments of the same
by deeds of trust or mortgages upon its road-bed or other
property, either upon all or any part of its property,
real, personal or mixed, or its contracts, privileges, rights
or franchises, or such parts thereof, as may be designated
in the deeds of trust or mortgages.

9. The directors of said company shall be stockholders,
and they shall elect one of their number president of the
company. They shall be elected, and their number fixed
by the stockholders in the annual meeting of the company,
and they shall hold office until their successors are elected.

10. For the purpose of organizing said company, the
nine persons first named in this act shall constitute the
first board of directors, and shall serve until its first meet-
ing of stockholders. Three or more may act, and may
receive subscriptions to the capital stock of the company
at any time or place, and when the sum of fifty thousand
($50,000) dollars shall have been subscribed, they shall
convene the stockholders and organize the company.
They shall certify the organization of the company and
sign the same upon its books, and their certificates or a
copy thereof, duly authenticated by a notary public, shall
be received as evidence of the legal organization of the
company.

11. No stockholder shall be held liable for the indebt-
edness of the company in a sum greater than may be due
upon the stock_subscribed for or purchased by him.
12. The principal office of the company shall be at Sa-
lem, Virginia; but meetings of the board of directors, or
stockholders, may be held elsewhere in the state of Vir-
ginia, as the board of directors or the stockholders in
general meeting may respectively determine.

13. Said company shall begin the construction of its
road within two (2) years from the first day of April,
eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and complete the same
within five years thereafter; otherwise all powers under
this charter shall be void.

14. All assessments, taxes, dues and demands, due to
the commonwealth of Virginia, shall be paid in lawful
money of the United States, and not in coupons.

15. This act shall be in force from its passage: