Chap. 589.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to incorpo-
rate the Bristol and Northern railroad company, approved March 1, 1892.

Approved March 38, 18%.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
act entitled an act to incorporate the Bristol and Northern railroad
company, approved March first, eighteen hundred and ninety-two,
be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That A.
D. Reynolds, F. B. Hubbell, John H. Dingee, H. W. Flournoy, John
M. Wirgman and J. Walter White, or.such of them as may accept the
provisions of this act, their associates, successors and assigns, be, and
they are hereby, incorporated and made a body politic and corporate
under the name and style of the Bristol and Northern railroad com-
pany, and as such are authorized and empowered to locate, construct,
equip and operate a railroad, commencing at a point on the line be-
tween the states of Virginia and Tennessee, in or near the town of
Bristol, and running thence by the most practicable route through
Little Moccasin gap and the countiesof Washington, Scott, Russell,
Dickenson and Wise, or any of them, to a point on the line between
the states of Virginia and Kentucky, ator near the Brakes of the
Cumberland.

§ 2. The said company shall have perpetual succession, and have
power to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be
defended in all courts, whether at 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
corporation or body politic in the law and necessary for the purposes
of this act.

§ 3. The capital stock of the said company shall not be less than
ten thousand dollars, and may from time to time be increased to any
amount not exceeding one million 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 of said com-

a
pany shall prescribe, the par value of which shall be not less than
one hundred dollars; and the directors may receive cash, labor,
material, bonds, stock, real or personal property in payment of sub-
scriptions to the capital stock, at such valuation and at such prices
as may be agreed upon between the directors and the subscribers,
and may make such subscriptions payable in such manner or
amounts and at such times as may be agreed upon with the sub-
acribers; and whenever fifty shares shall have been subscribed to
and the sum of five thousand dollars paid in cash, the subscribers,
under the direction of any five of the incorporators hereinbefore
named, who themselves shall be subscribers, may organize the said
company by electing a president and board of directors, and by elect-
ing or providing for the appointment of such other officers as may be
necessary for the control and management of the business and affairs
of said company, and thereupon they shall have and exercise all the
powers and functions of a corporation under their charter and the
laws of this state.

§ 4. 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 company, and may secure the payment of
said bonds by mortgages or deeds of trust upon all or any portion of
its property, real or personal and mixed, its contracts and privileges
and its chartered rights and franchises, including its franchise to be
a corporation; and it may, as the business of the company shall re-
quire, sell, lease, convey and encumber the same.

§ 5. It shall be lawful for said company to subscribe to and hold
shares in the capital stock of any mining, manufacturing or dther
corporation, and any mining, manufacturing or other corporation
may subscribe to, guarantee or hold the stock or bonds of the said
company. , |

§ 6. The said company is authorized and empowered to locate,
construct, equip and operate any lateral or branch roads or tram-
ways, not to exceed twenty miles in length, which a majority of its
stockholders may determine to construct, maintain, equip and ope-
rate, and by such route as may be determined by its board of direc-
tors; and the said company may connect or unite its said road with
that of any other company or companies, or consolidate and merge
ita stock, property and franchises with and into those of any other
company or companies operating or authorized to operate a connect-
ing line of railroad, not a competing line, in this state or in the state
of Tennessee or the state of Kentucky, upon such terms and under
such name as may be agreed upon between the companies so uniting
or connecting, merging or consolidating, 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: pro-
vided that a copy of every such contract of any consolidation and
merger be filed in the office of the board of public works.

§ 7. It shall be lawful for the company to acquire, by donations
or purchase, or by condemnation according to the laws of this state,
land for right of way, depots, stations and other purposes necessary
for the successful construction and operation of its road through
any of the counties where it is authorized to construct its line of
road.

§ 8. The said company shall be required to commence the con-
struction of said railroad within two years from the passage of this
act, and to complete the construction of the same within five years
thereafter, or otherwise the powers, privileges and franchises hereby
granted shall be annulled and become void.

§ 9. Each stockholder in the company shall, at all meetings 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 com-
pany may enact such by-laws, rules and regulations for the manage-
ment of the affairs of said company as they may deem proper and
expedient.

§ 10. The board of directors shall be stockholders of said com-
pany, and shall consist of such number as the stockholders may de-
termine upon, and shall be elected at the stockholders’ annual meet-
ing, to be held on such days as the by-laws of the company may
direct, and shall continue in office for the term of one year from and
after the date of their election and until their successors are elected
and accept the duties of the office, and they shall appoint one of
their number president, and in case of the death, resignation or inca-
pacity of any member of the board of directors during his term of
office the said board shall elect his successor for the unexpired term.

§ 11. Any county, town or city along the line of said railroad, or
any county adjoining another county through which such line passes,
may, pursuant to the general laws of Virginia, subscribe to the capi-
tal stock of the said railroad company, and the said company is
authorized to accept the same.

§ 12. 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 in this state.

§ 13. All taxes due the commonwealth by said company shall be
paid in lawful money of the United States, and not in coupons.

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