Chap. 706.—An ACT to incorporate the ‘Southeastern and Atlantic railroad
company.

Approved March 4, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That Alvah
H. Martin, Patrick Matthew, Franklin D. Gill, Benjamin D. White, A.
T. Herbert, and T. J. Wool, and their associates, successors, and as-
signs, be, and they are hereby, constituted and declared a body poli-
tic and corporate by the name and style of the Southeastern and
Atlantic railroad company.

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 the courts, whether in law or equity, and may make and have a com-
mon seal, which it may alter and renew at pleasure; and shall have,
Possess and enjoy all the rights and privileges and be subject to all
the liabilities of corporations as is provided by law.

3. The capital stock of the said company shall be not less than
twenty thousand dollars, and may from time to time be increased to
any amount not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars, and shall
be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each; and the board
of directors may dispose of the same at such prices and upon such
terms and under such regulations as they may determine; and the
directors may receive cash, labor, material, bonds, stocks, real or
personal property, in payment of subscriptions to the capital stock,
at such valuation as may be agreed upon between the directors and the
subscribers, and may make such subscription payable in such man-
ner or amounts and at such times as may be agreed upon; the incor-
porators above-named, or a majority of them, may receive subscrip-
tions to the capital stock in such manner as they may deem best, and
no advertisement of the time and place at which the books will be
opened for subscriptions shall be necessary.

The said company shall have the power to issue preferred stock,
upon such terms as may be determined upon by the board of directors.

4. The board of directors of the said company shall be stock-
holders of the said company, and shall consist of six members,
which number may be increased to any number not exceeding
eleven at any annual meeting of the said company, who shall hold
office for the term of one year, and until their successors are elected
and accept the office; or they may be divided, and elected as is pro-
vided by an act approved March second, eighteen hundred and
eighty-eight (session acts, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven and
eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, page four hundred and forty-
eight) ; and the said board of directors shall from their number elect
a president and such other officers and employees as they shall deem
necessary for the proper conduct of the affairs of the said company ;
and they shall fill any vacancy that may occur in the board or in
the office of president. The incorporators named in this act shall
constitute the board of directors for the first year, and shall continue
in office until their successors shall have been elected and accepted
office; they shall have the power and authority of a president
and board of directors for the purpose of organization and for all
other purposes incident thereto; they shall elect one of their number
president of the board, and may appoint such other officers as they
may deem proper; they shall fill any vacancy that may occur in the
board or in the office of president.

5. The said The Southeastern and Atlantic railroad company is
hereby authorized, empowered and permitted to locate, construct,
equip and operate a railroad of standard or narrow gauge, with one
or more tracks, to be propelled by steam or electric power; having for
its beginning a point in or near the city of Norfolk, or the town of
Berkley, or any point on the Elizabeth river or its branches; thence
running through the counties of Norfolk and Princess Anne by any
route the directors may select to some point in Princess Anne county
on the Atlantic ocean, or any other point in Princess Anne county
776 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY.

to be selected by the board of directors of the said company. The
said company shall have the right to cross the Elizabeth river by
ferries for the purpose of connecting with its railroad or any of its
branches, and of erecting a draw-bridge across the eastern branch
of the Elizabeth river and over any of the tributaries of the said
eastern branch; provided no bridge shall be erected west of the
bridge of the Norfolk and Western railroad, and to operate a ferry
in connection with its railroad to facilitate travel and commerce. It
shall have the right to cross the track of any other railroad com-
pany at grade or over or under the same, subject to the provisions of
the general law now in force.

6. The said company is authorized and empowered to locate, con-
struct, and equip and operate any lateral branch or tramway, not
exceeding ten miles in length each, which a majority of its stock-
holders may determine to construct and operate, and by such route
as may be determined by its board of .directors; and the said com-
pany may connect or unite its said road with that of any other com-
pany or companies, or consolidate or merge its stock, property, and
franchises with those of any other company or companies operating
or authorized to operate in this state, upon such terms and under
such name as may be agreed upon between the companies so uniting
or connecting, merging or consolidating, or to enter to traffic or other
arrangements or contract with any other railroad company organ-
ized under the laws of this state for doing business over the line of
such other railroad; and to that end power is hereby given to such
company to make and carry out such contract by lease, purchase,
acquisition of stock in such conipany, or otherwise, as will facilitate
and consummate such connection or consolidation, or such traffic
contract, on such terms as may be agreed upon by the board of direc-
tors of this company and any other such company. And the said
company may own, charter, or otherwise employ vessels propelled by
steam or sail, or by other means, in order to facilitate and meet the
demands of trade and commerce; and to construct all necessary
works, conveniences, and facilities as will aid it in the furtherance
of its purposes, such as wharves, piers, warehouses, and other struc-
tures, with the right to charge and collect tolls for the use of the
same.

7. It shall be lawful for the 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
in the prosecution of its work; and may secure the payment of said
bonds by mortgages or deeds of trust upon all or any portion of its
property, real, 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
require, sell, lease, convey, and encumber the same.

8. It shall be lawful for the said company to subscribe to and
hold shares of the capital stock of any manufacturing or other cor-
poration or enterprise, and any manufacturing or other corporation
or other enterprise may subscribe to, guarantee, or hold the stock or
bonds of the said company; and it shall be lawful for any county,
city or town to subscribe to the capital stock of the said railroad
company, or any branch thereof, in the manner which the law
prescribes.

9. The company may acquire by condemnation, according to the
laws of the state of Virginia, the lands required for the right of way
of the said railroad, and the necessary stations and depots, yards
and terminal facilities for its operation.

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

11. 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 law upon other like incorporations or persons exercising
like privileges; and all taxes due the commonwealth by the said
company shall be paid in lawful money of the United States, and
not in coupons.

12. This act shall at all times be subject to amendment, alteration,
and repeal by the general assembly of Virginia; and in the event of
a consolidation with any other company this company shall remain
a Virginia corporation so far as the right of suing and being sued is
concerned.

13. The construction of the said road shall be begun within two
years from the first day of April, eighteen hundred and and ninety-
81x, and completed in five years thereafter.

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