Chap. 277.—An ACT to incorporate the Battletown Gas Company.

Approved March 25, 1902.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That Herbert
B. Warde, Blackburn Smith, Louis Scheuer, E. G. Coiner, John B. Neill,
Conrad Kownslar, W. T. Lewis, or such of them as may accept the pro-
visions 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 Battletown Gas Company, and as such are au-
thorized and empowered to locate, construct, equip, and operate an
acetylene gas lighting plant within the corporate limits of Berryville,
Virginia.

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 by-laws 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
politie in the law and necessary for the purposes of this act.

3. The said company shall be, and is hereby, empowered to promote,
establish, and maintain the business of a general lighting company, and
te erect, ‘establish, maintain, and operate and purchase or sell a plant or
plants in the corporation of Berryville, and county of Clarke, for the
generation of acetylene gas or coal gas, and the supply of light from
cither gas for its own use and for sale to persons, natural or artificial,
desiring to use the same for lighting purposes, heat, or power, or for any
and all other uses to which acetylene gas, or coal gas, is now or may be
at any time hereafter applied or applicable : and may manufacture, use,
and sell, distribute and furnish the same for all said purposes to any and
all persons, parties, and corporations desiring to use the same upon such
terms as may be agreed upon between the contracting parties, and to pur-
chase, manufacture, and sell all the carbide, apparatus, and appliances
used in connection therewith. It may build, purchase, rent, or otherwise
acquire and maintain and operate in the streets, alleys, avenues, and
public highways of the town of Berryville aforesaid, subject to the con-
sent or authorization by the council of the town of Berryville, such or
any line or lines of poles, posts, and lamps, and of underground conduits
and pipes, or other conductors or piping for the carriage or conv evance of
gas, with the necessary fixtures, stations, curb fittings, terminals, or other
facilities connected therewith as may be necessary and suitable for the
proper, free, and convenient carrying on of the company; and the same
may sell, lease, and otherwise dispose of as the company may deem best.
It shall be lawful for the said company to acquire, by donation or pur-
chase or by condemnation, according to the laws of the State, land neces-
sary for the successful construction and operation of the plant and
lighting system owned and operated by the company in the said town of
Berry ville.

4. The capital stock of the said company shall not be less than five
thousand dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars, to be divided in
shares of not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars
each, and the same may be issued as common or preferred stock, or part
thereof common and part preferred, as the directors may determine.
Subscriptions to the said stock may, from time to time, be taken and re-
ceived by the directors of the said company in such amounts as they may
determine, and without public notice. Subscriptions to the said stock
may be payable in money, land, labor, services, materials, rights, or
other property, or in the capital stock of other corporations, upon such
terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between the said company
and the subscriber. The said company may acquire by lease, purchase,
and subscription to its capital stock or otherwise, and use the works,
property, franchises, rights, privileges, and immunities of any other
lighting company or individual person for the purpose of manufacturing
or furnishing light to the public, or having the power to do so, and the
suid company may unite and consolidate with such other company or in-
dividual upon such terms as may be agreed upon between them; and
power is hereby given and conferred to Herbert B. Warde, a citizen of
Berryville, Clarke county, Virginia, to transfer, by sale, contract, deed,
or lease, his property, rights, works, franchise, privileges, and immuni-
ties under a certain contract entered into between the said corporation
of Berryville and the said Herbert B. Warde on the fifteenth of Feb-
ruary, nineteen hundred and two, which contract was duly recorded Feb-
ruary seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, in the clerk’s office in
Berryville, Clarke county, Virginia.

5. Each stockholder in the company shall at all meetings and elections
be entitled to one vote for each share of stock standing in his name on
the books of the company; and the president and board of directors of
the company may enact such by-laws, rules, and regulations for the
management of the company as they may deem proper and expedient.

6. It shall be lawful for said company to borrow money and issue and
sell its bonds, from time to time, and for such sum and on such terms as
its board of directors may deem expedient and proper for any of the
purposes of the company, and it may secure the payment of such bonds
by the mortgages or deeds of trust upon all or any portion of its prop-
erty—real or personal and mixed—its contracts and privileges, and its
chartered rights and franchises, including its franchise to be a corpora-
tion; and it may, as the business of the company shall require, sell, lease,
ccnvey, and encumber the same.

?. The said company shall be required to commence the construction
of said lighting plant and system within six months from the passage
of this act, and to complete the same sufficiently to enable it to begin
operations under its charter within one year from the passage of this act.

8. The principal office of said company shall be located in Berryville,
Virginia.

9. The taxes due the Commonwealth by the said company shall be
paid in lawful money of the United States.

10. The members of the said company shall be liable for its debts only
to the extent of the capital stock actually owned by them.

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