Chap. 550.—An ACT to incorporate the Newport News and Elizabeth City Rail
way and Electric Company.

Approved April 2, 1902.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That John G.
Livezey, W. A. Young, A. L. Parker, W. E. Cottrell, F. J. Gauntlet,
OQ. D. Batchelor, or such of them as may accept the provisions of this
charter, and such others as may be or become associated with them, be,
and they are hereby, constituted a body politic and corporate under the
name and style of the Newport News and Elizabeth City Railway and
Electric Company.

2. The capital stock of said company shall not be less than ten thou-
sand dollars nor more than one hundred thousand dollars, to be divided
into shares of one hundred dollars each, and this stock may be issued in
series, with preferences in favor of one series over another.

3. The said company shall have power and authority to locate, con-
struct, equip, maintain, and operate a railroad having for its beginning
any point at or near or in Newport News, Virginia, that the said company
may select; thence along such route as the company may deem most ex-
pedient to any point in or near the town of Hampton, Virginia: provided,
however, that the route to the said town of Hampton, through Warwick
and. Elizabeth City counties, shall not be located where it enters Newport
News, Virginia, south of Fiftieth street, as shown on the map of the city
of Newport News, Virginia: provided, further, that said tracks shall not
be located south of the Old Point branch of the Chesapeake and Ohio
Railway Company, except when it may be necessary to cross said tracks at
or near Queen street, extended, in reaching the town of Hampton, nor
shall said company use the tracks of any railway company in the town of
Hampton or the city of Newport News, except by and with the consent of
said companies, with full power and authority in said company to locate,
construct, equip, maintain, and operate lateral or branch roads on the
north side of its line not exceeding twenty miles in length.

4. The said company shall have the power and authority to locate,
construct, equip, maintain, and operate a plant or plants, works or other
necessary equipment for the generation of electricity, and the supply of
ton and in the counties of Warwick and Elizabeth City, State of Vir
ginia, for power, heat, and light, and to manufacture and sell such cur.
rent for said purposes.

5. The said company is hereby empowered to use for its purposes the
streets of the town of Hampton and of the city of Newport News, by anc
with the consent of the respective councils of the said town and city, and
may use the public roads of the counties of Elizabeth City and Warwick,
by and with the consent of the boards of supervisors of the said counties,
and may construct and maintain all necessary bridges over and across
all rivers and streams over which said railroad or latera] or branch roads
may pass: provided, such bridges shall be so constructed as not to ob-
struct navigation.

6. The said company shall have power and authority to transport
passengers, baggage, freight, express, and mails of the United States,
and to charge and collect fares and toll for the same; and it may use
horses, mules, steam, electricity or any motive power now known or here-
after to be discovered to propel its cars.

7. The said company shall have the power and authority to commence
the construction of its road at any point on its route, and it may use and
operate the same as fast as constructed. It shall have power and au-
thority to cross any other railroad now or hereafter constructed upon the
terms and in the manner prescribed by the general law, ‘and it may unite
or connect its tracks with any railroad now or hereafter constructed upon
such terms as may be agreed upon with said railroad: provided, however,
that the said company shall not cross at grade within the corporate limits
of the city of Newport News the track of any railroad which may now
be operated by steam in said city: and provided, further, that the said
company shall not cross at grade the tracks of the Chesapeake and Ohio
Railway Company within the limits of its yards, whether said yard limits
be within or without the corporate limits of the city of Newport News;
and said company shall not cross the tracks of the Chesapeake and Ohio
Railway Company at any point at grade without the consent of said
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company.

8. The said company shall have power and authority to acquire by
donation, purchase, lease, or condemnation according to law, and to hold
and improve all lands that it may deem necessary for rights of way for
its road-bed and for stations, depots, power houses, and terminal facil-
ities: provided, that in no case shall it own more than forty acres of land,
exclusive of rights of way.

9. The said company shall have power and authority to lease or sell
its said road and electric plant, or any part thereof, and to all other prop-
erty and its franchises, including the franchise to be a corporation; to
borrow money for the use of the corporation on such terms as it may deem
proper, and to issue its bonds or notes for the same, and to secure the pay-
ment thereof by deeds of trust or mortgage on any or all of its property
and franchises.

10. The said incorporators, or any three of them, may, at any time and
place which they may deem proper, and with or without a previous ad-
vertisement thereof, receive subscriptions to the capital stock of said com-
pany. Subscriptions to said capital stock may be paid in cash, or real o1
personal property, services, leases, options, or rights of way at such, valu-
ations as may be determined upon by the incorporators and the subscrib-
ers. When the minimum amount of the capital stock shall have been sub-
scribed, said subscribers may organize as a corporation and proceed to
the election of a president and one or more vice-presidents, and a board
of directors, and provide for the election of such other officers, and adopt
such by-laws and regulations as may be necessary for the control and
management of the business and affairs of the said company, and shall
have and exercise all the powers and functions of a corporation under
their charter and the laws of the State, especially the laws pertaining to
companies created for works of internal improvement.

11. The principal office of ‘the company shall be at Newport News,
Virginia.

12. The said company shall commence the construction of its road
within two years, and complete the same within five years from the
passage of this act.

13. The said company may acquire, by purchase or subscription, the
capital stock of other corporations, and all other eorperations may in like
manner acquire its stock.

14. All taxes due by the 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.