Chap. 583.—An ACT to incorporate the Charlotte, Farmville and James River
Valley Railway Company.

Approved April 2, 1902.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That A. J).
Watkins, A. G. Clapham, B. H. Lynn, W. J. Hubard, J. W. Crawley,
E. R. Williams, and K. T. Crawley, all of the State of Virginia, or such
of them and of others as may accept the provisions of this charter, and
such other persons and corporations as may become associated with them
in the manner hereinafter provided, shall be, and they are hereby, con-
stituted and made a body corporate by the name of the Charlotte, Farm-
ville.and James River Valley Railway Company, and by that name may
sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, contract and be contracted with,
shall have a corporate seal, which it may alter and renew at pleasure, and
may make by-laws, rules, and regulations for 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, operate, and
maintain a line of railway of standard gauge from the city of Danville,
Virginia, by such route as the said company may designate through the
counties of Pittsylvania and Halifax to the town of Charlotte Court-
house, and through such town and through the counties of Charlotte and
Prince Edward and the town of Farmville, in Prince Edward county,
and thence by such route as the company may determine to a point in
Buckingham county that they may determine, and which will best con-
nect the said railway with the James river valley. And it shall also be
lawful for said company to construct, operate, and maintain a line of
railway of standard gauge from some point on the Buckingham branch
of the Chesapeake and Qhio railway, to be determined by said company,
to some point within four hundred yards of the courthouse of Bucking-
ham county, to be determined by said company: provided, said company
shall not occupy the streets of any incorporated city or town without the
consent of the council thereof, nor of any public road in any county with-
out the consent of the board of supervisors.

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, all lands necessary for its purposes, and shall have
power to cross any other railway at the same grade as the road so crossed,
or over or under the same, and to intersect, Join, or unite its railway
with any other railway now or hereafter built or constructed within the
said counties, with the consent of said railway companies or according
to the laws of Virginia regulating such crossings.

4, This company may acquire, by condemnation, according to the laws
of the State of Virginia, the lands required for the right of way of said
railway and its branches, and for the necessary stations and depots, yards,
and terminal facilities for its operation.

5. For the purpose of aiding in the construction of said railway, it
shall be lawful for the towns of Farmville and Charlotte Courthouse,
and the counties of Prince Edward and Charlotte, by a vote of the ma-
jority of the voters voting and a majority of the freeholders voting in
said towns and counties at the election ordered hereunder, to subscribe
bonds for the stock of said company, and said towns and counties are
hereby empowered to make such subscription under the following re-
strictions: The amount of subscriptions by said counties shall not exceed
four thousand dollars per mile for each and every mile of such railway
to be constructed within such county. The said railway company shall
state in writing filed in open court the maximum number of miles to be
built in such county, and the amount per mile to be voted upon, and also
as nearly as possible the location of the termini of the section of the rail-
way within said county when applying to court for an order to submit
to the people the question of subscription, and the same shall be desig-
nated in said order; and polls shall be taken in such county in the man-
ner set forth in sections twelve hundred and forty-three and twelve hun-
dred and forty-four, chapter fifty-one, of the Code of eighteen hundred
and eighty-seven, and if it shall appear by the report of the board of com-
missioners appointed for the purpose that a majerity of the voters voting
and a majority of the freeholders voting in said county upon the question
at such election are in favor of such subscription, the county court of
such county shall, at its next session, enter of record an order requiring
the supervisors of such county, at their next regular meeting or ad-
journcd mecting thereof, to carry out the wishes of the voters as ex-
pressed at such election. Thereupon the said board of supervisors shall
appoint agents to make subscriptions, which subscriptions to the Char-
lotte, Farmville and James River Valley Railway Company by the coun-
ties of Charlotte and Prince Edward shall become due and payable when
the said railway has been completed from Farmville to Charlotte Court-
house. The amount of subscription by the town of Farmville shall not
exceed fifty thousand dollars, and the amount of subscription of Charlotte
Courthouse shall not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars, and said rail-
way company shall apply to the town council for an order to submit to
the people of said towns the question of subscription, and polls shall be
taken in such town in the manner set forth in the sections twelve hundred
and forty-three and twelve hundred and forty-four, chapter fifty-one, of
Code of Virginia, cighteen hundred and eighty-seven. And if it shall
appear by the report of the board of commissioners appointed for the pur-
pose that a majority of the voters voting, and a majority of the freehold-
ers voting, upon the question of subscription at such election are in favor
of such subscription, the town council shall, at its next session, enter of
record an order to carry out the wishes of the veters as expressed at such
election. Thereupon the said town council shall appoint agents to make
subscriptions, which subscriptions shall be paid to the Charlotte, Farm-
ville and James River Valley Railway Company by the town of Farm-
ville when the said railway has been completed from the town of Farm-
ville to its northern terminus, and the subscription of the town of Char-
lotte Courthouse shall be paid to said railway company when the said
railway has been completed from the town of Farmville to Charlotte
Courthouse, or through said town to some point south beyond in the
county of Charlotte. The principal of such bonds issued by said counties
and towns shall be due in fifty years, and shall bear interest at a rate not
exceeding five per centum per annum.

6. No bonds shall be delivered to the said company until the number
of miles between the termini on the route indicated by the company’s
engineer shall have been ascertained by the county surveyor and reported
by him to the agent or agents appointed to make subscription, and if the
number of miles be less than the number estimated: by the railway com-
pany in its application to the court to have a vote taken on the question
of subscription, a subscription shall be made in accordance with the re-
port of the county surveyor, at the aforesaid rate, not exceeding four
thousand dollars a mile, but in no event shall the maximum amount
exceed the maximum amount voted by the people. Said bonds shall be
signed by the chairman of the board of supervisors, and attested by the
clerk of the county, upon subscriptions made by counties and by the
mayor of towns, and attested by the clerk of the council upon subscrip-
tions made by towns. The said bonds shall not be delivered to said com-
pany until certificates of stock of the Charlotte, Farmville and James
River Valley Railway Company for an amount equal to that of the said
bonds are delivered to agents of said counties and towns.

?. The said company is authorized and empowered to construct, equip,
and operate branch or lateral roads, either narrow or standard gauge,
from any point on its line to any ore banks, mines, manufacturing estab-
lishments, or other operations in the said counties, and for this purpose
shall have power to make all necessary condemnations for its right of
way, and for all lands necessary for the purpose of the lateral or branch
roads as provided by the laws of the State of Virginia.

8. The said company, or its successors, may, from time to time, issue
and sell its stock in shares of one hundred dollars each to an amount not
exceeding fifty thousand dollars, unless increased as hereinafter provided,
upon such terms and: at such prices as its board of directors may pre-
scribe, and may take in payment for its stock sold or subscribed for
money, services rendered, supplies, or property of any kind which, in the
discretion of its board of directors, may seem proper; and the said capital
stock may be increased, from time to time, by order of a majority of the
stockholders or directors, as provided in section seventeen of this act.
The board of directors of said company may borrow money, and, from
time to time, issue bonds and other evidences of debt in behalf of said
company, and secure the same by mortgages and deeds of trust upon its
works, property, and franchises, including after-acquired works and fran-
chises, and said company may sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of and con-
vey by proper instrument of conveyance any lands or properties acquired
in any manner by it.

9. The said company may lease its line of railway, or any part thercof,
and other property; and it may buy or merge and consolidate with any
connecting railroad or railway company or other corporation, provided
said company or corporation be not a competing one, upon such terms as
may be agreed upon by the contracting parties, with approval of a ma-
jority of the directors, or it may sell its franchises, railway, or other
property to such connecting railway company or other corporation upon
such terms as may be agreed upon by the contracting parties, with like
approval of directors, all power and authority being hereby given to it
and such company or companies to make and carry out such contract as
will facilitate and make binding such purchase, union, merger, or con-
solidation, or any such lease or sale: provided, a copy of such contract
of sale, consolidation, or merger shall be filed in the office of the board of
public works of this State, and any railroad or railway company or other
corporations may guarantee principal and interest, or either, or hold the
stocks or bonds of the said company.

10. The board of directors of said company shall consist of seven mem-
bers, who shall be stockholders of said company, and who shall from their
number choose a president and other necessary officers, but the number
of directors may be increased by the directors in any annual meeting,
and the said board of directors, if authorized by the by-laws of the com-
pany, may constitute from their number an executive committee of not
less than three members, to whom they may delegate such powers of the
board as they may deem proper.

11. The said company may be organized by a meeting of a majority
of said incorporators herein named, which said incorporators’ meeting
shall be authorized to receive subscriptions to the capital stock, and when
as much as five thousand dollars shall have been subscribed, they shall
proceed to elect a board of directors, and the company shall thereupon
be authorized to proceed with the transaction of its business as herein
specified.

12. 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 denomina-
iions and upon such terms as the board of directors may deem best for
the purposes of the company, and it may secure the payment of the same
by deeds of trust or mortgages upon its road-bed or other property—real,
personal, or mixed—or its contracts, privileges, rights, or franchises, or
such parts thereof as may be designated in such deeds of trust or mort-

FaAges.

13. No stockholder shall be held liable for the indebtedness of the
company in a sum greater than may be due upon the stock subscribed for
or purchased by him.

14. The principal and general office of the company shall be at Farm-
ville, Virginia, but meetings may be held at any point designated by the
board of directors within the State of Virginia.

15. The said company shall begin the construction of its road within
two vears from the first day of July, nineteen hundred and two, and
complete the same within five years thereafter.

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

1%. It shall be lawful for the circuit court of the city of Richmond or
of any county through which said road may run, upon the petition of the
said board of directors of the said company, from time to time, to order
an increase of the said capital stock upon the payment of the proper
charter fee tax for such increase of stock into the State treasury, but the
amount of said stock shall not be so increased by order of court as to ex-
ceed two million dollars in all. And upon the petition of the board
of directors, the name of the said company may be changed by order of
the said circuit court of Richmond to such name as they may designate
and the said court approve, but the same shall be without prejudice to
the rights, powers, and franchises of the company, or to the rights of
any person interested therein.
18. This act shall be in force from its passage.