execute and carry out contracts; to acquire, hold, enjoy and dispose of property, real and personal; to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded; to have and use a common seal for the authentication of all instruments authorized or required by law or order to be authenticated; to make, pass, publish and enforce all needful rules, resolutions, ordinances and regulations, not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of this State, to carry out the powers herein conferred on said corporation or the officers thereof.

SEC. 2. That section five of said act is hereby so amended as to read as follows: That the mayor and board of aldermen of said city shall have full power and authority to make, pass, establish and enforce such rules, regulations, provisions and ordinances, as may be necessary and proper for the preservation of the life, liberty and property of the inhabitants of said city; for the preservation, of the public peace, order, decency and morals of said city; for the preservation, management, control and disposition of the public property belonging to said city; to open, widen, extend, improve, vacate or abolish streets, fanes, avenues and alleys, in said city; to regulate weights and measures in said city, not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States and this State; to license and tax occupations in said city, such as are taxable under the Constitution and laws of the State, and not to exceed the amount of State tax imposed in such cases; to declare what are nuisances, and abate and remove the same; to lay, assess, collect and appropriate all necessary general and special taxes on persons and property within the corporate limits of said city; to carry out and effect the object of the powers herein conferred on said corporation ; to provide for the appointment or election by the mayor and board of aldermen of a city attorney and such other officers of said city as they may deem necessary to perform the business of said corporation, and for their punishment and removal from office; to require them to take oath, give bond, and faithfully demean themselves in office under prescribed penalties and forfeitures; to prescribe and regulate the salaries, fees or compensation of such officers, and the powers and duties of all officers and agents of said corporation; to make penal laws and ordinances consistent with the laws of this State, and pre

scribe fines and imprisonment for violation of said penal ordinances; provided, such fines shall in no case exceed one hundred dollars, and such imprisonment shall in no case exceed six months; to adopt rules of order for their own government, and prescribe the penalties for violation thereof; to levy, assess, and collect and appropriate a general poll and ad valorem tax on all persons and property within the corporate limits of said city, subject to taxation by the laws and Constitution of this State, for the purpose of paying the ordinary expenses of the city government, and may make the necessary ordinances to enforce the collection of the same; provided, that said tax shall in no case exceed one-half of the State tax for the same year the sum is levied; and provided further, said tax shall not be levied oftener than once a year, and it shall constitute a fund for the payment of the ordinary expenses of said city, and be styled the "General Tax, and have such other powers as are or may hereafter be conferred by the general laws of this State on incorporated cities and towns.

SEC. 3. That section six of said act is hereby so amended as to read as follows: That the limits of said corporation shall be extended as follows: Beginning at a point three-fourths of one mile due east of the court house in said city, running thence north one and onefourth miles, thence west two miles, thence south two miles, thence east two miles, thence north one and onefourth miles to the beginning.

SEC. 4. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to alter, change, or impair any contract or obligation heretofore begun or made by the corporation of the town of Bonham.

This act to take effect from its passage.
Passed April 1st, 1873.

[NOTE. The foregoing act was presented to the Governor of Texas for his approval, on the eighth day of April, A. D. 1873, and was not signed by him, or returned to the house in which it originated, with his objections thereto, within the time prescribed by the Constitution, and thereupon became a law without his signature. -JAMES P. NEWCOMв, Secretary of State.]

CHAPTER LII.

An Act to Incorporate the Columbus, Austin and Parker County Railway Company, and to aid in the Construction of the same.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That J. C. Higgins, A. W. Moore, J. A. Hooper, R. F. Campbell, Josiah Shaw, J. R. Brooks, Galin Crow, L. W. Moore, J. Schumaker, Geo. B. Zimpelman, C. S. West, and their associates, be and are hereby appointed commissioners to open books and receive subscriptions to the capital stock of a corporation hereby created, to be styled the "Columbus, Austin and Parker county Railway Company."

SEC. 2. That a majority of the commissioners shall constitute a board for the transaction of business, and shall hold meetings from time to time until directors shall be elected, as provided hereinafter.

SEC. 3. That at the time of subscribing to the stock of this company, five five per centum of the amount subscribed shall be paid in, unless otherwise provided by the commissioners or directors.

SEC. 4. That the subscribers to the capital stock of this company are hereby created and established a body corporate and politic, under the name and style of the "Columbus, Austin and Parker county Railway Company," with capacity to contract, to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, to have succession and a common seal, to grant and receive, to hold and alien real estate, to make and enforce by-laws, and to do and perform all things necessary and proper to maintain their rights under this act.

SEC. 5. The capital stock of this company shall be one million of dollars, to be increased, by a vote of twothirds of the stockholders representing two-thirds of the stock, to such an amount, not to exceed three millions of dollars, as may be requisite to carry out the object of this company, divided into shares of one hundred dollars each. Each share to entitle its holder and owner to one vote in all meetings, or elections of the stockholders, and a majority of the stock shall govern, except in cases otherwise specially provided for. The said shares of stock

shall be deemed personal property, transferable only on the books of the company.

SEC. 6. The direction and control of said corporation and its affairs shall be vested in a board of not less than seven (7) nor more than nine (9) directors, to be chosen by the stockholders at an annual meeting, the first of which shall be held in the city of Austin, whenever one hundred thousand dollars shall have been subscribed, and five per cent thereof paid in to the aforesaid commissioners.

SEC. 7. A majority of the directors shall constitute a quorum to do business, and at their first meeting they shall elect one of their number president, and one vice president. The board shall appoint a secretary and treasurer and other officers requisite to carry on the business of the company.

SEC. 8. The said company, when duly organized, shall be and is hereby invest[ed] with the right of locating, constructing, owning, operating and maintaining a railway, commencing at the town of Columbus, running up the Colorado river to the town of La Grange; thence to the town of Bastrop; thence to the city of Austin; thence by the shortest practicable route to the town of Weatherford, in Parker county, intersecting with the Texas Pacific Railway within one-half mile of the public square of the town of Weatherford; provided, that should the Texas Pacific Railway Company not make a depot within the corporate limits of said town, and also should the said town fail and refuse to donate to the Columbus, Austin and Parker county Railway all necessary grounds for depot and right of way five miles south of said town, then said company shall have the privilege of making junction with said Texas Pacific Railway at any point five miles east or west of said town, together with such turnouts, branches and sidings and extensions as the company may deem it to their interests to own, equip and maintain; with authority to construct, own, and maintain, in connection with said railway, a telegraph line along the route thereof; provided, that the freight and passenger depots of said road shall be within a mile of the court houses in the town[s] of Columbus, La Grange, Bastrop, Austin, Weatherford, or other county towns through which it may pass provided, that the depot at Columbus shall be on the west side of the Colorado river; and provided further, that

in case the citizens of Columbus and vicinity shall donate the necessary right of way for road and switches, and at least four acres of ground for depot purposes, the depot shall be located within half a mile of the court house. If the route of the road shall run within five miles of any county site, then the road shall run through the county site; provided, said county site shall donate to said road the right of way from the point of divergence towards said county site to the point at which it will regain its main route, which divergence shall not exceed ten miles; and provided further, that said county site will donate to said company grounds sufficient for depot purposes and for switches.

SEC. 9. Any agreement in writing to subscribe for stock may be enforced according to the terms of subscription, and unless payment be made according to the terms of subscription, the directors, after thirty days' notice, may sell said delinquent stock, and transfer the shares of such delinquent to the purchaser.

SEC. 10. It shall be lawful for said company to enter upon, purchase, or otherwise receive, take, hold or obtain, any lands for the purpose of locating, constructing and maintaining said railway, with all the necessary depots, turnrails [turnouts], sidings, extensions and buildings connected with said railway. When land cannot be obtained by agreement with the owner or owners thereof, they shall pay such compensation as shall be determined in the manner hereinafter set forth; provided, that the land taken for this railway shall not exceed two hundred feet in width, unless for the depots and buildings, and during the construction of said railway.

SEC. 11. Any person or persons whose land has been taken as aforesaid, without agreement or satisfactory compensation, may apply to the district court of the county in which said land is situated for the appointment of appraisers; and said court shall thereupon appoint three disinterested freeholders of said county, who shall appoint a time and place to hear the applicant and said company, to whom shall be given, by said freeholders, reasonable notice of the time and place of said hearing; and said freeholders shall, after being duly sworn, and after due hearing of the parties, determine the amount of compensation, if any, to which the applicant may be enti tled, and make return of their award at the next succeeding