to Caldwell and Northern R. R. "may" in Co. Corporate pow. ers. powers. pany" and inserting in lieu thereof whenever they occur in said act Name changed the words "Caldwell and Northern Railroad Company." SEC. 2. That in section one of said act after the word " line four insert the words "contract and be contracted with." SEC. 3. Strike out all of section two of said act after the word "of" Transportation in line three and insert the words "freight and passenger." SEC. 4. Amend section three of the said act by striking out all after Condemnation of land, &c.; the word "it" in line seven and insert in lieu thereof " may be condemned as provided for in chapter forty-nine of The Code of North Carolina, passed at session of eighteen hundred and eighty-three, or as it may have been afterward amended"; also insert "and in case the said Lower Creek and Linville Valley Transportation Company shall not be able to agree with persons owning land bordering upon or through which the streams mentioned in section five for the privileges hereby conferred in section five, then and in such event the privileges acquired as aforesaid, in so far as they relate to John's. river and its tributaries, may be acquired by condemnation proceedings under the same provisions and in the same manner as is provided for the said railways, tramways, roadways and cartways, as set forth in section three as hereby amended." SEC. 5. Strike out all after the word "railroads" in line eight, sec- Power of officers tion four of said act. SEC. 6. Strike out in section five of the said act and in line four the word "sixty" and insert in lieu thereof the words "one hundred." to fix rates on way. Authorized to borrow money for "other purposes." Consolidation with company SEC. 7. In the eleventh line of section five, so numbered in error, after the word "waterways" add the words "or other purposes also in line seventeen of the same section strike out all after the word "state" where it occurs first in said line down to and including the word "Pennsylvania” in the same line and insert in lieu thereof the words " or any other state." SEC. 8. Between sections seven and eight, as numbered in the said Additional secact, insert the following additional sections, to be numbered as herein tions. follows: organized under laws of this or any other state. SEC. 9. That the said company be and it is hereby authorized and Authorized to build railroads. empowered to lay out, construct and equip, maintain and operate a railway or railways with one or more tracks from a point or points on Termini. the South Carolina line in the counties of Cleveland or Gaston in a northern direction to the Virginia state line, passing through either Burke or Caldwell counties or both, and if the board of directors so Branch roads. desire to build a railroad to some point on the Tennessee line in the counties of Watauga or Mitchell, together with such branch lines, not exceeding twenty miles in length each, as may be found neces sary and convenient for the proper conduct of their business. The Authorized to said company may in its discretion construct and operate any part or construct part of section of its roads as it may think proper, and charge for transporta road. Books of subscription. Organization. ties, townships, on question of subscription. tion of freight or passengers before the whole of any one of its roads or branches have been completed, subject, however, to the provisions of section four of said chapter five hundred and sixty-four of the acts of eighteen hundred and ninety-one, as amended by this act. SEC. 10. That the corporators therein named, their associates, successors or assigns, or a majority in interest in the same, may cause books of subscription to the capital stock of the company to be opened at such times and places as may be appointed by said corporators or a majority in interest of the same, and said corporators or a majority in interest of the same at any time after the sum of twenty thousand dollars has been subscribed to the capital stock of said company and ten per centum thereof has been paid shall be authorized and empowered to call together the subscribers to the capital stock of said company for the purpose of completing the organization thereof in accordance with the provisions of this act. SEC. 11. That upon presentation of a petition in writing signed by at least twenty-five of the qualified voters of any county, township, cities and towns city or town through or near which the road may pass to the board of commissioners of any of said counties requesting said commissioners to submit to the qualified voters of the county, township, city or town where said petitioners reside a proposition to subscribe a definite sum named in said petition to the capital stock of said Caldwell and Northern Railroad, it shall be the duty of said board of commissioners within sixty days to order an election to be held at the various polling places of said county, township, city or town, and to submit to the qualified voters thereof the question of subscribing to the capital stock of said company the amount specified in said petition, at which election those in favor of said subscription shall vote "For subscription," and those opposed thereto shall vote "Against subscription;" and the election for this purpose shall be conducted in the same manner and be subject to the same rules and regulations as are provided for the election of members to the general assembly. Ballots. Election, how held. On vote of a ma- SEC. 12. That if a majority of the qualified voters of any county, jority of qualified voters, county township, city or town shall vote for said subscription the board of commissioners to commissioners of said county thus voting, or wherein is located the make subscription, &c. Vote in township, &c., for additional subscription. township, city or town thus voting, shall within twenty days after the ascertainment of the result of said vote subscribe on behalf and in the name of said county, township, city or town to the capital stock of the Caldwell and Northern Railroad Company the amount specified in the petition or petitions on which said election was ordered, and any township, city or town may at said election vote for a separate and distinct township, city or town subscription in addition to the county subscription at the same time it votes for the latter subscription. sioners to issue SEC. 13. That to provide for the payment of said subscription the County commisboard of commissioners of the county voting said subscription, or bonds. wherein is located any township, city or town voting subscription, shall issue coupon bonds to the amount of the subscription so authorized, and the bonds shall upon their face indicate on account of what county, township, city or town they are issued, and said bonds shall be in denominations of not less than one hundred and not more than one thousand dollars, and shall run for twenty years and bear interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, payable annually in the city of Philadelphia. SEC. 14. That the county authorities legally empowered to levy Special tax. taxes in any county voting for said subscription or in which is a township, city or town voting for subscription for payment of which bonds have been issued as provided for in this act, shall, in addition to the other taxes levied upon said county, township, city or town in whose behalf said bonds are issued, annually compute and levy at the time of levying other taxes a sufficient tax upon the property and polls of said county, township, city or town to regularly and promptly pay the interest on the bonds of said county, township, city or town issued in behalf of said subscription, and at the same time said authorities shall compute and levy a tax on the property and polls of said county, township, city or town equal to one-twentieth of said bonds for a sinking fund to pay the principal of said bonds; and the taxes for the payment of the principal and interest aforesaid shall be annually collected as other taxes are collected and paid over by the How collected. sheriff to the county treasurer or such other officer as the county commissioners issuing said bonds shall designate, which officer shall give a good and sufficient qualified bond for the safe keeping and proper pose for which it was levied and collected. The sinking fund shall Sinking fund. bonds. SEC. 15. It shall be lawful for the said Caldwell and Northern Rail- Authorized to road Company chartered by this act to issue coupon bonds in such issue mortgage denominations and running for such time, not exceeding thirty years, and bearing interest at such rate and payable at such times and places as the board of directors may direct, to be sold or hypothecated by the directors of said company, and to secure the payment of the same arate sections. the said company may execute a mortgage or mortgages to such person or persons as the company may select on all the real and personal estate of the company, together with all their franchises and priviMortgage on sep- leges; or in case the roads be divided and built in sections, which the said company is authorized to do, such mortgage or mortgages may be placed upon such separate section in such manner as the company may direct, and it is hereby provided that the registration of any mortgage provided to be executed in this section may be made in the county of Caldwell, and upon such registration in Caldwell county it shall be a lien upon the property and franchises conveyed in such mortgage or mortgages as fully and completely as if the same were registered in each and every county through which the roads pass or any part thereof. Registration of mortgage. Lien. Liability of stockholders. Taxes collected on property of company in counties, &c., to be applied to payment of interest on bonds, &c. Excess, how applied. SEC. 16. That section eight of chapter five hundred and sixty-four of the acts of eighteen hundred and ninety-one be amended by adding at the end thereof the words "beyond the amount of stock subscribed by them," and that said section be renumbered as section sixteen. SEC. 17. That when any county, city, town or township shall subscribe its bonds to the capital stock of said railroad company as provided in this act, the county, town, city or township taxes which shall be levied and collected upon the property and franchises of said company in said county, town, city or township, shall be applied in payment of the interest on the bonds of such county, town, city or township to the amount of said interest so long as the same shall accrue, and the excess of said taxes, if any, shall be applied to the general county, town, city or township purposes; that when the said interest shall cease to accrue by reason of the payment of the said bonds the said taxes shall be applied to general county, town, city or township purposes. SEC. 18. That this act shall be in force from and after its ratification. Incorporators. CHAPTER 111. An act to incorporate the Bank of Lexington at Lexington, North The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact: SECTION 1. That John D. Grimes, Thomas J. Grimes, George W. Mountcastle, W. G. Penry, their associates, successors and assigns, are hereby constituted and declared to be a body politic and corporate Corporate name. by the name and style of the "Bank of Lexington," with its principal ers. place of business at Lexington, North Carolina, and by that name may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded and shall have con- Corporate powtinual succession for sixty years, with capacity to take, hold and convey personal and real estate, and shall have all the rights, privileges, immunities and powers granted to banks and corporations by the general bank and corporation laws of this state contained in chapter sixteen, volume one, and chapter four of volume two of The Code of North Carolina, and shall have all such powers, rights, privileges and immunities as may hereafter be granted to banks in this state by any subsequent legislation of this state. SEC. 2. That the capital stock of said corporation shall not be less Capital stock. than thirty thousand dollars, in shares of one hundred dollars each, and such capital stock may be increased from time to time as said corporation may desire to a sum not exceeding two hundred thousand dollars. tion. SEC. 3. That the corporators named in the first section or a majority Books of subscripof them are hereby empowered at any time within two years from the ratification of this act to open books of subscription to the capital stock of said corporation at such time or times and at such places and for such periods as they may determine; and the stockholders at any general meeting held after the organization of said corporation may at their discretion from time to time re-open the books of subscription to said capital stock until the same, as herein limited, be wholly taken. SEC. 4. That whenever thirty thousand dollars or more shall have Organization. been subscribed to the capital stock of said corporation, the beforenamed corporators or a majority of them shall call a meeting of the subscribers to said stock at such time and place and upon such notice as they may deem proper; and such subscribers shall elect by ballot or otherwise from among their numbers such directors as they may Directors. have authority to fill all vacancies that may occur in their own body Vacancies. of the stockholders. tors. SEC. 5. That the president and directors of the bank may adopt Powers of presiand use a common seal and alter the same at pleasure; appoint all dent and direcnecessary officers and agents, fix their compensation, prescribe their duties and take security for the faithful discharge of the same; prescribe the manner of paying for stock and the transfer thereof; may do a general banking business on such terms and rate of discount as may be agreed on, and take such interest and discount in advance at a rate not greater than is allowed by laws. SEC. 6. That said corporation may receive and pay out the lawful, Corporate powcurrency of the country, discount promissory notes, bills of exchange, ers. |