SEC. 15. That the said company is authorized to make, execute and Execution, &c., of contracts, &c. issue in the transaction of its business all papers, receipts, certificates, vouchers and contracts, which shall bear the impression or stamp of the seal of the company, and shall be signed by the president or vicepresident and countersigned by the secretary; and all drafts, orders, checks, certificates or warehouse receipts signed and countersigned as aforesaid shall be transferable and negotiable, if payable to order, by endorsement, and if payable to bearer by delivery. SEC. 16. That the chief office of said company shall be located in Principal office. Raleigh, North Carolina, and not more than one-third of the direc tors of said company shall at any one time be non-residents of North Carolina. ers as to issu ance of currency. SEC. 17. Whenever, by any general banking law of the state, state Corporate powbanks shall be allowed to issue notes to pass as currency or money, this company shall have power to issue such notes in the same proportion and upon the same terms and conditions as provided for other state banks in said general law. holders. SEC. 18. The stockholders of this company shall be held individually Liability of stockresponsible, ratably, and not one for another, for all its contracts, debts and engagements to the extent of the amount of their stock therein respectively. SEC. 19. That this act shall be in force from and after its ratification. CHAPTER 201. An act to incorporate the Elizabeth and Pasquotank Railway Company, passed by the legislature of Virginia on the twenty-ninth day of Feb ruary, eighteen hundred and ninety-two. WHEREAS, It is represented that the general assembly of the com- Preamble. monwealth of Virginia has passed an act entitled "An act to incorporate the Elizabeth and Pasquotank Railway Company " in the words following, to-wit: 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia: That A. H. Copy of act of Lindsay, Joseph A. Wallace, H. F. Edmonds, L. M. West, W. A. legislature of Virginia. West, C. R. Johnson, George T. Wallace, junior, and C. A. Stewart, Incorporators. of Norfolk county, Virginia, and John K. Abbott, George Beveridge, C. M. Ferebee, L. F. Wright, Dr. W. D. Kellam, M. B. Hughes, George H. Riggs, of Camden county; William Etheridge and Miles Whitehurst, of Pasquotank county; R. B. Creecy, Charles H. Robin Corporate name. ers. Termini. Gauge. Construction of part of road, &c.. Branch roads. Crossings, &c. General corporate powers. Capital stock. Books of subscription. Organization Corporate pow ers. son, George M. Scott, E. F. Aydlette and J. B. Flora, of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, together with such other persons as may become associated with them as stockholders, their successors and assigns, be and they are hereby declared to be a body politic and corporate under and by the name and style of the "Elizabeth and Pasquotank Railway Company," and by that name and style shall have all the powers conferred and be subject to all the restrictions imposed by the laws of this commonwealth upon such bodies politic and corporate for the purpose of locating, constructing, equipping, maintaining and operating a railroad of one or more tracks for the transportation of freight and passengers from Norfolk, Portsmouth, Berkley or other point or points on the Elizabeth river, Hampton roads, Chesapeake Bay or Lynn Haven river, to some point on the Virginia and North Carolina state line in Norfolk county, by and upon such lines and routes as the said company may determine and select; and with the assent of the authorities of the state of North Carolina or other states extend said road to such point or points within said state or states as it may select; and may establish such gauge and operate said road with any power it may think proper; and may operate any part of its road before the whole thereof may be completed; and for the purposes aforesaid, may build, buy, charter and run all such vessels, either steam, sailing or other craft, as may be necessary to develop or accommodate its traffic. 2. That said company shall have authority to build and operate one or more branches, not exceeding twenty miles in length, and the said railroad and its branches shall have the right to cross at grade or otherwise, join and unite its railway with any railroad now constructed or to be hereafter constructed, and also the right to cross any navigable stream or canal in its route in the manner provided by law; and shall have and enjoy all the rights, franchises, privileges and immunities appertaining to railroad corporations. 3. That the capital stock of said company shall be not less than twenty-five hundred dollars with the privilege and power to increase the same to five hundred thousand dollars, and the same may be subscribed to by individuals, corporations, counties, cities and towns in accordance with the laws of this commonwealth. That the first ten persons, or any five of them, named in section one of this act, shall be authorized to open books of subscription to the capital stock of said company, and when the minimum capital has been subscribed they are hereby authorized and empowered to call together the subscribers for the purpose of organizing said company. 4. That said company is hereby authorized and empowered to purchase property of any and every kind, to hold, grant, mortgage, sell or otherwise dispose thereof; to issue mortgage bonds upon its franchises, rights, privileges and property created or to be created, or upon specific parts of such property, in such sums and to such amounts as the said corporation may by its board of directors, approved by its stockholders, direct and determine; to issue common and preferred stock; to change the name of said corporation by a majority vote of its stockholders; to consolidate its franchises, rights, privileges and capital stock with any other railroad or canal, corporation or corporations, chartered either by this state or other states, and to purchase any such railroads and canals, and to issue capital stock of this corporation in lieu of the capital stock of such purchased corporation: Provided, that the property of any such pur- Proviso. chased or consolidated company shall be operated under the laws governing such corporation, and the service thereon shall in no manner be decreased, nor the tolls on the canals or the freight and passenger rates of the railroads be increased, except as is hereinafter provided as to the Dismal Swamp or Norfolk and North Carolina Canal. 5. That should said company become the purchaser of the Dismal Corporate powers of purchaser Swamp Canal, now called the Norfolk and North Carolina Canal, it of Dismal Swamp may conduct the business of such canal as provided in section four, whether it build a railroad or not, as contemplated in the first three sections of this act. Should the said company build the said railroad as contemplated above, and also purchase the canal, the said company may, in its discretion, so lower the water in said canal as to make it navigable for very small boats and skiffs only, or may so further reduce the water as to unfit it for navigation altogether; and in that event the said company shall build a branch road to Lake Drummond and shall have the use and control of the water in Lake Drummond, limited only to the conditions that said lake shall not be purposely overflowed nor the water to be less than four feet in depth, and that said lake shall be free to all citizens of the United States for purposes of commerce and pleasure. Canal. ment of canal for purposes. 6. That in the event of the abandonment of the canal for trans- Corporate powportation purposes and its use as a drain or for water-supply or other ers on abandonpurposes as contemplated in part of section five the said corporation transportation may make such restrictions as it deems best as to the number of ditches that may be cut into said canal and how these ditches may be finished where they enter the same, to prevent bars or other impediment to the free passage of the water in said canal, but no restrictions shall be made which will prevent the natural drainage of land into said canal where the same is needed for agricultural purposes. And in the event of the conditions existing as is contemplated in this section, the said company shall have control of the water in Deep Creek and Gilmerton Cut above the dam across said creek, but shall not hold the water so high as to hinder the drainage of the lands bordering on or west of the head of said creek, but may lower the same to any desired extent. 7. That the privileges granted under sections five and six shall appertain to said corporation in the event of a construction of a rail Privileges grantand 6, when to ed in sections 5 avail. road, as contemplated in the first four sections of this act; or if a railroad shall be constructed by some other corporation and so located as to practically give transportation facilities to that part of Virginia now tributary to and dependent upon the Norfolk and North Carolina canal: Provided, that in this case the corporation created by this act shall not be obliged to construct a branch road to Lake Drummond; and any privileges granted in said sections as to the use and control of the waters of Lake Drummond, its tributaries and affluents, not already possessed by the said Norfolk and North Carolina Canal Company, are subject to the rights of the act incorporating the Virginia Water Company: And provided further, that the work shall be commenced within two years and the road completed within five years. 8. That all taxes due to the state of Virginia shall be paid in lawful money of the United States, and not in coupons. 9. That this act shall be in force from its passage. AND WHEREAS FURTHER, it is proposed by the Elizabeth and Pasquotank Railway Company to continue the railroad through the territory of North Carolina to the South Carolina line, beginning at the Virginia line in Camden county; and whereas, the assent of the legislature of this state is requested to the above-recited act to enable the said company to construct said railroad as aforesaid, The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact: SECTION 1. That the assent of this legislature in and to the act incorporating the Elizabeth and Pasquotank Railway Company, as contained in the before-recited act of the general assembly of Virginia, is hereby as fully and completely given as if the said act had been passed by this present general assembly, with the modification hereinafter provided. SEC. 2. That work, or some act looking to the completion of said enterprise, shall be commenced within four years, and the said enterprise completed within eight years. SEC. 3. That this act shall be in force from and after its ratification. Incorporators. Corporate name. CHAPTER 202. An act to incorporate the Yadkin Falls Bridge Company. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact : SECTION 1. That V. Mauney, John Snotherly, D. N. Bennett, W. Smithdeal, F. B. Arendall, F. J. Murdock, their associates and successors, are hereby incorporated under the name and style of the "Yadkin Falls Bridge Company,” and as such shall have all the rights, powers, privileges, liabilities and immunities incident to corporations Corporate powunder chapter sixteen of The Code of North Carolina. ers. SEC. 2. That the capital stock of said company shall not exceed the Capital stock. sum of fifty thousand dollars, in shares of twenty-five dollars each, and as soon as the sum of eight thousand dollars shall have been sub- Organization. scribed and five per centum paid thereon the corporators or any of them shall call a meeting for the purpose of organizing said corporation under this act. SEC. 3. Said corporation shall have the right to build a bridge of Authorized to build bridge over wood or iron, or of wood and iron, over the Yadkin river at a point Yadkin river. near Yadkin Falls in Stanly county from Yadkin Falls to or near Milledgeville, Montgomery county. SEC. 4. The subscribers when they shall be called together by the Organization. corporators as aforesaid shall proceed to organize said company and land. to elect such officers and form such by-laws as may in their judgment officers. By-laws. be necessary for the government of said company, and said by-laws shall provide how such officers shall be elected, what shall be their duties and terms of office, and when and where annual and other meetings of the stockholders shall be held, and how and by whom said by-laws may be altered or amended: Provided, such by-laws be Proviso. not inconsistent with the laws of this state or the United States. SEC. 5. That if said company and owner of any land which may be Condemnation of necessary for the location of said bridge or for necessary buildings or appurtenances shall be unable to agree upon the price of the same, or if for any cause the same cannot be purchased from the owner, or if said company shall require any land for approaches or roads to or from said bridge and shall be unable to agree upon the prices of the same with the owners, or for any reason shall be unable to purchase the same, then the same may be taken by said company at a valuation to be ascertained under the rules and regulations prescribed by the laws of North Carolina for the condemnation of land needed for railroad companies. SEC. 6. That said company shall have the right to charge such Tolls. reasonable tolls and fares as may be prescribed by the by-laws. SEC. 7. That upon conviction before a justice of the peace any per- Penalty for fast riding, &c. son who shall ride or drive on the company's bridge at a pace faster than a walk a penalty of five dollars shall be imposed. SEC. 8. That this act shall be in force from and after its ratification. |