ages for any land, property or estate taken and appropriated as aforesaid, as they might do if the same were holden in their own right respectively.

SEC. 8. That said railroad company may, in the construction of their said road, if necessary, cross, intersect or connect with any other railroad, and may construct their said road across or upon the same. Provided, however, in so constructing their said road across or upon any other railroad, or in connecting therewith, they shall not change or in anywise alter either the grade or the line of the same, nor in any way enter upon, use or cross such railroad without first paying to said company such portion of the expense of constructing so much of said road as shall be required by said Salem and Lisbon Railroad Company, and also such damages as said railroad company may sustain by reason of such construction or connection as aforesaid, to be ascertained in all respects in the same manner as is provided by the tenth section of an act, passed in 1849, entitled "An act relating to Railroad Companies."

SEC. 9. The said company is hereby authorized to unite and connect their said road or roads joined or intersected thereby, and to make and enter into any contract in relation to the business of their said road with any other railroad company or companies; and also to make joint stock with or lease their said road to, or unite and merge the same and their said capital stock in any other railroad company, and when so merged, the said capital stock shall become and be a part of the capital stock of such company; and any other railroad company or companies which may be joined or intersected by said railroad, are hereby authorized, without prejudice to any right, privilege or franchise, now vested in or enjoyed by them, to subscribe to the stock of the said Salem and Lisbon Railroad Company, or to purchase the same, and also to make and enter into, and become parties to any of the contracts aforesaid, which said company are hereby authorized to make as aforesaid. All the rights, powers and privileges conferred upon the said Salem and Lisbon Railroad Company, and said other company or companies, by the provisions of this section, may be exercised either before or after the commencement or completion of said road of the said Salem and Lisbon Railroad Company, or either of the other railroad or railroads; provided, that the provisions of this section, so far as relates to making joint stock with any other railroad company or companies, or to merging the capital stock of the said Salem and Lisbon Railroad Company in that of any other railroad company, or to the subscription by any other railroad company to the stock of the said Salem and Lisbon Railroad Company, or the purchase of the same, shall not take effect and become operative until the same shall have been assented to by three-fourths of the stockholders of the said Salem and Lisbon Railroad Company, and said other company or companies present at meetings of their respective companies legally warned for that purpose.

SEC. 10. That if said company shall not expend the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars upon said railroad or way, within three years from the rising of this assembly, then the powers of said corporation shall cease and be void.

SEC. 11. That in case it shall be determined by the said Salem and Lisbon Railroad Company, and the Norwich and Westbrook Railroad Company, to join or connect their said roads, the said Norwich and West

brook Railroad Company shall thereupon be discharged from any obligation to construct their said road easterly or southerly of such point of junction.

SEC. 12. This act may be altered, amended or repealed at the pleasure of the general assembly.

AUTHORIZING THE SOUTHBRIDGE AND BLACKSTONE RAILROAD COMPANY TO CONSTRUCT A PART OF THEIR ROAD THROUGH THE TOWN OF THOMPSON.

PASSED 1844.

Resolved by this Assembly, SEC. 1. That the Southbridge and Blackstone Railroad Company, incorporated by authority of the legislature of the state of Massachusetts, are hereby authorized by that name to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded in any court in this state; and the said company is hereby vested with all powers, privileges and immunities which are or may be necessary to carry into effect the purposes and objects of this act herein after set forth. And said company is hereby authorized and empowered to locate, construct and finally complete a single, double or treble railway or railroad from the point in the dividing line between this state and the state of Massachusetts, in the town of Thompson, where the railroad of the said Southbridge and Blackstone Railroad Company meets said line, proceeding from said town of Southbridge to said town of Blackstone in said state of Massachusetts; thence, through a portion of said town of Thompson, in the most convenient way towards said town of Blackstone, so as to form, in the most convenient manner, a continuous railroad from said town of Southbridge to said town of Blackstone. And said company is authorized to transport, take and carry property and persons upon said railroad or way, by force and power of steam, or of animals, or of any mechanical or other power, or of any combination of them that said company may choose to apply. And for the purpose of constructing said railroad or way the said company is hereby authorized to lay out their road not exceeding six rods wide, through the whole length; and for the purposes of cutting and embankments and for the purpose of necessary station houses, turnouts and for obtaining stone and gravel, may take as much more land as may be necessary for the proper construction and security of said road. And said company is also hereby authorized and empowered to make any lawful contract with any other railroad or other corporation in relation to the business of said company, and also to make joint stocks with any other railroad company. Provided, that all damages that may be occasioned to any person or corporation by the taking of any such land or materials aforesaid for the purpose aforesaid, shall be paid for by said company in manner herein after provided.

SEC. 2. The directors of said company shall have full power to make and prescribe such by-laws, rules and regulations as they shall deem needful and

proper, touching the disposition and management of the stock, property, estate and effects of said company in this state, not contrary to this act or the laws of this state, or of the United States, the transfer of shares, the duties and conduct of their officers and their servants, touching the election of and meeting of the directors, and all matters whatsoever which may appertain to the concerns of said company. Said company is also hereby empowered to purchase and hold, and use, materials, engines, cars, and other necessary things, in the name of said corporation, for the use of said railroad, and for the transportation of persons, goods and merchandise; and to purchase, receive and hold such real estate as may be necessary and convenient in accomplishing the object for which this act is passed; and may, by their agents, surveyors, engineers and servants, enter upon such route for the purpose of surveying the same, as may be designated by the directors, and when so surveyed the same shall be approved by three commissioners to be appointed by the general assembly for that purpose, who shall have no interest in said railroad, and who shall, prior to such approval, give such notice as they shall deem reasonable to the persons whose lands may have been taken, to enable them to present objections which they may think proper to make to such location of such road. And it shall be lawful for said company to enter upon and use all such franchises, lands and real estate as may be necessary for them, in the manner and for the purposes set forth in the first section hereof; and said company shall be holden to pay all damages that may arise to any person or persons; and if the person or persons to whom damage may so arise and said company cannot agree as to the amount of such damages, it shall be the duty of said company to apply to the superior court of the county in which the real estate damaged is situated, and to cause notice to be given to the adverse party of such application, and thereupon the superior court shall appoint three disinterested and judicious freeholders to assess the amount of such damages, and said freeholders, after being sworn, shall give notice to the parties of the time and place of their meeting on the business of their appointment, at which time and place they shall proceed to hear the parties and to enquire into the extent of the damages, and shall assess just damages to the person or persons whose real estate may be taken or injured, which assessment shall be in writing, under the hands of said freeholders, and the same shall be returned to the clerk of said superior court, who shall record it, and when so returned and recorded, said assessment shall have the effect of a judgment, and execution may be issued after sixty days from the time when such assessment shall be so returned, in favor of the persons respectively to whom damages may be assessed, for the amount so to them assessed. Provided, that said railroad shall not be worked upon or opened across the lands of any person, until the damages assessed to such person shall have been paid or secured to be paid to his satisfaction, and the said damages shall be so paid or deposited with the treasurer of the county, within sixty days after the same shall have been finally determined. Provided, that it shall not be necessary in order to the location of said road by the directors and the approval thereof by the commissioners, that the width thereof shall be definitely established by said directors or commissioners, previous to said location; but before the damages shall be assessed to any landholder by the appraisers, the width of said railroad shall be definitely fixed and established

by said directors over and across the land so taken, upon one or both sides of the line of the road so located. And the said company may at any time before the completion of said road, alter and change any part of the location thereof, or discontinue such part thereof as in their opinion convenience or necessity may require to be changed or discontinued, subject to the approval of the commissioners on said road, and the other requirements of said charter. Provided, further, that in case the persons required by this section to be notified shall have no place of residence in this state, known to the occupant of the land over which said road passes, or to any of the directors or commissioners of said company, then a notice published three weeks successively in two newspapers printed one in Windham county and the other in New London county, stating what proceedings are intended by said company to be instituted, shall be sufficient notice to such non-resident landholder; and when the place of residence of any such landholder is known to the occupant of the land, or to any director or commissioner aforesaid, and is out of this state, then a duplicate original notice, or a true and attested copy of the original notice, deposited in the post office, post paid, directed to such person four weeks before the hearing is to be had, shall be sufficient notice according to said charter; or any judge may give an order of notice, as in case of a bill in equity, in any of the cases aforesaid.

SEC. 3. When the lands or other property or estate of any femecovert, or person non compos mentis, shall be necessary for the construction of said road, said lands may be taken, notice being given to the husband of such feme-covert and the guardian of such infant, or person non compos mentis, and the said husband and guardian may respectively release all such damages to any lands or estate taken and appropriated as aforesaid, as they might do if the same were holden in their own right respectively.

SEC. 4. Said company is hereby authorized to construct, erect, build, make and use a single, double or treble railway or road, of suitable width and dimensions, to be determined by the directors of said company, on the line or course by them designated, and shall have power to regulate the time and manner in which goods and passengers shall be transported, taken and carried on the same; and shall have power to erect and maintain toll houses and other buildings for the accommodation of their concerns, as they may deem suitable to their interests.

SEC. 5. That whenever it shall be necessary for the construction of their single, double or treble railroad or way to intersect or cross any stream of water or water-course, or any road or highway, it shall be lawful for said company to construct said railroad across or upon the same; but the said company shall restore the said stream or water-course, or road or highway thus intersected, to its former state, or in sufficient manner not to impair its usefulness. And in all cases when any road or public highway is so located that said railroad cannot be judiciously laid out and constructed across or upon the same without interfering therewith, in such case or cases said corporation may, by their engineers, cause such road or roads to be changed or altered in such manner that said railroad may be made on the best site of ground for that purpose; provided, that said corporation shall put such road in as good repair as at the time of chang ing and altering the same. And said corporation may apply to any judge

of the superior court, who by law may judge between the parties, who, after notice given, may appoint three disinterested persons to determine whether said corporation have complied with the provisions aforesaid; and if approved by them, their decision shall be final.

SEO. 6. That it shall be lawful for the company hereby incorporated from time to time to fix, regulate and receive the tolls and charges by them to be received for transportation of persons or property on their single, double or treble railroad or way aforesaid, hereby authorized to be constructed, erected, built or used, or upon any part thereof.

SEC. 7. The legislature may authorize any other company to enter with another railroad at any point of said Southbridge and Blackstone railroad, in this state, paying for the right of using the same, or any part thereof, such a rate of toll as the directors of said Southbridge and Blackstone Railroad Company may from time to time prescribe, and complying with such rules and regulations as may be established by said Southbridge and Blackstone Railroad Company.

SEC. 8. If said company shall not construct and complete and put in operation a single, double or treble railroad as herein before authorized, within four years from the passage of this act, then this act shall be null

and void.

SEC. 9. Legal process may be served upon the treasurer, secretary or any director of said company, residing in this state, and it shall be the duty of said company to provide that one or more of said officers shall at all times be a resident of this state. And if, at any time, by reason of death or other unforeseen event, there shall not be any such officer resident in this state, service may be made on any agent or servant in the employment of said company. And said corporation shall be held to answer within the jurisdiction where such service shall be made and where the process may be returnable.

SEC. 10. The railroad of said company and all the real and personal property of said company in this state, shall be subject to all the laws of this state, in the same manner and to the same extent as though the same were owned by a company created under the authority of this state.

SEC. 11. This act shall not take effect until the same shall have been accepted by said Southbridge and Blackstone Railroad Company, at a meeting of the stockholders called for that purpose, and a certificate thereof, under the hands of the president and secretary, filed at the office of the secretary of this state.

SEC. 12. That this act may be altered, amended or repealed at the pleasure of the general assembly.

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