1854. Certain restriction on compa ny. whatever to contract, or absent from the county, application may be made either by said owners or by said corporation to any judge of a circuit court, or to any judge of a county court, within which said lands or materials so required or already appropriated may be, (specifying the lands or materials,) thereupon such judge shall issue his warrant in writing, directed to the sheriff of the county, requiring him to summon an inquest of twelve inhabitants of said county, who shall not be stockholders nor related to the owners of the lands, materials, &c., or in anywise interested, to meet at or near the said land or materials so to be valued, on a day named in said warrant, not less than five nor more than ten days after the issuing the same; and if at said time and place any of said jurors summoned do not attend, the sheriff shall summons immediately as many jurors as may be necessary, with the jurors in attendance, to finish a panel of twenty jurors attending, and from them each party or it, his, or her agent, if either be not present in person or by agent, the sheriff for him, her, or its, may strike off four jurors, and the remaining twelve shall act as the jury of inquest of damages; and before they act as such the said sheriff shall administer to each one of them an oath or affirmation, as the case may be, that they shall justly value the damages. which the several owners will sustain by the use or occupation of the lands, or materials, or property required by said company; and the said inquest shall reduce their valuation to writing, and sign and seal the same; it shall then be returned by the said sheriff to the clerk of the circuit court of the said county, and by said clerk filed in his office, and shall be confirmed by said court at its next session, if no sufficient cause to the contrary be shown, and when confirmed shall be recorded by said clerk at the expense of said company; but if set aside the court may direct another inquisition to be taken in the same manner above prescribed, and such inquisition shall describe the property taken or the bounds of the lands condemned, and the quantity and duration of the interest in the same thus valued for the company; and such valuation, when paid or tendered to the owner or owners of said property, or his, or her, or their legal agents or representatives, shall entitle the said company to the estate and interest in the same, thus valued, as fully as if it had been conveyed by the owner or owners thereof; and if the owner or owners be not found, it shall be sufficient if the valuation be deposited in any specie paying bank to the credit of them, or their legal representatives; and every sheriff and juror acting in the premises shall receive one dollar per day for his services, to be paid on the first inquest, by the said company, but upon all subsequent or future inquests as to the said court may seem just. § 12. Whenever it shall be necessary for the construction of said road to intersect or cross any stream of water, or water course, or any road or highway lying in or across the route of said railroad, it shall be lawful for said corporation to construct the said railway across or upon the stream, or to cut across any such road or highway, and to change the location thereof, during the process of the construction of said railway; but the corporation shall restore the stream or water course, or road or highway, thus intersecting to its former state, or in a sufficient manner not to destroy its usefulness, and shall restore any road at a grade not exceeding the heaviest grade existing on said road at the present time. 1854. May construct § 13. The said corporation shall have power to locate and construct branch roads from the main route to any oth- branch roads. er town or places in the several counties through or near which the said road may pass, not destroying the vested rights of other corporations. In what way be paid. §14. It shall be lawful for the directors to require the payment of the sums to be subscribed to the capital stock subscriptions to at such times and in such installments as they shall see fit; and if installments remain unpaid for sixty days after the time of payment has elapsed, the board may collect the same by suit, or shall have power to sell the stock at public auction, for installments then due, giving twenty days notice of the time and place of sale, by advertisement in a newspaper in general circulation in the county where such sale is to be made, and cost of making such sale, and the residue of the price thus obtained shall be paid over to the former owner. § 15. That said company may demand and receive for, tolls upon, and transportation of goods, produce or property, of any kind whatever, by them along said railway, any sum not exceeding the following rates: On all goods, merchandise, or property of any description transported by them, a sum not exceeding one and a half cents per mile for toll, five cents a mile per ton for transportation, and for the transportation of passengers not exceeding three cents per mile for each passenger. What tolls to be charged. When charter § 16. If the subscribers to the company hereby created shall not become so far organized as to elect a board of forfeited. directors within three years from the passage of this act, and within two years thereafter make bona fide contracts for the construction of at least one eighth of said road, the privileges of said corporation shall cease and this act be void. Other roads § 17. That any other railroad company which has been or may hereafter be chartered by law of this state, may may connect. join and connect any railroad with the road hereby contemplated, and full rights and privileges are hereby reserved to the state or individuals, or any company incorporated by law of this state, to cross this road: Provided, any other railroad connecting with the road hereby provided 1854. dividends to be declared. for shall lead from the main road, and diverge therefrom § 18. That any road connecting with the road hereby § 19. That the said president and directors shall annualHow & When ly or semi-annually declare and make such dividends as they may deem proper of the net profits arising from the resources of said company, after deducting the expenses current and probably contingent, and shall divide the same amongst the stockholders of the said company in proportion to their respective shares. How vacan. § 20. That when any vacancy shall occur in the board of directors, by death, resignation, or otherwise, the board cies to be filled. remaining shall have power to fill such vacancy, and the person or persons so appointed shall continue in office until the next annual election for directors of said company. Exhibit of af fairs to be made. § 21. That a general meeting of the stockholders of said company may be called at any time during the interval between the annual meetings by the president and directors, or a majority of them, or by the stockholders owning at least one-fourth of the whole stock subscribed, upon giving public notice for thirty days of the time and place of holding the same, which shall be in some place named in the advertisement; and when any such meetings are called by the stockholders, such notice shall specify the object of the call; and if at any such called meetings a majority (in value) of the stockholders of said company are not present in person or by proxy, such meetings shall be adjourned from day to day without transacting any business, for any time not exceeding three days; and if within said three days, stockholders having a majority (in value) of the stock subscribed do not then attend, such meeting shall be dissolved. § 22. At the regular meetings of the stockholders of said company it shall be the duty of the president and directors in office for the preceding year to exhibit a clear and distinct statement of the affairs of the company; and at any called meeting of the company, or stockholders of the same representing a majority in value of all the stock subscribed, may require similar statements from the president and directors, who shall furnish them when so directed or required; and at all general meetings. of the stockholders, a majority of all the stockholders in said company representing more than one-half the value of all the 'stock subscribed, may remove from office the president or any of the directors of said company, and fill up the vacancies thus created, in the same way and to the same extent that they could do at their stated annual meetings. §23. Every president and director of said company, before he acts as such, shall swear or affirm, as the case may be, before some person authorized to administer an oath, that he will well and truly discharge the duties of his said office to the best of his skill and judgment. § 24. That if any of the stock created by this act shall remain unsubscribed until after the election of the president and directors, as provided for in the seventh section of this act, the said president and directors, or a majority of them, shall have power to open books and receive subscriptions to the capital stock which may remain unsubscribed for, or to sell and dispose of such unsubscribed stock for the benefit of said company, for any sum not under its par value, unless by consent of a majority in' value of the stockholders; and the purchasers or subscribers of said stock shall have all the rights, powers, and privileges of original subscribers, and shall be subject to the same regulations; and if the exigencies of the company should require the payment on the stock to be made more rapidly than is provided for herein, or should the president and directors, or a majority of the whole number elected, consider it expedient for the purpose of aiding the stockholders, or hastening the completion of the contemplated road, it shall be lawful for them to borrow, on the credit of said company, a sum of money not exceeding one-half million dollars, and shall have power to pledge or mortgage the property of the said company for the payment thereof. § 25. That the said company, so far as aforesaid formed, shall have perpetual succession of members, may have a common seal, may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, in any court of law or equity, and the president and directors thereof may make all such rules, regulations, and by-laws as are necessary and proper for the government of the corporation, or effecting the object for which it was created: Provided, such rules, regulations, and by-laws shall not be repugnant to the constitution and laws of this state or of the United States; and said president and directors shall let out all contracts for the construction of said road, and for the purchase of materials, cars, and engines, &c., and for the erection of all necessary and convenient buildings. Penalty for injuries § 26. That if any person or persons, their aiders or advisers, shall willfully, by any means whatever, injure, im- the road. pair, or destroy any part of any railroad constructed for said company under this act, or any of the necessary works, buildings, carriages, vehicles, or machinery of said com56-VOL. 11. done 1854. May receive subscriptions in lands, &c. pany; such persons or person so offending shall each of them, for every offense, forfeit and pay to the said company a sum equal to twice the value of the property destroyed or injured, or twice the amount of damages sustained by said company by reason thereof, which may be recovered in the name of the said company, by an action in the circuit court of the county wherein the offense shall be committed, and such offender shall also be subject to indictment in said court, and upon conviction of such offense, shall be punished by imprisonment not less than six months, nor more than four years, at the discretion of a jury. § 27. That the said railroad company may receive subscriptions of stock in said road in lands, coal banks, rock quarries, or any other materials, at such valuation as may be agreed on by persons proper to subscribe such stock and the commissioners heretofore appointed, or the president and directors, but no s bscription of such stock in this section mentioned shall be obligatory until the contract shall be reduced to writing, according to the laws in force relative to the sale of real estate in this commonwealth. § 28. That the said company shall have full power to build or purchase any number of steamboat packets that the president and directors thereof may deem necessary to put and keep in connection the terminus of said railroad at Smithland with all other railroad landings, crossings, and termini, and other landings and points between the mouth of the Cumberland river and that of the Ohio river, to its confluence with the Mississippi river, with the right and power of transporting all such freight and passengers thereon at reasonable rates for the same: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall interfere with any ferry rights or privileges at Paducah or elsewhere. Approved March 10, 1854. CHAPTER 906, AN ACT to allow Billiard Tables to be established in the city of Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That the privilege of setting up and keeping billiard tables in the city of Frankfort be allowed to any person who may desire to do the same, upon the same terms now allowed by law to the Capital Hotel of said city. Approved March 10, 1854. |