In force March AN ACT to incorporate the Mendota, Paxton and Danville Railroad Com13, 1869.

Corporators.

ers.

pany.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Absalom B. Moore, Dwight F. Cameron, William Reddick, of the city of Ottawa, and D. A. Cook and L. B. Crooker, of the city of Mendota, in LaSalle county, S. S. Morgan and John McWilliams, of Livingston county, and William H. Pells, David Patton, of Paxton, Ford county, and John L. Tincher and Daniel Clapp, of Danville, Illinois, and their associates, successors and assigns, are hereby created a body. Name and style. Corporate and politic, under the name and style of "The Mendota, Paxton and Danville Railroad Company," for Corporate pow- the term of eighty years; and, by that name, may be and are hereby made capable, in law and in equity, to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in any court of law and equity, in this state or in any other place; to make, have and use a common seal, and the same to renew and alter at pleasure; and shall be and are hereby vested with all the powers, privileges and immunities which are or may be necessary to carry into effect the purposes Route of road. and objects of this act, as hereinafter set forth; and the said company are hereby authorized and empowered to locate, construct and finally complete a railroad from the city of Mendota, in LaSalle county, to the town of Danville, in Vermilion county, by the way of the city of Ottawa, in LaSalle county, and the town of Odell, in Livingston county, and by Paxton, in Ford county, by the most direct and eligible route; and, for this purpose, said company are authorized, upon the most eligible and direct route, to lay out their said railroad, wide enough for a single or a double track, through the whole length; and, for the purpose of cuttings, embankments, stone and gravel, may take as much more land as may be necessary for the proper construction of and security of said railroad.

Amount capital stock.

aged by direc

turs.

$ 2. The capital stock of said company shall consist of one million of dollars, and may be increased to two millions of dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars Business man- cach. The immediate government and direction of said company shall be vested in eleven directors, who shall be chosen by the stockholders of said company, in the manner hereinafter provided, who shall hold their offices for one year after their election, and until others shall be duly elected and qualified to take their place as directors; and the said directors-a majority of whom shall form a quorum for the transaction of business-shall elect one of their number to be the president of the company; that said board of directors shall have power to appoint all necessary clerks, secretary and other officers necessary in the transaction of the business of said company.

and

examinations.

3. The said corporation is hereby authorized, by their Surveys agents, surveyors and engineers, to cause such examination and surveys to be made of the ground and country between the said several points and places herein before indicated, as shall be necessary to determine the most advantageous. route for the proper line or course whereon to construct their said railroad; and it shall be lawful for said company May take lands. to enter upon and take possession of and use all such lands and real estate as may be necessary for the construction and maintenance of their said railroad: Provided, that all lands or real estate entered upon or taken possession of and used by said corporation, for the purposes and accommodations of said railroad, or upon which the site of said railroad shall have been located or determined by the said corporation, shall be paid for by said company in damages, if any be sustained by the owner or owners thereof by the use of the same for the purposes of said railroad; and all Compensation the lands entered upon and taken for the use of said corporation, which are not donated to said company, shall be paid for by said corporation at such price as may be mutually agreed upon by the said corporation and the owner or owners of such land; and in case of disagreement, the price shall be estimated, fixed and recovered in the manner provided for taking lands for the construction of public roads, canals and other public works, as provided by the general laws now in force, or which may hereafter be in force, providing for the condemnation of lands for purposes of internal improvement.

for land.

4. If any person shall willfully, maliciously or wan- Injury to road, tonly, and contrary to law, obstruct the passage of any car penalty for. on said railroad, or any part thereof, or anything belonging thereto, or shall damage, break or destroy any part of said railroad, or implements or buildings, he, she or they, or any person assisting, shall forfeit and pay to said company, for every such offense, treble the amount of damages that shall be proved before any competent court shall have been sustained, and been sued for in the name and in behalf of said company; and such offender or offenders shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be liable to an indictment, in the same manner as other indictments are found, in any county or counties where such offense shall have been committed; and, upon conviction, every such offender shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, for the use of the county where such indictments may be found.

5. The time of holding the annual meetings of said Annual meeting company, for the election of directors, shall be fixed and determined by the by-laws of said company; and at all meetings, each stockholder shall be entitled to vote, in person or by lawful proxy, one vote for each share of stock he, she or they may hold, bona fide, in said company. Vol. III-15

To open books or subscription.

Meeting stockholders.

Right of way.

power.

6. The persons named in the first section of this act are hereby appointed commissioners, who, or a majority of whom, are hereby authorized to open subscription books for said stock, at such places as they may deem proper, and shall keep said books opened until at least the sum of fifty thousand dollars of said capital stock shall be taken. Said commissioners shall require each subscriber to pay two dollars on each share subscribed at the time of subscribing. of When such amount shall have been subscribed, the said commissioners shall call a meeting of the stockholders, by giving thirty days' notice in some newspaper in said town of Ottawa, in LaSalle county; and at such meeting, it shall be lawful to elect the directors of said company; and when the directors of said company are chosen, the said commissioners shall deliver said subscription books, with all sums of money received by them as commissioners, to said directors. No person shall be a director in said company, except he be a stockholder.

Propelling

ernment.

§ 7. That the right of way, and the real estate purchased for the right of way by said company, whether by mutual agreement or otherwise, or which shall become the property of the company by operation of law, as in this act provided, shall, upon the payment of the amount of money belonging to the owner or owners of said lands, as a com pensation for the same, become the property of said company, in fee simple.

8. The said corporation may take and transport, upon said railroad, any person or persons, merchandise or other property, by the force and power of steam or animals, or any combination of them, and may fix, establish, take and receive such rates of toll, for all passengers and property transported upon the same, as the said directors shall, from Rules for gov- time to time, establish; and the directors are hereby empowered and authorized to make all necessary rules, bylaws, regulations and ordinances that they may deem necessary and expedient to accomplish the designs and purposes and to carry into effect the provisions of this act, and for the transfer and assignment of its stock, which is hereby declared personal property, and transferable in such manner as shall be provided by the by-laws and ordinances of said company.

Increase capital stock.

9. The directors of said company, after the same is organized, shall have power to open books in the manner prescribed in the sixth section of this act, to fill up the bal ance of the capital stock, or any part thereof, and the amount the aforesaid company is authorized to increase the capital stock to, by the second section of this act, at such time as they may deem it for the interest of said company; and all the installments required to be paid in the stock origi nally to be taken, and what may be taken to increase said capital, shall be paid at such times and in such sums as said directors may prescribe.

cies

filled.

§ 10. In case of the death, resignation or removal of when vacanthe president, vice-president, or any director, at any time in occur, how between the annual elections, such vacancy may be filled for the remainder of the year, whenever they may happen, by the board of directors. And in case of the absence of Absence of the the president and vice-president, the board of directors president. shall have power to appoint a president, pro tempore, who shall have and exercise such powers and functions as the by-laws of said corporation may provide. In case it should at any time happen that an election shall not be made on any day on which, in pursuance of this act, it ought to have been made, the said corporation shall not for that reason be deemed dissolved, but such election shall be held at any other time directed by the by-laws of said corporation.

§ 11. Whenever it shall be necessary, for the construc- Intersections. tion of said railroad, to intersect or cross a track of any other railroad, or any stream of water or water-course, or road or highway, lying in the route of said road, it shall be lawful for the company to construct their railroad across or upon the same: Provided, that the said company shall restore the said road, stream of water, water-course, road or highway, thus intersected or crossed, to its former state, or in a sufficient manner not materially to impair its useful

ness.

other roads

12. Said company shall have the power to unite its May unite with railroad with any other railroad now constructed, or which may hereafter be constructed, in this state, upon such terms as may be mutually agreed between the companies so connecting; and, for that purpose, full power is hereby given to said company to make and execute such contracts with any other company as will secure the objects of such connections; and the said corporation shall have power, by and with the consent of the owners of three fourths of the capital stock of said company, to consolidate its stock with any other railroad company.

money.

Security for bonds issued.

13. Said company is hereby authorized, from time to May borrow time, to borrow such sum or sums of money as may be necessary for completing and furnishing or operating their said railroad, and to issue and dispose of their bonds, in denominations of not less than five hundred dollars, for any amount so borrowed, and to mortgage their corporate property or franchises to secure the payment of any debt contracted by the said company for the purposes aforesaid; and the said directors of said company may confer on any bondholder of any bond issued for money borrowed, the right to convert the principal due or owing thereon into stock of said company, at any time, not exceeding ten years from the date of the bond, under such regulations as the directors of said company may see fit to adopt.

14. The width of said railroad to be determined by Width of road. the said corporation, within the limits prescribed by the

Duration corporation.

first section of this act: Provided, the same shall not exceed one hundred feet; and they are hereby authorized to commence work on any point of said railroad that may be considered most expedient.

of 15. This act shall be in force [for] the period of eighty years; and said company shall commence said work within four years, and complete the same within twelve years, from the passage of this act.

Construction

of act.

Connect with

other roads.

Articles offered

tion.

§ 16. This act shall be deemed and taken as a public act, and shall be construed beneficially for all purposes herein set forth.

17. Said company shall have power to connect, on just terms, with any other railroad which its line may approach, having similar termini, and any railroad which the said line may cross.

§ 18. Said corporation shall transport fire-wood and for transporta- fuel, of every description, over its railroad, whenever the same shall be offered for transportation, at rates as low as the rates said compny shall charge for the transportation of other freights of a similar class.

§ 19. This act shall take effect from and after its passage.

APPROVED March 13, 1869.

In force March AN ACT to incorporate the Metropolis and Northwestern Railroad Company. 9, 1869.

Corporators.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Green B. Raum, W. R. Brown, John C. Willis, Ambrose E. Burnside, and Chas. B. Guthrie, are hereby made commissioners, and are authorized, at any time and place within twelve months from the passage of this act, to open books of subscription for the capital stock and superintend the organizaName and style. tion of a corporation, to be known as "The Metropolis and Northwestern Railroad Company;" and three or more of said commissioners shall have power to act; and said corporation, when organized, shall have perpetual succession; Corporate pow. and, by that name, may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended against, in any court in this state or any other place, and may have and use a common seal, and alter the same at pleasure; may contract and be contracted with; and may receive, purchase, hold, sell, convey, mortgage, lease and deliver real and personal property, for the purpose hereinafter mentioned; and shall have all the powers, privileges, rights and immunities which are or may be necessary and proper to carry into effect the objects and purposes of this act.

ers