Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Sidney Breese, William F. Thornton, John Tilson, Charles S. Morton, Simeon Pool, John Todd, John Tacket, Thomas Lewis, Harrison Norfolk, Thomas Smith, Henry G. Smith, James Hite, William B. Archer, Uri Manly, James Water, Thomas B. Trower, John F. Richardson and Nineveh Shaw, their associates, successors and assigns, are hereby erected a body corporate and politic, under the name and style of the “Central Branch Wabash Rail Road Company,” and by that name may be, and hereby are made capable in law and equity, to sue and be sued, to final judgment and execution; to plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in any court or courts of record, or in any other place whatever; to make, have and use a common seal, and the same to break, renew and alter at pleasure; to contract and be contracted with; and shall be, and hereby are, vested with all the powers, privileges and immunities, which are or may be necessary to carry into effect the purposes and objects of this act, as hereinafter set forth:—and the said company are hereby authorised and empowered, to locate, construct, and finally complete, a Rail Road, commencing at or near Darwin, on the Wabash river, from thence in a line to Shelbyville, by way of Charleston, in Coles county, to intersect with any other rail road in such manner and form as the said Central Branch Rail Road Company shall deem most expedient; and for this purpose said company are authorised to lay out their said rail road at least six rods wide, through the whole length; and for the purpose of cutting embankments, stone and gravel, may take as much more land as may be necessary for the proper construction and security of said rail road; Provided, that all damages that may be occasioned to any person or corporation by the taking of such land or materials for the purposes aforesaid, shall be paid for by said company, in the manner hereinafter provided.2

Sec. 2. The capital stock of said company shall consist of five hundred shares, of one hundred dollars each; and the immediate government and direction of the affairs of said company shall be vested in not less than five directors, who shall be chosen by the members of the company in the manner hereinafter provided, who shall hold their offices for one year, and until others shall be duly elected and qualified to take their places as directors; and the said directors, or a majority of them, shall form a quorum for the transaction of business—shall elect one of their number to be pres-

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ident of the company, and shall have authority to choose a clerk, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of his duty—and a treasurer, who shall give bond to the company with securities, to the satisfaction of the directors.

Sec. 3. The president and directors, for the time being, are hereby authorised and empowered, by themselves or their agents, to exercise all the powers and authority herein granted, for the purpose of locating, constructing and completing said rail road: and all such other powers and authority for the management of the affairs of said company, not heretofore granted, as may be necessary to carry into effect the objects of this grant—to purchase and hold lands, materials and other necessary things, in the name of the company, for the use of the road; to make such equal assessments from time to time, on all the shares in said company, as they may deem expedient and necessary in the progress and execution of the work, and direct the same to be paid to the treasurer of the company, and the treasurer shall give notice of all such assessments. The board of directors shall have power to call special meetings of the stockholders of the company, and to adopt rules and bye-laws, regulating the manner and time of payment of all assessments they may order, as they may deem expedient.

Sec. 4. Said company shall be holden to pay all damages that may arise to any person or persons, corporation or corporations, by taking their land, stone or gravel, for the use of said rail road, when the same cannot be obtained by voluntary agreement—to be estimated and recovered in the manner provided by law for the recovery of damages happening by the laying out of highways.

Sec. 5. When the lands or other property or estate of any married woman, infant, or person non compos mentis, shall be necessary for the construction of siad rail road, the husband of such married woman, and the guardian of such infant, or person non compos mentis, may release all damages in relation to the land or estate to be taken and appropriated as aforesaid, as fully as they might do if the same were holden in their right, respectively.3

Sec. 6. If any person shall wilfully, maliciously or wantonly, and contrary to law, obstruct the passage of any car on said rail road, on any part thereof, or any thing belonging thereto, he, she, or they, or any person assisting, shall forfeit and pay to said company, for every such offence, treble such damages as shall be proven before any court competent to try the same, to be sued for in the name and behalf of said company, and such offender or offenders shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to indictment in the same manner as other indictments are found, in any

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county or counties where such offence shall have been committed; and upon conviction of such offence, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, for the use of the county where the indictment may be found, or may be imprisoned not exceeding one year, at the discretion of the court before whom the conviction may be had.

Sec. 7. Said company shall so construct their said rail road across rivers, canals, turpikes, or other public ways, so as not to obstruct, hinder, or interfere with the passage, navigation and free use of such public ways; and if said road shall not be constructed, it shall be lawful for the persons agrieved to abate the same, in the same manner as is now provided by law for the removal of obstructions to public ways.

Sec. 8. The time and place of holding the annual meetings of said company, for the election of directors and other purposes, shall be fixed and determined by the bye-laws of said company; and at such meetings each proprietor shall be entitled to as many votes as he holds shares; and any two persons named in this act are hereby authorised to call the first meeting of said company, by giving notice in the Illinois Advocate, published at Vandalia, or in any other paper of general circulation in the state, of the time and purpose of such meeting, at least fifteen days before the time mentioned in such notice.

Sec. 9. The president and directors shall have power to make, ordain, and establish such bye-laws, rules and regulations, and ordinances, as they may deem expedient and necessary to accomplish the purposes, and to carry into effect the provisions of this act, and for the well ordering, regulating and securing the interest and affairs of said company; Provided the same are not repugnant to the constitution and laws of this state, and of the United States.

Sec. 10. A toll shall be, and is hereby granted and established, for the sole benefit of said company, upon all passengers and property of all descriptions, which may be conveyed or transported upon said road, at such rates per mile as may be agreed upon and established from time to time, by the direction of said corporation. The transportation of persons and property, the construction of wheels, the form of cars and carriages, the weight of loads, and all other matters and things in relation to the use of said road, shall be in conformity to such rules and regulations, and provisions, as the directors shall from time to time prescribe and direct; Provided, however, that if the nett income and receipts for tolls and other profits, from and after the completion of said road, shall exceed twelve per cent. per annum, the legislature may take measures to reduce said rate

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of tolls and other profits, so as to take off the overplus. The directors of said company, for the time being, are hereby authorised to erect toll houses, establish gates, appoint toll gatherers, and demand toll upon the road when completed, and so much thereof as shall from time to time be completed.

Sec. 11. The said company shall have the route of the proposed rail road surveyed within two years from August next, and the road completed within eight years thereafter, otherwise this act is declared null and void.

Sec. 12. The county commissioners’ court of the counties of Clark, Coles and Shelby, may subscribe for any number of shares of the capital stock of said company, not exceeding twenty shares each, in the same manner and upon the same terms as individuals may do under this act.

Approved, Jan. 16, 1836.