Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Alexander Kirkpatrick, Timothy Guard, Ephraim H. Gatewood, Thomas Morris, Moses M. Rawlings, Benjamin Godfrey, Stephen Griggs, Enoch Long and Benjamin F. Edwards2, their associates, successors, and assigns, are hereby created a body corporate and politic, under the name and style of the “Alton and Shawneetown 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, 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; 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 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 the town of Alton, on the Mississippi river; thence to the town of Edwardsville, in the county of Madison; thence to Lebanon, in St. Clair county; thence to Nashville, in Washington county; thence again, by a straight line, to Frankfort, in Franklin county;3 thence through Equality, to Shawneetown, on the Ohio river, in Gallatin county,—in such manner and form, as the said company shall deem most expedient; and for this purpose, said company are authorised to lay out their said 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.

Sec. 2. The capital stock of said company shall consist of five4 thousand shares, with the privilege of increasing the same to fifteen thousand shares in the whole,5

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 object 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 adopt rules and bye-laws, regulating the manner and time of payment of all assessments they may order, under such penalties as they may deem proper.

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 lands, 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 said 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.6

Sec. 6. If any person shall wilfully, maliciously, or wantonly and contrary to law, obstruct the passage of any car on said rail road, or 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 proved before any court competent to try the same, to be sued for in the name, and in behalf of said company; and such offender or offenders

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shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to indictment, in the same manner as other indictments are found, in any county or counties where such offence shall have been committed; and upon conviction, such offenders shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, for the use of such 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, turnpikes, and other public ways, as not to hinder, obstruct, or interfere with the navigation, passage and free use of such public ways; and if said rail road shall not be so 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 of holding the annual meetings of said company for the election of directors, shall be fixed and determined by the bye-laws of said company; and at all meetings each stockholder shall be entitled to vote in person, or by proxy, duly authorised, one vote for each share he or she may own.

Sec. 9. That Benjamin Godfrey, Benjamin F. Edwards, Ephraim H. Gatewood, Alexander Kirkpatrick, John N. Webster, Richard B. Servant, John D. Wood, Lewis T. Culley, Harvey T. Pace and Benjamin Bond7, are hereby appointed commissioners to open subscription books for the stock of said company. Said commissioners, or a majority of them, are hereby authorised to open subscription books for said stock, at such places as they may deem proper, and shall give at least thirty days’ notice of the time and place where such books shall be opened, and shall keep the same open for five days, unless the whole number of shares of said company shall be sooner subscribed; and they shall require each subscriber to pay one dollar on each share subscribed, at the time of subscribing; and at the termination of said term of five days, or sooner, if the whole amount of said shares shall be taken, said commissioners shall call a meeting of the stockholders, by giving ten days’ notice in some public newspaper printed in this state, of the time and place of such meeting. At such meeting it shall be lawful to elect the directors of said company; and when the directors of said company shall have been chosen, the said commissioners shall deliver said subscription books, together with all sums of money received by them, to said directors; Provided, that no election shall be held until the whole number of shares of said company shall have been subscribed;

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and, Provided also, that each director shall, at the time of his election, hold at least ten shares of the capital stock of said company.

Sec. 10. Said board of 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 carry into effect the provisions of this act, and for the well ordering, regulating and securing the interests and affairs of said company; Provided the same be not repugnant to the constitution and laws of this state, or of the United States.

Sec. 11. The said company shall, on or before the first day of July, 1840, commence the construction of said rail road, and have the same completed, on or before the first day of July, 1850; and should the said company fail to have the said road commenced and completed, as herein provided, in either case this act shall be null and void.

Approved, Jan. 18, 1836.