Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That a corporation is hereby created for the purposes mentioned in this act; and all persons who shall become holders of the stock of this company, pursuant to this act, shall be, and they are hereby constituted, a body politic and corporate, by the name of the “President and Directors of the Rushville Rail Road Company;” and by that name shall be competent to contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered unto, defend and be defended, in all courts and places, and in all matters whatsoever.

Sec. 2. The said corporation is hereby empowered to construct a rail road from Rushville, in Schuyler county, to the Illinois river; and to take, transport and carry property and persons upon the same, by any power which the said corporation may choose to employ: and by this act the said corporation are hereby vested with the right and privilege of locating the ground for said rail road, for a double or single track, in the first instance, and having the damages in regard to the same, assessed in the manner hereinafter provided for.

Sec. 3. That if the corporation hereby created, do not, within seven years from the passage of this act, construct and finish, and put in operation, the said road, then the said corporation shall thenceforth and forever cease.

Sec. 4. That John Scripps, Hart Fellows, Josiah Par-

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rett, John T. Worthington, James McCroskey, Richard Dougherty, Joseph Bunton, Jesse M. M’Cutcheon and Ralph Hurlbut, are hereby appointed commissioners, the duty of whom, or a majority of them, and a majority of the successors of them, shall, at some suitable place in Rushville, and in St. Louis, and in such other cities, towns and places, as the said commissioners, or the said majority of the survivors, may determine upon, and at such times as they may appoint, open, or cause to be opened, books to receive subscriptions for the shares of the stock of said corporation, at one hundred dollars a share, for such number of shares, not exceeding fifteen hundred, as the said commissioners, or said majority of them, or said majority of the survivors of them, may fix upon and determine; and to do such other things, as in their opinion, may be best calculated to get said stock taken up. At least thirty days’ public notice shall be given by said commissioners, or said portion of them, of the time and place of the opening of the said books, in one of the public newspapers in each of the said places. No subscription shall be received, unless at least one dollar on each share subscribed, be paid at the time of subscription. And if the whole of the said shares shall not be taken within twenty days after the books shall have been opened, as aforesaid, the said commissioners, or said portion of them, shall open other books, on such days, at such places, as they shall deem expedient, giving at least twenty days notice of the time and place of re-opening said books, in one or more newspapers, printed at or near the place of re-opening said books.

Sec. 5. That the said commissioners be, and they are hereby authorised, by their agents, surveyors and engineers, to cause such examinations and surveys to be made, of the ground from Rushville to any point or points on the Illinois river, as they may think proper, to form an estimate of the cost of making the said rail road.

Sec. 6. The stock, property, and concerns of the said corporation, shall be managed and conducted by nine directors, being stockholders, and citizens of this state: but five of the directors of said corporation shall form a board, and they, or a majority of them, shall be competent to transact all the business of the said corporation; and they shall have full power to make and prescribe such bye-laws, rules and regulations, as to them shall appear needful and proper, touching the management and disposition of the stock, property, estate and privileges and effects of the said corporation—the transfer of shares; and touching the duties and conduct of their officers, agents, and servants, and the election of directors, and all other matters whatsoever,

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which may appertain to the concerns of the said corporation: and also shall have power to appoint a secretary, treasurer, and as many clerks, agents and servants, as to them shall seem meet, and prescribe their duties; and to establish and fix such salaries and allowances to them, and also to the president, as to the said board shall appear proper.

Sec. 7. As soon as the directors shall have been chosen, and the commissioners hereby appointed and authorised to act, shall have been notified of their election, they shall pay over the whole amount of subscriptions, severally paid to, and received by them, into the hands, or to the order of the president and directors of the said corporation: Provided, That if, on closing the books, it shall be found that more than the number of shares prescribed by the said commissioners, have been subscribed, the excess shall be taken first from such as reside out of the state, then from corporations; and should there still be an excess, the same shall be taken in proportion, from the remainder, as nearly as may be convenient, until all are reduced to the proper amount.

Sec. 8. The election of directors under this act, shall be held at such time and place, in the town of Rushville, in said county, as shall be directed by said commissioners, or said portion, authorised as aforesaid, to act, who are hereby appointed inspectors of the first election; and the persons then elected as directors, shall hold their offices for one year, and until others are elected.

Sec. 9. The directors for every subsequent year shall be elected by the stockholders, either in person or by proxy, each share authorising one vote, at an election to be held from time to time, in the said town of Rushville, under the direction of the bye-laws; and shall hold their offices for one year, and until others are elected in their stead.

Sec. 10. All elections shall be by ballot, and the nine persons who shall have the greatest number of votes, shall be the directors: and if at any election two or more persons have an equal number of votes for directors, then the directors who shall have been duly elected, shall proceed, by ballot, and by a plurality of votes, determine the election from among those having an equal vote. And any vacancy that may happen from any cause among the directors, may be supplied, for the time being, by the bye-laws, or by the remaining directors, or a majority of them.

Sec. 11. The directors elected, as soon as may be after their election, shall proceed to choose, by ballot, one of their number to be president, who shall preside in the board until the next annual election: and in case of his death or resignation, they, or such portion of them as may act as aforesaid, may proceed to fill the vacancy occasioned thereby, for

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the residue of his term; and in any case of the absence of the president, the directors present at any meeting of the board, may elect a president pro tem.

Sec. 12. It shall be lawful for the directors to require payment of the sums subscribed to the capital stock, at such times, and in such proportions, and on such conditions, as they shall deem fit, under the penalty of the forfeiture of all previous payments thereon; and shall give notice of the payments thus required, and of the time and place when and where the same are to be paid, at least ninety days previous to the time of payment of the same, in some public newspaper of the state, and in the several cities where the books of the company may have been opened for subscription for stock, and stock actually there taken.

Sec. 13. That the said corporation be, and they are hereby authorised, by their agents, surveyors and engineers, to cause such examinations and surveys to be made, of the ground and country between Rushville and the Illinois river, as shall be necessary to determine the most advantageous route, for the proper line, or course, whereon to construct their rail road. And it shall be lawful for the said corporation to enter upon, and take possession of, and use all such lands and real estate, as may be indispensable for the construction and maintenance of their said rail road, and the accommodations requisite and appertaining to the same; and may also hold and dispose of such lands as they may purchase and receive under the general provisions of the first section of this act; Provided, That all lands or real estate entered and taken possession of, and used by said corporation, for the purposes and accommodation of the said rail road, or upon which the site for the said rail road shall have been located, or determined, by the said corporation, shall be paid for by the said corporation, in damages, if any be sustained by the owners thereof, or would be sustained by the owners thereof, by the use of the same, for the said rail road—which damages shall be ascertained by the said corporation in the same manner that they are now ascertained in the case of public roads, running through the lands of individuals—some one of the said directors acting in the stead of the supervisor, in the general road law; and where the owner or owners of such lands reside out of the state, the said damages shall be payable on demand, together with six per centum per annum interest on the same.

Sec. 14. The said corporation is hereby authorised to determine the width and dimensions of the said rail road, and the said premises necessary thereto; and shall have power to regulate the time and manner in which goods and passengers shall be transported, taken and carried on the

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same; as well as the manner in which they shall collect the tolls, compensation and dues, on account of transportation and carriage, and how the said rail road shall be used; Provided, That the nett proceeds of the rail road, as clear profits, shall not exceed twenty per centum per annum, upon the cost of the same rail road, taking every expense in and about the same, directly or indirectly expended.

Sec. 15. That the said county of Schuyler, or state of Illinois, may have power to purchase from the said corporation, at any time, said rail road, by paying to the said corporation the costs of the same, with twenty per centum per annum interest thereon, or any other less amount, that can be mutually agreed upon.

Sec. 16. The expenses incurred by the commissioners in exercising any duties required by this act, shall be paid out of the monies received by them from the subscribers, out of the stock.

Sec. 17. This act shall be taken and received by all courts, and by all judges, magistrates, and other public officers, as a public act; and shall be construed liberally for all beneficial purposes therein intended; and all printed copies of the same, which shall be by, or under the authority of the General Assembly, shall be admitted as good evidence thereof, without any further proof whatever.

Sec. 18. All conveyances of real estate, shall be made and signed by the president of this corporation, and shall have affixed to the conveyance the seal thereof.

Sec. 19. That if any person or persons shall wilfully do, or cause to be done, any act or acts, whatever, whereby any building, construction, or work of the said corporation; or any engine, machine or structure, or any matter or thing appertaining to the same, shall be stopped, obstructed, impaired, weakened, injured, defaced, disfigured or destroyed, the person or persons so offending, shall forfeit and pay to the said corporation double the amount of damages sustained by means of such offence, or injury, to be recovered in the name of such corporation, with costs of suit, by action of debt on case, to be brought in any court of record in this state, or before any justice of the peace in the county where any such injury may have accrued; and the person or persons so offending, shall moreover be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and be liable to fine and imprisonment.

Sec. 20. That when the said rail road shall be completed, the president and directors shall make out a minute, full and detailed statement, of the expense of constructing the same, accrued directly or indirectly; which report shall be under oath of the president and directors, and shall be filed in the secretary’s office of this state; and from thence

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forth shall annually, when required, make a report unto the said office, of the clear and nett amount of any annual profit from the rail road.

Approved, Jan. 16, 1836.