Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That John P. Wilkinson, John J. Hardin, William Thomas, Porter Clay, Joseph Duncsn, William King, F. A. Landrum, Adam Allison, William Smith, Levi Harlin, Zalmon Carter, Thomas Kersey, D. Watt and Edward G. Minor, their associates, successors and assigns, are hereby created a body corporate and politic, under the name and style of the Winchester, Lynnville, and Jacksonville Railroad 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 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 authorized and empowered to locate, construct, and finally complete a Rail-road. commencing at or near the east bank of the Illinois River, opposite the town of Augusta, in Pike county, thence to the town of Winchester, in the county of Morgan, thence to Lynnville, and thence to Jacksonville in said county, in such manner and form as the said company shall deem most expedient; and for this purpose said company are authorized to lay out their said road at least four 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 lands 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 six thousand shares, of fifty dollars each. And the immediate government and direction of the affairs of said company shall be vested in nine 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, a majority of whom shall form a quorum for the transactions of business, shall elect one of their number to be president of the board, who shall also be president 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 sureties 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 [affa]irs of said company not heretofore granted, as may be ne-

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cessary to carry into effect the objects of this grant, to purchase and hold lands, materials, and other things necessary 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 road, 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 by-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 land, stone or gravel for the use of said rail road, when the same cannot be obtained by voluntary agreement; to be estimated in the manner provided by law for the recovery of damages 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 estates to be taken and appropriated as aforesaid, as fully as they might do if the same were holden in their right respectively.2

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 so assisting, shall forfeit and pay to said company for any 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 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 such conviction, said 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 aggrieved to abate the same, in the manner as 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 by-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 every share he or they may own.

Sec. 9. That J. P. Wilkinson, John J. Hardin, William Thom-

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as, Porter Clay, Joseph Dnncan, William King, F. A. Landrum, Adam Allison, William Smith, L. Harlan, Zalmon Carter, Thos. Kersey, D. Watt, and Edward G. Minor, 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 said books will 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 five dollars 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 one-fourth of the whole nnmber of shares of said company shall have been subscribed: 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 by-laws, rules, and regulations and ordinances as they may deem expedient and necessary to accomplish the purposes of, 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: also, to contract and be contracted with, in all things in relation to the effects and business of the company as fully as natural persons.

Sec. 11. That the said corporation be and they are hereby authorised to construct and use a turnpike or Macadamised road, of suitable width and dimensions, within the limits prescribed by the first section of this act; and shall have power to regulate the time and manner in which goods and passengers shall be transported, taken and carried on the same, as well as the manner in which they shall collect all tolls and dues on account of transportation and carriage: Provided, The same shall not amount to more than fifteen per cent. upon the capital stock, and shall have power to erect and maintain toll-houses and other buildings, for accommodation of their concerns, as they may deem suitable to their interests, and to collect tolls as soon as any part thereof shall be finished.

Sec. 12. For the purpose of facilitating the construction of the rail road, or turnpike, or Macadamised road, as authorised by this act, the said corporation is authorised by this act, to negotiate a loan or loans of money to the amount of its capital stock, and to

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pledge all property, real and personal, and all of its rights, credits and franchises for the payment thereof.

Sec. 13. The said campany shall be authorised to loan any part of its funds, at interest, and take such security for the payment thereof as may be deemed sufficient.

Sec. 14. In case the company shall negotiate the loan herein authorised, the holders of stock shall ever be required to pay a larger amount upon the stock subscribed than will be sufficient to pay the interest on the amount borrowed, and the principal, as the same may become due and payable: Provided, That five dollars be paid on each share subscribed, as required by this act.

Sec. 15. The said corporation shall pay into the treasury of the county of Morgan, on the first Monday in January annually after the election of directors, as provided for by this act, one-one per cent. upon the amount of stock actually employed by said company as a tax, which shall be in lieu of all taxes or assessments upon the stock and property of said company for state or county purposes. The stock employed by said company shall be considered the amount of money expended by the company for the uses and purposes herein authorised; which tax shall be paid over to the county school fund of said county, and shall be applied to the support of common schools, and for no other purpose, in the same manner and upon the same terms and conditions as the county school fund of said county is or may be required to be applied: Provided, Said company shall not be required to pay said half per cent. till eight miles of said road shall be completed.

Sec. 16. If the said company shall not, within two years, commence the construction of either of the works authorised by this act, and expend forty thousand dollars in the construction thereof in three years, and complete the same in six years, then this act and the powers herein granted, together with all the privileges conferred, shall cease and the same shall become null and void.

Sec. 17. The commissioners authorised to open books for to receive the subscriptions of stock, shall give the preference to subscribe stock to said company, first to resident citizens of Morgan county, and secondly, to those of this state and in case a greater number of shares should be subscribed tban the whole number authorised, the excess shall be taken from those who reside out of the state, then those residing out of the county of Morgan, until the whole number of shares shall be subscribed. And the commissioners are hereby authorised, in order to ascertain the residence of subscribers, to administer an oath to each person who may wish to take stock.

Sec. 18. The stock hereby authorised to be subscribed for shall be deemed and taken to be personal property, and shall be transferrable on the books of the corporation, in such manner as the president and directors may determine by the laws of the corporation, and shall be liable to be sold on execution as personal property.

Approved 18th January, 1836.