Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That all persons who shall subscribe for stock to the incorporation hereby created, in the manner hereinafter provided, and their successors, be, and they are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, under the name and style of the “President and managers of the Peoria Hotel Company,” to be located in the town of Peoria, and by that name shall have power to contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered unto, in all courts and places having competent jurisdiction, and shall be vested with all the powers and privileges necessary to the object of their incorporation.

Sec. 2. That Edward Dickinson, James C. Armstrong,

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Aquilla Wrenn, Amos Stephens, Jacob D. Shewalter and John Hamlin, shall be commissioners, the duties of whom, or a majority of them, shall be to open books of subscription for the capital stock of said corporation, within twelve months from and after the passage of this act, at such places, and such times, as in their opinion is best calculated to have said stock taken; twenty days notice thereof shall be given in some newspaper published in the place or places in which it is proposed to open said books.

Sec. 3. The capital stock of said company shall be twenty thousand dollars; but said corporation shall have power to increase it to any sum not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of fifty dollars each, on each share of which one dollar shall be paid at the time of subscribing therefor.

Sec. 4. As soon as the whole amount of said capital stock shall be subscribed for, the said commissioners shall give a like notice of twenty days, for the meeting of the stockholders, for the purpose of choosing a president and four managers, designating the time and place of such election, when persons holding stock in said company shall be permitted to vote, either in person or by proxy, a number of votes equal to the number of shares they may severally hold; the said commissioners shall be inspectors of the first election of president and managers, and shall certify under their hands the names of the persons elected, and shall deliver to them the subscription books, and the money received on subscription, and who shall hold their offices twelve months, and until others shall be elected.

Sec. 5. The said corporation shall have power and be capable of purchasing, holding, improving, selling and conveying, any estate, real or personal, for the use of said corporation; to improve and erect buildings on the same suitable and proper, with out-buildings for a Hotel; and to rent, lease, or occupy, any, or all such lands and buildings, for the benefit of said corporation; Provided, That the real estate owned by said company shall not exceed fifty acres of land, except such as shall be held as collateral security for debts due to said company, or which may become the property of said company, by virtue of such indebtedness; but all lands the said company shall own, over and above the said fifty acres, shall be sold and disposed of within three years after the acquisition of the same, and in case of a failure to comply with this section, all such lands shall escheat to and become the property of this State.

Sec. 6. All contracts, or other evidences of debt, which may be entered into by this corporation, shall be subscribed by the president and attested by the secretary, and be-

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ing so signed, shall be binding on the corporation; and all conveyances made and entered into by said corporation, conveying real estate belonging to said corporation, when signed and attested as aforesaid, shall in like manner be binding on said corporation according to the tenor, effect, and true intent and meaning of the same.

Sec. 7. The president and managers aforesaid, or a majority of them, shall constitute a board, and may from time to time, make and prescribe such by-laws, rules and regulations, relative to the concerns of the said corporation, not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States, and of this State, as they may deem necessary for the management of the affairs of the concern; and for that purpose they shall have power to appoint a treasurer, and require of him such bonds as they may deem proper; and also, to appoint a secretary and such other officers as the business of the company may require.

Sec. 8. The stock of said corporation shall be deemed personal property, and assignable and transferrable on the books of said corporation; but said president and managers shall have the power to prevent any stockholder, who shall be indebted to said corporation, from transferring his stock therein, until he shall have paid said debt.

Sec. 9. The company shall at all times keep proper books, in which shall be registered all their transactions, and the same shall at all times be subject to the inspection of the stockholders; and it shall be the duty of the directors to make dividends annually, or at such other time as the president and managers shall determine, of so much of the profits of said company as to them shall appear advisable.

Sec. 10. As soon as twenty-five per cent. of the capital stock shall have been paid in, the said company shall be authorized to proceed to business, and not before.

Sec. 11. This act is hereby declared public, and shall be in force from and after its passage, and be and remain in force for thirty years.

Approved March 2d, 1837.