Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Daniel B. Bush, Jonathan Piper, Robert W. Taylor, Charles T. Brewster, Joseph Jackson, Daniel Dutton, and Nathan Winters,

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their associates, successors and assigns, are hereby created a body politic and corporate, under the name and style of the “New Canton and Piketon Rail-Road Company,” and by that name shall be and are hereby made capable in law and equity to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in any court or courts whatsoever; to make and use a common seal, the same to alter and renew at pleasure; and by that name and style be capable in law of contracting and being contracted with; purchasing, holding, and conveying real and personal estate, for the purposes and uses of said corporation as hereinafter limited, and shall be and are hereby vested with all the powers and privileges, and immunities, which are or may be necessary to carrying 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 for a double or single track, commencing at Piketon, on the Mississippi river, near the ware house of David Dutton, in said county of Pike, thence through New-Canton, to Pittsfield; and for this purpose said company are authorised to lay out their road not exceeding eight rods wide through the whole length; and for the purpose of cuttings, embankments, stone, wood and gravel, may take as much more land as may be necessary for the proper security and construction of said rail road; Provided, That all damages that may be occasioned to any person or persons or corporations, 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 five thousand shares, of fifty dollars each share; and the immediate government and direction of the affairs of said company shall be vested in a board of not less than five directors, who shall be chosen by the members of the corporation, in manner hereinafter provided, and shall hold their office until others shall be duly elected and qualified to take their place as directors. And the said directors, a majority of whom shall form a quorum for the transaction of business, shall elect one of their number to be president of the board, who shall also be president of the company, and have authority to choose a secretary, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of his duty, and a treasurer who shall give bond to the corporation, with securities, to the satisfaction of the directors, in a sum not less than twenty thousand dollars, for the faithful discharge of his trust.

Sec. 3. The president and directors for the time being,

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are hereby authorised and empowered, by themselves or their agents, to execute all powers herein granted to the company, and all such other powers and authority for the management of the affairs of said company, not heretofore granted, as may be proper and necessary to carry into effect the object of this act, and to make such equal assessments from time to time, on all shares of the company, as they may deem expedient and necessary, and direct the same to be paid to the treasurer of the company: Provided, That no assessment shall be laid upon any share in said company, of a greater amount in the whole, than fifty dollars on a share.

Sec. 4. The said company shall have power to make, ordain and establish, all such by-laws, rules and regulations, and ordinances, as they may deem expedient and necessary to accomplish the designs and purposes, and to carry into effect the provisions of this act, and for the transfer and assignment of the stock, the payment of assessments, and the conveyance of property, and the well ordering, regulating, and securing of the interest and affairs of said company: Provided, The same shall not be repugnant to the constitution and laws of this state, or of the United States.

Sec. 5. A toll 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 on said road, at such rates per mile as may be agreed upon and established from time to time, by the directors of said company: Provided however, That if the nett income and receipts from tolls, from and after the completion of said road shall exceed twelve per cent. per annum, the legislature may take measures to reduce said rate of tolls, so as to take all the overplus. And said directors may loan on bond and mortgage or other security, any surplus funds of the company, which may be at any time unappropriated, at a rate of interest not exceeding twelve per cent. per annum.

Sec. 6. The directors of said company for the time being, are hereby authorised to erect toll houses, buildings, establish gates, and demand toll upon the road when completed, and upon such points thereof, as shall from time to time be completed.

Sec. 7. The said company shall be holden to pay all damages that may arise to any person or corporation by taking their land, stone, wood or gravel, for the use of said rail road, when the same cannot be had 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. 8. 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 other property to be taken and appropriated as aforesaid, as fully as they might do if the same were holden in their own rights respectively.2

Sec. 9. If any person shall wilfully do or cause to be done, any act or acts whatsoever, whereby any building, construction, or work of the said company, or any engine, machine or structure, or any matter or thing appertaining to the same, shall be stopped, obstructed, impaired, weakened, injured or destroyed, the person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall forfeit and pay to said corporation, treble the amount of damages sustained by means of such offence and injury, to be recovered in the name of said corporation, with costs of suit by action of debt, and shall be subject to indictment and punishment for high crimes and misdemeanors as in other cases.

Sec. 10. The annual meeting of the members (of said) company, shall be holden on the first Monday in each year, at Pittsfield aforesaid, or at such other place as the directors for the time being may appoint, at which meeting the directors shall be chosen by ballot, each proprietor being 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 the said company, by giving (notice) in the newspaper published at Jacksonville and Quincy, of the time and place and purpose of said meeting, at least ten days before the time mentioned in said notice.

Sec. 11. The said company shall commence the rail road hereby authorised to be made, within two years from the first day of August next, and complete the same within ten years, otherwise this act shall be null and void.

Sec. 12. The said corporation is hereby authorised to join any other rail road, now or hereafter to be incorporated and put in operation, at such place and upon such terms as may be mutually agreed upon by the said companies, or in case of disagreement by the said companies, upon such terms and at such places, as the court of chancery of the district where such connection is desired, shall decree upon bill filed or suit instituted for that purpose.

Sec. 13. This act shall be deemed and taken as a public act, and as such shall be taken notice of by all courts of justice in this state, without the necessity of pleading the same.

This charter is granted for fifty years, and shall be in force from and after its passage.

Approved March 3, 1837.