Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That Robert Huston, Asford Smith, Daniel Hodges, Washington Bell, Josiah H. Cogshall, Harvey Jarboe, Chester Shallow, Joshua Hanks, and their associates, successors, and assigns, are hereby created a body corporate and politic, by the name of the “Manchester and Bridgeport Rail Road Company,” and by that name are hereby made capable in law and in equity, to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended in any court or courts of record or in any other place whatever; to contract and be contracted with; and shall be and hereby are vested with all the powers and privileges which 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 to locate,

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construct, and prosecute to final completion, a rail road commencing at Manchester, from thence to Glasgow, thence to Bridgeport, on the Illinois river, in Morgan county. And 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 of said 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.2

Sec. 2. The capital stock of said company shall be one hundred thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundrod dollars each. And the government and direction of the affairs of said company shall be vested in not less than five 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 are duly elected; 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 company, and shall choose a clerk, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of his duties, and a treasurer, who shall give bond to the company with such security as shall satisfy the directors.

Sec. 3. The president and directors are hereby authorised to make such equal assessments from time to time on all shares as may be necessary for the prosecution of the work, and direct the same to be paid to the treasurer of the company, and the treasurer shall give notice of such assessment. The board shall have power to call special meetings of the stockholders, and to adopt rules and by-laws, regulating the manner and time of payment of all assessments they may order.

Sec. 4. Said company shall 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 road, where 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. If any person, shall willfully and maliciously and contrary to law, obstruct the passage of any car on said road or any part thereof, or any thing belonging thereto, he, she, or they shall forfeit and pay to said company for every such offence, double such damages as shall be proven before any court competent to try the same, to be sued for in the name and behalf of said company, and such offender or offenders shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and

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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 of such offence shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, for the use of the county where the indictment may be found, or may be imprisoned not exceeding one year.

Sec. 6. Said company shall so construct said road as not to obstruct, hinder, or interfere with the passage or free use of any public highway.

Sec. 7. The time and place of holding the annual meeting of the company for the election of directors and other purposes, shall be fixed and determined by the by-laws of said company, and at such meetings each stockholder shall be entitled to as many votes as he holds shares; and any two persons named in this act are authorised to call the first meeting of said company, by giving notice in one of the papers published at Jacksonville, of the time and place of holding such meeting, at least fifteen days before the time of such meeting.

Sec. 8. The president and directors shall have power to enact such by-laws, rules, and regulations as they may deem expedient, to carry into effect the provisions of this act: Provided, The same shall not be repugnant to the constitution and laws of this state, and of the United States.

Sec. 9. Said corporation shall establish and collect tolls from all persons and property which may be conveyed upon said road, at such rates per mile as may be agreed upon from time to time by said corporation: Provided, however, That if the nett income and receipts for tolls and other profits, from and after the completion of said road shall exceed twelve per cent. per annum, the legislature may reduce said rates of tolls, so as to take off the overplus.

Sec. 10. The said company shall have the route of said road surveyed and expended in its construction five thousand dollars within three years from May next, and completed within eight years thereafter, otherwise this act shall be null and void.

Approved 2d March, 1837.