an act to incorporate the Mississippi and Illinois Rail Road Company.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois Represented in the General Assembly, That Alexis Phelps, John Humphrey, John Miles, John G. Sanburn, Matthew Chambers, Joseph Duncan, Parnach Owen, Charles Hansford, Eli Wilson, George B. Parker, Joshua Aikin, Andrew M. Hunt & Peter Menard ^Jr^ their associates, successors and assigns, are hereby created a body corporate and
politic, under the name and style of the “Mississippi and Illinois Rail Road 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; to plead and be impleaded, defend and be
defended in any Court or 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; to
contract and be contracted with; and shall be, and hereby are, 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
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forth: and the said company are hereby authorized and empowered to locate construct and finally complete a Rail
Road commencing at Oquawka on the Mississippi River and extending through Monmouth in Warren County and Knoxville in Knox County to Peoria on the Illinois River 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 Rail 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 and security of
said Rail 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.
Sec. 2. The Capital stock of said Company shall consist of seven thousand shares of one Hundred Dollars each; and the immediate
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 shall be duly elected and qualified to take
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their places as directors; and the said directors or a majority of them, shall form
a quorum for the transaction of business, shall elect one of their number to 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 authorized 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 affairs of said company not heretofore granted, as may be necessary to carry into effect the objects of this
grant ^only^ to purchase and hold lands materials and other necessary things, 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 necessary and expedient in the progress and execution of the work,
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 call special meetings of the stockholders of the Company, and to adopt
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Rules and bye-laws, Regulating the manner and time of payment of all assessments they may order, as
they may deem expedient.
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 and Recovered in the manner provided by law for
the Recovery of damages happening 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 estate, to be taken and appropriated
as aforesaid, as fully as they might do if the same were holden in their Right Respectively.
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 assisting, shall forfeit and pay to said company, for every
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such offence, treble 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 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 five thousand dollars, for the use of the
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, or other
public ways, so as not to obstruct, hinder, or interfere with the passage[,] navigation and free use of such public ways, and if said Road shall not be so constructed
it shall be lawful for the persons aggrieved to abate the same, in the same manner
as is now provided by the same, in the same manner as is now provided by for the Removal
of obstructions to public ways.
Sec. 8. The time and place of holding the annual meetings of said company, for the election of directors and other purposes, shall be fixed and determined
by the bye
...?]tothelocation ofsaid Road ofthe timeplaceand purpose of suchmeeting, at least [...?] days beforethe[...?] [...?] in such [...?].
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laws of said company, and at such meetings each proprietor shall be entitled to ^vote in person or by proxy^ as many votes as he holds shares and any three persons named in this act are hereby authorized to call the first meeting ofsaidcompany,by givingnoticeinthe newspaper published most[Sec. 10. The president and directors shall have power to make ordain and establish such
bye laws, Rules and Regulations, and ordinances, as they may deem expedient and necessary
to accomplish the purposes, and to carry into effect the provisions of this act, and
for the well ordering, Regulating and securing the interest and affairs of said Company: Provided the same are not Repugnant to the Constitution and laws of this state, and of the United States
Sec.11. A toll shall be, and 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
upon said Road at such Rates per mile as may be agreed upon and established from
time to time by the direction of said
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corporation. The transportation of persons and property, the construction of wheels, the form
of cars and carriages, the weight of loads; and all other matters and things in relation
to the use of said road, shall be in conformity to such rules and regulations and
provisions as the directors shall from time to time prescribe and direct: 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 take measures to reduce said rates of tolls and profits so as to take off the
surplus. The Directors of said company, for the time being are hereby authorized ^to erect^ toll houses, establish gates, appoint toll gatherers, and demand toll upon the road
when completed, and so much thereof as shall from time to time be completed
Sec 12. The said company shall have the route of the proposed Rail Road surveyed, within two years from August
next and the road completed within ten years thereafter, otherwise this act is declared
null and void
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Sec 13. The county commissioners courts of the counties of Warren, Knox and Peoria may subscribe for any number of shares of the capital stock of said company not exceeding forty shares each in the same manner and upon the same terms as individuals
may do under this act. And the State of Illinois may in like manner subscribe for any number of shares of said stock not exceeding
one third part thereof. And the said several county courts, and the said State of Illinois, in all elections to be held in and for said corporation, shall by their respective agents, thereto duly authorized, be entitled to so may
votes, as they respectively hold shares of the capital stock of said company.
Sec 14 It shall be the duty of the said company to keep a full complete ^perfect^ and correct account of all cost incurred and of all expenditures made by them in
the construction of said Rail Road which account so kept shall at any time when called
for be laid before the General Assembly of the state of Illinois for inspection and examination
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And it is expressly provided, that the state of Illinois may, at any time, purchase from said company the said Rail Road, by paying to said company the cost, and expense of constructing the same; together with interest thereon at
the rate of twelve percent per annum.
Sec 15. This act shall exist and be in force for the period of forty years from and
after the first day of March next, unless the said corporation shall be guilty of acts contrary to the provisions of its charter and against the
public good, or unless it shall in any manner abuse or transcend the powers hereby
granted, and then and in that, or either of the said cases, the Attorney General of
this state at the request request of fifty citizens of Said state, specifying clearly in writing the acts and charges upon which said request is founded,
shall file an information in the nature of a quo warranto against said corporation for the purpose of vacating and annulling this act: Provided however, in case the said charter is annulled the said company shall have
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power for three years thereafter to dispose of all its property, and to settle all
its affairs in the corporate name.
[ certification
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01/17/1837
Sec[Secretary] Senate.
01/17/1837
Passed the Senate Jany 17th 1837
W G Flood, for J B Thomas JrSec[Secretary] Senate.
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No 215.
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Senate
A Bill entitled An act to Incorporate the Mississippi and Illinois Rail Road Company.
A Bill entitled An act to Incorporate the Mississippi and Illinois Rail Road Company.
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Handwritten Document, 12 page(s), Folder 336, SB 74, GA Session 10-1, Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL) ,