Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Robert R. Green, Robert Davis, Jonathan Piper, John F. Turnbaugh, A. H. Argyle, Dexter Wheeloch, James Johnson, William Ross, and Daniel B. Bush, their associates, successors, and assigns are hereby created a body politic,2 under the name and style of the “Pittsfield and Mississippi 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 contracting 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 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 for a double or single track, commencing at or near Augusta in Pike county, thence through Pittsfield, by Atlas, to such point on the Mississippi river, as the company may deem proper; and for this purpose said company are authorized 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 six thousand shares, of fifty dollars each, 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 places 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 pre-

---

sident 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 not less than twenty thousand dollars for the faithful discharge of his trust.

Sec. 3. The president and directors, for the time being, are hereby authorized 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 objects 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 its stock, the payments 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 upon 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 off the overplus,3 and said directors may loan upon bond and mortgage or other securities 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 authorized to erect toll houses, buildings, establish gates, and demand toll upon the road when completed, and upon such parts 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 land, or other property or estate, of any married woman, infant, or person non compos mentis shall be necessary for the construction of said railroad, 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 right respectively.

Sec. 9. If any person shall wilfully do, or cause to be done, any act or acts whatever, 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 or 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 such 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 of November in each year at Pittsfield, or such other place as the directors for the time being may appoint, at which meting 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 authorized to call the first meeting of the said company by giving notice in the newspaper published at Jacksonville or Quincy, of the time, 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 authorized to be constructed,4 within two years, and complete the same within ten years thereafter, otherwise this act is declared null and void.

Sec. 12. 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, and shall be in force from and after

---

its passage: Provided, however, That the legislature may at any time, upon a departure from or violation of the provisions of this act, alter, amend or repeal the same as in their judgment the public good may require.

Sec. 13. The company hereby incorporated may connect and unite with the Winchester, Lynnville and Jacksonville Rail-road company at or near its commencement on the Illinois river; and any of the provisions of this act shall extend to and may be adopted by said company for the purpose of aiding them to carry into effect the objects expressed in their said charter.

Approved 1st March, 1837.