Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That all such persons as shall become stockholders, agreeably to the provisions of this act, in the corporation hereby created, shall be, and for the term of forty years, from and after the passage of this act, shall continue to be a body corporate and politic, by the name of the “Webster, Ottawa & Kiskwakee Rail Road Company,” and by that name shall have succession for the term of years above specified, may sue and be sued, complain and defend in any Court of law or equity, may make and use a common seal and alter the same at pleasure, may make by-lawss, rules and regulations for the management of its property, the regulation of its affairs, and for the transfer of its stock, not inconsistent with the existing laws and the constitution of this state, and of the United States; and may moreover appoint such subordinate agents, officers and servants, as the business of the said corporation may require and allow to them a suitable compensation, prescribe their du-

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ties and require bond for the faithful performance thereof, in such penal sums and with such sureties as they may choose, who shall hold their offices during the pleasure of a majority of the directors of said corporation.

Sec. 2. The said corporation shall have the right to construct, and during its continuance to maintain and continue a rail road, with a single or double track, and with such appendages as may be deemed necessary for the convenient use of the same, from some eligible point at or near the town of Bloomington, in the county of McLean, or north of said town, on the central rail road to Webster, Ottawa, Kishwakee, and from thence in a northerly direction to intersect the Galena and Chicago Rail Road, at such point as shall be determined after a survey shall have been made of the route to be proper and convenient therefor.

Sec. 3. The capital stock of said corporation shall be five hundred thousand dollars, which shall be deemed personal property and shall be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each. The capital stock of said corporation may at any time hereafter be increased to a sum not exceeding one million of dollars, if the same shall be judged necessary to the completion of the said work, and the same shall be subscribed for and taken under the direction of the directors of said corporation, whenever they shall direct one or more books to be opened for such purposes, and shall be subscribed and taken in such manner as the directors of said corporation for that purpose shall order and appoint.

Sec. 4. James Allen, E. D. Taylor, Theophilus W. Smith, M. L. Covell, David Davis, Franklin Brattan, Henry Green, Jacob Moon, William Stadden, Henry Madden, Thomas R. Coles, John F. Henry, Ebenezer Peck, John J. Stuart, and J. W. Fell, shall be commissioners for receiving subscriptions to the capital stock of said corporation, who shall give notice within twelve months after the pasage of this act, of the time and place where books will be opened, at Ottawa and Bloomington, and such other places as they may deem necessary, in some public newspaper printed in this state, at least thirty days previous to the opening such books, for the receiving subscriptions to the capital stock of said corporation. The majority of the commissioners shall attend at the times and places appointed by such notices for the opening of the books, and shall continue to receive such subscriptions to the capital stock of the said corporation, from all persons who will subscribe thereto, until the whole amount thereof shall have been subscribed, when the said books shall be closed: Each subscriber at the time

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of subscribing shall pay to the commissioner one dollar on each share of the stock subscribed for by him, and the said commissioners shall, as soon as the directors are elected deliver to them the whole amount so received.

Sec. 5. The affairs of said corporation shall be managed by a board of seven directors, to be annually chosen by the stockholders from among themselves as soon as may be after the stock has been subscribed. The commissioners shall give notice of the time and place at which a meeting of the stockholders will be held for the choice of directors, and at such time and place appointed for that purpose, the commissioners or a majority of them shall attend and act as inspectors of said election, and the stockholders present shall proceed to elect their directors by ballot, and the commissioners present shall certify the result of such election, under their hands, which certificate shall be recorded in the books of the corporation, and shall be sufficient evidence of the election of the directors therein named. All future elections shall be held at the time, and in the manner prescribed by the by-laws and regulations of said corporation. Each stockholder shall be allowed as many votes as he owns shares at the commencement of each election, and a plurality of votes shall determine the choice, but not stockholder shall be allowed to vote at any election after the first, for any stock which shall have been assigned to him, within thirty days previous to the day of holding such election. The said directors shall hold their offices for one year after their election, and shall elect one of their number president of the said board.

Sec. 6. The said corporation is authorised to construct, make and use a single or double rail road or way, of suitable width and dimensions, to be determined by said corporation, on the line, course or way which may be designated and selected by the directors as the line, course or way whereon to construct and make the same; and shall have power to regulate the time and manner in which goods, effects and passengers shall be transported, taken and carried on the same, and to prescribe the manner in which the said rail road shall be used, by what force the carriages to be used thereon may be propelled, and the rates of toll on the transportation of persons or property thereon; and shall have power to erect and maintain houses, toll gates and other buildings, for the accommodation and management of the said road, and transport thereon as may be deemed suitable to their interest. And it shall be lawful also for the said corporation to unite with any other rail road company already incorpo-

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rated, or which may be incorporated upon any part of the route of the said rail road, upon such terms as may be agreed upon by the directors of said companies.

Sec. 7. It shall be lawful for the said corporation to commence the construction of said rail road or way, at such points on any part of said route or routes, as in its judgment may appear expedient and proper. Said corporation are authorised to borrow any sum of money which may in their discretion be deemed necessary, not exceeding its capital stock, to aid in the construction of said roads.

Sec. 8. In case the corporation shall not be able to acquire the title to the lands through which the said road shall be laid, by purchase or voluntary cession, it shall be lawful for said corporation to appropriate so much of said lands as may be necessary for its own use, for the purposes contemplated by this act, on complying with the provisions of the six following sections.

Sec. 9. The directors may present a petition to the Judge of the circuit court of the county, in which the said land may be situated, setting forth by some proper description the lands which are wanted for the construction of said rail road, or the appendages thereto, and the names of the owners thereof, if known, distinguishing with convenience if it can be done, the parcels claimed in severally by the respective owners, and praying for the appointment of appraisers to assess the damages which the owners of such land will severally sustain, by reason of the appropriation thereof, by the said corporation, to its own use.

Sec. 10. On the presentment of said petition, said circuit judge shall appoint a day for the hearing of the parties in interest, and shall direct such notice as he shall deem reasonable to be given of the time and place of hearing; and in case it shall appear that any of the owners of said lands is a feme covert, an infant, or insane or otherwise incompetent (person) to take proper care of his or her interest, it shall be the duty of the said judge to appoint some discreet and reputable person to act in the premises, in his or her behalf.

Sec. 11. At the time appointed for such hearing, the said judge shall appoint three disinterested persons, freeholders, residents of the county in which said lands may lie for the purposes of assessing such damages, and in the order in which they were appointed shall direct and specify what lands are proposed to be appropriated and occupied by said corporation for the purposes aforesaid.

Sec. 12. Said appraisers, after being duly sworn by some Officer properly authorised to administer oaths, honestly and impartially to assess such damages, shall proceed by viewing said lands, and by such other evidence as the parties may produce before them, to ascertain and assess the damages which each individual owner will sustain by the appropriation of his land for the use or accommodation of such rail roads or their appendages.

Sec. 13. The said appraisers shall make a report to the said judge, in writing under their hands, reciting the order for their appointment and specifying the several parcels described therein with all necessary certainty, the names of the owners of the respective parcels if known, and if not known, stating that fact and specifying also the damages which the owners of the respective parcels will sustain by reason of the appropriation of the same for the purposes aforesaid; and in case either of the parties is dissatisfied with the assessment, the said judge may, on hearing the parties, modify the assessment as to him shall appear just.

Sec. 14. On the payment of the damages thus assessed, together with the expenses of assessment, as the same shall be settled by said judge, or on depositing the amount thereof for the use of such owners, in such bank or monied incorporation as the said judge shall direct, the said corporation shall immediately become entitled to the use of the said lands, for the purposes aforesaid; and the report of the said appraisers with the order of the said judge modifying the same, if the same shall have been modified, shall be recorded in the office of the recorder of the county in which said lands shall be situated, in the same manner and the like effect as deeds are recorded, without any other proof than the certificate of the said judge that the report is genuine.

Sec. 15. And when the said order shall have been so recorded as aforesaid, the said corporation shall be seized and possessed of such land or real estate, and may enter upon and take possession of, and use the same for the purposes hereinbefore recited.

Sec. 16. Said corporation shall be bound to repair all public highways, bridges and water courses, which may be injured in constructing the said rail road, or its appendages, and shall restore them to as good a condition as they were in before they were injured.

Sec. 17. The said corporation shall be allowed three years from the pasage of this act for the commencement of the construction of the said rail road, and in case the same shall not be completed within fifteen years thereafter, the privileges herein granted shall be forfeited.

Sec. 18. Any person who shall wilfully injure said road, or any appendages thereto, shall be guilty of a misdemenor, and shall forfeit to the use of the corporation a sum equal to three times the amount of damages occasiond by such injury, to be recovered, with cost of suit, in the name of such corporation in an action of debt, before any court having cognizance thereof, or before any justice of the peace in the county where such injury or offence may have been committed.

Sec. 19. This act shall be deemed and taken as a public act, and shall be construed beneficially for all purposes herein specified or intended, and all copies thereof printed by or under the direction of the General Assembly of this State shall be received in all courts and places whatsoever, as sufficient evidence thereof without further proof.

approved 4th March, 1837.