Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Stephen Dewey, Stephen H. Pitkin, Myron Phelps, William Proctor, P. H. Hart, E. D. Rice, Freeman Phelps, William Johnson, A. G. Miller, Hugh Lamaster, N. Walker, John McNeal and S. Bearse, and their associates, successors, and assigns, be and they are hereby created a body corporate and politic, under the name of the “Lewiston and Liverpool Rail Road company,” and by that name shall be and are hereby made capable in law to sue and be sued to final judgment and execution, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in any court of record or in any other place whatsoever; to make, have, and use a common seal, and the same to alter and renew at pleasure, and shall be and are hereby vested with all the privileges, powers, and immunities which are or may be necessary to carry the purposes and objects of this act into effect; and are made capable of purchasing, holding, and conveying real and personal estate, of contracting and being contracted with, as hereinafter limited and set forth, And the said corporation are hereby authorised and empowered to locate, construct, and finally complete a rail road, commencing at or near Liverpool, from thence to Lewiston, and may extend it to intersect with the Warsaw and Peoria rail road,2 in such manner and form as they shall deem to be most expedient; and for this purpose said company are

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hereby authorised to lay out their road not exceeding eight rods wide through its whole length,3 and for the purpose of cuttings, embankments, and procuring stone and gravel, may take as much more land as may be necessary for the proper construction and security of said rail road: Provided, however, That all damages that may be occasioned to any person or corporation by 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 three thousand shares, of one hundred 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 the manner hereinafter provided, and shall hold their offices 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 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 bonds to the corporation with securities to the satisfaction of the directors, in a sum not less than ten thousand dollars for the faithful discharge of his trust.

Sec. 3. The president and directors for the time being are hereby authorised and empowered by themselves or their agents to exercise all the powers herein granted to the company for the purpose of locating, constructing, and completing said rail road; and for the transportation of persons, goods, and merchandise, and other property of all descriptions, and to establish, for the benefit of said company, such rates of toll as they may agree upon from time to time, under such rules and regulations as said directors may prescribe and direct, and may erect toll-houses, establish gates, and demand toll upon the road when completed, or upon such parts thereof, as shall from time to time be completed, and may have all such other powers and authority for the management of the affairs of the company not heretofore granted as may be necessary and proper to carry into effect the objects of this act, to purchase and hold lands, materials, engines, cars, and other necessary things for the use of the road, and to make such equal assessments from time to time on all the shares in said company as they may deem expedient and necessary, and direct the same to be paid to the treasurer of the company.

Sec. 4. The said company shall have power to make, ordain, and establish all such by-laws, rules, and regulations

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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 conveyance of property, and payment of assessments, and the well ordering, regulating, and securing of the interest and affairs of said company: Provided, the same are not repugnant to the laws of this state, or of the United States.

Sec. 5. The said company shall be holden to pay all damages that may arise to any person or corporation by taking their land for said rail road, when it cannot be obtained by voluntary agreement, to be estimated and recovered in the manner provided by law for the recovery of damages happening by laying out highways.

Sec. 6. When the land or other property or estate of any feme covert, infant, or person non compos mentis, shall be necessary for the construction of said rail road, the husband of such feme covert, and the guardian of such infant or person non compos mentis may release all damages for any lands or estate taken and appropriated as aforesaid, as they might do if the same were holden by them in their own right respectively.4

Sec. 7. The said company are hereby authorised to construct the said rail road across any water course, road, or public highway, subjecting themselves to any damages that may be incurred in so doing.

Sec. 8. If any person or persons shall willfully do or cause to be done any injury to said rail road, or to any carriage, car, engine, machine, toll-house, or other building or any structure whatever belonging to said corporation, the person or persons so offending shall forfeit and pay the said corporation double the amount of damages sustained by means of such offence or injury, with all the costs of action, before any court of record in this state, and the person or persons so offending shall be further declared guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to fine and imprisonment.

Sec. 9. The annual meeting of the members of said corporation shall be holden on the first Monday in November in each year, at Lewiston, or such other place as the president and 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 of the individuals named in the first seetion of this act, are hereby authorised to call the first meeting of the said company, by giving notice in some newspaper published at Springfield, of the time, place, and purpose of such meeting, at least ten days before the time mentioned in such notice.

Sec. 10. The said company are hereby authorised to extend the said rail road herein provided for from Lewiston to meet the Warsaw and Peoria rail road, or other rail roads which may hereafter be constructed by companies or the state, and may increase their capital stock to an amount sufficient to extend and complete the same by a vote of the stockholders, at a meeting specially notified for the purpose, to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, and assessed as the shares which are already created.

Sec. 11. It shall be lawful for the legislature of this state at any time during the continuance of the charter of the said rail road, after the expiration of twenty years from the opening for use of the rail road herein provided to be made, to purchase of the said company the said rail road and all the franchise, rights and privileges of the said company, by paying said company the amount expended in making said rail road, and twelve per cent. interest upon the same from the time of payment by the stockholders: Provided, however, That the nett income from tolls shall not have amounted to twelve per cent. per annum at the time of purchase by the state.

Sec. 12. This act shall continue in force for the term offifty years, and upon departure from or violation of any provisions of this act, the legislature may alter, amend, or repeal the same if the deem they public good shall require it, and shall be deemed and taken to a public act, from and after the passage thereof.

Approved 2d March, 1837.