Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Isaac G. Israel, Dennis Rockwell,John P. Wilkinson, George M. Chambers, their associates, successors, and assigns are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of “The Exeter Manufacturing Company,” and, by that name, shall have succession and existence for the period of twenty-five years from the passage of this act; and are hereby made capable, in law, to grant and receive by the corporate name, to sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with, to plead and be impleaded, in all courts or places wherein judicial proceedings may be had; to have a common seal, and alter the same at pleasure; and to do all acts in relation to the management and conduct of the business of the company as a natural person.2

Sec. 2. The company shall have power to carry on the business of mining, transporting, and selling stone-coal,3 of manufacturing meal and flour, woollen goods, paper, and sawing lumber, at Exeter, in Scott county.4

Sec. 3. The capital stock of the company shall be one hundred thousand dollars, with liberty to increase the same to three hundred thousand dollars whenever desired by a majoirity of the stockholders. The said stock shall be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each; and said stock shall be deemed personal property, and held liable to be sold on execution, and shall be taken and subscribed as herein provided.

Sec. 4. Books for the subscription of said stock shall be opened, under the direction of the aforesaid persons, at Jacksonville, or at such place as may be appointed by them, upon giving ten days’ notice of the time and place of opening the same, by publication in one or more newspapers printed in the place where the books are to be opened; and all persons desiring to subscribe to said stock shall be permitted to do so during the period of keeping open said books, which shall not be less than five days; and each person subscribing one or more shares shall be a stockholder to the extent of the subscription, upon paying five dollars upon each share subscribed; and the actual payment of the money shall be a condition precedent to becoming a stockholder.

Sec. 5. When five hundred shares shall have been subscribed as aforesaid, there shall be an election held under the direction of the aforesaid persons for five directors of said company; by whom the business of said company shall be managed and conducted, and who shall severally own at lest ten shares of the capital stock. The election shall be held in Jacksonville or Exeter, and notice of the time and place of holding such election shall be given by publication in some newspaper printed in Jacksonville, at

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least four successive weeks; and at such election each share of stock shall entitle the owner thereof to one vote, and a plurality of votes shall be sufficient to make an election. Votes may be given in person or by proxy.

Sec. 6. All the powers conferred upon the corporation shall be exercised by the directors, to be elected as aforesaid, and their successors; and said directors shall be the successors of the persons named in the first section of this act; and upon the election of directors as herein provided for, the company shall be deemed to have been organized, and may proceed to the transaction of business under and by their corporate name. The directors first elected shall continue in office for one year, and until their successors are elected. They shall at their first meeting appoint one of their number president of the board, who shall be president of the company.

Sec. 7. Elections for directors shall be held annually at such place as may be appointed by the directors, and the mode of conducting the same shall be provided for by the by-laws of the corporation. The directors for the time being shall appoint all agents and clerks, and prescribe their duties, and fix their compensations. They shall also provide for the transacting all the business of the company, and do and perform all acts in relation to the business, property, and effects of the company, and to the use and disposition of such property and effects, as a natural person may.

Sec. 8. The directors for the time being shall require payments to be made upon stock subscribed from time to time, in equal proportions, from the stockholders until the whole sum subscribed shall have been paid; and owners of stock failing to pay as required shall be liable to the action of the company for the amount required; and the directors shall have power to forfeit the stock of all persons failing to make payments, and all previous payments, to the use of the company.

Sec. 9. The corporation hereby created shall never own more than one thousand acres of land at any one time; and this privilege is only to be extended to enable the company to have and use timber growing upon land for the purpose of converting the same into lumber, and to obtain coal; and no purchase of land shall be made except to enable the company to obtain stone-coal and for the use aforesaid, to procure timber, and to be occupied by houses, mills, machinery and lumber-yards necessary to be used in the transactions of the business of thecompany.

Sec. 10. At the first meeting after any election, one of the directors shall be chosen as president of the company, who shall continue in office as such until superceded by election; and if at any time the stockholders shall fail to make an election as herein required, the corporation shall nevertheless continue in existence, and the president and directors last elected shall continue in office until succeeded by the election of successors.

Sec. 11. The corporation shall have the power to construct, put in operation, and have and maintain, during its existence, a turnpike or railroad from Exeter to the Northern Cross railroad for the purpose of affording facilities of transportation from and to their establishment; but such road, if a railroad, shall not be united or connected with the State railroad except upon terms to be prescribed by the Board of Public Works, acting under authority of law; and said company shall have the right to use such road, and to charge and receive tolls for the use of the same by others, and subject to the rights of the company. The road when constructed by them shall be deemed and considered a public highway.

Sec. 12. The company shall keep regular accounts of its business and financial operations, and shall divide the profits of its operations among the stockholders annually; and any stockholder shall be held liable to creditors for the amount of stock subscribed and not paid into the company.

Sec. 13. This act shall be deemed a public act in all courts and places whatsoever.

Sec. 14. The stock of the company shall be transferable and assignable in such manner and upon such terms as may be provided by the by-laws. The limitation imposed as to the right to hold real estate shall not be construed to prevent the corporation from purchasing real estate sold under execution in its favor, or from receiving mortgages upon real estate, to secure debts contracted bona fide; but real estate purchased as aforesaid shall not be held by said company exceeding the term of five years; and the holding or attempting to hold, directly or indirectly, for a longer period shall work a forfeiture of the estate, and its reversion to the former owner or his or her legal representatives.

Approved, March 1, 1839.