lands, and may hold the same or convey to others, or use the same in any manner deemed for the interest of said company, for the purpose of carrying out the legitimate objects of this bill.

§ 12. Said company may take voluntary relinquishments for the right of way for said road, and the necessary depots, water stations, &c., as above mentioned, and if the land through which the road shall pass belongs to a minor, in whole or in part, the guardian of said minor shall have power to convey to said company, so much of the land as may be necessary for the use of said company, on fair and equitable terms, but every such conveyance by a guardian shall be subject to the approval of the court having probate jurisdiction in the county in which said lands are situated.

§ 13. If any owner of a tract of land through which said road may pass, refuses to relinquish the right of way for said road to said company, or if the owners be an infant, or persons, of unsound mind, or nonresidents of the territory, the facts of the case shall be clearly stated in writing to the judge of the district court of the county in which said land is situated, either in vacation or term time, and the judge shall appoint three disinterested freeholders, citizens of the county, as commissioners to view such lands, who shall take into consideration the value of the land and the advantages and disadvantages of the road to the same, and shall report under oath what damage shall be done to said land or any improvement thereon, stating the amount of the damages assessed, and shall return a plat of the land thus condemned. Written notice of such application to the judge shall be given to the owner of such land five days before making such application, if such owner resides within the county where said land is situated. If such owner is a nonresident of the county, he may be served by actual notice, or by publication for four consecutive weeks in some newspaper of this territory published nearest to said land.

§ 14. The persons appointed to view and value such lands shall file their report in the office of the clerk of the district court of the county where said lands are situated, and if no valid objection be made to said report within ten days, the court shall enter judgment against said company for the amount of damages so assessed, and shall make an order vesting in said company the right of way to the lands described in said plat and report as given to the use of said road. Objections to such report must be filed within ten days from the time the same was filed, which objections may be examined by said judge in term time or vacation, and he may hear testimony and by judgment confirm said report, or may set aside the same and appoint three other viewers who shall proceed in the same manner and make their report, until the same be confirmed. In all such cases the court shall adjudge the costs of the proceedings according to the equity of the case, and the said court shall have power to make such orders and take such other steps as will promote the ends of justice between the owner of said land and said company.

§ 15. In case of refusal of right of way by the owner of land, the said company may occupy the same for the purpose of constructing the said

road, upon filing good and sufficient bonds, conditioned to pay all damages that may be adjudged against them, with the judge of the district court of the county where the land is situated, and upon his approval of

the same.

§ 16. If any person shall willfully or maliciously hinder or delay, or obstruct the workmen or the passage of trains, or shall place any obstruction upon the track, or injure or destroy any tools, cars or other property of said rail road, or pertaining to it, or aid or abet any person in the commission of such trespass, all such persons shall forfeit and pay said company triple the damages, before any court of competent jurisdiction, and shall be liable to indictment and such punishment as may be provided by law.

§ 17. Said company shall, within a reasonable time after said road is definitely located, cause a map to be made of the route of said road, and file the same in the office of the secretary of the territory.

§ 18. When fifty thousand dollars shall have been subscribed to the capital stock, and five per cent shall have been paid to the grantees herein named, and a certificate to this effect from a majority of them, duly authenticated, shall have been filed in the office of the secretary of this territory, they are authorized to organize the company, and open books for further subscription, requiring payments in installments, from time to time, as they may deem best, and in case of refusal or neglect of any stockholder to make payment as required, the share or shares of such delinquent may be sold at public sale, after giving twenty days' notice in some newspaper in this territory, and the proceeds to be paid into the treasury of said company, or at the option of said company said subscriptions may be collected by law as in other cases of debt.

§ 19. When the citizens of any county or city, of this territory or hereafter state, are desirous of subscribing to the stock of said company, the citizens of such city or county are authorized to purchase, subscribe or hold shares not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars in amount, as shall be determined by the county commissioners or city council; making such subscription in all respects, as stock owned by individuals, and such rail road company may dispose of such bonds issued for such stock by said county or city, upon such terms as may be deemed most expedient by said company.

§ 20. Subscriptions to the stock of said company, may be made in land, in the same manner as in cash, provided they be taken at a fair appraisal to be made in such manner as the board may direct, and the said company are hereby authorized to hold, purchase and convey the same, as they may deem for their interests.

§ 21. The company are hereby authorized to issue bonds upon the road, or hold or sell the same, in such amounts and upon such terms above or below par, and at such rates of interest as may be determined; which shall be binding upon the parties interested: Provided, however, that no bonds shall be issued for a less sum than five hundred dollars. § 22. Dividends of the profits of the company shall be made annually, or oftener if necessary, but the directors may reserve or set apart a portion of the profits as a contingent fund.

§ 23. At every annual meeting of said company the directors shall make to the stockholders an exhibit of the affairs and condition of the company. The board of directors may call special meetings of the stock. holders for the consideration of any question they may desire to submit

for their action.

§ 24. The said company shall commence the construction of said road within three years from the passage of this act, and shall complete the same within fifteen years thereafter, otherwise the charter to be forfeited.

§ 25. The principal place of business of said company shall be at the said city of Plattsmouth uutil otherwise ordered by the directors.

§ 26. Nothing in this act shall be construed into giving the privilege. of banking to said company.

§ 27. This act to be in force from and after its passage. Approved January 11th, 1861.

AN ACT

To incorporate the Missouri and Western telegraph company.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Nebraska, That S. H. Laflin, J. H. Lightner, A. C. Goddin, Charles M. Stebbins, J. H. Wade, Isaac R. Elwood, Anson Stager and their associates, together with such other persons as shall hereafter become stockholders of the corporation hereby created, are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, for the period of fifty years, for the purpose of building, buying, leasing and maintaining a telegraph line or lines west of the Missouri river, and shall be known by the name of the "Missouri & Western telegraph company."

§ 2. The stockholders of said company shall have power to make and establish all such laws and regulations for the government and management of said company, not inconsistent with the laws of this territory, as they may deem necessary and proper.

§ 3. The present capital stock of said company, shall be two hundred and nine thousand five hundred dollars, with the right to increase the same to a sum not exceeding one million dollars. Said stock shall be divided into shares of fifty dollars each, which shall be deemed personal property, and transferable in such manner as the said company shall direct.

§ 4. The business affairs of said company shall be managed and controlled by a board of directors, composed of not less than five nor more than thirteen persons, as may from time to time be determined by the stockholders thereof. The said board shall have the entire management and control of the business and affairs of said company, subject however, to such by-laws and regulations as may from time to time be established by the stockholders thereof; and a majority of the directors shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The said board of trustees shall appoint one of their number president, and shall also appoint

a secretary and treasurer, and such other officers and agents as may be deemed expedient, who shall hold their respective offices during the pleasure of the board. In case of a vacancy in the office of director occasioned by death, resignation or otherwise, the remaining directors or a majority of them may appoint some person to fill such vacancy till the next annual election.

§ 5. The persons named in the first section of this act shall constitute the first board of directors, and shall continue in office until the second Thursday in October, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and until others are chosen in their stead. And until the said board shall otherwise appoint, the said Charles M. Stebbins shall be president.

§ 6. The said stockholders shall meet annually on the second Thursday of October, in each and every year at the city of St. Louis, in the state of Missouri, or at such other place as shall be designated at each annual meeting for the next succeeding meeting, and if no place be so designated, it shall be held at the same place at which the last preceding meeting was held. The next annual meeting of said company shall be held in the city of St. Louis, in the state of Missouri, on the second Thursday in October next, from ten o'clock in the forenoon till noon.

§ 7. At all meetings of the stockholders of this company, each person, either by himself or by proxy, shall be entitled to one vote upon every share of stock held by him in his own name, and shall have been so held for at least twenty days prior to said meeting. If for any reason the annual election of directors shall fail to take place, the directors for the time being shall hold their offices until their successors shall have been chosen.

§ 8. It shall be the duty of the president to call special meetings of the stockholders of the company whenever requested so to do by the board of directors, or by stockholders holding one-fourth part of the entire stock of said company. At such special meeting no business shall be transacted except such as shall be specified in the call for such meeting, of which reasonable notice shall be given to the stockholders.

§ 9. The said company shall have power to sue for and recover damages from any person or persons who shall willfully and maliciously break or interrupt the working of any line of telegraph belonging to said company, to the amount of the loss sustained by the non-working of the line, and the cost of its repair, and in addition thereto a fine of three hundred dollars, as damages sustained by the company in the premises. And if any person or persons shall refuse or omit to pay said damages, he, she or they shall be imprisoned in the jail of the county in which such offence shall have been committed, for a term of not less than six months, nor more than one year, to be determined by the court before which said cause shall be tried.

§ 10. The said company shall have the right to erect all necessary posts, abutments or fixtures, along and across any of the roads, streets or alleys, and across any of the streams, within this territory, without its being deemed a public nuisance, or subject to be abated by any private person. The said posts, abutments and fixtures to be so placed as not to interfere with the common use of such roads, streets, alleys or

rivers, or with the convenience of any land owner, more than is unavoidable; but the said company shall be liable for any damages that any person or corporation may sustain by the erection, continuance and use of such posts, abutments and fixtures; and in every action brought for the recovery thereof, by the owner or possessor of any land, the damages to be awarded may, at the election of said company, include the damages for the term of this charter; the said posts, abutments and fixtures permanently to continue; on payment of which damages the right of said company to continue the use of the same shall be confirmed in the same manner as if granted by the parties plaintiff in such suit: Provided that no person or body politic shall not be entitled to sue for, or recover damages as aforesaid, until said company, after due notice, shall have failed or refused to remove in a reasonable time, the posts, abutments or fixtures complained of; and such notice to any agent of said company shall be deemed a sufficient notice in the premises.

§ 11. The property of said company shall be wholly exempt from taxation within this territory for the period of five years from and after the passage of this act; and after the expiration of said five years the property of said company shall be assessed for taxes as other property. 12. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved January 11th, 1861.

AN ACT

To authorize Felix Kitch, A. P. Forney and Joshua Murray to keep a ferry across the Missouri river at Rulo, Richardson county, Nebraska territory.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Nebraska, That Felix Kitch, A. P. Forney and Joshua Murray, their heirs, executors, administrators and assigns be, and are hereby authorized and empowered to establish and keep, and shall have the exclusive privilege of keeping a ferry across the Missouri river, at Rulo, Richardson county, Nebraska territory, for the transportation of persons and property, for the term of fifteen years from and after the passage of this act.

§ 2. That said exclusive privilege shall extend from a point on the Missouri river at the foot of Bayles street, up the Missouri river a distance of two miles, and from said point down said river a distance of two miles, and it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to keep or run a ferry of any description within said limits at any time during said fifteen years.

§ 3. That said Felix Kitch, his heirs, executors, administrators and assigns shall, on or before the first day of May, A. D. 1861, place or cause to be placed on said river, at said point, a good and sufficient horse or steam ferry boat, as the case may be, for the purpose of cross