Commissioners. Style. Location. Subject to. No. 457. AN ACT To incorporate the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company of West Penn, East Penn, and East Brunswick and Mahoning townships, in the counties of Carbon and Schuylkill, state of Pennsylvania. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen tatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assem bly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That Peter Seiberling, Gideon Whetstone, William Bockert, Alanson Knapp, Daniel S. Kistler, Charles M. Kistler, John Kistler, Andrew Habbes, Stephen Hoffman, Elijah Ziegler, Jacob Ziegler, Nathan Ziegler, David Rex, Philip Daubenspeck and George Knapp, are hereby appointed commissioners, who, or a majority of whom, are authorized and empowered, from and after the passage of this act, to establish an insurance company, to be called and known by the name and title of The Farmers' Mutual fire insurance company of West Penn, East Penn, East Brunswick and Mahoning townships, in the counties of Carbon and Schuylkill, state of Pennsylvania, to be located in either of the townships aforesaid, which said company, when application shall have been made to said commissioners for insurance to the amount of at least one hundred thousand dollars, shall be organized and managed according to the provisions of an act to provide for the incorporation of insurance companies, approved the second day of April, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, and shall be limited to the risks desig nated in the first class in the seventh section of said act, and shall have the right to transact its business upon the mutual principle. RICHARDSON L. WRIGHT, Speaker of the House of Representatives. WM. M. PIATT, Speaker of the Senate. APPROVED-The seventeenth day of April, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six. JAMES POLLOCK. No. 458. AN ACT To incorporate the Catasauqua Gas Company. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen tatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That Joseph Laubach, John Thomas, William Getz, Samuel Glace, Corporators. John Williams, Joshua Hunt, junior, and their associates, or persons who shall become stockholders, be and the same are hereby made and constituted a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of the Catasauqua gas company, and by the said name they and their successors shall and may have per- Style. petual succession, and shall in law be capable of suing and be sued, pleading and being impleaded, in all courts of law or Privileges. equity within this commonwealth and elsewhere, and also of contracting and being contracted with relative to the business and objects of the corporation as hereinafter declared; and they and their successors as aforesaid, shall have power to lease or purchase in fee simple such real estate as may be necessary for carrying on the business of said corporation. SECTION 2. That the corporation hereby created is so created objects. for the purpose of supplying with gas light the borough of Catasauqua, in the county of Lehigh, and such individuals residing therein, and immediate vicinity, as may desire a supply of the same, and for distributing and selling gas for the production of artificial light, and for making and erecting the necessary appa. ratus for manufacturing and introducing the same, and constructing the requisite buildings and machinery and purchasing and preparing the necessary materials, with the right to enter upon any of the public roads, streets, lanes, alleys and sidewalks, in the borough of Catasauqua and vicinity, for the purpose of laying pipes for the distribution of gas as the company may deem necessary, and across them for the same purpose, doing as little damage as possible, with like privileges as to relaying or taking up or repairing the said pipes as often as the same may be necessary: Provided, That the said company in laying their pipes as aforesaid shall not obstruct or interfere with the grading and paving of the public roads, streets, lanes, alleys and side-walks aforesaid, nor with the laying sewers by the borough authorities of Catasauqua, and shall immediately fill up said trenches and restore the said roads, streets, lanes, alleys and side-walks, and the private property as aforesaid, as near as may be to the same condition as they were respectively in before the said trenches were dug, at the proper cost and expense of the said company. be SECTION 3. That the said company may have the right to lay Power to lay their pipes through private property if necessary, for the distri- pipes, &c. bution of gas as aforesaid, if they can agree with the owner or owners thereof as to the amount of damages to be paid by the company; but if they cannot so agree, then it shall and may be lawful for the court of quarter sessions of Lehigh county, upon the application of the president and managers of said company, setting forth what private property they desire to occupy for laying their pipes as aforesaid, to appoint three disinterested citizens of Lehigh county to assess the damages which may sustained by the owner or owners of such private property ascertained. through which they are desired to be laid, which said viewers, after having been duly sworn to perform the duties enjoined upon them by this act faithfully and impartially, shall proceed to view the premises through which the said pipes are desired to be laid as aforesaid, assess the damages sustained by the owner or owners of such private property, which said viewers shall make return of their proceedings in writing to the next court of quarter sessions, which report, together with a draft of Damages, how Capital stock. May borrow money. Directors and their election. Votes. the route on which the pipes are to be laid, shall be entered among the records of said court, and from thenceforth the said company shall have the right to enter such private property and lay their pipes as aforesaid: Provided, That the said company shall without delay fill up any trenches that may be dug in laying their pipes, as authorized by this act, and restore such private property as near as may be to the condition in which it was before such pipes were laid, at their own expense: Provided further however, That the said company shall not enter such private property before the damages assessed as aforesaid be fully paid to the owner or owners thereof, and all proper costs and expenses of such assessment be paid and satisfied. SECTION 4. That the capital stock of said company shall be fifteen thousand dollars, to be divided into six hundred shares of twenty-five dollars each, with the right to commence the erection of their works when three hundred shares of said capital stock shall be subscribed, and to increase said capital stock from time to time as the board of directors of said company shall deem necessary: Provided, That the whole capital stock shall not at any time exceed fifty thousand dollars. SECTION 5. That the managers of said company are hereby authorized and empowered, should the same be deemed necessary, to borrow any sum or sums of money in their corporate capacity not exceeding ten thousand dollars, for the purpose of aiding them in the construction of their works, and to secure the payment of the same shall make and execute a mortgage or mortgages, pledge or pledges of the property and effects of said corporation, or give such other evidence of indebtedness as may be agreed upon; and the said managers shall provide for the payment of the interest upon any loan made under this section out of the receipts for gas, before any dividends shall be paid to the stockholders. SECTION 6. That the management and control of the Catasauqua gas company shall be vested in the persons named in the first section of this act, until the periods herein fixed for the regular election of directors of said company, who shall choose from their number a president, treasurer and secretary, who shall meet from time to time and at such places within said borough as a majority of them may deem necessary, for the purpose of receiving subscription to the capital stock of said company; and that the stockholders of said company shall meet annually on the first Friday in May, at such place as they may determine upon, and elect seven directors for said company, all of whom shall be stockholders, who shall select from their number as aforesaid, a president, secretary and treasurer for said company; the notice of such elections for directors as aforesaid, and the manner of conducting the same, to be provided for in the by-laws of said company; and the number of votes that each stockholder shall be entitled to at each election, shall be according to the number of shares owned by such stockholder, to wit: for each share not exceeding three shares, one vote; for every two shares above three and not exceeding ten, one vote; for every four shares above ten and not exceeding twenty, one vote; and for every five shares above twenty shares, one vote; and no share shall confer the right of voting which shall not have been holden one calendar month prior to the day of elec tion, nor unless it be holden by the person in whose name it appears, absolutely and bona fide in his or her own right, or in the right of his wife or for his or her sole use and benefit, as an executor, administrator, trustee or guardian, or in the right and for the use of some co-partnership, corporation or society, of which he or she may be a member: Provided, That the restrictions in relation to the qualifications of voters in this section shall not extend to the first election held under this act. Certificates of SECTION 7. That the said company shall procure certificates or evidences of stock for all the shares of the said company, and stock. shall deliver one such certificate, signed by the president and countersigned by the secretary and sealed with the common seal of said corporation, to each person for such share or shares of stock as are by him or her respectively owned, which certificate of stock shall be transferable at his or her pleasure, in person or by attorney duly authorized, in the presence of the president or secretary in a book to be kept by the corporation for the purpose. SECTION 8. That the board of directors of said company, shall Meetings of direcmeet at such times and places as shall be provided in the by- tors. laws of said company, five of whom shall be a quorum, who, in the absence of the president, may choose a chairman, and shall keep minutes of their transactions, fairly entered in a book; and a quorum being formed, they shall have full power and authority to purchase land for the gas works, and erect the same; to appoint all officers, and employ such assistants, as shall be necessary to carry out the objects of this corporation; to direct what orders shall be drawn upon the treasurer; which shall be signed by the president, and countersigned by the secretary; to fix all salaries and rates for the use of the gas; to enact by-laws for the proper regulation and government of said corporation; and generally to do such matters, acts and things, as by this act and the by-laws of such corporation they are authorized to do. SECTION 9. That the board of directors of said company shall declare dividends of so much of the net profits of the company, as shall appear to them advisable, on the first Mondays of June and December, of each year, which shall be paid to the stockholders on demand, thirty days after the same shall have been declared. Dividends. SECTION 10. That if any person or persons shall open a com- Penalty for illemunication into the gas main, or other gas pipe of said company, gally using gas. without authority from the street inspector, or other authorized agent of said company, or shall let on the gas after it has been stopped by order of said inspector or authorized agent of said company, for repairs or any other cause or purpose, or shall put up any pipes or burners, in addition to the pipes originally put up and inspected, and introduce into them the gas, without authority aforesaid, he, she or they shall be subject to a penalty of not less than five, nor more than fifty dollars, to be recoverable before any justice of the peace, as debs of like amount are by law recoverable; one half to be paid to the informer, and the other half to said company. ries to works. SECTION 11. That if any person shall wilfully or maliciously Penalty for inju do, or cause to be done, any act or acts whatever, whereby any building, construction or works of said company, or any gas pipe, gas post, burner or reflector, or any matter or thing appertaining to the same, shall be stopped, obstructed, injured or destroyed, the person or persons so offending, shall be considered guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be therefor indicted in the court of quarter sessions, and on conviction thereof shall be Reservation punished by fine, not exceeding five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the court: Provided, That such criminal prosecution shall not, in any way, impair the right of said company to a full compen sation in damages by civil suit. SECTION 12. That the legislature may, at any time, alter, amend or repeal the privileges hereby granted: Provided however, Thai no injustice be done to the corporators. RICHARDSON L. WRIGHT, Speaker of the House of Representatives. APPROVED-The eighteenth day of April, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six. JAMES POLLOCK. Commissioners. Duties. No. 459. AN ACT To authorize the Governor to incorporate the Boyerstown Water company. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen tatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That George Mull, Samuel Shaner, Daniel B. Boyer, William Bender, Frederick H. Stauffer, Charles Keely, Wilham K. Stauffer, Lewis S. Worman, Benjamin Riegner, Jeremiah Schwenihart, Amos K. Strunk, Henry Borneman and David Fox, or any five of them, are hereby appointed commissioners for receiving subscriptions to the capital stock of a company to be denomi nated the Boyerstown water company, and for that purpose they shall procure a suitable book and enter in it as follows:"We whose names are hereto subscribed, promise to pay to the Boyerstown water company the sum of twenty dollars for each and every share of stock set opposite to our respective names, in such manner and in such proportions and at such times as shall be determined by the president and managers of the said company, in pursuance of the act of assembly authorizing the governor to incorporate the said company: Witness our hands, the day of Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six ;" the said book shall be kept open for the purpose aforesaid for three days, due notice being given, or until five hundred shares shall have been subscribed; and the officers of the said company, after the same shall have been organized, may at any time afterwards open said book for the subscription of shares, until the whole number of shares as aforesaid shall have been subscribed, if so many shall be required to carry into effect the purposes of this act: Provided, That every person offering to subscribe in the said book, in his or her own name, or in the name of any other person, shall previously pay |