and on producing said check, if his baggage shall not be delivered to him, he may himself be a witness in any suit brought by him, to prove the contents and value of said baggage.

§ 38. In forming a passenger train, baggage, freight, merchandise, or lumber cars shall not be placed in rear of the passenger cars; and if they or any of them shall be so placed, the officer or agent who so directed, or knowingly suffered such arrangement, and the conductor of the train, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punished accordingly.

§ 39. A bell shall be placed on each locomotive engine, and be rung at the distance of at least eighty rods from the place where the railroad shall cross any traveled public road or street, and be kept ringing until it shall have crossed such road or street; or a steam whistle shall be attached to each locomotive engine, and be sounded at least eighty rods from the place where the railroad shall cross any such road or street, except in cities, and be sounded at intervals until it shall have crossed such road or street, under a penalty of twenty dollars for every neglect of the provisions of this section, to be paid by the corporation owning the railroad, to be sued for by the district attorney of the county, within ten days after such penalty was incurred; one-half thereof to go to the informer, and the other half to the county; and said corporation shall also be liable for all damages which shall be sustained by any person by reason of such neglect, one-half of which penalty shall be chargeable to and collected by the company of the engineer having charge of the train, where the omission of duty consists in not sounding the whistle or ringing the bell.

$40. Every such corporation shall cause boards to be placed, well supported by posts or otherwise, and constantly maintained across each traveled public road or street where the same is crossed by the railroad, on the same level. Said boards shall be elevated so as not to obstruct the travel, and to be easily seen by travelers; and on each side of such boards shall be painted in capital letters, of at least the size of nine inches each, the words, "Railroad crossing, look out for the cars." But this section shall not apply to streets in cities or villages, unless the corporation shall be required to put up such boards by the officers having charge of such streets.

41. If any person shall, while in charge of a locomotive engine running upon the railroad of any such corporation, or while acting as the conductor of a car or train of cars on any such railroad, be intoxicated, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

§ 42. If any person or persons shall willfully do, or cause to be done any act or acts whatever, whereby any building, construction or work of any railroad corporation, or any engine, machine or structure, or any matter or thing appertaining to the same, shall be stopped, obstructed, impaired, weakened, injured or destroyed, the person or persons so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall forfeit and pay to the said corporation treble the amount of damages sustained by means of such offense.

§ 43. All penalties imposed by this act may be sued for in the name of the people of the state of New York; and if such penalty be for a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, then such suit may be brought before a justice of the peace, and may be commenced by serving a summons on any director of such company.

§ 44. Every corporation formed under this act, shall erect and maintain fences on the sides of their road, of the height and strength of a division fence required by law, with openings or gates or bars therein, and farm crossings of the road for the use of the proprietors of lands adjoining such railroad; and also construct and maintain cattle-guards at all road crossings, suitable and sufficient to prevent cattle and animals from getting on to the railroad. Until such fences and cattle-guards shall be duly made, the corporation and its agents shall be liable for all damages which shall be done by their agents or engines to cattle, horses, or other animals thereon; and after such fences and guards shall be duly made and maintained, the corporation shall not be liable for any such damages, unless negligently or willfully done; and if any person shall ride, lead or drive any horse or other animal upon such road, and within such fences and guards, other than at farm crossings, without the consent of the corporation, he shall, for every such offense, forfeit a sum not exceeding ten dollars, and shall also pay all damages which shall be sustained thereby to the party aggrieved. It shall not be lawful for any person, other than those connected with or employed upon the railroad, to walk along the track or tracks of any railroad, except where the same shall be laid along public roads or streets.

§ 45. Every corporation shall, within a reasonable time after their road shall be constructed, cause to be made:

A map and profile thereof, and of the land taken or obtained for the use thereof, and file the same in the office of the state engineer and surveyor; and also like maps of the parts thereof located in different counties, and file the same in the offices for recording deeds in the county in which such parts of said road shall be. Every such

map shall be drawn on a scale, and on paper, to be designated by the state engineer and surveyor, and certified and signed by the president or engineer of such corporation.

§ 46. In case any passenger on any railroad shall be injured while on the platform of a car, or on any baggage, wood, or freight car, in violation of the printed regulations of the company posted up at the time in a conspicuous place inside of its passenger cars then in the train, such company shall not be liable for the injury; provided said company at the time furnished room inside its passenger cars sufficient for the proper accommodation of the passengers.

§ 47. If any corporation formed under this act shall not, within two years after its articles of association are filed and recorded in the office of the secretary of state, begin the construction of its road, and expend thereon ten per cent on the amount of its capital or shall not finish the road and put it in operation in five years from the time of filing its articles of association as aforesaid, its corporate existence and power shall cease.

§48. The legislature may at any time annul or dissolve any incorporation formed under this act; but such dissolution shall not take away or impair any remedy given against any such corporation, its stockholders or officers for any liability which shall have been previously incurred.

§49. All existing railroad corporations within this state shall respectively have and possess all the powers and privileges contained in this act; and they shall be subject to all the duties, liabilities and provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of their charter, contained in sections nine, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight (except subdivision nine), thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty, fortyone, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four, forty-five, forty-six, of this act. § 50. The act entitled "An act to authorize the formation of railroad corporations," passed March 26, 1848, and the acts amending the same, are hereby repealed; but all railroad companies formed under said act are hereby continued in existence, in the same manner as if said acts were not repealed; and such companies shall be subject to all the provisions, and shall have the same powers, rights and privileges, and be subject to the same duties as if they had been incorporated under this act; and the time limited by said act for the expenditure of ten per cent of their capital stock, is hereby extended

two years from the passage of this act; and the time limited in said section of said law for their completion, is hereby extended to five years from the passage of this act; and also the time for completing any railroad organized previous to March 27, 1848, whose road was under contract prior to February 1, 1850, to be completed within the time prescribed by its charter, is hereby extended for one year.

§ 51. Nothing in this act contained shall authorize or permit the New York and Erie Railroad Company to abandon the use of their road in the county of Rockland, east of Suffern's depot.

§ 52. This act shall take effect immediately.

Section 29, relating to tolls, was repealed by act, chapter 497, Laws of 1851.

Chap. 19.

AN ACT in relation to railroad corporations.

Passed February 13, 1851.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Whenever two railroad companies shall, for a portion of their respective lines, embrace the same location of line, they may by agreement provide for the construction of so much of said line as is common to both of them by one of the companies, and for the manner and terms upon which the business thereon shall be performed. Upon the making of such agreement, the company that is not to construct the part of the line which is common to both, may alter and amend its articles of association so as to terminate its line at the point of intersection, and may reduce its capital to a sum not less than ten thousand dollars for each mile of the road proposed to be constructed in such amended articles of association.

§ 2. Whenever, after due examination, it shall be ascertained by the directors of any railroad company, organized under the act entitled "An act to authorize the formation of railroad corporations and to regulate the same," passed March 26th, 1848, or under the act entitled "An act to authorize the formation of railroad corporations and to regulate the same," passed April 2d, 1850, that a part of the line of their railroad proposed to be made between any two points in this state, ought to be located and constructed in an adjoining state, it may be so located and constructed by a vote of two-thirds of all the 'directors, and the sections of said railroad within the state shall be

deemed a connected line, according to the articles of association, and the directors may reduce the capital specified in their articles of association to such amount as may be deemed proper, but not less than the amount required by law for the number of miles of railroad to be actually constructed in this state.

§ 3. Any railroad company formed under the act entitled "An act to authorize the formation of railroad corporations," passed March 26th, 1848, and which is duly continued in existence, when at least ten thousand dollars for every mile of its railroad proposed to be constructed in this state, shall be in good faith subscribed to its capital stock, and ten per cent thereof paid in, may apply to the court for the appointment of commissioners, and the court shall thereupon appoint commissioners, and all subsequent proceedings may be had to obtain the title to lands necessary for its construction, to the same extent and in the same manner, as if the whole amount of the capital stock specified in its articles of association was in like manner subscribed.

§ 4. In case any railroad shall occupy or cross any turnpike or plank-road, the railroad company shall pay such turnpike or plankroad company all damages the turnpike or plank-road company may sustain by reason of the occupancy or crossing such turnpike or plankroad, the damages to be ascertained and paid in the same manner as is provided by law for the assessment and payment of damages in case of taking private property for the use of railroad companies. 5. This act shall take effect immediately.

Chap. 497.

AN ACT to abolish tolls on railroads.

Passed July 10, 1851.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. It shall not be necessary for any railroad company in this state to pay any sums of money into the treasury of this state on account of the transportation of property on any railroad on and after the first day of December, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-one.

§ 2. It shall not be necessary after the said first day of December next for any railroad company to make to the comptroller monthly statements of the property carried on its railroad.