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AN ACT to incorporate the Broadway Railroad Company. Be it enacted, &c., as follows :

SECTION 1. Charles J. F. Allen, Seth Adams, John P. Monks, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporation, by the name of the Broadway Railroad Company, with power to construct, maintain and use a railway or railways, with convenient single or double tracks, from South Boston Point, so called, at the eastern extremity of Fourth street, in the city of Boston, upon and over such streets and highways of said city, as may, from time to time, be fixed and determined, by vote of the mayor and aldermen thereof, and assented to, in writing, by the said railroad corporation, to a point near the intersection of Broadway and Turnpike street, or other street, for the purpose of forming a junction with, and entering upon, the Dorchester Avenue Railroad [Company,] in said Boston: provided, that all tracks of said railroad shall be laid at such distances from the sidewalks, in said city, as the mayor and aldermen thereof shall, in their orders fixing the routes of said railroad, determine to be for the public safety and convenience: and provided, further, that the written assent of said railroad corporation, to any vote or votes of the mayor and aldermen of said city, prescribing, from time to time, the routes of said road, shall be filled with the clerk of said city, and shall be taken and deemed locations thereof: and also provided, that, before the location or construction of any track in any street, the mayor and aldermen of said city shall give notice to the abuttors thereon, by the publication of an order of notice from said mayor and aldermen, in one or more newspers, published in the city of Boston, fourteen days, at least, before the hearing upon the location of any such

tracks, that said abuttors may show cause, if any there be, why said track should not be so located and constructed; and the said railroad corporation shall have power to fix, from time to time, such rates of compensation for transporting persons or property thereon, as they may think reasonable and expedient; and said corporation shall be subject to all the duties, restrictions and liabilities, and entitled to all the rights and privileges, prescribed by the forty-fourth chapter of the Revised Statutes.

SECT. 2. Said tracks or roads shall be operated and used by said corporation, with horse power only, and it shall not connect its track with any other railroad, on which other power is used. The mayor and aldermen of said city shall have power, at all times, to make all such regulations as to the rate of speed, and mode of use of said tracks, as the public convenience and safety may require.

SECT. 3. Said corporation shall maintain and keep in repair, such portions of the streets, respectively, as shall be occupied by their tracks, and shall be liable for any loss or injury that any person may sustain, by reason of any carelessness, neglect or misconduct of its agents or servants, in the management, construction or use of said tracks or roads; and in case any recovery shall be had against said city, by reason of such defect, want of repair in, or use of, said tracks or roads, said corporation shall be liable to pay to said city, any sum thus recovered against it, together with all costs and reasonable expenditures incurred by said city, in the defence of any such suit or suits, in which such recovery shall be had ; and said corporation shall not encumber any portion of the streets, not occupied by the said road or tracks.

SECT. 4. If any person shall willfully and maliciously obstruct said corporation, in the use of said road or tracks, or the passing of the cars or carriages of said corporation thereon, such persons, and all who shall be aiding or abetting therein, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or may be imprisoned in the common jail, for a period not exceeding three months. If said corporation, or its agents or servants, shall willfully and maliciously obstruct any highway, or the passing of any carriages over the same, said corporation shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars.

SECT. 5. The capital stock of said corporation shall not exceed the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of fifty dollars each; and no shares shall be issued for a less sum, to be actually paid in on each, than the par value of the shares which shall first be issued.

SECT. 6. Said corporation shall have power to purchase and hold such real estate, within said city, as may be necessary or convenient for the purposes and management of said road.

SECT. 7. The said city of Boston may, at any time during the continuance of the charter of the said corporation, and after the expiration of ten years from the opening of any part of said road for use, purchase of said corporation, all the franchise, property, rights and furniture of said corporation, by paying said railroad company therefor such a sum as will reimburse to each person who may then be a stockholder therein, the par value of his stock, together with a net profit of ten per cent. per annum, from the time of the transfer of said

stock to him, on the books of the corporation, deducting the dividends received by said stockholders thereon.

SECT. 8. The said road shall be constructed and maintained in such form and manner, and upon such grade, and with such gauge, as the mayor and aldermen of said city may, in their votes, fixing and determining the routes thereof, as aforesaid, prescribe and direct; and whenever, in the judgment of said railroad corporation, it shall be necessary to alter the grade of any street so occupied by it, such alteration may be made at the sole expense of said corporation, provided the same shall be assented to by the mayor and aldermen of said city.

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SECT. 9. At any time after the expiration of one year from the opening for use, of the tracks of said railroad, any street in which the same may be located, as provided by its charter, the mayor and aldermen of the city of Boston may, by vote of the major part thereof, determine that the same, or any part thereof, may be discontinued; and thereupon the location shall be deemed to be revoked, and the tracks of the said railroad shall forthwith be taken up and removed, in conformity with such vote or order of said mayor and aldermen, provided that such taking up and removal shall be at the expense of said railroad corporation.

SECT. 10. Nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent the authorities of said city from taking up any of the public streets traversed by said railroads, for the purposes for which they may now lawfully take up the

same.

SECT. 11. This act shall be void, so far as relates to the right to construct said road in said city, unless the

same shall be accepted by the city council of said city, and unless the same shall be accepted by the said corporation, and ten per cent. of the capital stock thereof be actually paid in within two years from the passage

of this act.

SECT. 12. The said corporation shall be deemed a railroad corporation, so far as to be subject to make such annual returns to the legislature as are or may may be scribed by law, but not to other general provisions of law in relation to railroad corporations.

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SECT. 13. The existence of said corporation is hereby limited to the period of fifty years from the passage of this act.

SECT. 14. The rates of fare upon the said railroad, between any two points in the city of Boston, shall never exceed five cents for each passage, unless with the assent of the mayor and aldermen of the said city; provided, nevertheless, that the legislature may at any time repeal this act, or limit, restrict, or annul, any powers herein granted. [Approved by the Governor, April 29, 1854.]

An ACT in addition to "An Act to incorporate the Broadway Railroad Company."

Be it enacted &c., as follows :

Chapter four hundred and forty-four, of the acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-four, being "An Act to incorporate the Broadway Railroad Company," is hereby revived, and continued in force for a period of three years from the passage hereof. [Approved by the Governor, June 4, 1856.]

The foregoing charter was accepted by the City Council of Boston, Dec. 27, 1856.

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