ages in relation to the land or estate to be taken and appropriated as aforesaid, as they might do if the same were holden by them in their own rights respectively.

SEC. 8. If the said railroad in the course thereof shall cross any private way, said corporation shall so construct said railroad as not to obstruct the safe and convenient use of said private way; and if said railroad shall not be so constructed, the party aggrieved shall be entitled to his action on the case in any court proper to try the same, and shall recover his reasonable damages for said injury. And if said railroad shall in the course thereof cross any other railroad, canal, turnpike, highway or bridge, the said railroad hereby authorized to be built shall be so constructed as not to impede or obstruct the safe and convenient use of such other railroad, canal, turnpike, bridge, or other highway; or to pass any turnpike or highway at grade without the consent of the town council of the town where such crossing is located. And the said corporation shall have power to raise or lower such bridge, turnpike or highway, or change the location of the same, or widen such bridge, so that the said railroad, if necessary, may conveniently pass under, or over, or across, or at the side of the same. And if said corporation shall raise or lower any such bridge, turnpike or highway, or change the location of the same, or widen such bridge, pursuant hereto, and shall not so raise, or lower, or widen, or change the location of the same as to be satisfactory to the proprietors of such bridge or turnpike, or to the town council of the town in which such highway may be situated, as the case may be, said proprietors or town council may require, in writing, such alteration or amendment as they may deem necessary; and if said corporation shall refuse or unreasonably neglect to make the same, such proprietors or the town council, as the case may be, may file their complaint with the court of common pleas for the county in which such bridge, turnpike or highway may be; and if said court shall adjudge that such alteration or amendment is reasonable and proper, they shall decree that the same be made by said corporation, and render judgment accordingly; and in case said corporation shall neglect to comply with said judgment within the time prescribed by the said court,

the said proprietors or town council, as the case may be, may proceed to make such alteration or amendment, and may institute and prosecute to final judgment and execution, in any court proper to try the same, an action of the case against said corporation, and shall therein recover a reasonable indemnity in damages, for all charges, disbursements, labor and services occasioned by making such alterations and amendments, with costs of suit. And if said corporation shall find it necessary to change the location of any bridge, turnpike or highway, as herein provided, so that said railroad may be made on the best site of ground for that purpose, said corporation may take as much more land on or near the line of their said railroad as may be necessary for such change; and if any damage shall be occasioned by the taking of such lands therefor, such damage shall be estimated and assessed, and finally determined, or may be released, or said lands may be purchased, according to the provisions of this act for the estimate and assessment, or release of damages to or for the purchase of other lands taken for said railroad.

SEC. 9. Said corporation, after having located or reported as located, or taken and used lands or materials for the uses of their said railroad, shall have power, if they shall find it expedient, to alter the location and vary the direction of their said railroad, and make a new location of the same, in whole or in any part thereof; in which case report shall be made and damages for land or materials taken, or located and proposed to be taken, for the use of said railroad, shall be estimated and assessed, or may be released, or said lands or materials. may be purchased, and like proceedings in all respects had with like effect, as if said railroad or the portion thereof located anew had not before been located; Provided, however, That the time allowed by this act for completing their said railroad, shall not be extended in consequence of such alteration.

SEC. 10. In case of any new location, said corporation may, in their report thereof, state what portion of their former location has been abandoned, specifying the person or persons whose land or materials, in whole or in part, have been abandoned in consequence of such new location; and if the land or materials of any person

before reported as located, shall not have been taken and used, all proceedings for the estimate and assessment of damages in favor of such person shall stop; said corporation first paying to every such person whose land or materials located shall have been abandoned, his costs and reasonable expenses, if any, incurred in prosecuting for damages up to the time of such abandonment; said costs and expenses to be taxed by the court to whom the new location is reported. If the land or materials before reported as located have been taken or used by said corporation as the site of, or in constructing and securing their said railroad, and the assessment of damages for the same is then pending before the commissioners or a jury, then upon such new location and abandonment as aforesaid, said corporation shall have the right to give said abandonment in evidence in diminution of damages, paying costs, if the question of damages is pending before a jury on appeal, notwithstanding a diminution of damages in consequence of such abandonment then first given in evidence; or if the commissioners or a jury have finally assessed the damages, said corporation, in case of a new location and abandonment. as aforesaid, shall have a right to a revision of the assessment of damages, and to a re-assessment of the same by petition to the commissioners, in order that the diminution of damages in consequence of such abandonment may be considered with right of appeal, upon like terms to either party, as in other cases. The filing of such petition for revision of damages, and notice to the person or persons affected thereby, shall perpetually stay all actions or rights of action, for the recovery of the damages first assessed, said corporation first making tender of the taxed costs in such action, if any be pending, in the clerk's office of the court where the same may be pending up to the time of such tender.

SEC. 11. Said railroad, when the same shall have been constructed, shall be managed and protected, in all respects according to the general laws of this State.

SEC. 12. If the location of said railroad shall not have been filed in the clerk's office of the court of common pleas for the county within which the land proposed to be taken for the use of said railroad is situated, previous to the first day of June, A. D. 1874, or if said

corporation shall fail to complete their said road before the first day of June, A. D. 1879, this act shall be void and of no effect.

SEC. 13. The annual and all other meetings of said corporation shall be called and notified in such manner, and shall be held at such time and place, as shall be prescribed by the by-laws of said corporation.

SEC. 14. Said corporation shall have the right to enter into such contract or contracts with other railroad companies, for the equipment, operating, working, or leasing of their said railroad, after the same shall have been constructed, as may, by the president and directors, be deemed advisable; and they shall have the right, by the vote of the holders of a majority of the stock in stockholders' meeting assembled, to sell and transfer their road, franchise, rights and privileges granted by this act, to any other railroad company, or to unite with any other railroad company or companies, so that when the companies shall be so united, the stockholders in one company shall be stockholders in the other company, and the companies shall constitute one corporation by such name as the united corporation may adopt.

RESOLUTION of adjournment.

Voted and Resolved, That the unfinished business pending before this general assembly be referred to the next session, and that this general assembly be, and the same is, hereby adjourned, to meet at the State House in Providence on the second Monday in January next, at 11 o'clock A. M.

SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE,

Providence, July 1, 1869. I certify the foregoing acts, resolutions, record of officers elected, and reports contained in this volume to be true copies of the originals on file in this office. IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereto set my hand and affixed the seal of the State, this day of

APPENDIX.

ROLL OF THE MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

At the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, begun and holden at Newport on the last Tuesday of May, (being the 25th day of the month,) in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty nine, and of Independence the ninety-third,

PRESENT:

His excellency AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE, Governor, and ex-officio President of the Senate.

His Honor PARDON W. STEVENS, Lieut. Governor.