ings where claimants. § 23. If there are adverse and conflicting claimants to the money, Proceedor any part of it, to be paid as compensation for the real estate taken, there are the court may direct the money to be paid into said court by the com- conflicting pany, and may determine who is entitled to the same, and direct to whom the same shall be paid; and may, in its discretion, order a reference to ascertain the facts on which such determination and order are to be made. The court shall appoint some competent attorney to appear for, and protect the rights of any party in interest who is unknown, or whose residence is unknown, and who has not appeared in the proceedings by an attorney or agent. The court shall also have power at any time to amend any defect or informality in any of the special proceedings authorized by this act, as may be necessary; or to cause new parties to be added, and to direct such further notices to be given to any party in interest, as it deems proper; and also to appoint other commissioners in place of any who shall die, or refuse, or neglect to serve, or be incapable of serving. title is § 24. If, at any time, after an attempt to acquire title by appraisal Where of damages or otherwise, it shall be found that the title thereby defective. attempted to be acquired is defective, the company may proceed anew to acquire or perfect such title, in the same manner as if no appraisal had been made; and at any stage of such new proceedings, the court may authorize the corporation, if in possession, to continue in possession, and if not in possession to take possession, and use such real estate during the pendency and until the final conclusion of such new proceedings; and may stay all actions or proceedings against the company on account thereof, on such company paying into court a sufficient sum, or giving security, as the court may direct, to pay the compensation therefor when finally ascertained; and in every such case the party interested in such real estate may conduct the proceedings to a conclusion, if the company delays or omits to prosecute the same. real estate in trustee. § 25. In case any title or interest in real estate required by any com- Where pany formed under this act, for the purpose of its incorporation, shall title to be vested in any trustee not authorized to sell, release and convey the is vested same, or in any infant, idiot, or person of unsound mind, the Supreme Court shall have power, by a summary proceeding on petition, to authorize and empower such trustee, or the general guardian or committee of such infant, idiot, or person of unsound mind, to sell and convey the same to such company, for the purposes of its incorporation, on such terms as may be just; and in case any such infant, idiot or person of unsound mind has no general guardian or committee, the said court may appoint a special guardian or committee for the purpose of making such sale, release or conveyance, and may require such security from such general or special guardian or committee as said court may deem proper. Put before any conveyance or release authorized by this section shall be executed, the terms on which the same is to be executed shall be reported to the court, on oath; and if the court is satisfied that such terms are just to the party interested in such real estate, the court shall confirm the report, and direct the proper conveyance or release to be executed, which shall have the same effect as if executed by an owner of said land having legal power to sell and convey the same. § 26. Every corporation formed under this act shall have power: Powers. 1. To take and hold such voluntary grants of real estate and other property as shall be made to it, to aid in the construction, maintenance and accommodation of its railroad; but the real estate received by voluntary grant shall be held and used for the purposes of such grant only. 2. To purchase, hold and use all such real estate and other property as may be necessary for the construction and maintenance of its railroad, and the stations and other accommodations necessary to accomplish the objects of its incorporation; but nothing herein contained shall be held as repealing, or in any way affecting the act entitled "An act authorizing the construction of railroads upon Indian lands," passed May twelve, eighteen hundred and thirty-six. 3. To cross, intersect, join and unite its railroad with any other railroad before constructed at any point on its route, and upon the grounds of such other railroad company, with the necessary turnouts, sidings and switches, and other conveniences in furtherance of the objects of its connections. And every company whose railroad is or shall be hereafter intersected by any new railroad shall unite with the owners of such new railroad in forming such intersections and connections, and grant the facilities aforesaid; and if the two corporations cannot agree upon the amount of compensation to be made therefor, or the points and manner of such crossings and connections, the same shall be ascertained and determined by commissioners, to be appointed by the court as is provided in this act in respect to acquiring title to real estate. 4. To take and convey persons and property on their railroad by the power or force of steam or by any motor other than animal power, and to receive compensation therefor. 5. To enter upon and underneath the several streets, avenues, public places and lands designated by the said commissioners, and enter into and upon the soil of the same; to construct, maintain, operate, and use in accordance with the plan adopted by said commissioners, a railway or railways upon the route or routes and to the points decided upon, and to secure the necessary foundations and erect the columns, piers and other structures which may be required to secure safety and stability in the construction and maintenance of the railways constructed upon the plan adopted by the said commissioners and for operating the same; excepting that nothing in this act shall authorize the con struction of a railway crossing the track of any steam railway now in actual operation at the grade thereof, or the erection of piers or supports for any elevated railway upon a railway track now actually in use in any street or avenue; and it shall be lawful to make such excavations and openings along the route through which such railway or railways shall be constructed as shall be necessary from time to time; in all cases the surface of said streets around such foundations, piers and columns shall be restored to the condition in which they were before such excavations were made, as near as may be, and shall avoid any interference with or change in the water-mains, or in the sewers or lampposts, except such changes as may be made with the concurrence of the proper department or authority; and in all cases the use of the streets, avenues, places and lands designated by the said commissioners and the right of way through the same for the purpose of a railway or railways as herein authorized and provided, shall be considered, and is hereby declared to be a public use, consistent with the uses for which the roads, streets, avenues and public places are publicly held; but no such corporation shall have the right to acquire the use or occupancy of public parks or squares in such county, or the use or occupancy of any of the streets or avenues, except such as may have been designated for the route or routes of such railway, and except such temporary privileges as the proper authorities may grant to such corporations to facilitate such construction. 6. From time to time to borrow such sums of money as may be necessary for completing and finishing or operating their railroad, and to issue and dispose of their bonds for any amount so borrowed, and to mortgage their corporate property and franchises to secure the payment of any debt contracted by the company for the purposes aforesaid; and the directors of the company may confer on any holder of any bond issued for money borrowed as aforesaid, the right to convert the principal due or owing thereon into stock of said company, at any time not exceeding ten years from the date of the bond under such regulations as the directors may see fit to adopt. to wear 27. Every conductor, baggage-master, engineer, brakeman, or other Employees servant of any railroad corporation employed in a passenger train, or badge. at stations for passengers, shall wear upon his hat or cap a badge, which shall indicate his office, and the initial letters of the style of the corporation by which he is employed. No conductor or collector, without such badge, shall be entitled to demand or receive from any passenger any fare or ticket, or to exercise any of the powers of his office; and no officer or servant without such badge shall have authority to meddle or interfere with any passenger, his baggage or property. 28. Any such corporation shall, when applied to by the Postmaster- To convey General, convey the mails of the United States on their road or roads mails. respectively; and in case such corporations shall not agree as to the rate of transportation therefor, and as to the time, rate of speed, manner and condition of carrying the same, it shall be lawful for the Governor of this State to appoint three commissioners, who, or a majority of them after fifteen days' notice in writing of the time and place of meeting to the corporation, shall determine and fix the prices, terms and conditions aforesaid; but such price shall not be less for carrying said mails in the regular passenger trains, than the amount which such corporation would receive as freight on a like weight of merchandise transported in their merchandise trains, and a fair compensation for the post-office car. And in case the Postmaster-General shall require the mail to be carried at other hours, or at a higher speed than the passenger trains are run, the corporation shall furnish an extra train for the mail, and be allowed an extra compensation for the expenses and wear and tear thereof, and for the service, to be fixed as aforesaid. gers. § 29. If any passenger shall refuse to pay his fare, it shall be lawful Ejection for the conductor of the train and the servants of the corporation to of passenput him and his baggage out of the cars, using no unnecessary force, at any usual stopping place, or near any dwelling-house, as the conductor shall elect, on stopping the train. regular to furnish dations. § 30. Every such corporation shall start and run their cars for the To run transportation of passengers and property, at regular times, to be fixed trains at by public notice; and shall furnish sufficient accommodations for the times and transportation of all such passengers and property, as shall, within a sufficient reasonable time previous thereto, be offered for transportation at the accommo place of starting and the junctions of other railroads, and at usual stopping places established for receiving and discharging way passengers and freight for that train; and shall take, transport and discharge such passengers and property at, from and to such places, on the due payment of the freight or fare legally authorized therefor; and shall be liable to the party aggrieved, in an action for damages, for any neglect or refusal in the premises. Intoxica ployees. § 31. If any person shall while in charge of a locomotive engine tion of em 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. Willful injury to property Penalties, how recovered. Legisla ture may dissolve. § 32. If any person or persons shall willfully do, or cause to be done any acts or act 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. § 33. 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. § 34. The Legislature may at any time annul or dissolve any incorporation formed under this act; but such dissolution shall not take company. away or impair any remedy given against any such corporation, its stockholders or officers for any liability which shall have been previously incurred. Where route crosses § 35. Whenever the route selected by the said commissioners for the construction of said railway shall intersect, cross or coincide with any horse rail- horse railway track occupying the surface of said streets or avenues, road track. the said railway corporation is hereby authorized to remove, for the Where route coincides with another route. N. C. 434; purpose of constructing the said work, the tracks of said horse rail- § 36. Whenever the route or routes determined upon by said commissioners coincide with the route or routes covered by the charter of an existing corporation formed for the purpose provided for by this 70 N. Y. 361; act, provided that said corporation has not forfeited its charter or S... 3 Abb. failed to comply with the provisions thereof, requiring the construcaff g 9 Hun, tion of a road or roads within the time prescribed by its charter, 30370 NY such corporation shall have the like power to construct and operAbb. N. C. ate such railway or railways, upon fulfillment of the requirements and 401; ag conditions imposed by said commissioners as a corporation specially 78 N.Y. 524, formed under this act; and the said commissioners may fix and 327; S. C., 3 aff'g 7 Hun, 239, 3 Abb. N. C. 372. Elevated railways. determine the route or routes by which any elevated steam railway or railways now in actual operation may connect with other steam railways or the depots thereof, or with steam ferries; upon fulfillment by such elevated steam railway company, so far as it relates to such connection, of such of the requirements and conditions imposed by said commissioners under section four of this act, as are necessary to be fulfilled in such cases, under section eighteen of article three of the Constitution of this State, and such connecting elevated railway shall in such case possess all the powers conferred by section twenty-six of this act; and when any connecting route or routes shall be so designated, such elevated railway company may construct such connection, with all the rights, and with like effect as though the same had been a part of the original route of such railway. transfer to corpo § 37. Within one month after such corporation shall have been Commisformed and organized in the manner herein before provided, the said sioners to commissioners shall transfer and deliver to the said corporation all plans, eto, plans, specificacions, drawings, maps, books and papers in their pos- ration. session. And the said commissioners shall, within the like period of one month after the organization of such corporation, cause to be paid to the treasurer thereof all money collected under the provisions of this act, after deducting therefrom the necessary expenses incurred by said commissioners and the amounts due or to accrue to them for their salaries. commis § 38. Each of said commissioners shall be paid for his services at the Pay of rate of ten dollars per day for each day of actual service as such com- sioners. missioner, to be paid by such corporation, but if a sufficient amount of capital stock shall not be subscribed within one year after the appointment of such commissioners to authorize the formation of such corporation, the said commissioners shall receive no salary, and shall cause to be returned to the subscribers for said stock the amounts paid in by them, after deducting therefrom the necessary expenses incurred by said commissioners; provided, however, that the time, if any, unavoidably consumed by the pendency of legal proceedings shall not be deemed a part of any period or time limited in this act. sioners. § 39. A majority of the said commissioners shall be deemed and Commis considered sufficient for the transaction of any business, or for the exercise of any of the duties, powers or functions hereby conferred or enjoined upon them. Any of said commissioners may be removed for cause at any time by the power appointing him, but no commissioner shall be removed without due notice and an opportunity of being heard in defense; and no commissioner thus removed shall be again appointed to the office of commissioner. In case of the death, resignation or removal from office of any of the said commissioners, the vacancy shall be filled, within thirty days from such death, resignation or removal, by the power appointing him, and a certificate of such appointment shall be filed as aforesaid. And the terms of office of the said commissioners shall determine and expire with the performance of their functions as herein prescribed. tions of act. 40. This act shall not be construed to repeal or in any manner to Limitaaffect chapter one hundred and forty of the laws of eighteen hundred and fifty, entitled "An act to authorize the formation of railroad corporations and to regulate the same," or the several acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto. None of the provisions of this act shall apply to any railroad company organized under any general or special law of this State, for the purpose of constructing or operating a steam railroad upon the surface of the ground, nor to the operation or management of any such railroad heretofore constructed. § 41. It shall not be lawful for any company organized under the provisions of this act, or under any other act heretofore passed, to construct a steam railway upon St. Nicholas avenue, in the city of New York, or those streets or avenues in said city commonly known as boulevards, except to cross the same, under such regulations as shall be imposed by the commissioners provided for by this act, and every such company shall be bound by the restrictions and limitations as to its |