THOMAS G. PRATT, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.

1846.

CHAPTER 39.

CHAP. 39.

An act to incorporate the Magnetic Telegraph Company,

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of
Maryland, That Samuel F. B. Morse, B. B. French,
George C. Penniman, Henry J. Rogers, John S. McKim,
J. R. Trimble, William M. Swain, John O. Stems, A.
Sidney Doane, and their associates, who have acquired
from said Morse the right to contract and carry on the
Electro Magnetic Telegraph, by him invented and pa-
tented, through this State on the route leading from the
city of Washington to the city of New York, are hereby
created a corporation and body politic for the purpose of
erecting and maintaining a line of said Telegraph on the
route aforesaid, and transmitting intelligence by means
thereof, under the name and style of the Magnetic Tele-
gragh Company.

Passed Feb.
4, 1947.
Incorporated.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That the stock of said
company shall consist of shares of one hundred dollars
each, to be issued in such proportions to the original
owners of the patent right and to those who have here-
tofore or may hereafter furnish funds for the construction
and improvement of said line of Telegraph, as the said
owners and subscribers have heretofore or may hereafter
agree upon; provided, that when the basic on which such

One hundred
dollars each
share.

stock shall be issued has been once fixed, it shall not
thereafter be altered. Provided, further, that funds to
be raised for the construction of said Telegraph, putting
the same in operation, and from time to time adding to
and improving it, shall be only sufficient for these pur-
poses, and shall not be invested or employed for any
other purpose whatsoever.

Provisos.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That the said corporation
shall have the power to build or purchase any connecting
or side lines in this State, having acquired the right to
do so from the owners of Morse's patent, and may en-
large their capital for that purpose.

Power to build.

SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That the persons nam-
ed in the first section of this act, or any four of them,
shall call a meeting, to be held on the first Tuesday of
July next, of the corporate body hereby created, giving
three weeks' notice of the time and place of meeting, in
at least one newspaper, published in the cities of Phila-
delphia, New York; Trenton, in the State of New Jer-
sey, Wilmington, in the State of Delaware; Baltimore,
and the city of Washington, for the purpose of choosing

Any four to
call meeting.