20 · = FEDERAL smronrun.
gave authority to the Alexandria & Fredericksburg Company to run
a road parallel with that of the Alexandria & Washington Company
between Alexandria and the south end of the Long bridge. The Alex-
andria & Fredericksburg Company soon acquired the property of the
Alexandria & Washington Turnpike Company, whose turnpike road
runs alongside of the Alexandria & Washington Railroad, its whole
length. Instead of determining to lay its track wholly on the turn-
· pike road, the Alexandria & Fredericksburg Company instituted pro-
ceedings, on the sixth of February, 1871, in the county court of Alex-
andria county, for condemning to its use a strip of land 18% feet in
width, taken from the west side of the 50·feet strip of the Alexandria
& Washington Railroad. Under these proceedings, which were vig-
orously opposed by certain private persons and by James S. French,
a stockholder in, and the former president of, the Alexandria & Wash-
ington Railroad Company, this 18%-feet strip of land was nnally as-
sessed by commissioners at the value of $407.81, the report of which
was confirmed by the court by an order of June 2, 1873, and the
amount assessed was paid into court by the Alexandria & Fredericks-
burg Company. These proceedings do not seem to have been resisted
by the oflicers of the Alexandria dz Washington Railroad Company,
but were nevertheless strenuously resisted, and delayed for more than
two years, as before stated.
The statute law of Virginia provides that upon such judgment as
that just described, confirming an assessment, the title to that part
of the land for which such compensation is allowed, shall be abso-
lutely vested in the company in fee·simple. Code 1873, c. 56, § 11,
p. 538. The Alexandria & Fredericksburg Company at once took
possession of the strip of land referred to, and in due course of time
laid down a steel rail track upon it at an original cost of $59,610.37.
It may be added here, that, after a considerable Hood in the Potomac
in the winter of 1881, repairs were put by this company on the whole
50~feet strip of land, including the tracks of both companies, at an
outlay of $11,912.89, and that it has also, since 1870, paid taxes
- upon this property of the two companies to the amount of $1,384.57.
The proceedings of condemnation which have been mentioned were
made the subject of an appeal to the circuit court of Alexandria county,
which terminated on May 23, 1879, in a decree declaring the proceed-‘
ings illegal, and, of course, invalidating the title of the Alexandria
& Fredericksburg Company to the 18%-feet strip of land on which it
had constructed its road. The ground of this decree of the circuit
court was that the condemnation had been in violation of the proviso
in the amen_ded charter of the Alexandria & Fredericksburg Com-
pany, which has been quoted, prohibiting the Alexandria & Freder-
icksburg Company from interfering with the chartered rights and
franchises of the Alexandria & Washington Railroad Company. A
majority of the capital stock of the Alexandria & Washington Com-
pany was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company on the