Illinois Central R. v. Cox
Illinois Central R. v. Cox
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an appeal from a judgment for one thousand four hundred ninety-five dollars against the appellant in favor of the appellee for alleged insulting language of a conductor and the act of the conductor in forcing the appellee to place a negro prisoner in his custody with the appellee in the colored compartment of the passenger train being operated in the state of Tennessee. The appellee had gone to East St. Louis for a negro prisoner charged with murder and was carrying him back to Sunflower county, Miss., for trial on said charge. He boarded the passenger train of the appellant at East St. Louis and traveled to Fulton, Ky., where it was necessary to change cars for Memphis, Tenn. The plaintiff had a ticket from East St. Louis to S'haAV, Miss. On changing cars at Fulton, Ky.,
The conductor, the porter, and two passengers traveling on the said train were introduced by the defendant, and their version of the affair was that the conductor approached the plaintiff and the negro prisoner and said, “Tickets, please;” that the conductor then told the plaintiff he would have to carry the negro into the compartment for colored, people, and that plaintiff remonstrated, and the conductor told him that he had to enforce the law, that he knew what the law was, and he would have to carry the prisoner into the colored compartment; that the conductor did not use violent or profane language nor an insulting manner toward the plaintiff; that he stated to the plaintiff when he offered his card that he did not care who he was, that he had put one sheriff off for refusing to carry his negro prisoner into the colored coach, and that he would have to put him (the plaintiff) off if he did not carry his prisoner into the colored coach.
The plaintiff states that when he went into the colored coach' with his prisoner, several negroes crowded around the prisoner to find out what his trouble was, but they soon went out, except now and then some negro in the colored compartment would go into the smoker and smoke. The proof for the defendant was that the plaintiff practically had the compartment to himself throughout the trip.
The court granted the plaintiff instruction No. 1, which reads as follows:
“This court instructs the ,j ury that if they believe from the evidence in this case that A. C. Cox, plaintiff, had first-class passage for himself and his prisoner over the
This instruction No. 1 for plaintiff is assigned for error.
The court refused instruction No. 10 requested by the defendant, AA’hich reads as follows:
“The court instructs the jury for the defendant that if they believe from the evidence in this case that A. C. Cox, the plaintiff, boarded a passenger train of the defendant with a negro prisoner at Fulton-, Ky., and Avas requested to exhibit tickets for himself and his prisoner by the train porter of the defendant, and he refused to do so, but entered the train with his colored prisoner and took seats Avith his prisoner in a white compartment of the train, and after the train reached the state of Tennessee, the plaintiff was requested to move his negro prisoner into a compartment for colored people on the sáme coach, and that after some discussion with the conductor of defendant’s
The refusal of this instruction for the defendant was also assigned for error.
A number of other errors are assigned, including a request by the defendant for a peremptory instruction.
As we understand instruction No. 1, the right of recovery is based upon the assumption that it was the duty of the defendant to admit plaintiff as a passenger when he presented himself for transportation along with his prisoner, if he had transportation, without reference to the rule of the carrier requiring him to show his ticket; and also is predicated upon offensive and insulting language and manner alleged to have been used by the conductor to the plaintiff, and also upon the theory that the plaintiff had a right tfc ride in the white compartment with hig negro prisoner and was forced by the conductor to enter and ride in the colored compartment.
The rule of the defendant requiring passengers to exhibit tickets before boarding a train is a reasonable rule both to the interest of the carrier and that of passengers. It serves to prevent passengers from getting on the wrong train by mistake, and protects the carrier from persons boarding the train without tickets or means of transporta
The plaintiff was entitled, of course, to recover damages for rude, offensive and insulting language and for the insulting demeanor of the conductor, if plaintiff’s version of the transaction is accepted as the true one, and this on the facts of the record is the only element of damages for which the plaintiff may recover.
We do not think that any right of the plaintiff was violated by requiring the sheriff to take his negro prisoner into the compartment for colored passengers. The statute of the state of Tennessee under which this action arises contains no exception in favor of a sheriff with a prisoner, and all of the authorities, that we have found, hold in the absence of such exceptions in statutes, that either the carrier has the option to place them in the colored compartment, or that it is their duty so to do. The carrier, of course, is not Responsible for the safe-keeping of a prisoner, and the sheriff has the option of either letting the prisoner remain in the colored compartment alone, or he may accompany him in such compartment under the legal necessity of securing the safety of the prisoner and preventing his escape.
As said in L. & N. R. Co. v. Catron, 102 Ky. 323, 43 S. W. 443, the conductor was required, by the provisions of the statute, to assign white and colored passengers to their respective coaches, and was empowered to eject from the train any one who refused to obey his directions; but nurses and officers in charge of prisoners were excepted from the provisions of the act. It was held in that case that — “The exception is not to the prisoner, but to the officer . . . in charge of a prisoner, he may occupy either car. He may occupy the car assigned to his race or he may occupy the car of the race of the prisoner, but that the prisoner must
In the Tennessee statute there is no exception in favor of the officer, and the exception, if made, must be made upon legal necessity. It was mandatory that the negro be assigned to the coach or compartment for colored passengers, but as the officer is required to attend the prisoner to insure his safety or to prevent his escape, he could ride in the colored coach out of legal necessity.
In the case of Huff v. N. S. R. Co., 171 N. C. 203, 88 S. E. 344, L. R. A. 1916E, 278, the North Carolina court denied the right of the sheriff to recover damages where he was required to ride with his negro prisoner in the coach set apart for colored passengers.
In Gulf, C. & S. F. R. R. Co. v. Sharman (Tex. Civ. App.), 158 S. W. 1045, a sheriff, a white man, who boarded a train with a negro prisoner, was forced under protest to carry him into the negro coach, where be remained because of fear of the escape of bis prisoner. The court held that the railroad company was not liable to the sheriff because the laws of the state required the railroad company to furnish separate coaches for the white and negro races and prohibited either race from riding in the car provided for the other race, and provided that the conductor .shall have the authority to refuse any passenger admittance to any coach or compartment to which they are not entitled to ride under the provisions of this law. and providing punishment for the failure of the conductor to enforce this statute, but that there was another statute which required peace officers to safely keep and guard their prisoners; that the two statutes must be taken together and the rule of common sense should apply; and that the circumstances of the sheriff having the prisoner in charge creates an exception to the law. The court held there was no liability for forcing the sheriff to occupy the compartment set apart for colored people, saying:
In M. & O. R. R. Co. v. Spenny, 12 Ala. App. 375, 67 So. 740, a white officer in charge of a negro prisoner boarded a train, and because of refusal to go with the prisoner into the colored coach, or to send the prisoner there and himself remain in the white coach if he wishes, was ejected. The court in holding that the conductor’s action did not warrant a suit for damages against the carrier, said:
“If it be conceded that an exception must be recognized in the case of a white officer in charge of a negro prisoner, because of the right of the officer to use the public carrier-in the discharge of his public duty in removing the negro prisoner and safeguarding him while en route, then it seems to me that a due regard for the legislative intent and object to be obtained in passing these segregation statutes, that I have above discussed, would leave the door of construction, in applying the 'rule of reason’ to engrafting an exception on the statutes and making an application to the case in hand, open to but one conclusion; and that is, that the rule of the company, having reference to the separation of the races in conformity with the segregation statutes requiring a white officer having in charge a negro prisoner either to leave the prisoner in the compartment set apart for his race or to remain, if he so desires for the safe-keeping of his prisoner, in that compartment, is more reasonable as referred to and authorized by a construction of the statutes than the opposed view which en-grafts an exception giving an officer the right, to intrude a negro prisoner in a car or compartment set apart for the exclusive use of passengers of the white race.”
We think, therefore, it was error to embody in the instruction the theory or hypothesis that he could recover damages for being forced to ride in the colored compartment and for that reason that instruction No. 1 for the plaintiff is error. We also think it was error to refuse the defendant instruction No. 10. The testimony of the defendant supported the hypothesis of the instruction and nothing was given the defendant that presented the hypothesis contained in this instruction. It was evidently refused upon the theory that the sheriff had the legal right to ride in the white compartment with his negro prisoner. As we hold that he did not have such right, the instruction should have been given.
We do not pass upon the other assignment because, for the reasons indicated, the judgment must be reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.