Britton v. Atlanta & Charlotte Air-Line Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 28 February 1883
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: ELSIE L. BRITTON v. ATLANTA & CHARLOTTE AIR-LINE RAILWAY COMPANY.

88 N.C. 536

43 Am.Rep. 749

ELSIE L. BRITTON

v.ATLANTA & CHARLOTTE AIR-LINE RAILWAY COMPANY.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

February Term, 1883.

CIVIL ACTION tried at January Special Term, 1882, of MECKLENBURG Superior Court, before Bennett, J.

The plaintiff in this action is a colored woman, and seeks to recover of the defendant company damages for injuries sustained by her, while travelling on its train. The train was a special one for excursionists, running from Atlanta, Georgia, to Charlotte, North Carolina, on the 23d day of July, 1878. Handbills had been posted, advertising the time and terms of the excursion, and that separate cars would be provided for white and colored passengers.

The injuries complained of consisted in her being assaulted by a stranger, and forcibly ejected from the car in which she had been seated--it being the ““smoking car,” which had been provided for the white male passengers.

The case for the plaintiff is as follows: Having purchased a ticket at Greenville, South Carolina, she, in company with a man and woman belonging to her race, entered the defendant's train and occupied seats in the car in question. No one pointed out to them the cars intended to be occupied by the colored passengers, nor did she know that separate cars had been provided for the two races, or of the regulation of the company requiring it to be done. Before the train left Greenville, some one, a white person, not in authority, began to cast reflections upon the party, saying that “d--d niggers had no business in there,” and when under way, others of the white passengers cursed them for being in the car, and declared that they didn't want “niggers” in that car; and for the purpose of annoying them sang vulgar songs and whooped and hallooed at the top of their voices. The man who accompanied the plaintiff, and whose name was Culp, spoke to the conductor in charge of the train about the conduct of the other passengers, and complained of it.

The conductor accepted the tickets of the three, and told them they might sit in that car, but as it was an excursion train he could not control the conduct of the other passengers, and they might expect rudeness. Whenever the conductor was present, the misbehavior would cease, but as soon as he left the car it was resumed. He was appealed to as many as four times to protect them from insult, but each time said he could not help it. While the train was stopped at King's Mountain station, a white man, whom none of the party knew, ordered them out of the car, when Culp asked to see the conductor. The man went out, soon others came in and said to Culp, “get up and go out of here.” He again asked to see the conductor and retained his seat, whereupon he was seized, beaten, and finally ejected from the car. The same persons then seized hold of the plaintiff, beat and badly bruised her, and finally put her and her companion out of the car, and threw their baggage upon the platform.

The plaintiff then went into another coach, which was filled with colored people, every seat being occupied, so that she had to stand for some time after the starting of the train, when some one got up and gave her a seat.

During the time the plaintiff and her companions were being ejected, neither the conductor nor any other employee of the defendant was present to protect them; nor did she see the conductor until after the train was in motion, when he came to where she was standing, and, when informed of what had taken place, said that he knew nothing about it; and that none of the other passengers knew anything about it. He gave her no seat, but went out, leaving her standing, and it was only through the kindness of another passenger that she got one at all, and then it was by an open window, and being at night, she took violent cold.

The case shown by the defendant is as follows: The excursion had been extensively advertised by large handbills, in which it was announced that separate coaches would be provided for white and colored passengers. The train at Greenville was composed of six coaches, all substantially alike as to their conveniences and accommodations--the two next to the baggage car being reserved for colored passengers, the third as a smoking car for whites, and the others for whites generally. There was no notice on either the outside or inside of the coaches to indicate which were intended for whites, or which for colored people, though at Greenville there was an announcement made to that effect by one of the brakemen in defendant's service. After leaving that station, the conductor, in passing through the train, found the plaintiff and her party in the smoking car, and called for and accepted their tickets. He then said to them that the two forward coaches were intended for persons of their color, to which they replied that they were pleasantly situated, and preferred to remain where they were.

The instructions given by the company to the conductor were to advise such colored passengers as he might find in the coaches set apart for whites to go to the others, but if they declined to do so, to allow them to remain where they were, so long as they conducted themselves properly.

At some point before reaching King's Mountain, the colored man, Culp, in the presence of the plaintiff, complained to the conductor of the rudeness of some of the white passengers towards himself and his companions, and of the indecent language used in their hearing, when he was again told that he would find a pleasanter seat if he would go into the forward coaches, in which, at that time, there was a number of vacant seats.

The white persons in the coach, who were known to the conductor to be “wild young men from Atlanta, on a spree,” also complained of the presence of these colored persons in the coach, and inquired of that officer if he did not mean to put them off?

At another time, the party complained to the conductor of being cursed and insulted by the others, when he said to them, that while he would not require them to go into the other car, he would still advise them as a friend to do so, and expressed some surprise at their unwillingness to do so, whereupon Culp said he desired to go, but that the females under his charge were unwilling.

The behavior of the plaintiff and her companions while in the car was entirely becoming, and their dress and appearance decent.

The train stopped at King's Mountain at eight o'clock P. M., and while there, one Ramseur, who was neither a passenger nor employee on the train, entered the smoking car, for the purpose of seating some white women who came in with him. The seats being filled, and seeing the two colored women there, he asked for their seats, which they declined to surrender. Some one in the crowd proposed to put them out, to which Ramseur assented and seized hold of the plaintiff. Thereupon Culp cried out, “don't strike that lady,” when Ramseur struck him over the head with a stick, and then, with the help of some of the white passengers, ejected all three from the car.

At the time of this occurrence, the conductor was in the baggage car, with the baggage-master, receiving and delivering baggage; and the other train hands, of whom there were three, had been sent for water to refill the coolers in the coaches. While there, the conductor was told that a row was about to take place in the smoking car, and that his presence was needed, to which he replied that he would go as soon as he could start the train. In a minute or so he rang his bell, and as soon as the train moved, he started to the scene of disturbance, but when he reached the second coach from the baggage car, he there found the plaintiff and her friends. She was standing up and made serious complaints of his not having been present to protect her. He told her that she should have a seat; but by this time every seat was occupied, so that he was unable to provide her with one, and consequently had to leave her standing.

Amongst others the following instructions were asked:

1. That upon the evidence, taken as a whole, the plaintiff was entitled to recover of the defendant compensation to the extent of her injuries.

2. That being permitted by the conductor to remain in the coach, she was rightfully...