State v. St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company

• Decision Date: 17 June 1907
• Citation: 103 S.W. 623,83 Ark. 249
• Parties: STATE v. ST. LOUIS & SAN FRANCISCO RAILROAD COMPANY
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

103 S.W. 623

83 Ark. 249

STATE v. ST. LOUIS & SAN FRANCISCO RAILROAD COMPANY

Supreme Court of Arkansas

June 17, 1907

Appeal from Sharp Circuit Court; J. W. Meeks, Judge; affirmed.

STATEMENT BY THE COURT.

This is a prosecution, by indictment, for the alleged violation of an act approved April 23, 1903, which is as follows:

"Section 1. All persons who own or operate any line or lines of railroad in this State shall keep separate waiting rooms now provided for in section 6219 of Sandels & Hill's Digest in all depot buildings now erected or that may hereafter be erected, for the accommodation of their passengers, open both day and night for the free and unrestricted use of their said passengers.

"Section 2. That said waiting rooms shall at all proper times and seasons be comfortably heated and at all times supplied with wholesome drinking water, and shall in all other respects keep and maintain said waiting rooms in a sanitary and clean manner. All railroads passing through or into any city or incorporated town in this State shall construct and maintain two water closets at their passenger depots, one for males and one for females. Said closets shall be designated by proper lettering. They shall be kept open at all hours for the accommodation of passengers and employees of said road or roads, and shall be constructed and kept in good condition.

"Section 3. All railway companies that shall refuse and neglect to comply with the provisions and requirements of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction before any court of competent jurisdiction, be fined not less than one hundred dollars ($ 100.00) nor more than three hundred dollars ($ 300.00), and every day or night that such railway company shall fail to comply with the provisions of this act shall be a separate offense, and any agent or agents of such railway company at such depot who shall refuse to carry out the provisions of this act shall, on conviction, be fined not less than ten nor more than twenty-five dollars ($ 25.00) for each offense; provided, however, that all railroad lines running neither freight nor passenger trains over said lines after night shall be allowed to close their waiting rooms at 7 o'clock P. M. and open their waiting rooms to the public at 6 A. M.; and provided further, that the provisions of this act shall not apply to Benton, Washington and Crawford counties." Acts 1903, c. 160.

Section 6219, Sand. & H. Digest, to which reference is made in this act, reads as follows:

"Section 6219. All railroad companies carrying passengers in this State shall provide equal but separate and sufficient accommodations for the white and African races by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train provided, each railway carrying passengers in this State may carry one partitioned car, one end of which may be used by the white passengers and the other end by the passengers of the African race, said partition to be made of wood, and they shall also provide separate waiting rooms of equal and sufficient accommodations for the two races at all their passenger depots in this State."

The indictment alleged as follows:

"The grand jury of Fulton County, in the name and by the authority of the State of Arkansas, accuse the St, Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company of the crime of misdemeanor committed as follows, to-wit: The said St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company in the county and State aforesaid on the 20th day of January, A. D. 1906, then and there being owning and operating a line of railroad in this State and in and through the town of Mammoth Spring, the same being then and there an incorporated town in Fulton County in said State, did then and there unlawfully fail to construct and maintain two water closets at their passenger depot in said incorporated town of Mammoth Spring, one for males and one for females, and did then and there unlawfully fail to designate said closets by proper lettering, against the peace and dignity of the State of Arkansas."

Defendant demurred to this indictment as follows:

"1st Said indictment does not state facts sufficient to constitute any public offense under the law of Arkansas.

"2nd. Said indictment is indefinite and uncertain and not sufficiently specific to charge any offense under the laws of Arkansas.

"3rd. Said indictment attempts to charge two or more offenses in a single count."

The court sustained the demurrer, and the State has appealed.

Judgment affirmed.

William F. Kirby Attorney General, and Daniel Taylor Assistant, for appellant.

1. Under the law the crime consists in "failing to provide for the comfort and accommodation of railway passengers," which may be committed in any or all of the modes set out in the statutes, and the indictment should have so alleged, instead of charging the "crime of misdemeanor;" but this defect is not fatal, since a particular offense was made definite by the statement of facts constituting it and the name of the crime is controlled by the specific acts charged. 36 Ark. 242; 71 Ark. 80; 77 Ark. 480.

2. The indictment does not charge two offenses, but one offense committed in two ways. Kirby's Digest, §§ 2228-2230.

L. F. Parker and W. J. Orr, for appellee.

1. An indictment must set forth the facts constituting the alleged offense so clearly as to advise the accused of the charge which he has to meet, to give him a fair opportunity to prepare his defense, to enable him to avail himself of a conviction or acquittal in bar of another prosecution for the same offense and to enable the court to determine whether or not, under the law, the facts therein...