Trains to which Laws do not Apply
There are certain classes of trains to which the “Jim Crow” laws do not apply. In Maryland, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia, they do not apply to freight trains carrying passengers in the caboose cars. South Carolina exempts narrow-gauged roads from the requirements of the law. North Carolina gives its railroad commissioners power to exempt branch lines and narrow-gauged roads if, in their judgment, separation is unnecessary to secure the comfort of passengers. South Carolina provides that, where a railroad is under forty miles in length and operates both a freight and a passenger train daily, the law applies only to the passenger train. These two States also except relief trains in case of accident. Whether there is statutory exemption or not, the railway company cannot be held responsible for not separating the passengers in case of an accident.[[566]] Oklahoma allows the running of extra or special trains or cars for the exclusive accommodation of either race, if the regular trains or cars are operated upon regular schedule. Texas provides that the provisions of its act shall not apply to any excursion train run strictly as such for the benefit of either race.
Passengers to whom Law does not Apply
Certain classes of passengers are exempt from the laws. There is, for instance, an exemption in favor of nurses attending the children or sick of the other race in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. The Florida provision is that nothing in the act shall be construed to prevent female colored nurses having the care of children or sick persons from riding in cars for white passengers. North Carolina excepts “Negro servants in attendance on their employers.” These two qualifications sound innocent enough, but probably upon a test they would be declared unconstitutional. It would be considered class legislation in that colored nurses and Negro servants are specifically mentioned instead of exempting nurses and servants in general. In fact, the point has been decided in the case of street-car provisions with similar wording.
Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia expressly exempt the employees of a railroad in the discharge of their duty from the requirements of the “Jim Crow” laws. Where such exemption is not so made in the statute, it must be taken for granted, for it would be manifestly unreasonable to prohibit a white conductor from going into the colored coach to collect tickets, or a colored porter from going into the coach for white passengers to regulate the ventilation or for any other purpose of his employment. It may be noted, however, that in States where these laws apply, the white conductor usually assists the white passengers in entering and leaving the cars, while colored porters attend to the colored passengers.
Most of the States provide that the laws do not apply to officers in charge of prisoners. Arkansas declares that “officers accompanying prisoners may be assigned to the coach or room to which said prisoners belong by reason of race.” Louisiana, on the contrary, exempts prisoners in the charge of officers from the “Jim Crow” laws. The South Carolina law exempts lunatics as well. The law of Kentucky exempts “officers in charge of prisoners.” When, in a case which arose in Kentucky, a sheriff went to take a Negro lunatic over the road, the conductor required the lunatic to stay in the colored coach, and gave the sheriff the choice of staying with the lunatic or leaving him and riding in the car for white passengers. The court[[567]] upheld the action of the conductor, ruling that the exemption applied only to the officers, not to the prisoners. The law has the same effect as if it said that the officer should ride in the car set apart for the race of the prisoner or lunatic, because it is his duty to guard his charge, and, if the prisoner or lunatic must stay in the car for his race, the officer must stay there with him. North Carolina, South Carolina, and Maryland exempt prisoners from the requirements of the “Jim Crow” laws.
Nature of Accommodations
As to the nature of railroad accommodations, all “Jim Crow” laws provide, in substance, that the accommodations for white and colored passengers must be equal for both races. Florida provides that the coaches for colored passengers (with first-class tickets) must be equally good and provided with the same facilities for comfort as those for white passengers with first-class tickets. Kentucky, Maryland, and Virginia prohibit any difference in quality, convenience, or accommodation. Tennessee provides that the first-class coaches for colored passengers must “be kept in good repair, and with the same convenience and subject to the same rules governing other first-class cars, preventing smoking and obscene language.”
There is no one point upon which the courts are more in accord than that there is no ground of action so long as the accommodations are substantially equal.[[568]] The great working principle was enunciated in 1885 in the Circuit Court[[569]] of Tennessee in the doctrine that equality of accommodation does not mean identity of accommodation. And, indeed, the railroad company is not liable for damages even for inequality of accommodation, unless it is proved that the plaintiff actually sustained damages by such inequality.[[570]]