Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/156

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seats reserved for Negroes. The court[74] before which the case was tried held that the rule of the theatre requiring separate accommodations for the races was not a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The most recent case[75] appears to be a 1905 case in New York in which a Negro was ejected from a theatre by an employee. The proprietor was permitted to show that the ejectment was done while he was away and contrary to his orders, and that he permitted Negroes to enjoy the privileges of the place. A verdict was thereupon found for him, but the case was remanded by the appellate court for a new trial, on the ground that the evidence was improperly admitted.


SKATING RINKS

California, Illinois, and Massachusetts have considered skating rinks of enough importance to include them in their Civil Rights Bills. In 1885 the keeper of a skating rink in Iowa refused to let a Negro use it, and the Negro brought suit. The court[76] held that the exclusion of a colored man from a skating rink not licensed is not illegal. The New York court[77] has held that a skating rink is a "place of public amusement" within the meaning of the statute, so that a keeper of one cannot refuse admission to a Negro.


CEMETERIES

The early Civil Rights Bills of New York, Florida, and Kansas prohibited race distinctions in public cemeteries. This stipulation, however, does not appear in the present statutes of any of the States, except Kansas. Race dis-