- ever, 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[51] 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
