One Sunday, in 1855, Lizzie Jennings, a colored woman, returning from
having fulfilled her duties as superintendent of a colored
Sunday-school, entered a Fourth-avenue car, and the conductor took her
fare. Soon after, a drunken white man objected to her presence, and
insisted that she be made to leave the car. The conductor pulled the
bell, and when the car stopped, told her that she must get out, offering
to return her fare. She refused, and the conductor then offered to put
her off by force. She made vigorous resistance, exclaiming: "I have paid
my fare, and I have a right to ride." Finally, the conductor called in
several policemen, and, by their joint efforts, she was removed from the
car, her clothing having nearly all been torn from her in the struggle.
When the leading colored people of the city heard of this, they sent a
committee to the office of Culver, Parker, and Arthur, and requested
them to make it a test case.

Mr. Arthur brought suit against the railroad company for Miss Jennings,
in the Supreme Court, at Brooklyn. The case came on for trial before
Judge Rockwell, who then sat upon the bench there. He had just decided,
in a previous case, that a corporation was not liable for the wrongful
acts of its agent or servant, and when Mr. Arthur handed him the
pleadings, he said that the railroad company was not liable, and was
about to order a nonsuit. Mr. Arthur called his attention, however, to a
recently revised section of the Revised Statutes, making certain
railroad corporations which carried passengers liable for the acts of
their conductors and drivers, whether wilful or negligent, under which
the action had been brought. The judge was silenced, the case was tried,
and the jury rendered a verdict of five hundred dollars damages in favor
of the colored woman. The railroad company paid the money without
further contest, and issued orders to its conductors to permit colored
people to ride in its cars, an example that was followed by all the