ctor 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
other street railroads in New York. The colored people, especially "The
Colored People's Legal Rights Association," were very grateful to Mr.
Arthur, and for years afterward they celebrated the anniversary of the
day on which he won the case that asserted their rights in public
conveyances.

When a lad, young Arthur had always taken a great interest in politics,
and it is related of him that during the Clay-Polk campaign of 1844,
while he and some of his companions were raising an ash pole in honor of
Harry Clay, they were attacked by some Democratic boys, when young
Arthur, who was the leader of the party, ordered a charge, and drove the
young Democrats from the field with sore heads and subdued spirits. His
first vote was cast in 1852 for Winfield Scott for President, and he
identi