The following is a recent case arising in Kentucky, in which it was held that it is not slander _per se_ to call a white person a Negro: A white woman entered a coach set apart for white people. The passengers therein complained that she was a Negro, and the brakeman, on hearing their remarks, asked her to go into the next coach. When, upon reaching the other coach, she found that it was set apart for Negroes, she left the train, which had not yet started from the station. She met the conductor, who, upon hearing her explanation, permitted her to go her journey in the white coach. Later, she brought suit against the railroad company and recovered a judgment for four thousand dollars. Upon appeal, the judgment of the lower court was reversed, the higher court saying: “What race a person belongs to cannot always be determined infallibly from appearances, and mistake must inevitably be made. When a mistake is made, the carrier is not liable in damages simply because a white person was taken for a Negro, or _vice versa_. It is not a legal injury for a white person to be taken for a Negro. It was not contemplated by the statute that the carrier should be an insurer as to the race of its passengers. The carrier is bound to exercise ordinary care in the matter, but if it exercises ordinary care, and is not insulting to the passenger, it is not liable for damages.”[53] Probably the most recent case on the subject is one which arose about two years ago in Virginia. A certain Mrs. Stone boarded a train at Myrtle, Virginia. In spite of her protests, the conductor compelled her to go into the “Jim Crow” coach, thinking that she was a Negro. After she had entered the car, a Negro passenger recognized her and said, “Lor’, Miss Rosa, this ain’t no place for you; you b’long in the cars back yonder.” Mrs. Stone rode on to Suffolk, the next station, and left the train. She sued the railroad company for one thousand dollars damages. It appeared that Mrs. Stone was much tanned: this probably caused the conductor to mistake her for a Negro. It will have been noticed that all the courts which have held it actionable _per se_ to call a white person a Negro have been in the Southern States. It is doubtful whether the courts in other sections would take the same view, and even Kentucky, a Southern State, has refused so to do. The attitude of the court depends upon whether it is the consensus of opinion among the people of the community that it is injurious to a white man in his business and social relations to be called a Negro.