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March 4, 1868
Catharine Brown, Complaint
Catharine Brown filed suit against the Washington, Alexandria and Georgetown Railroad in March 1868, arguing that a month earlier she was forcibly and violently ejected from the ladies car in Alexandria, Virginia, because of her color. She sought damages of $20,000 to pay for her medical care and to compensate for the injustice of segregation and discrimination. Brown's original petition focused on the railroad's duty as a common carrier and on Brown's first-class ticket which permitted her to ride in the ladies car.
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March 4, 1868 | Legal decision
Catharine Brown, Plaintiff's Prayers
A brief description of the judgement Catherine Brown hoped for as the jury decided her case.
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January 21, 1850 | Contract
Claudius Crozet's Comparative Estimate of the Five Lowest Bids Offered for Blue Ridge Tunnel No. 1, January 21, 1850
Claudius Crozet offers the Board of Public Works his assessment of the bids for one section of the Tunnel project.
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January 4, 1854 | Letter
Claudius Crozet's Monthly Report for December, 1853
In his report Claudius Crozet explains the high costs of white labor and the difficulties of securing enslaved labor.
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February 1, 1855 | Contract
Contract Between the Illinois Central Railroad Company and Pinkerton & Company, February 1, 1855
In this February 1, 1855 contract between the Illinois Central Railroad and Allan Pinkerton's Detective Agency, Pinkerton & Company agree to establish a "Police Agency" in Chicago to assist the Railroad in the "prompt and efficient performance of their business."
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December 23, 1853 | Contract
Contract for Negro Slaves, December 23, 1853
In December 1853, George A. Farrow and David Hansbrough signed a contract with the Blue Ridge Railroad to provide fifty slaves to assist in the construction of the Blue Ridge railroad tunnel.
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July 20, 1877 | Newspaper
Determined to Fight
This article from the July 20, 1877 edition of the Baltimore American notes the attitude of the railroad workers toward any attempted to break up the strike.
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November 18, 1873 | Newspaper
DISCRIMINATION ON ACCOUNT OF COLOR ON RAILROADS
The New York Times reported on its front page the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Catharine Brown's case. The case aroused Republicans to reconsider the intent and purpose of the Congress in the midst of the Civil War because it turned on the railroad's Congressional charter from 1863 which clearly barred any discrimination on the basis of race or color. The railroad's main argument before the Supreme Court rested first on the idea that separate cars were customary, locally sanctioned, and equally accommodated, and second on the specious reasoning that because they carried colored passengers they had not violated the Congressional charter--colored persons were carried, just in a different car. The spirit of the Congress in 1863, the Court decided, suggested otherwise. The decision, however significant and newsworthy, was sorely limited in its application. Only a handful of railroads in the District of Columbia possessed such language in their originating charters.
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April 28, 1870 | Legal decision
Draft of Catharine Brown, Evidence Given
Catharine Brown's case--Case No. 4582--was scheduled to go to trial in October 1868 in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, but was delayed because of various procedural motions by the railroad's attorneys. When these motions were denied, the case was tried over three days in March 1870. The all white jury rendered a verdict of guilty against the railroad company and awarded Brown $1,500 in damages. Then, the defendant railroad attorney's sought an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Here is their statement of argument, denying that the railroad used violence or made derogatory remarks. Furthermore, in denying Brown's claims, the railroad argued that there were distinctions between through and local passenger types of service, even on the Baltimore and Ohio, and that separate colored cars on local lines were run at the request of black passengers.
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5, 1861 | Photograph
Eastern view of round house and depot, Orange & Alexandria Railroad
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December 13, 1862 | Illustration
Exchanging Salutations with the Enemy
Harper's Weekly featured regular illustrations of southern towns and battlefields for Northern audiences following the war. This image of Fredericksburg echoes a photograph by Matthew Brady.
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July 22, 1877 | Newspaper
Failure To Close The Drinking Houses
This letter to the editor, printed in the July 22, 1877 edition of the Baltimore American, asks why saloons in Baltimore remained open, even after receiving the order to close, and seemed to indicate the ineffectiveness of the police in the situation.
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1878 | Illustration
Firing into a Mob on Baltimore Street
Railroad detective Allan Pinkerton's history of the strike emphasized the unruliness of the mob and the threat of foreign, anarchist, and communist influences on American labor. Here, his illustration shows the military defending law and order, firing their weapons into a mob in Baltimore during the 1877 strike.
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July 21, 1877 | Newspaper
Firing On The Crowd
This July 21, 1877 article from the Baltimore Sun gives an account of the Maryland Sixth Infantry Regiment firing into the crowd in Baltimore.
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3, 1862 | Photograph
Fredericksburg from the river. Showing Confederate troops and bridge. (taken at a distance of one mile.)
Similar in composition to the December 13, 1862 Harper's Weekly image, in this picture the close proximity of armies to one another is evident.
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July 21, 1877 | Newspaper
Further Particulars
This article from the July 21, 1877 issue of the Baltimore Sun provides numerous details of the Baltimore riot, including names of the killed and wounded and an account of what occurred.
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July 21, 1877 | Newspaper
Further Particulars Of The Depot Fire
This article from the July 21, 1877 issue of the Baltimore Sun gives an account of the fire started by rioters at Camden Station in Baltimore.
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April 2, 1852 | Contract
Gallaher & Mc Elroy's Estimate No.37 for the Month of March, 1853
Contractors on the Blue Ridge Railroad and Tunnel project filled out elaborate and detailed descriptions of work that they were to complete.
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November 14, 1883 | Broadsides
General Superintendent S.T. Smith's General Order Implementing Standard Time, November 14, 1883
This General Order from November 14, 1883, circulated by S. T. Smith, General Superintendent of the Kansas Division of the Union Pacific Railroad, notifies all stations on the Kansas Division that "standard time" will begin at exactly 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 18, 1883. This order coincides with the establishment of time zones throughout the United States, a development necessitated by the speed of railroad travel.
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October 4, 1862 | Illustration
General View of Harper's Ferry and The Maryland Heights
Harper's Ferry, an important railroad terminus at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, changed hands eight times during the Civil War. This image was published just weeks after the Battle of Harper's Ferry, during which Confederate troops were victorious.
