Decree of the Court.

EXHIBIT "E."

To the Honorable Board of Commissioners, on the Indiana and Kentucky Boundary Line at Green River Island. GENTLEMEN: The line of the low water mark of 1792, from the head to the foot of Green River Island, has been located as ordered by you, and the commencement, terminus and each intermediate angle marked by planting a cedar post five inches square and seven feet in length in the ground to the depth of four and one half feet. The line is, except at the commencement and ending, two chains (132 feet) to the left of the meander line going down stream, and parallel thereto. The angles, checked by the needle, were taken twice, and each distance carefully measured twice to avoid the possibility of errors. The line is laid down on the map marked "Exhibit C" in red ink, and the distances are given in feet. The true meridian was obtained by observation of Polaris on two different nights.

The following are the notes of the location:

Commencing at a point on the line between sections fifteen (15) and fourteen (14), township seven (7) south, range ten (10) west, and 67.25 chains south of the northeast corner of section fifteen (15). The post set at this point is witnessed by a sycamore tree 36 inches, S. 1° 55′ E. 43.8 ft.; and also by a honey locust 32 inches, S. 67° 50' E. 24 ft., and is at the head of Green River Island, and also assumed low water mark in 1792. From this point going down stream and making an angle to the left from the east line of section fifteen (15) of 50° 26', and on a course of N. 49° 16′ W., a distance of 1098.55 ft. to a post witnessed by a cottonwood 48 inches, N. 79° 45′ W. 163 ft.

Angle to right 0° 45′ 15′′, course N. 48° 30′ 45′′ W. 1171.45 ft. to a post, witnessed by a sycamore 22 inches, S. 66° 50′ E. 398 ft.

Angle to left 6° 50', course N. 55° 20′ 45′′ W. 1432.35 ft. to a post, witnessed by a red elm 48 inches S. 81° 40′ E. 150.5 ft. And also a red elm 60 inches, S. 83° 20′ E. 160 ft.

Angle to left 13° 43′ 15′′, course N. 69° 04′ W. 1187.2 ft. to a post witnessed by a sycamore 41 inches, S. 87° 15' E. 149.7 ft.; and also a sycamore 48 inches, S. 88° 20' E. 156.2 ft.

Decree of the Court.

Angle to right 0° 42', course N. 68° 22′ W. 1312.6 ft. to a post, witnessed by a sycamore 15 inches, S. 16° 15′ E. 80.5 ft., and a sycamore 11 inches S. 18° 00' E. 79.6. ft.

Thence on same tangent and course 520.55 ft. to a post, witnessed by a cottonwood 16 inches, S. 8° 45' E. 61.4 ft.

Angle to right 9° 01′ 30′′, course N. 59° 20′ 30′′ W. 1735 ft. to a post, witnessed by a sycamore 64 inches, N. 13° 40′ W. 130 ft. Angle to left 2° 37′, course N. 61° 57′ 30′′ W. 964.6 ft. to a post, witnessed by a cottonwood 30 inches S. 44° 00' W. 67 ft., and a cottonwood 37 inches, S. 34° 40′ W. 70.3 ft.

Angle to right 2° 06', course N. 59° 51′ 30′′ W. 2926.5 ft. to a post, witnessed by a sycamore 48 inches, N. 74° 50′ E. 146.5 ft. Also a sycamore 56 inches, N. 27° 30′ E. 94.8 ft., and a stone on section line, between sections eight (8) and nine (9) N. 32° 30′ E. 132.6 ft.

Angle to right 4° 36' 30", course N. 55° 15′ W. 1659.6 ft. to a post, witnessed by a cottonwood 22 inches, S. 17° 15′ W. 141.7 ft.

Angle to right 3° 05' 30", course N. 52° 09' 30" W. 952 ft. to a post, witnessed by a sycamore 60 inches, S. 88° 05' E. 254 ft. and a sycamore snag 31 inches, N. 49° 25' E. 164.4 ft.

Angle to right 7° 56′ 30′′, course N. 44° 13′ W. 2004.1 ft. to a post witnessed by an elm 60 inches, N. 2o 35' E. 230.5 ft.

Angle to right 5° 58', course N. 38° 15' W. 477.65 ft. to a post, witnessed by a sycamore 56 inches, N. 29° 45′ E. 115 ft.

Angle to left 0° 40', course N. 38° 55' W. 1259 ft. to a post, witnessed by a sycamore 36 inches, S. 44° 55' E. 131.3 ft., and a cottonwood 40 inches, S. 42° 50′ W. 155 ft.

Angle to right 6° 07' course N. 32° 58′ W. 1257 ft. to a post, witnessed by an elm 53 inches, S. 43° 25' E. 578 ft. and the stump of the original maple witness tree of 1806, 65 inches, N. 49° 55' E. 126 ft.

Angle to right 2° 42', course N. 30° 06′ W. 1186.6 ft. to a post, witnessed by a sycamore snag 28 inches, N. 69° 15′ E. 102.7 ft.

Angle to right 7° 03' 30", course N. 23° 42' 30" W. 2735.7 ft. to a post, witnessed by a maple 36 inches, N. 78° 00' E. 165.3 ft.

Decree of the Court.

Angle to right 12° 17′ 30", course N. 10° 45' W. 1202.12 ft. to a post opposite the lower end of Green River Island, and at low water as it was in 1792, witnessed by a sycamore 52 inches, N. 65° 35' E. 363.45 ft. The above courses are run from the true meridian as ascertained by observation at the point on the map marked "W" on the line between township six (6) and seven (7).

Respectfully submitted.

Feb'y 3d, 1896.

C. C. GENUNG,

EXHIBIT "G."

C. E. and S. V. C.

Statement of Costs and Expenses.

C. C. Genung, civil engineer, services rendered by order of the commission....

Expenses of Lieut. Col. Amos Stickney,

U. S. A., commissioner

$575 75

$64 60

And the court being now fully advised in the premises: It is ordered that the exceptions to the report of said commissioners be overruled and that the report of said commissioners be, and the same is hereby, confirmed.

And it is ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the boundary line between said States of Indiana and Kentucky in controversy herein be, and it is hereby, established and declared to be as delineated and set forth in said report and the map accompanying the same and referred to therein, which map is hereby directed to be filed as a part of this decree.

It is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the said

Syllabus.

boundary line as described in said report and as delineated on said map, and now marked by cedar posts, be permanently marked as recommended in said report, with all convenient speed, and that said commission be continued for that purpose, and make report thereon to this court, and that this cause be retained until such report is made.

It is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the compensation and expenses of the commissioners and the expenses attendant on the discharge of their duties, up to this time, be, and they are hereby, allowed at the sum of two thousand two hundred and thirty-six dollars and sixty cents in accordance with their report, and that said charges and expenses and the costs of this suit to be taxed be equally divided between the parties hereto.

And it is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that this decree is without prejudice to further proceedings as either of the parties may be advised for the determination of such part of the boundary line between said States as may not have been settled by this decree under the pleadings in this case.

And it is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the clerk of this court do forthwith transmit to the chief magistrates of the States of Kentucky and Indiana copies of this decree duly authenticated under the seal of this court.

per Mr. CHIEF JUSTICE FULLER.

May 18, 1896.

PLESSY v. FERGUSON.

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA.

The statute of Louisiana, acts of 1890, No. 111, requiring railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in that State, to provide ‘equal, but separate, accommodations for the white and colored races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train, or by dividing the passenger coaches by a partition so as to secure separate accommodations; and providing that no person shall be permitted to occupy seats in coaches other than the ones assigned to them, on account

Statement of the Case.

of the race they belong to; and requiring the officers of the passenger trains to assign each passenger to the coach or compartment assigned for the race to which he or she belongs; and imposing fines or imprisonment upon passengers insisting on going into a coach or compartment other than the one set aside for the race to which he or she belongs; and conferring upon officers of the trains power to refuse to carry on the train passengers refusing to occupy the coach or compartment assigned to them, and exempting the railway company from liability for such refusal, are not in conflict with the provisions either of the Thirteenth Amendment or of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

THIS was a petition for writs of prohibition and certiorari, originally filed in the Supreme Court of the State by Plessy, the plaintiff in error, against the Hon. John H. Ferguson, judge of the criminal District Court for the parish of Orleans, and setting forth in substance the following facts:

That petitioner was a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Louisiana, of mixed descent, in the proportion of seven eighths Caucasian and one eighth African blood; that the mixture of colored blood was not discernible in him, and that he was entitled to every recognition, right, privilege and immunity secured to the citizens of the United States of the white race by its Constitution and laws; that on June 7, 1892, he engaged and paid for a first class passage on the East Louisiana Railway from New Orleans to Covington, in the same State, and thereupon entered a passenger train, and took possession of a vacant seat in a coach where passengers of the white race were accommodated; that such railroad company was incorporated by the laws of Louisiana as a common carrier, and was not authorized to distinguish between citizens according to their race. But, notwithstanding this, petitioner was required by the conductor, under penalty of ejection from said train and imprisonment, to vacate said coach and occupy another seat in a coach assigned by said company for persons not of the white race, and for no other reason than that petitioner was of the colored race; that upon petitioner's refusal to comply with such order, he was, with the aid of a police officer, forcibly ejected from said coach and hurried off to and imprisoned in the parish jail of