41 Iowa 689 | Iowa | 1875
At the request of the appellants in the Circuit Court, that court made a finding of facts with its. conclusions of law thereon. The finding is as follows:
“ 1. That said Charles IT. Dove was on the 14th day .of September, 1874, and now is a resident of the Torrence school district, sub-division of the city of Keokuk, Lee county, Iowa, entitled to the benefits and privileges of an education.
2. That said Charles H. Dove is a colored boy or boy of African descent.
4. That had said Charles H. Dove, at the time of said application for admission, been a white boy he would have been examined by said principal and admitted to said school as a pupil or scholar.
5. That at the said time he made application for admission to said Torrence school, there were seventy-two seats in room No. 1 of Torrence school building in which pupils or scholars of third grade attend and only sixty-six scholars enrolled, that at the time there was room for said Charles H. Dove in said room No. 1.
6. That at said time when said. Charles H. Dove was refused admission to said Torrence school, the principal thereof gave to him, said Charles H. Dove, á note addressed to the superintendent of the schools in Keokuk, in which, was stated in substance that Charles IT. Dove had made application for admission to said school, and he was referred to him, said superintendent as per instructions, that when said note was handed to said superintendent he said ,to him, said Charles H. Dove, that he could not be admitted to said Torrence school, but that he could go to the colored school on Concert street.
7. That said colored school is. on Concert street, between eighth and ninth streets, at least ten blocks from the place of residence of said Charles H. Dove, while said Torrence school is within three block of his residence.
8. That since the application of said Charles TL Dove, on said 14th day of September, 1874, for admission to said school, other scholars have been admitted to said school in room No. 1.
9. That on the 26th day of October, 1874, the said Charles H. Dove made application again for admission to said Torrence school, but was refused admission. He was referred to
10. That at a meeting held by the board of directors on the 29th day of October, 1874, they took into consideration the application of said Charles H. Dove for admission to said Torrence school, and refused to admit him to such school, for the alleged reason that at that time there was no room for him in said room No. 1, but assigned him to said Concert street school, second room, third grade.
11. That Gibson Brown, attorney for said Charles BL Dove, at said meeting of the board of directors proposed that if they would admit said Dove to said Torrence school in room No. 1, when a vacancy should occur, he would not institute proceedings in mandamus against them, and that they declined to take any action with reference to such prosposition.
12. That since the 29th of October, 1874, four applications have been made by white children, for admission to said Torrence school in room No. 1, but they were not admitted.
13. That there is now room for said Charles H. Dove in said Torrence school building, room No. 1, in which pupils or scholars belonging to the third grade are taught, the grade to which said Charles H. Dove belongs.”
. Upon these facts the Circuit Court adjudged that the plaintiff was legally entitled to admission into said Torrence school, in room No. 1, in which scholars of the third grade are taught, and to which grade he belongs, and that having been refused admission to said school, ordered and adjudged that a writ of mandamus issue to compel the defendants forthwith to admit plaintiff to said school, and also adjudged that defendants pay the costs of the proceeding. •
Treating the finding of the court as the verdict of a jury we will not disturb it, unless clearly and manifestly unsupported by the evidence. Mallory v. Lascombe, supra; Snyder v. Eldridge, 31 Iowa, 129, and cases cited; Snyder v. Nelson, Id., 238; Melhop v. Doane & Co., 36 Id., 630; Frandsen v. The C., R. I. & P. R. Co., Id., 372; Dunlavy v. Watson, 38 Id., 398.
This case is substantially like the case of Smith, by his next friend, against this same defendant, (40 Iowa, 518,) where it was held, following Clark v. The Board of Directors, etc., 24 Iowa, 266, that the directors of a school district may not exclude a pupil from school- because of his color, or of being of African descent, nor can they require a pupil to attend a separate school for colored children, and that when a pupil had been refused for such reason, they may be compelled by mandamus to admit him.
The judgment of the court below will be
Aebtrmed.