St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-06-02

May %.
NAACP Presses Case
The conviction, which was the
first secured here in several years,
was made possible by the efficient
work of the Legal Redress Commit
tee of the st. Paul Branch of the
National Association for the Ad-
vancement of Colored People.
The highlights of the case are
as follows:
On Saturday, May 20, Rev. C. T.
R. Nelson, president of the st. Paul
Branch NAACP, received a tele-
phone call from Major Ransom,
who reported that his wife, Mrs.
Queenie Ransom, had been refused
the service of food in the C. and F.
Cafe at $40 Rice Street, on the day
before. Mrs. Ransom had been
selling peoples for the American
Legion for three hours in front of
the cafe. The matter was turned
over to the legal redress commit
tee and Mrs. Dorothy Schultz, a
member of the executive commit
tee, and Charles Scheer were ap-
pointed as an investigating COM
mittee.
At the suggestion of the commit
tee, Major Ransom, member of
the Governors staff, went into the
c. and F. Cafe on Tuesday, May %,
to seek service himself. The two
members of the investigating COM
mittee, both white, were in the cafe
and were seated at the counter
where they had been served, when
Major Ransom came in. Major
Ransom sat down at the counter
and after several minutes, a man
came out of the kitchen and told
him 'we do not serve colored people
here" "You do not serve colored
people here?" asked Major Ran
som. "No, we do not" the man
replied. Don't you know that there
is a law against discrimination? ?"
Ransom asked the man, who said,
eyes, I know about the law" When
the man was asked who the pro-
prietor was by the Major, he said
he did not know. When Major Ran
som asked the man if he had
license he said, eyes," but later de-
MED that he did.
Members of the investigating
committee saw the license hanging
on one of the walls, however. Major
Ransom asked a waitress who the
owner of the place was and where
he lived. The waitress replied that
it didn't matter who the owner was,
"You are not going to be served"
Major Ransom walked out of the
place.
Mrs. Schultz and Mr.. Scheer,
who had been witnesses to this I'M
democratic incident, questioned the
waitress after Major Ransom left
the place. They asked her if the
owner served colored people. ave
never serve them here" was the
quick reply of the waitress, who
had started out from the kitchen to
serve Major Ransom when he first
sat down, but turned back when
she saw that he was Negro. Mrs.
Schultz then mentioned the Equal
Rights Law to the waitress, who
gave no indication that she knew
about the law. When questioned
further about why Negroes were
not served in the place, the waitress
said that the white people didn't
like it and that the colored people
have their own places. "They have
come in here before, but we never
serve Them" the waitress declared.
Mrs. Schultz then asked the wait
ress if there had ever been any
complaints from white people.
NO." the waitress said, "and we
don't serve them beer, either, be-
cause white people don't want to
drink out of the same glasses or
eat out of the same plates, and we
can not afford to throw them
away"
The waitress was asked by the
investigating committee the second
time if there had ever been any
complaints by the white people on
the matter of serving Negroes
there. Again the waitress said
mo"
An appointment was made for
the legal redress committee with
the county attorney, James Lynch,
by Attorney Louis Lehman, a |
member of that committee. On
Thursday, Major Ransom, with
Mrs. Ransom, Mrs. Schultz, Mr..
Scheer, Rev. Nelson and Mr.. Lehr- |
man, had a conference with Mr.. |
Lynch and the complaint of dis
elimination was made. With the |
aid of two police officers, Major