Part VII

Railroads and the Judicial System

Record Group 21 Records of the District Courts of the United States

VII.1 The U.S. Federal district courts serve as the trial courts of general Federal jurisdiction. In addition to U.S. district courts, this record group includes the records of U.S. territorial courts, U.S. circuit courts, and Confederate States district courts. With the exception of the U.S. courts in Washington, DC, which are in the custody of the National Archives, Washington, DC, the records of the Federal courts are in the custody of the various National Archives regional archives branches. Court records held by the National Archives consist of civil (law, equity, admiralty), criminal, bankruptcy litigation, and naturalization records. The records include minutes books, docket books, case files, and record books. While court cases are not subject-indexed, they may be segregated by type of case. Case files are arranged by docket or case number. The docket or case number may be available from index or docket books or from the clerk of the court involved. There are inventories and subject and name indexes available prepared by regional archives branches.

VII.2 There are numerous law and equity court cases involving railroad companies and railroad employees in the rec ords of the U.S. court system. Many of these cases involve claims filed against railroads for damages to real and personal property, disputes over ownership and rights to rights-of-way and other railroad lands, financial disputes involving railroads, railroad bankruptcy cases, railroad antitrust cases, state and local tax collection actions against railroads, labor strikes and the activities of railroad labor organizations, cases of racial discrimination, and cases involving the violation of safety regulations. These cases document the creation of modern transportation systems, including railroads, in the United States. There are many outstanding examples of these cases in the National Archives regional branches. An example of a dispute over the possession of lands is a case tried in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, Prescott Division. Equity Case #190 involved the United States as guardian of the Indian Tribe of Hualapai in State of Arizona v. Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Company. This suit was brought before the court by the Federal Government in its own right and as guardian of the Hualapai Tribe to stop the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad from interfering with the possession and occupation by the Native Americans of certain lands in the northwestern portion of Arizona. The railroad claimed full title, under an act of Congress, approved July 27, 1866, to the land in question under the grant of its predecessor, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. Ultimately, in 1940, the railroad finally quitclaimed to the United States all land claimed by it under the Act of 1866 within the reservation. This case file is in the custody of the National Archives-Pacific Southwest Region.

VII.3 A typical bankruptcy case is a civil case file, Colorado U.S. Circuit Court Case #264, dating 1879, which contains 2 cubic feet of documents detailing the assets of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Included are company payrolls, vouchers and receipts, and other accounting records, along with a volume containing lists of the "inventory and account of rolling stock and other property . . . prepared by the Chief Engineer and Superintendent of Locomotive and Car Dept." Included in the inventory are itemized lists and valuations of locomotive engines (each with a distinctive name); coaches; baggage, mail, express, and caboose cars; freight cars; tools and machinery; and even ticket office furnishings. These records are in the custody of the National Archives-Rocky Mountain Region.

VII.4 An example of personal injury litigation involving a railroad train accident is the U.S. Circuit Court, Northern District of California, San Francisco, Civil Case #13088, Bertha Coulter v. Southern Pacific. Bertha Coulter filed suit against the Southern Pacific after a train wreck that caused her husband's death. The plaintiff stated in the suit that Southern Pacific failed to maintain its tracks properly. The jury ruled in favor of the plaintiff and awarded $4,500 for the wrongful death. This case file is in the custody of the National Archives-Pacific Sierra Region.

Record Group 60 General Records of the Department of Justice

VII.5 Established by an act of June 22, 1870, the Department of Justice enforces Federal laws and investigates violations; provides legal advice to the President and to heads of Executive agencies; represents the Federal Government in court; conducts law enforcement, crime prevention, and offender rehabilitation programs; administers immigration and naturalization laws; registers aliens; and supervises U.S. attorneys and marshals. There are records relating to railroads in several series primarily concerning Department involvement in litigation concerning Federal legislation tried in Federal courts. These cases included labor, land ownership, freight and passenger rate, and railroad property valuation disputes. Other disputes concerned claims by or against railroads and alleged antitrust violations. These series are described in the Preliminary Inventory of the General Records of the Department of Justice, PI 194, except as noted.

VII.6 Among the "General Records, Letters Received, 1849-1903," are the year files, 1884-1903 (649 ft.)(MLR Entry 72, A1), arranged by an annual numbering system in which each subject of correspondence was given a file number that consisted of the first letter number followed by the year. The series consists of letters received from the President, executive department, Congress, Federal judges, attorneys, marshals, state officials, and the general public concerning railroads, among many other subjects. Specific files concerning railroads include correspondence regarding the Pullman Strike of 1894 (4017-94); Chinese labor and related problems, including anti-Chinese acts of violence (980-84); lawsuits against the Central Pacific Railroad, dating up to 1906 (962-84); the case of W.O. Johnson v. the Southern Pacific Railroad (546-03); and a "List of railroad companies against whom suits are pending for the recovery of land erroneously patented to them..." (521-92), which includes the various year file numbers.

VII.7 The "Central Files and Related Records, 1904-67," contain the following series:

1. straight numerical files, 1904-37 (2,689 ft.)(MLR Entry 112, A1), arranged by a straight numerical filing system beginning with the number 25013. Each case or subject, when the first papers on it were filed, was given a consecutive number. The records are a general correspondence file including both letters received and letters sent. From 1904 to 1912, these files were the only Department of Justice central files. Beginning in 1914, the classified subject files (see VII.7.2) gradually replaced these files. However, for many subjects, both files must be examined. Examples of records relating to railroads include a file documenting the establishment of national boards of adjustment for railroad labor disputes, dating 1920 (#204961), a file relating to the action of the Georgia legislature in shutting off the building of a competing or parallel railroad to the state-owned Western & Atlantic Railway (#177169), a file pertaining to the alleged fraudulent conduct of the railroads in leasing their warehouses and other facilities to shippers at a nominal price (#199941), and a file regarding charges made by the Railway Employees Department of American Federation of Labor before the U.S. Railway Labor Board on waste and incompetence of railroad management under the Cummins-Esch law (#205774-5).

2. classified subject files, 1914-41, 1945-49 (13,822 ft.)(MLR Entry 114, A1), arranged by a subject-numeric system that uses a numerical file designation usually made up of various parts separated by dashes. The primary classes usually represent a Federal law or an administrative or other subject. The primary class number constitutes the first part of the file designation. In most cases, the primary class number is followed by a secondary number that represents the judicial district in which the case pertinent to the primary number arose. The third number usually represents the particular case and indicates its sequence. More than 160 class or subject numbers were assigned to the central files, most of which comprise case materials. Classes that include significant material relating to railroads are "Strikes" (Class 16), "Railroads, Transportation, ICC Acts" (Class 59), "Antitrust Violations" (Class 60), and "Railroad Labor Act" (Class 124). Class 59 (boxes 11266-11716) is, by far, the largest class that relates to railroads in its entirety. For this class, the file number indicates the class number plus a subnumber for the legislative act involved and a standard railroad subnumber. Some of the acts involved are the 28-Hour Law (59-1), the Safety Appliance Act (50-2), the Quarantine Act (59-3), Transportation Accounts (59-4), Hours of Service Act (59-5), Adamson Law (59-6), Valuation (59-7), Rates and Rebates (59-8), Commodities (59-9), Locomotive Inspection Act (59-13), Distribution of Cars (59-14), Loans to Railroads (59-15), and Filing of Reports with the Interstate Commerce Commission (59-16). This class includes correspondence, memorandums, reports, publications, and maps concerning litigation under the various acts concerning U.S. railroads in Federal district and appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. The enclosures to Class 59 (boxes 2141-2386) contain printed court documents and copies of ICC Bureau of Valuation reports and various court documents filed by the carriers and the ICC in protest of the tentative valuation report. Other significant files relating to railroads are the records to the activities of marshals and deputies in protecting U.S. property in the states and territories during the 1894 Pullman Strike (File 16-1, various parts) and correspondence relating to Japanese/American railroad workers that were laid off by the Union Pacific Railroad (and others) during World War II (File 146-13-5-0). There are several major antitrust cases involving alleged violations of several railroads. Examples include the proposed merger of the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad, dating 1910, which allegedly was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act (60-192-1and 4), the case of United States v. Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis for owning and operating all Trans-Mississippi bridges and ferries between St. Louis and East St. Louis, dating 1911, in violation of the act (60-192-2); through 7); and the alleged monopoly of transportation facilities in New England by the New York, New Haven, & Hartford Railroad, 1913 (60-192-5).

3. subject index to various classified files, 1918-81 (16 ft.)(MLR Entry 1001, A1), arranged partially alphabetically by name of individuals and organizations and partially by broad subject category and thereunder chronologically. The subject categories under "Railroads" are "General," "Classification 59," "Federal Control," "Legislation," "Rates," "Retirement Act," "Strike," and "Labor Act." Another subject category that covers files in Class 59 of the Classified Subject File and others is "Interstate Commerce Legislation." The cards give the name of the subject category, a brief synopsis of the file and either the straight numerical file number or the classified subject file designation. These records are not described in PI 194.

4. "General Index," 1928-51 (2,424 ft.)(MLR Entry 110, A1), arranged alphabetically by name of person or name of company and thereunder chronologically when there are several entries under the same name. The cards show name of person or company, date of document, type of crime or investigation,

geographical area, file number, and synopsis of crime or investigation. Entries relating to railroads are listed by name of railroad company, railroad official, or persons involved in a crime or investigation concerning railroads.

VII.8 The "Records of the Antitrust Division" of the Department of Justice contain the series:

1. Commerce Court case files, 1911-23 (7 ft.)(MLR Entry 196, A1), arranged numerically by case number. The records consist of briefs, answers, petitions for appeal, assignments of error, orders, motions, correspondence, and other papers relating to cases heard before the U.S. Commerce Court. Included are cases involving railroads either based or operating west of the Mississippi River. Some of the major cases involve the Southern Pacific Railway (Cases 1, 32, 33, 59, 88); the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (Cases 1-3, 7, 36, 61), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (Cases 38, 39); the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (Cases 16, 17); the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railway (Case 20); the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad (Case 35); the Florida East Coast Railway (Case 58); the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (Cases 21, 47); and the Texas & Pacific Railway (Cases 68, 74).

2. case files relating to interstate commerce, 1914-22 (4 ft.)(MLR Entry 197), arranged alphabetically by name of company. The series consists of orders, decrees, stipulations, points of oral argument, briefs, notes, minutes, abstracts, transcripts of testimony, exhibits, correspondence, and related records. The major railroad case files are the Duluth and Northern Minnesota Railroad; the Lehigh Valley Railroad; the Louisville & Nashville Railroad; the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad; the New Orleans, Texas, and Mexico Railroad; the Missouri Pacific Railroad; and the Pennsylvania Railroad.

3. files of David D. L'Esperance, 1922-25 (5 in.)(MLR Entry 203, A1), arranged in rough chronological order. Included are correspondence, reports, and a few photographs relating to the railway strike of 1922. Most of the records relate to New York State and New England.

Record Group 123 Records of the United States Court of Claims

VII.9 Established by an act of February 24, 1855 (10 Stat. 612), the Court of Claims heard claims against the United States brought directly by claimants under general provision of law or on referral from Congress or Executive departments. The Court's "General Jurisdiction Case Records" include the general jurisdiction case files, 1858-1958 (2,834 ft.)(MLR Entry 1, PI 58), arranged by date spans and thereunder by case file number. This series contains case files for suits by claimants under general provision of law, chiefly involving government contracts, war service, war property damage, losses incurred by disbursing officers, and the use and infringement of patent rights. The index to this series is available at the office of the Clerk, U.S. Court of Claims. There are numerous case files involving railroads. Two examples from the 1956-58 files include the case entitled Union Pacific Railroad v. United States (file #592-57), which involved an alleged violation of an ICC regulation involving the shipment of hazardous materials. Specifically, the Union Pacific suit arose from an explosion of a Union Pacific freight car apparently caused by an ice plant shipped on a U.S. Government bill of lading during May 1951. The second example is the case entitled Northern Pacific Railway v. United States (file #156-58). This case concerns an alleged overcharge for transportation services provided by Union Pacific for the defendant (U.S.) during the period 1942 to 1944 on bills of lading for shipments of foodstuffs.

Freight charges for the shipments were billed at the full applicable tariff rate, but the General Accounting Office on audit only allowed lower land-grant rates, since the shipments were for naval or military use during wartime. The Union Pacific sued for the difference of $30,042.

Record Group 172 Records of the United States Commerce Court

VII.10 Established by an act of June 18, 1910, the U.S. Commerce Court, in accordance with the Interstate Commerce Act of 1877, enforced, suspended, annulled, or set aside, in whole or in part, orders of the ICC and tried cases arising under the act. Due in part to criticism for alleged discrimination in favor of the railroads against the ICC rulings, the Commerce Court was abolished as of December 31, 1913, and transferred its jurisdiction to the U.S. district courts. Many of the cases were brought by railroads in protest of ICC orders concerning passenger and freight rates and other regulations. The Commerce Court records described below were in the custody of the Department of Justice before transfer to the National Archives. Records of pending cases were filed among the records of the various U.S. district courts. The Commerce Court records are described in the Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the United States Commerce Court, NC 4.

VII.11 The "General Records" of the Court contain the following series:

1. case files, February 1911-December 1913 (15 ft.)(MLR Entry 1, NC 4), arranged numerically by case number. The records consist of bills of complaint, responses, answers, stipulations, motions, objections, exhibits, orders, transcripts of proceedings, citations of appeal, and correspondence relating to cases filed in the Commerce Court.

2. records and briefs, April Session 1911-June Session, 1912 (2 ft.)(MLR Entry 2, NC 4), arranged numerically by case number. This is a printed record of Commerce Court cases, consisting of petitions, answers, briefs, motions, stipulations, orders, exhibits, testimony, opinions, transcripts of records, and related material. Included are cases handled by the Commerce Court only, cases that originated in the Commerce Court and appealed to the Supreme Court, and cases that were transferred from a U.S. circuit court to the Commerce Court and then appealed to the Supreme Court.

3. transcripts of proceedings, April 1911-March 1913 (2 ft.)(MLR Entry 3, NC 4), arranged numerically by case number. These are typewritten transcripts of oral proceedings in certain cases heard by the court.

4. docket, February 8, 1911-December 24, 1913 (0.2 ft.)(MLR Entry 4, NC 4), arranged numerically by case number. This is a record of papers filed and proceedings held in the conduct of cases of the Commerce Court.

5. minutes ("Journal" and "Rough Notes"), February 8, 1911-December 31, 1913 (0.3 ft.)(MLR Entry 5, NC 4), arranged chronologically. This series consists of a record of the daily activities of the court, chiefly showing proceedings in cases before the court, but also recording such matters as commissions and oaths of office of the judges of the court.

6. index to opinions, February 1911-December 1913 (0.1 ft.)(MLR Entry 6, NC 4), arranged alphabetically by title of case. This is a printed index to opinions of the Commerce Court, giving citations to the Federal Reporter and United States Reports.

7. lists of cases, 1911-13 (0.1 ft.)(MLR Entry 7, NC 4), arranged numerically by case number. These are printed lists of cases pending, filed, and disposed of by the Commerce Court.

8. briefs relating to jurisdiction, April-May 1911 (0.1 ft.)(MLR Entry 8, NC 4), arranged chronologically by date of filing in the Commerce Court. These printed briefs, filed in the April session of the Commerce Court by representatives of the railroads and the Federal Government are related to the extent and character of the jurisdiction of the Commerce Court.

9. roll of attorneys, February 15, 1911-June 13, 1913 (0.1 ft.)(MLR Entry 9, NC 4), lists attorneys' names chronologically by date of admittance to practice before the Commerce Court.

10. letters sent by the Marshall, 1911-13 (0.1 ft.)(MLR Entry 1, UD).

Record Group 267 Records of the Supreme Court of the United States

VII.12 The Supreme Court adjudicates original or appellate jurisdiction cases arising under the Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made under their authority, among other jurisdictions. Areas of jurisdiction involving railroads are land-grant cases, bankruptcy cases, property disputes, and extent of federal regulation. Documentation concerning numerous cases involving railroads are located in the appellate jurisdiction and original jurisdiction case files. The records are described in Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Supreme Court of the United States, PI 139.

VII.13 The appellate case files, 1792-1992 (16, 312 ft.)(MLR Entry 21, PI 139). are arranged numerically by case number through the October Term 1933; by term and numerically by term number through the October Term 1970; and beginning in October Term 1971, by term and case file number. The case files include petitions and transcripts of record from lower courts, exhibits, appeal bonds, motions, orders, decrees, judgements, mandates, correspondence, and other papers. These files comprise most of the volume of the Court's records in the National Archives. Included in these records are various cases involving railroad companies. This series is indexed by the card index to case files, 1792-1909 (100 ft.)(MLR Entry 20, PI 139), which is arranged alphabetically by name of parties to cases. One primary example of an appellate jurisdiction case file involving railroads is entitled Galena, Dubuque, and Dunlieth, and Minnesota Packet Company v. Rock Island Railroad Company and Mississippi and Missouri Railroad (file #4685). This case, heard during the December Term 1866, is also known as the Rock Island Bridge case. The case involved an appeal by the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad and the Rock Island Bridge Company of a decision by the U.S. District Court of the Southern Division of Iowa declaring the Rock Island Bridge, carrying the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad over the Mississippi River between Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa, a nuisance and ordered its removal. The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the District Court and the bridge was allowed to remain. This case was a landmark case in the conflict between railroad and steamboat interests. The result was to establish for all time the right to bridge navigable rivers. Other important cases included the Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Texas Pacific Railway Company, et al v. Interstate Commerce Commission (file #15613). This case, decided March 30, 1896, temporarily undermined the ICC's ability to set freight rates, as the Commission was prohibited from determining what rates were "reasonable and just" based on past cases. Also Plessy, Homer Adolph v. Ferguson, J.H. (file # 15248), decided October term 1895, was a civil rights case where the alleged violation occurred on a railroad. In this case, the laws and statutes of Louisiana requiring passengers of different races to be in separate compartments on trains were upheld.

VII.14 The transcripts of oral arguments, 1968-78, 80-three years from current date (MLR Entry 16, A1), are arranged by term of Court and thereunder by date of proceeding. These verbatim transcripts of arguments by the attorney, questioned by unidentified members of the Court, and answered by the attorneys, show the title, term, and number of case; date of argument; names of members of the Court present; and attorneys in the cases.

VII.15 There are sound recordings of the arguments of cases heard by the U.S. Supreme Court dating 1955 to the present, arranged chronologically by session of the Court, and thereunder in numerical order. These tapes include Michael A. Lebron, Petitioner v. National Passenger Corporation (93-1525) and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, et al., Petitioners, v. Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company, et al. (94-1592). There is an index arranged alphabetically by case title for each session.