Trowbridge Farm, a resort in New York state which boasts that it is the “home of fine food, good beds and warm hospitality,” and which includes in its form letters the declaration that “we do not entertain Hebrews,” was sued recently under the Civil Rights Law, and compelled to pay damages to the complainant, Milton K. Nestler, New York attorney.
For some time Mr. Nestler, who is associated with Arthur G. Weinberger, attorney of 11 Park Place, had been receiving form letters telling of the delights to be enjoyed at the Trowbridge Farm and urging him to take advantage of the vacation opportunities held out by Trowbridge Farm, whenever he wanted a vacation. Prominently featured on each letter, was “we do not entertain Hebrews.” Mr. Nestler kept on throwing the letters into his waste-paper basket as fast as they arrived, but following the wave of anti-Semitism that swept over Germany, he asked Mr. Weinberger to institute suit in the Bronx County Supreme Court, under the Civil Rights Law.
The defendants hired a New York Jewish attorney and entered the peculiar defense that there was no kosher butcher shop anywhere near the farm, therefore they could not ‘entertain Hebrews”. The case never came to trial, but finally Judge McCook ordered the Trowbridge Farm to pay Mr. Nestler $100 damages. Under the Civil Rights Law, the penalties for discrimination of this sort are fines ranging from 100 to 500 dollars.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
