Mrs. Carl Perlstrom, operator of a rural Ramsey County cafe, was bound over to District Court yesterday on charges of racial discrimination for allegedly refusing to serve a group of persons of Jewish faith.
The charge, a gross misdemeanor, carrying a penalty up to a year in jail and up to a $1,000 fine, was based on the race discrimination law in Minnesota’s Hotel and Public Resorts code. It is believed the first time a case of this type has been prosecuted under the law.
Samuel Tucker of Los Angeles, stationed at Fort Snelling with a medical detachment, signed the complaint. He claimed he was in uniform with a party of four when Mrs. Perlstrom refused to serve them. He declared a waitress told him, “We don’t serve Jews here.”
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.
