The next evening he continued the train journey, this time without a mishap. But on the journey from Charlestown to Johannesburg which had to be covered by stagecoach he was made to sit with the coachman on the box outside, while the white conductor sat inside with the white passengers. 

Gandhi ignored this humiliation for being born as an Indian or a “colored” man, because he did not want to miss the coach and the journey for his client. On the way, the conductor who wanted a smoke spread a piece of dirty sack-cloth on the footboard and ordered Gandhi to sit there so that the conductor could have Gandhi’s seat and smoke. 

Gandhi refused and the conductor rained blows on him, trying to throw him down. Gandhi clung to the brass rails of the coach box, refusing to yield, and not willing to retaliate. Some of the white passengers protested at this cowardly assault and the conductor was obliged to stop beating Gandhi who kept his seat.