On September 14, 1874, third-grader Charles H. Dove applied for admission to Torrence School. Although there was space available, school officials denied Charles because of his race. They ordered him to attend an all-Black school. The closest school for Black children was at least ten blocks from Charles' home, while Torrence School was just three blocks away. Charles applied to Torrence again and was denied a second time. His family persisted. The Keokuk Superintendent issued Charles a certificate showing that he could enter the third grade in any of Keokuk’s public schools. On October 29th, the Directors of the Independent School District of Keokuk met and concluded that Charles couldn’t be admitted to Torrence because there wasn’t room. This was a lie designed to make it look like they weren’t refusing Charles due to race, but because of a less discriminatory reason. The case was taken to the circuit court which ruled that Charles was legally entitled to admission into Torrence School. The school district urged the reversal of the circuit court's judgment. The Iowa Supreme Court believed the circuit court's findings were correct and that Charles had been denied on the basis of race; Therefore, he was entitled to admission. Like Smith v. Keokuk (1875), this case also extended the Clark v. Board (1868) ruling to include cases where covert (hidden) racial discrimination could be proven. Even though the district’s directors pretended they weren’t excluding Charles because of his race, the court saw through their lie and Charles won.