I don't know about physically splitting the manifests, but it is true
that the First and Second class passengers did not go through Ellis
Island; they were let off earlier, at a pier. (I forget the exact
location.) There are anecdotal stories that women with ill infants
or children passed them to First and Second class passengers to
disembark, because those passengers were not checked as intensely as
the Steerage passengers.

There are indeed First and Second class sections to the manifests;
when I studied the actual microfilms (back in the early days <grin>)
I noticed them for 'most every ship.

Hilary Henkin
Los Angeles, California