Case Summary

On April 24th, 1917, a man whose legal name is unknown committed first-degree murder against George Connery in Anoka County, Minnesota. The man whose legal name is unknown used many aliases, including Frank J. Curtis, Frank McCool, and John Doe. He was tried before a Minnesota jury and indicted for his crime. Curtis, as he is referred to in the legal documents regarding his habeas corpus petition, fled the state of Minnesota sometime after the murder or the trial and arrived in Nebraska. After Curtis fled, J. A. A. Burnquist, the Governor of Minnesota, sent a letter to Keith Neville, the Governor of Nebraska, asking for the state of Nebraska to capture Curtis and return him to Minnesota. Sometime between the murder and May 5th, 1917, Curtis was captured by the Omaha Police Department and held in custody by Henry W. Dunn--the Omaha Chief of Police--, Henry Hietfield, and Stephen Maloney--the Omaha Chief of Detectives. Following his arrest, Curtis filed a petition for a writ of Habeas Corpus as he argued that he was held imprisoned for no apparent reason. The judge granted his writ, but ordered that the holding parties return to court the following day, May 8th, 1917. There are no further records to indicate whether Curtis was released or not.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

• Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

• First degree murder

Sites of significance

• The District Court of the Fourth Judicial District County of Hennepin and State of Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
• Omaha City Jail (Omaha, Nebraska)

Outcome

Writ allowed

Fate of bound party

Unknown

Case Citation

Douglas County District Court, Omaha, NE, RG230: Douglas County Records, Subgroup 10: District Court, 1855-1972, Series: Criminal Appearance Docket Books, Vol. 19: ca.1916-1917, p. 473; Douglas County District Court, Omaha, NE, RG230: Douglas County Records, Subgroup 10: District Court, 1855-1972, Series 7: Criminal Case Files, 1897-1920, Reel 74: Doc. 19-473 to 19-611, May 7, 1917 - Aug. 21, 1917, No. 19-473

Source material(s)

Docket | Case File

Length of case file

Between 11 and 20 pages

Repository(s)

• Douglas County District Court (Omaha, Nebraska)

State

• Nebraska

People

• Curtis, Frank J. (Frank McCool, John Doe) (petitioner)
• Curtis, Frank J. (Frank McCool, John Doe) (bound party)
• Horrigan, Daniel H. (Daniel H. Harrigan) (petitioner attorney)
• Hietfield, Henry (responding party)
• Hietfield, Henry (holding party)
• Dunn, Henry W. (holding party)
• Maloney, Stephen (Steve) (holding party)
• Sears, Willis G. (judge)

• Additional parties

  Neville, Keith (Governor of Nebraska)

  Burnquist, J. A. A. (Governor of Minnesota)

  Brunskill, Frank (recipient of executive order)

  Pool, Charles W. (Nebraska Secretary of State)

  Connery, George (murder victim)

  Kort, Frank X. (witness)

  McDonald, Irving C. (witness)

  McSherry, Catherine (witness)

  McCullouh, J. W. (witness)

  Scheffman, Morris (witness)

  Brunskill, Frank (witness)

  Harthill, Lewis (witness)

  Galvin, John J. (witness)

  Ziegler, Charles (witness)

  Wirtensohn, Otto (witness)

  Covey, I. J. (foreman of the grand jury)

  Neilson, P. S. (clerk)

  Knight, W. W. (deputy)

  Rees, John M. (county attorney)

  Clark, Michael L. (sheriff)

  Smith, Robert (clerk)

  Gotinnif, Ludwig J. (deputy)