Case Summary

Ethel Johnson was arrested on February 9, 1919 for keeping a "Common Illgoverned House." She was tried at police court under magistrate Charles E. Foster on the tenth and sentenced to thirty days in prison plus court costs. While she was sentenced to city jail, she was moved to county jail on February 12, which Johnson claimed in her case was irregular and not what the magistrate had ordered. She filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on February 13, which was issued. In her petition, she argued that the charges against her were not specific enough to charge her with a crime—a bold claim, given the shyness about sex in the early 20th century—and that the ordinance outlawing prostitution in the city of Omaha did not provide for prison sentences above ten days. However, in court on the 14th, she asked for her own case to be dismissed, likely because she had just filed another writ of habeas corpus against Clark.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

• Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

• Keeping a house of ill repute

Sites of significance

• Omaha City Jail (Omaha, Nebraska)
• Douglas County Jail (Omaha, Nebraska)

Outcome

Writ allowed

Fate of bound party

Dismissed

Case Citation

Douglas County District Court, Omaha, NE, RG230: Douglas County Records, Subgroup 10: District Court, 1855-1972, Series: Criminal Appearance Docket Books, Vol. 20: ca.1917-1919, p. 776; Douglas County District Court, Omaha, NE, RG230: Douglas County Records, Subgroup 10: District Court, 1855-1972, Series 7: Criminal Case Files, 1897-1920, Reel 82: Doc. 20-703 to 21-35, Mar. 1, 1919 - Mar. 3, 1919, No. 20-776

Source material(s)

Docket | Case File

Length of case file

Between 11 and 20 pages

Related petitions

• In the matter of the application of Ethel Johnson for Writ H.C.

Repository(s)

• Douglas County District Court (Omaha, Nebraska)

State

• Nebraska

Tag(s)

• Prostitution

People

• Johnson, Ethel (petitioner)
• Day, L. B. (petitioner attorney)
• Clark, Michael L. (respondent)
• Clark, Michael L. (holding party)
• Clayton, Sherman (respondent)
• Clayton, Sherman (holding party)
• Redick, William A. (judge)
• Berger, John M. (petitioner attorney)
• Foster, Charles E. (authority ordering detention)

• Additional parties

  Clark, Michael L. [sheriff]

  Foster, W.A. [deputy]

  Smith, Robert [clerk]

  Steere Jr., Asel [deputy]