Case Summary

In June 1919, a South Dakota tailor named Bertram Mulcahy was fined $10 for violating a Bayard, Nebraska village ordinance against selling samples and taking orders without a license. When he did not pay, he was confined to the Morrill County jail. Mulcahy petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in federal court, arguing that his right to conduct interstate commerce had been violated. His fate is unknown.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

• Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

• Peddling without a license
• Refusal or inability to pay fine
• Municipal violation

Sites of significance

• Bayard City Jail (Bayard, Nebraska)

Outcome

Unknown

Fate of bound party

Unknown

Case Citation

Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2009, U.S. District Court for the North Platte Division of the District of Nebraska, Series: Law Dockets, 1912 - 1938, Vol. 1, p. 54; Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2009, U.S. District Court for the North Platte Division of the District of Nebraska. (1907- ), Series: Law Case Files, 1909-1938, Box , No. 109

Source material(s)

Docket | Case File

Length of case file

Between 11 and 20 pages

Repository(s)

• National Archives and Records Administration, Kansas City (Kansas City, Kansas)

State

• Nebraska

Point(s) of law cited

Chapter 21 of the Revised Ordinances of the Village of Bayard, Nebraska, passed and approved June 26, 1917

People

• Mulcahy, Bertram M. (petitioner)
• Webb, Archie M. (respondent)
• Hunt, G. J. (petitioner attorney)
• Neighbors, T. F. (respondent attorney)
• Lathrop, Orrin J. (authority ordering detention)
• Woodrough, Joseph William (judge)

• Additional parties

  Hoyt, R. C. (clerk)

  Flynn, Thomas J. (U.S. marshal)

  Nickerson, J. B. (deputy U.S. marshal)

  Nichols, Fred T. (solicitor)

  Marquis, H. M. (notary public)

  Prosser, George E. (deputy clerk)