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Peter A. Clifford, Petitioner, vs. Herbert O. Williams and Grace E. Williams, Respondents in Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

January 19, 1904 - October 25, 1904

Petitioned on June 4, 1904

Filed before the US District Court for the Western District of Washington (Seattle, Washington)

Filed before the US Circuit Court for the Ninth District, Washington (Seattle, Washington)

Case ID: hc.case.wa.0154

Case Summary

Peter Clifford filed two petitions for Habeas Corpus, eventually combined into one in June 1904. Clifford was the ex-husband of Grace Williams and lived in San Francisco. Divorced the prior year, Williams was awarded custody of their daughter Alice, and Clifford was awarded visitation rights every week. In his petition, Peter claimed that Grace had "surreptitiously and secretly" left Seattle for San Franciso and that he had received a ruling in his favor from a San Francisco court that reversed the custody arrangement and placed Alice in his custody. Between their divorce and Peter's claim in California, Grace married Herbert Williams and the couple formerly adopted Alice and renamed her Alice Williams in a Seattle court in December 1903. The primary arguments, in this case, revolved around jurisdictions. Initially, Judge Tallman ruled for the Williams's and seemed to have been swayed by Grace's testimony about Peter's abusive alcoholism. Clifford claimed that the U. S. Constitution's clauses forced the state of Washington to accept and respect a California court's ruling in his favor. The case then moved to Federal Court (it is not entirely clear how it got from State court to the Ninth Circuit) and Judge Hanford upheld Grace's custody and dismissed the Habeas petitions.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

  • Interpersonal

Petition subtype(s)

  • Child custody

Outcome

Writ dismissed

Fate of bound party

Remained in custody

Case Citation

RG 21 US Circuit Courts, Western Disctrict of Washington, Seattle; Law Register Northern Division, 1899-1906, vol 3

Source material(s)

Case File

Repository(s)

State

  • Washington

Point(s) of law cited

Refers to Barry v. Mercein, 5 How., 118|Kurtz v. Moffitt, 115 US, 487; Burrus case, 136 U.S. 586; King V. McLean Asylum, 64 Fed. Rep. 331; Wisconsin v. Pelican Insurance Co. 127 U.S. 265-300

Tag(s)

  • Domestic violence
  • Children

People

Citation

Katrina Jagodinsky, Cory Young, Andrew Varsanyi, Laura Weakly, Karin Dalziel, William Dewey, Erin Chambers, Greg Tunink. “Peter A. Clifford, Petitioner, vs. Herbert O. Williams and Grace E. Williams, Respondents in Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus.” Petitioning for Freedom: Habeas Corpus in the American West, 1812-1924, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Accessed December 17, 2024. https://petitioningforfreedom.unl.edu/cases/item/hc.case.wa.0154

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