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Max G. Cohen, Petitioner, vs. United States of America, Respondent

December 28, 1914 - March 8, 1915

Petitioned on December 28, 1914

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

Case ID: hc.case.wa.0518

Case Summary

Max Cohen, the petitioner and bound party, was convicted of suborning, trying to bribe, Esther Woods in a case against Jake Gronish, her husband, for violation of the White Slave Act on May 7th of 1912. Gronish was arrested for this due to his alleged transport of Woods from Ohio to Oregon for the purpose of prostitution, and as attorney in that case for Woods, Cohen had her testify falsely before the court in an effort to protect Gronish. Cohen stated in his defense that Oregon Law Section 1535, C. 21 provides that "neither husband nor wife, in such cases, shall be compelled or allowed to testify in each case unless by consent of both of them" unless the case is related to personal violence.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

  • Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

  • Subornation of perjury

State

  • Washington

People

  • Cohen, Max G. (petitioner)
  • Cohen, Max G. (bound party)
  • Fleischmann, Simon (respondent attorney)
  • Mannix, Thomas (petitioner attorney)

  • Additional parties

    Crosby, Frank L. (clerk)

    Harshberger, F. M. (deputy)

    Moody, Ralph E. (attorney for plaintiff in previous writ)

    Nelson, Rosoceo, C. (attorney for plaintiff in previous writ)

    Reames, Clarence L. (U.S. attorney in previous writ)

    Buck, Frank L. (witness)

    Cannon, Anderson M. (witness)

    Heller, Rose (witness)

    Houghton, E. M. (witness)

    Long, A. L. (witness)

    Norris, Edward L. (witness)

    Wood, Esther (witness)

    Woods, Violet (witness)

    Geo, Pope (U.S. grand jury foreman)

    Cannon, A.M. (U.S. district court clerk)

Source Materials

To acquire the complete case file, contact the repository via email and provide the case citation to request a print copy or digital scan of the original file. Reproduction service fees vary by repository. Tribal members, descendants of enslaved petitioners, and community constituents without professional or academic affiliation may contact Katrina Jagodinsky for assistance in securing case file scans.

Repository(s)

Case citation

RG 21 U.S. District Court for the Southern Division of the Western District of Washington Civil, Criminal, Admiralty, and Bankruptcy Case Files, 1890-1950, No. 1700

If you are teaching, publishing, or presenting from this work, please cite this page.

Type of source(s)

Case File

Length of case file

201 or more pages

Cite this page

If you are teaching, publishing, or presenting from this work, please cite this page as:

Katrina Jagodinsky, Cory Young, Andrew Varsanyi, Laura Weakly, Karin Dalziel, William Dewey, Erin Chambers, Greg Tunink. “Max G. Cohen, Petitioner, vs. United States of America, Respondent.” Petitioning for Freedom: Habeas Corpus in the American West, 1812-1924, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Accessed April 7, 2025. https://petitioningforfreedom.unl.edu/cases/item/hc.case.wa.0518

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