Case Summary

Charles Myers, the petitioner and bound party, filed for a writ of Habeas Corpus to be released from McNeil Island Penitentiary and be transferred to the custody of Morningside Sanitarium. Further, Myers filed an appeal in forma pauperis in accordance with a previous poverty affidavit he had filed. Myers states that he was a patient at Morningside Hospital (at the time, Sanitarium) in Oregon and that he escaped from the hospital during a period when he was not well. Myers was incarcerated for the crimes of obtaining goods under false pretences from J. A. Donald and Aubrey Pinkiert (two separate counts), and for obtaining money under false pretenses from Joe Anichich during his time in Alaska. In his argument, Myers stated that because he was not discharged from the hospital but escaped, he should still be seen as legally "insane" and should stay in Morningside until he can be legally discharged by the hospital. Additonally, Myers stated that at the Penitentiary, he was put into involuntary servitude, not as punishment for any crime, and therefore, it was a violation of his rights. Judge Edward Cushman found that Myers was provided a fair trial and indicted fairly and was, therefore, legally convicted, and the petition was forever dismissed in 1916, but further documents are in the case file from 1917, so the fate of the party is unknown.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

• Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

• Obtaining money under false pretenses
• Obtaining goods under false pretenses

Sites of significance

• McNeil Island Penitentiary (Steilacoom, Washington)
• Morningside Sanitarium (Portland, Oregon)

Outcome

Writ dismissed

Fate of bound party

Unknown

Case Citation

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. 2036

Source material(s)

Case File

Length of case file

Between 41 and 50 pages

Repository(s)

• National Archives and Records Administration, Seattle Branch, Washington (Seattle, WA) (Seattle, Washington)

State

• Washington

Tag(s)

• Mental illness
• Escape

People

• Myers, Charles (petitioner)
• Myers, Charles (bound party)
• Halligan, O. P. (respondent)
• Halligan, O. P. (holding party)
• White, Edward D. (Edward Douglas) (judge)
• White, Edward D. (Edward Douglas) (chief justice)
• Dowd, Van M. (petitioner attorney)
• Fishburne, George P. (respondent attorney)

• Additional parties

  Monckton, F. D. (clerk)

  O'Brien, Paul P. (deputy clerk)

  Crosby, Frank L. (clerk)

  Harshberger, F. M. (deputy clerk)

  Coe, Henry Waldo (witness)

  Monckton, F. D. (clerk)

  Gillette, Louis R. (previous attorney for petitioner in criminal case)

  Pratt, Harry E. (assistant US attorney for previous case)

  Heilig, Reed W. (assistant US attorney for previous case)

  Patterson, R. J. (foreman in previous case)

  Donald, J. A. (plaintiff in previous case)

  Pinkiert, Aubrey (from previous case)

  Anicich, Joe (previous case)

  Bunnell, Charles E. (judge from previous case)

  Clark, J. E. (clerk)