Cases
Habeas petitions described a broad range of carceral, institutional, and interpersonal confinement over the long nineteenth century, including those used to demand due process, resist enslavement, challenge child removal and reservation confinement, avoid deportation, present child custody claims and protest child marriage, and to challenge institutionalization and detention in private and state institutions. As a legal mechanism borrowed from British common law and guaranteed as a civil right in US federal and state constitutions, habeas provides a lens on a diverse community of legal actors.
Our encoding practice allows us to identify petitions in these three categories and to indicate where those categories overlap. In addition to these three general categories, our team has identified the specific carceral charge being challenged as well as the particular forms of institutional and interpersonal confinements being questioned.
You may also browse or search petitions by location and/or jurisdiction to learn more about the myriad complaints petitioners brought before judges in Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, and Washington between 1812 and 1924. Each case entry includes a full citation, a summary, links to people with a role in the case, a list of other people named, and any sites of significance. Visitors wanting access to full case files can contact the cited repository for information about obtaining copies. Those without institutional affiliations may request image scans from Dr. Jagodinsky directly. The Glossary defines the attributes used to structure data from the habeas petitions. The Code Book explains the relational structure of the data and functionality of the database website.
Featured story: The Habeas Corpus and Divorce Proceedings of Katie Mayes
Basic Search
Simply enter the word you wish to find and the search engine will search for every instance of the word in the journals. For example: Fight. All instances of the use of the word fight will show up on the results page.
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Age of Bound Party
- Adult 10
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- Unclear 1
People
- Hyers, Gus A. (sheriff) 24
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- Cornish, Albert J. 6
- Cosgrave, P. James 6
- Morning, William McClellen 6
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- Antles, Howard W. (deputy sheriff) 3
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- Greene, Robert J. 3
- Ledwith, John J. (Ledwich) 3
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- , (Sister Superior of the Saint Thomas Orphanage) 1
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- Adams, George A. 1
- Adler, Moritz (surety) 1
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- Allsman, Hazel (Smith-Allsman) 1
- Allsman, John L. [Hazel Smith's husband] 1
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- Bassett, Horton E. 1
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- Cooper, J.H. [justice of the peace who married John and Hazel] 1
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- Gantz, Joseph [Nora's second husband] 1
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- Hagelin, Richard H. 1
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- Harden, Mrs. James E. (witness) 1
- Hayward, 1
- Herrick, A. C. (witness) 1
- Herrick, Vance (witness) 1
- Howard, A. E. (temporary custodian of bound party) 1
- Jacobs, W. G. (witness) 1
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- Kelley, Helen Ruth 1
- Kelley, Rhoda 1
- Kelverwood, J. W. (witness) 1
- Kimmel, Jennie 1
- Kimmel, Joseph M. 1
- Kimmel, Joseph Raymond 1
- King, R. S. (witness) 1
- Koontz, E. E. 1
- Koontz, J. M. (witness) 1
- Leese, Walter A. 1
24 results
Download JSON Download CSVIn the matter of the application of E. E. Koontz, for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: May 17, 1916
- Petition type(s): Institutional: insanity
- Petition outcome: Writ allowed
- Fate of bound party: Released from custody
State of Nebraska ex rel D. O. Brown, for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: January 19, 1915
- Petition type(s): Carceral: drunkenness | Carceral: insanity
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody
State of Nebraska, ex rel Averil Mocroft, for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: June 7, 1915
- Petition type(s): Interpersonal
- Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In the Matter of the Application of Annie Davis, Clarence W. Davis, and Carrie B. Davis for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: September 2, 1913
- Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
- Petition outcome: Writ allowed
- Fate of bound party: Released from custody
In the Matter of the Application of Charles Philbert for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: January 22, 1915
- Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody
State of Nebraska on the relation of Lille Walton, Cora Walton, Ernest Glenn Walton, Ledonia Walton, and Bessie Walton and Petition of Hiatt Elmer Walton, father of said children, for habeas corpus
- Earliest record date: March 4, 1915
- Petition type(s): Institutional: child custody
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody
In the Matter of the Application of Arthur B. Carter, for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: November 4, 1913
- Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
- Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In the matter of the application of Nina P. Robotham, a minor, by Robert G. Robotham, her next friend, for a writ of habeas corpus
- Earliest record date: February 29, 1912
- Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
- Petition outcome: Petition withdrawn
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In the matter of the Application of John Wilken for a Writ of Habeas Corpus`
- Earliest record date: November 21, 1912
- Petition type(s): Institutional: insanity
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody | ordered to be re-sentenced
The State on the Relation of Lee McCoy vs. Samuel M. Melick, Warden Nebraska State Penitentiary
- Earliest record date: August 13, 1912
- Petition type(s): Carceral: cattle stealing
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody
In the matter of the application of Parker M. Wickstrum for a writ of habeas corpus
- Earliest record date: April 13, 1912
- Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody
In the matter of the application of Walter Wheatley For Writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: April 26, 1915
- Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
- Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In the matter of the application of James E. Warden for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: June 30, 1915
- Petition type(s): Institutional: child custody | Interpersonal: child custody
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody
In the Matter of the application of Nora Leon Gantz, for a writ of Habeas Corpus to obtain the custody of her minor son, Lester William Teter
- Earliest record date: February 22, 1915
- Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
- Petition outcome: Writ allowed
- Fate of bound party: Released from custody
In the Matter of the Application of Addaline A. Wilson and Oliver Perry Wilson for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: July 10, 1913
- Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody
In the Matter of the Application of Leta Eshom, formerly Leta Bassett, for a writ of Habeas Corpus for Wilber Bassett, age 11 years, and Alma May Bassett, age 8 years
- Earliest record date: April 5, 1915
- Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
- Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In the matter of the application of Eddy Cramer, Willie Cramer, and Clarence Cramer, by George H. A. Cramer, for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: April 29, 1912
- Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
- Petition outcome: Petition withdrawn
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In re Hazel Allsman, Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: July 25, 1913
- Petition type(s): Interpersonal: minor marriage
- Petition outcome: Writ allowed
- Fate of bound party: Released from custody
In the matter of the application of Helen Ruth Kelley for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: June 20, 1916
- Petition type(s): Institutional
- Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In the matter of the application of Mary A. Thomas, for a writ of habeas corpus
- Earliest record date: December 16, 1913
- Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody | new custody arrangement reached
In the matter of the application of Goldie Abbott for a writ of habeas corpus
- Earliest record date: June 10, 1912
- Petition type(s): Institutional: child custody
- Petition outcome: Writ allowed
- Fate of bound party: Released from custody
In the matter of the application of Peter A. Stohl for a Writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: May 1, 1913
- Petition type(s): Institutional: insanity
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody
In re application of John Webber and Henry J. Busch for a writ of habeas corpus
- Earliest record date: July 30, 1912
- Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody
In the Matter of the Application of _____ Hayward for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: March 23, 1914
- Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
- Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
