# Commitment of Paul Mennite by U.S. Commissioner Mark A. Foote, Chicago, 1 June 1915

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/nara-49550600-mennite-commitment-1915-06-01/

Printed commitment form from the Mecca and Mennite case file: U.S. Commissioner Mark A. Foote commits Paul Mennite to the Cook County jail in default of a $10,000 recognizance, on a complaint that he mailed three letters in a scheme to defraud Antonio Petrone.

This is file page 1 of the case file [NAID 49550600](/items/nara-49550600-us-v-mecca-mennite-1915/), a pink printed form marked "(ORIGINAL)." It is addressed by the President of the United States to the Marshal of the Northern District of Illinois and the keeper of the Cook County jail, and recites that Paul Mennite was brought before Mark A. Foote, United States Commissioner, on a complaint charging him "with violation of the Postal Laws, to-wit, section 215 of the Criminal Code; at Chicago aforesaid, April 29th, May 6th & 11th, 1915; in depositing, and causing to be deposited in the post office of the said United States, for mailing and delivery to one Antonio Petrone ... three certain letters in and for executing a scheme and artifice theretofore by them devised to defraud said Antonio Petrone of his moneys."

The examination was adjourned to 3 June 1915 at two o'clock, and Mennite, having not offered a recognizance of $10,000, was committed to jail until then. The form is signed by Mark A. Foote and dated 1 June 1915.

The form uses the language of the mail-fraud section; the words "Black Hand" do not appear on it. It prints the addressee's street address, which is legible in the image and is not reproduced in this text.

## Sources

- National Archives Catalog: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/49550600