# Indictment of Earl Weiss, alias Hymie Weiss, Frank Foster and Edward Vogel (N.D. Ill., filed June 29, 1926)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/nara-6883414-weiss-indictment-1926/

A federal grand jury indictment charging Earl Weiss, alias Hymie Weiss, and two others with possessing and transporting liquor in Chicago on June 24, 1926, in violation of the National Prohibition Act, and with conspiracy. The charging page lists a barrel of beer on tap, champagne, whiskey and brandy.

An item in the National Archives file for criminal case No. 14678 in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. The cover is Form No. 195, endorsed "Indictment," with the parties typed as "Earl Weiss, alias Hymie Weiss, Frank Foster, alias Frank Frost and Edward Vogel alias Edward Vaugn." It reads "Vio. Act, Oct. 29, 1919, National Prohibition Act, Secs. 3 and 5, Title II, and Sec. 37 Criminal Code (Conspiracy so to do; possession and transporting intoxicating liquor)." It is marked "A true bill," with the foreman's signature, and filed in open court on June 29, 1926. The cover is stored [here](/media/nara-6883414-weiss-indictment-1926-cover.jpg).

The charging page shown above says the grand jurors of the June Term, 1926 present that Earl Weiss, alias Hymie Weiss, Frank Foster, alias Frank Frost, and Edward Vogel, alias Edward Vaughn, "each late of the City of Chicago," on June 24, 1926 at Chicago "unlawfully did have in their possession, in violation of the National Prohibition Act, for beverage purposes, certain intoxicating liquor." It lists "one barrel of beer, on tap, one barrel of bottled beer, two, one-gallon glass jugs containing whiskey, forty-eight pint bottles of champagne, twenty-four quart bottles of champagne, one quart bottle of brandy, one quart bottle of whiskey, and one pint bottle of whiskey." The alias is spelled "Vaugn" on the cover and "Vaughn" on the charging page.

The indictment is a charge, not a conviction. The National Archives description of the file unit says that Weiss died of gunshot wounds on October 11, 1926, that the charges against him were dismissed on December 8, 1926, and that Foster and Vogel pleaded guilty to the first count on November 15, 1927. Those are the archivist's notes; the dismissal and plea papers themselves were not read for this archive. The same file holds a City of Chicago death certificate (NAID 6883418) that is not used here pending a rights decision. The indictment does not mention a North Side gang.

## Sources

- National Archives Catalog: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6883414
- National Archives file unit: United States v. Earl Weiss et al. (NAID 6883413): https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6883413