receive or carry any letter or packet, or shall cause or procure the same to be done, contrary to this act, every such offender shall forfeit and pay, for every such offence, a sum not exceeding fifty dollars.
Penalty on persons robbing the mail.Sec. 17. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall rob any carrier of the mail of the United States, of such mail, or if any person shall rob the mail, in which letters are sent to be conveyed by post, of any letter or packet, or shall steal such mail, or shall steal and take from or out of the same, or from or out of any post-office, any letter or packet, such offender or offenders shall, on conviction thereof, suffer death.[1]
Deputies to publish every three months a list of letters then on hand, &c.Sec. 18. And be it further enacted, That the deputy postmasters shall, respectively, publish at the expiration of every three months, in one of the newspapers published at, or nearest the place of his residence, for three successive weeks, a list of all the letters then remaining in their respective offices; and at the expiration of the next three months, shall send such of the said letters as then remain on hand, as dead letters, to the general post-office, where the same shall be opened and inspected; and if any valuable papers or matter of consequence, shall be found therein, it shall be the duty of the Postmaster General, to cause a descriptive list thereof to be inserted in one of the newspapers, published at the place most convenient to where the owner may be supposed to reside, if within the United States, and such letter and the contents shall be preserved, to be delivered to the person, to whom the same shall be addressed, upon payment of the postage, and the expense of publication.
Certain letters to be conveyed free of postage.Sec. 19. And be it further enacted, That the following letters and packets, and no other, shall be received and conveyed by post, free of postage, under such restrictions, as are hereinafter provided; that is to say: All letters and packets to or from the President or Vice President of the United States, and all letters and packets, not exceeding two ounces in weight, to or from any member of the Senate or House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Senate or Clerk of the House of Representatives, during their actual attendance in any session of Congress, and twenty days after such session. All letters to and from the Secretary of the Treasury, and his assistant, Comptroller, Register, and Auditor of the Treasury, the Treasurer, the Secretary of State, the Secretary at War, the Commissioners for settling the accounts between the United States and individual states, the Postmaster General and his- ↑ Robbing the mail of the United States. The defendant was indicted on the 24th section of the act of Congress, of March 3, 1825 entitled “An act to reduce into one the several acts establishing and regulating the Post-office department,” for advising, procuring, and assisting one Joseph J. Straughan, a mail carrier, to rob the mail of the United States, and was found guilty. Upon this finding the judges of the Circuit Court of South Carolina were divided in opinion upon the question, whether an indictment founded on the statute for advising, &c., a mail carrier to rob the mail, ought to set forth and aver that the said carrier did commit the offence of robbing the mail. By the Supreme Court: the answer to this as an abstract proposition, must be in the affirmative, but if the question intended to be put, is, whether there must be a distinct substantive averment of the fact, it is not necessary. United States v. Mills, 7 Peters, 138.
Upon an indictment for robbing the mail, and putting the person in custody of it in jeopardy, under the 19th section of the act of April 30, 1810, a sword, &c., in the hand of the robber, by terror of which the robbery is effected, is a dangerous weapon within the act, putting the life in jeopardy, though it be not drawn, or pointed at the carrier. So a pistol in his hands, by means of which the robbery is effected, is a dangerous weapon; and it is not necessary to prove that it was charged: it is presumed to be so until the contrary is proved. United States v. Wood, 3 Wash. C. C. R. 440.
It is not necessary to a conviction under the 22d section, that the carrier of the mail should have taken the oath prescribed by the 2d section of the act of 1825, or that the whole mail be taken. The United States v. Wilson, 1 Baldwin’s C. C. R. 102.
The word “rob,” in the act of Congress of 1825, section 22, is used in the common law sense. Ibid.
“Jeopardy,” as used in the section, means a well grounded apprehension of danger to life, in case of refusal to yield to threats, or resistance. Ibid.
A mail carrier is within the 18th section of the act regulating the post-office establishment, “subjecting to a penalty in certain cases, persons employed in any of the departments of the general post-office.” United States v. Belew, 2 Brockenb. C. C. R. 280.
