dangerous weapons, and the robbery is not effected, every such offender, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment, not less than two years, nor exceeding ten years. And, if any person shall steal the mail, or shall steal or take from, or out of, any mail, or from, or out of, any post-office, any letter or packet: or, if any person shall take the mail, or any letter or packet therefrom, or from any post-office, whether with or without the consent of the person having custody thereof, and shall open, embezzle or destroy any such mail, letter, or packet, the same containing any article of value, or evidence of any debt, due, demand, right, or claim, or any release, receipt, acquittance or discharge, or any other article, paper, or thing, mentioned and described, in the twenty-first section of this act; or, if any person shall by fraud or deception, obtain from any person having custody thereof, any mail, letter, or packet, containing any article of value, or evidence thereof, or either of the writings referred to, or next above mentioned, such offender or offenders, on conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned not less than two, nor exceeding ten, years.[1] And if any person shall take any letter, or packet, not containing any article of value, or evidence thereof, out of a post-office, or shall open any letter, or packet which shall have been in a post-office, or in custody of a mail-carrier, before it shall have been delivered to the person to whom it is directed, with a design to obstruct the correspondence, to pry into another’s business or secrets; or shall secrete, embezzle, or destroy, any such mail, letter, or packet, such offender, upon conviction, shall pay for every such offence, a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, and be imprisoned not exceeding twelve months.
Punishment ordained where any person shall injure, in any way, the portmanteau, &c., in which the mail is carried.Sec. 23. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall rip, cut, tear, burn, or otherwise injure, any valise, portmanteau, or other bag, used, or designed to be used, by any person acting under the authority of the Postmaster General, or any person in whom his powers are vested, in a conveyance of any mail, letter, packet, or newspaper, or pamphlet, or shall draw or break any staple, or loosen any part of any lock, chain, or strap, attached to, or belonging to any such valise, portmanteau or bag, with an intent to rob, or steal any mail, letter, packet, newspaper or pamphlet, or to render either of the same insecure, every such offender, upon conviction, shall, for every such offence, pay a sum, not less than one hundred dollars, nor exceeding five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not less than one year, nor exceeding three years, at the discretion of the court before whom such conviction is had.
Persons, who shall in any way be accessary, or engage in any of the crimes forbidden by this act, &c.Sec. 24. And be it further enacted, That every person who, from and after the passage of this act, shall procure, and advise, or assist, in the doing or perpetration of any of the acts or crimes by this act forbidden, shall be subject to the same penalties and punishments as the persons are subject to, who shall actually do or perpetrate any of the said acts or crimes, according to the provision of this act.
Persons imprisoned by a judgment of court under this act, &c.Sec. 25. And be it further enacted, That every person who shall be imprisoned by a judgment of court, under and by virtue of the twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third, or twenty-fourth sections of this act, shall be kept at hard labour during the period of such imprisonment.
Postmasters to publish for three successive weeks, in one of the newspapers nearest to the place of their residence, a list of all the letters remaining in their respective offices.Unreclaimed letters to be sent to the General Post-office and there opened.Sec. 26. And be it further enacted, That the postmasters shall, respectively, publish, at the expiration of every three months, or oftener, when the Postmaster General shall so direct, in one of the newspapers published at or nearest the place of his residence, for three successive weeks, a list of all the letters remaining in their respective offices, or, instead thereof, shall make out a number of such lists, and cause them
- ↑ The defendant was indicted for receiving treasury notes, stolen from the mail of the United States. A treasury note was offered in evidence. The Supreme Court, on a division of opinion from the circuit court of Virginia, held, that the treasury notes issued by authority of the act of Congress of October 12, 1838, are promissory notes, within the meaning of the act of Congress of March 3, 1825, regulating the Post-office Department. The United States v. Hardyman, 13 Peters, 176.The stealing or taking a letter, within the 22d section of the act of 1825, means a clandestine taking. The United States v. Pearce, 2 M’Lean’s C. C. R. 14.
